In the Tarves household, it is not every day that Alex turns two.  In fact, I think at this point he’s probably about 103 by now, that is, if you count the amount of times we’ve put a candle in a bowl of ice cream while singing and signing happy birthday to Alex…and Linda…and chair…and piece-of-rice-on-the-table, etc. etc. etc.

Well this year’s birthday party was a great success! (Okay, number of hands of those who just said, “Great Success!” a la Sacha Baron Cohen to yourself.  Yeah, I thought so.)  Anyway, so this year we opted to save ourselves and loved ones from being subjected to one of those toddlerific, migraine-inducing, palaces of fun, and have a shin-dig at our house.  We banked on good weather, and the gods of smiled on us that day, because the weather was beautiful.

All our favorite peeps came for the festivities, from 11am to 11pm, Whoot! Whoot!  (Really folks 11pm?  He’s two!)  We borrowed Great Grammy’s bouncy house, played on the swing set, ate pizza, hummus and Mexican dip. We had all the ingredients for a rip roarin’ good time.

The overwhelming theme of the birthday festivities was Winnie-the-Pooh, so Mommy went a little overboard and bought every Winnie-the-Pooh decoration on the market, and decided to make a beehive cake from scratch (which turned out to be delicious btw).  So of course when it came time to sing happy birthday to the little fella, we were all excited as we know how much Mr. Alex love himself some Happy Birthday! ©.

If one could pictorially represent the emotion of pure fear, I think it would look like a photo of this poor child sitting in front of flames whilst his loved ones yelled at him in unison.  What a joyous tradition.  At least the consolation prize of cake and ice cream, would lead us to a  sugar-high-induced marathon.

After running his uncle around, and around, and around the house we attempted to interest the child in opening his presents.  The valiant attempt by Mom and Dad, to round out the birthday festivities with a present free-for-all, was no match for the inevitable crash.  Falling asleep in Daddy’s arms before the last guests bid their final farewells, was evidence enough that we don’t need to go anywhere to have a good time!

P.S.  Thank you notes are coming.  We promise!

Okay, so it’s been awhile.  In fact, if we had been dating, this would be a drunk-dial saying, “I miss you, come back!  I’ve changed.”  Well, the reality is that I haven’t changed.  I’m going to try to stay on top of this, and keep our avid readers apprised of the latest Alex Tarves breaking news (because let’s face it, that’s what our readers really want), but no guarantees I won’t go AWOL again.  So if you’ve decided to take me back, and I fall short, consider yourself warned.  I’m sure your bffs will be there for you again with a pint of Cherry Garcia.

And so, without further ado…let’s begin.