February and Austin's second birthday

February may be the shortest month of the year, but it sure felt like the longest around here.

It started out with a lot of fun and a SuperBowl party that consisted of 8 adults and 4 children (one who was only old enough to lie in her parents arms). Needless to say, most of the game was spent watching the kids play and scream rather than watching the game. But it was still a good time, and the kids had fun together -- especially when they all decided to play with the laundry basket (and yes, they all got in without being prompted!)

Then Lilo, Isabelle and Austin thought this would be a good idea!

The month then chugged along at February speed and suddenly it was almost Austin's second birthday. We planned a small party this year, inviting just the same two friends over (and their parents) for him to play with and eat cake with. Then, two days before, mommy came down with the flu and on Feb. 24 -- Austin's actual birthday -- Austin came down with the flu. (And then, for the record, Ryan came down with it on Feb. 25.) Needless to say, we had to cancel the party while we all took turns complaining about who was sicker.

Even though Austin was running a pretty high fever on his birthday, we offered him a cupcake -- which I had already made. And even though he hadn't eaten anything all day, he still managed to find a way to eat the whole thing!Unfortunately, this flu went through our house like a train wreck, and lingered and lingered and lingered. All three of us were in varying stages of misery all week and by the following weekend both mommy and Austin had come down with secondary infections. But we are now on the mend, and we did manage to have Austin's rescheduled party on March 2. Here are a few photos: