Happy Birthday to Moo!

October 22 marked two years since our little ball of sunshine and silliness, sweet Manuel Mark, made his entrance into this world. "Ball of sunshine and silliness" really is about the best way that I know how to describe him: He loves to ham it up for anyone who will watch, and he has so many cute little quirks and habits that I find Gabriel and myself saying, "He's just so cute" far too often. I tell Manny himself that he's way too cute, which is pretty dangerous, I think. I worry that I give him the power to get away with naughtiness if he'll only just turn on the charm; I'm sure that it's already happening. We love you, our sweet little Moosy, our delicious Pumpkin Pie! Many years!

I planned to hold off on any real birthday celebration until the day after Manny's actual birthday, when Gangee visited, to avoid any confusion about birthdays lasting only one day, not several. The morning of his birthday, though, my husband scolded my energy conservation project, so I agreed to at least do something. The boys and I made oatmeal cookies to be served with our lentil and rice casserole dinner. "Lentil and rice casserole" doesn't sound like much of a birthday dinner, does it?, but Manny loved it. As I said, a little ball of sunshine.

Oatmeal cookie cake will serve in a pinch...

...as long as it's accompanied by ice cream.

This is the look of a boy who doesn't want to be interrupted while playing with his new Winterwonderland Thomas the Tank Engine and the giggling Troublesome Trucks. ("Giggling Troublesome Truck," incidentally, happens to be a great nickname for Manny, who does indeed love to giggle while making trouble. Trouble is cute! Trouble is fun!)

Here's Manny's "real" birthday cake. It's supposed to be a dinosaur. There has to be a dino that was green with blue spots and a fin on its back, right? Dinosaur, dragon, whatever; it fierce and close enough for an easy-to-please two year old boy.

Nice work on the candles, Moo.