a birthday celebration

The synopsis: we rushed out of bed and into little E's room to sing him happy birthday. We've been talking about his birthday for a few weeks, so he knew it was coming and was so excited. Sleepy, but excited, as shown in the photos. We sort of rushed through getting ready (thankfully I had packed our bags the night before) so we could make it to the Jetty Island Ferry. I called my sisters and woke them to give them instructions on how to save us a place on said ferry. Emory decided to have pancakes for breakfast, of all choices the most lengthy in preparation. Jon made the pancakes while I busied myself loading the car and Emory threw a fit, thinking I would leave him behind, no matter how many promises of "you're coming with me when I leave" came out of my mouth. For the record, it was pretty sad to see big tears flowing unnecessarily from the birthday boy's eyes. Then Jon saved my day and announced he was coming with us. I have gotten so accustomed to doing things without him that I didn't know what to think or even if I could believe he was serious, but he was, and I will forever be grateful that we all got to spend Emory's whole birthday together.

As we drove to Everett, we finalized plans with my sisters, and made our way to my mom's house to pick up Amber and my grandma to take them to meet the others at Jetty Island. When Kendal called and said the tickets sold out, we quickly changed our plans and headed the opposite direction, to Mukilteo Beach, where Emory played in the sand, and played with his aunties and cousins on the playground.

After lunch and a good de-sanding bath, it took an excited little boy a couple hours to fall asleep for his nap. But when he finally did, I frosted a very flawed cake, while my mom and grandma made potato and pasta salad for the upcoming feast, sisters and cousins wrapped presents, and Jon assembled a tricycle.

We woke Emory up and walked him across the street to Harborview Park, where he first saw his balloons tied to his trike, or "zumba," as he called it. Jon's parents, Nanny, Kenny, and Kenny's parents all joined us at that point. We spent the rest of the evening enjoying the view, pushing E around the grass on his tricycle, eating, and watching the little man open presents. Highlights included seeing his faces of wonder at his gifts and watching him successfully blow out one of the two candles on his cake.

happy 2nd birthday to emory from Meghan Beutler on Vimeo.