We celebrated our little man’s 2nd birthday under the big top with about 40 of our family and friends!  After planning a “Party Animal” theme for Hudson’s first birthday, I had sworn to myself I was going to take this year off and do something super low-key (ie, a cupcake with a candle at home with just immediate family.)  However, on one of our “mommy and me” outings  a few weeks ago I took him to the Carousel at National Harbor – which he LOVED.  As I pryed him off the carousel (no shortage of tears, mind you) after about an hour of “all you can ride” (which made this preggo mama super dizzy) – I noticed a sign saying they rented out for private events.  So, I went from “no party plan” to “the perfect party plan” about 3 weeks out.  After all, I was starting to feel a tad guilty for not doing something.  It’s like the shoemakers kids who have no shoes…the party planner’s kids get the shaft on parties after awhile…sad, I know. I will say that NOT having it at our house and NOT having my husband cook for 50 people was key for a much lower-stress event than last year 🙂 It also helped that the weather was absolutely perfect –  in the 70’s and breezy on the water!  About a 30 degree improvement from last year which just happened to be one of the hottest days of the year – whew! It was a lovely location and the kids had a blast.

This cake from “Sweets by E” was just perfect!!  Yummy too.

This boy has my heart!  And excuse our crazy hair – the wind was out of control, but I still adore this picture of us.

A cute little market stand allowed the kiddies to grab snacks – Smucker’s PB&J, raisin boxes, apple sauce pouches, goldfish cones, clementines and bananas, small boxes of Chick Fil A mini’s (nuggets + a mini biscuit, which some of the adults DID snag…I don’t blame you!)

My sister-in-law, Kayanne Savage, just happens to be uber talented and does signage + calligraphy as a hobby, so she also made this chalkboard sign (in addition to taking all of these photos…another “hobby!”)

We had a great company called “Clowning Around” onsite to entertain kids with face painting and balloon twisting!

How adorable is my niece??

Ladies and gentlemen, the littlest ringmaster:

Ok, so in reality the kids drank Honest Juice pouches, but the mini coke can from the adult beverage bin made for a cuter picture 😉

Remember that uber talented sister-in-law I mentioned above?  Yeah, she also made these stinkin’ adorable cupcakes.

My mother-in-law loves to make sugar cookies – it’s kind of her tradition for special occasions and holidays in our family, so she made these cuuute circus-themed ones!