D-Man's Second Birthday Party

Last week we celebrated my son's second birthday. In our house party planning is a huge deal. Ryno loves throwing parties. I too have caught that "I wanna have a party" bug. We haven't had one since D-Man's last birthday, so it had been a year. We were jonesing to have a reason to make a party playlist and slideshow on our I-Pod, hit Costco for some chicken sausages and assorted chips and dips and beer and most of all a reason to vacuum under my couch and clean the top of my fridge.
But, I forgot how stressed I get at the prospect of having a party, I have this perfectionist streak which rears its ugly head periodically. So I mailed out the invitations a month in advance then waited for people to RSVP. Which they did. We were on our way.
I then started to stress out about the cake. After all this was a birthday party for a two-year-old. I saw a picture in a magazine (Rachael Ray Everyday) of a pink, pig cupcake and decided I was going to try to replicate it. (The reason the pig was perfect for D-Man is because his transitional object and current best friend is a small stuffed Piglet.) The replication went smoothly so I was feeling pretty confident there.

But then I started to worry that it would rain and this was supposed to be a "backyard BBQ." After all it rained last year for his party. I decided to put that out of my mind and just focus on the things I could control. Like baking, frosting and decorating 48 pig cupcakes. It took me 2 1/2 hours. I will say they were cute but I have vowed if I never see another pink, pig cupcake it will be too soon.In the end, the party was a success with no rain. It was a lot of fun! We got a chance to see all our friends, eat some food, drink some beer and enjoy a nice summer day in my backyard. D-Man loved getting to hang out with other little ones and demonstrated his "fix-it" skills with his new toy drill. Thanks for everyone who came and helped us celebrate. I think we will make this birthday party stuff an annual thing.