Happy 2nd Birthday Harper!

It's hard to believe our little guy is two years old. I'm sure I'll say something similar as each year goes by, but my how he's grown in the past year! Tonight as we were putting him to bed, Harper could finish almost every sentence in the Curious George book we checked out from the library. He's such a smart little boy and amazes us with how much he soaks up and learns.

Even though today is Harper's actual birthday, it was a pretty low-key day. To make it special, we made breakfast for birthday dinner consisting of blueberry pancakes, sausage and cantaloupe. The main event was a three hour nap, leftover recovery mode from yesterday's grand party.

I decided Harper's party theme would be animals this year, so yesterday morning we headed to the Minnesota Zoo. Joshua and I purchased a family membership as Harper's main birthday present so we can return as many times as we like over the next year. We were joined by family and friends for a fun, sunny day at the zoo complete with picnic lunch and goat mobs.

Harper did a ton of walking at the zoo, so he easily fell asleep on the way home. We let him nap awhile as we readied everything for the birthday part of the party and waited for everyone else to show up. I'm so thankful the weather was sunny and warm, allowing us to take the party to the backyard. The kids had a ton of fun playing in the water table, blowing bubbles, drawing with sidewalk chalk, bouncing balls and balloons, and of course eating snacks and cupcakes. I think the adults had a good time too. :)

After all the day's activities, grilled burgers for dinner, and gifts galore, our very tired two year old was past the point of being ready for bed. You know what I mean...that point where emotions run wild and it's hard to get them to do anything. We finally managed to settle the birthday boy down, but it was far from a restful night. Both Joshua and I were up with him during the night, sometimes lying with him in his bed, other times rubbing his back, etc. We're hoping the three hour nap today helped reset his sleep cycle for a good night's rest tonight.

Thank you to everyone who celebrated Harper's birthday with us! It was such a memorable day. Enjoy the following slideshow with many more photos: