time for a tailgate

the littlest hart turned two in late november and we celebrated tailgate style.  our boy LOVES playing ball and zooming his trucks.  mama loves vintage-y plaid goodness.  we all loved eeking out the last remnant of fall weather in the backyard and spending an afternoon surrounded by friends and family in honor of sweet enzo.

cheesy but cute invitations.

as our guests walked up the driveway, a hot cocoa station greeted them - in a tailgate, of course.  served in vintage thermoses (thank you to our kind neighbors for the loan!) and complete with mini marshmallows to top off your cup.

on the menu
two kinds of chili (and the veggie version was ah-mazing!) and toppings
cornbread
hot dogs
nachos
veggies with dip
apples, clementines, and fruit salad
bottled root beer
bottled "adult" beer

the cake topper, part of a secondhand football trophy, was found at one of my fave local places - the I.D.E.A. store in champaign.

the handmade pinata was made using this tutorial.  it was a labor of love.  and a fun project to take on with luca.  good thing it came in handy as a great photo prop, because the amount of time it took to make compared to that needed to beat it apart is crazy silly. :)

you can read how we incorporated operation christmas child into the festivities here.

i had no clue the back of the cake was so wonky until sorting through the photos.  frosting at 11pm the night before might account for it.  oh well.  :)

enzo was very shy during the singing but was excited to blow out the candles.  look at those lips!  in the end, he needed a little papi help.

curls, eyes, cheeks, fingers - j'adore this photo.

and a couple other cakes for the rest of us.  it was out of the box cake mix, but the homemade frosting was so tasty, no one could tell the difference.  (even the friends who have tasted my from scratch wedding cakes.)

other than general frolicking about in the backyard and eating lots of yummy food, we had a mini trampoline and a bags set available.  there was even some climbing on the yet-to-be-completed tree fort.  i had hoped for a game of flag football to start up, but there was only so much time.  in the future, i need to remember to assign those kind of tasks. little brothers (aka cool uncles) are good candidates.

it has been quite a year for our family and this party felt like a way of saying we are not defeated.  that might sound weird, but it was such a joy to host and be with those who make us smile.  it was a joy to celebrate the precious life of our not-a-baby-but-i-will-keep-calling-him-that boy.  so thankful for him.

we love you, enzo!!!