Let’s Have a Ball! – The Moberg Family

Although it’s our joy to celebrate our son every day of his life, I love when birthdays come around because it’s an excuse to celebrate him a little over-the-top!

His birthday celebrations started on the Friday before his birthday at “preschool” (Elliott attended a little preschool 2-3 mornings a week with his other YWAM buddies). His teacher, Miss Jennifer, said she thought it would be fun to do a little celebration for him! So I baked up a little treat, Brian, Selah and I surprised him at preschool, we all sang happy birthday, and he got to try (what I think was) his very first brownie.

“And you’re saying this is just the BEGINNING of my birthday celebrations?!!”

There was no doubt in our minds that the best way to celebrate our ball-loving boy was to have a ball! with his favorite friends. So the next day, Saturday, we did that very thing. Grandma and Grandpa Moberg even made it down for the festivities! I jumped on Pinterest for the first time, came up with a few of my own ideas, and had a ball planning his celebration! Because *someone* took WAYYYY too many pictures for an ordinary blog post, I’ve decided to just put “a few” up here, and I posted the rest in a gallery. Feel free to click at the very bottom to see more pictures from all his birthday celebrations!

We started off outside playing ball games.

So happy that his good friend Louie was there to play, too.

The pre-games game. The point was to bounce the ball into the holes, but Elliott preferred to sit and throw :).

Brian and Elliott explain the first game–the Ping Pong ball hunt. Brian asked Elliott to hold up a ping pong ball, and Elliott held it up the ENTIRE time that Brian explained the rules. So cute. What’s a Ping Pong Ball hunt, you ask? Well, what would YOU do if you were a boy and you knew that 144 ping pong balls were hidden in the surrounding area? HUNT THEM, of course!!

The challenge was, they didn’t get the privilege of using anything to hold all their ping pong balls except their helper adult that they chose. The adults had to get creative so as not to disappoint. Here’s Declan and Brodie!

Next game: Carry the ping pong ball to the bucket with a spoon!

“Carry the ping pong ball to the bucket while it’s on the spoon? No problem!”

Here are Noah, Hunter and Elliott all running toward the bucket. Noah is the only one following the rules :). But I love how Hunter and Elliott have created their OWN unique way of getting the ping pong ball to the bucket, ha! 🙂

Next, Brian set up a little bowling game for the boys. And after all of that wild running around and ball playing, it was time to EAT! I actually had a super cute ball craft that I found on Pinterest that I wanted to do, but everyone was hungry :). Oh, well…next year! 🙂

So we continued to have a ball indoors…

The “Let’s Have a Ball” banner I made, with the annual birthday banner hanging on top!

What do you do when your son’s birthday party is right in the middle of a big move and all of the shelves are empty because everything is packed up? That’s right, you line them with balls! Balloon balls, that is! I came up with this idea–drawing on balloons with sharpies!

Ball-themed food, set up on a football field! Thank you, Pinterest!

I came up with these little football field posts to mark the food!

Round drinks with pinterest-inspired straw markers that I made.

Other Special Guests:

Bex, Malene, and Jennifer…England, Norway, and America all representing at Elliott’s “very American” ball birthday party…in MEXICO! I love it!

So we all ate…

“Apple juice, a ball bib, AND I get to drink out of a baseball straw with my name on it?!? I LOVE having a birthday!!!”

…And Elliott opened presents!

“Hmm…I think I’ll open the one shaped like A BALL first…”

The MOST exciting race car from Tio Giezi and Tia Amanda! (You can tell the “like” factor by measuring the length of drool hanging out of his mouth…)

And then, of course, we had cupcakes!

Thank you, pinterest! My favorite part…icing these babies :).

SO excited to blow out his baseball and football candles on a soccer ball cupcake!

Brian let him blow out his candles three times because he loved it so much! HA!

Louie, Elliott, Declan, Noah and Hunter!

“Hope you had a ball!” with hacky sacks for party favors 🙂

Our family with a WIPED out Elliott, wearing his new hat, with his new basketball in arm’s reach :).

Elliott was SO BLESSED by all of his friends and family that came out to have a ball with him!! When everyone had left, he took a nap while Brian, Ken, Marilyn and I started packing up the rest of our house. Two days later, we were completely moved out of Mexico! Ken, Marilyn, and the kids and I spent two days in San Diego while Brian started the drive to Tacoma. We flew out on March 20, the day Elliott turned 2! (Which, ironically enough, meant that we had to buy him his own ticket!)

The night before his birthday as I was tucking him into bed, I explained to him that he would wake up the next day and be two! (I started to tell him about the day he was born, but then I stopped because I want to see if he can remember his birth story without me telling him when he turns 3…I know I’m crazy, but I’ve heard IT’S POSSIBLE!!) So I told him how special that day was, when Daddy and I got to hold him in our arms for the first time. He asked about Selah, and I told him she wasn’t born yet. 🙂 Anyhow, the next morning I was awoken extra early by Elliott’s voice in the other room saying, “Two! Two! Two!!” Melt my heart.

I searched long and hard to find Elliott this birthday pin so everyone on the plane would know it was his birthday, but he refused to wear it most of the day. He really wanted ME to wear it, which is SO like him :).

March 20, 2013!

Periodically I would ask him if he wanted to put it on, and this time he said, “yes”!! So I stuck it on him and snapped a picture!

Buckling Elmo in…AFTER he had buckled himself in, of course :).

Missing Daddy on the plane. But SO BLESSED to have Grandma and Grandpa there to help with the kiddos and all the luggage!!

So AS IF having cupcakes at preschool, a super fun birthday party, AND a plane ride weren’t ENOUGH for this two year old, he had birthday celebrations in both Tacoma and Colorado with family!! What a blessed kiddo!!!!

The Tacoma Festivities

Ken made his classic Mud Pie in a round pie dish so I could decorate it like a soccer ball!! Elliott was getting very used to being sung to, and was soaking in every minute of his new favorite song, “Happy Birthday!”

He got so many fun presents, including a super cool t-ball set from Aunt Angela!

The Moberg cousins: Selah, Taylor, Micah, Elliott and Hailey!

And on to Colorado, to celebrate with Uncle Doug whose birthday is just a couple weeks after Elliott’s.

“You snooze, you lose, Uncle Doug! I’m the fastest candle snuffer in town!”

Grandpa and Nonna with most of the grand kids (we missed you, Andrew and Courtney!!)

Well, I hope you had a ball celebrating vicariously through this blog post with Elliott!! If you haven’t had enough yet, feel free to click on Elliott’s 2nd Birthday Gallery to see more pictures from all of his birthday celebrations!

Happy, happy birthday to our big TWO YEAR OLD!! What a JOY it is to celebrate YOUR LIFE!!!!

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