Jessie’s 2nd Birthday went well. I started clearning and getting everything ready shortly after waking up. I cleaned up the garage, so that I could move our patio furniture in there for the poker tourney that we were having later at night. Took care of inflating all the balloons. Went to the market to pickup some extra stuff. By 2pm I was exhasusted…and the party was set to start at 3pm. Jane had been trying desperately since 12pm to get Jessie to take a nap. Finally at 2pm, Jessie fell asleep so I went to take a nap with her.

At around 3pm, Jane woke me because guests were arriving. We cut Jessie’s nap short since the party was about to begin. The firsts to arrive were Estela and Jorge(above left); Nick, Alisa, and Kaitlyn; and Jeannie. We sat around munching on snacks and chatting for a little while. A short while later, Edzel and Marie arrived with their kids(JP and Tyler) followed by Sunny and Marilyn. The kiddies pretty much kept busy in the livingroom where we had the toys, while the adults hung out nearby where the food was. Jane and I prepared meatball appetizers(which everyone seemed to like a lot), mini croissant sandwiches, spinach dip with crackers, a fruit tray, a veggie tray, chips, and drinks.

Rosie arrived around 5pm, followed by my coworker Son. Shortly after they arrived, we sang Happy Birthday and ate cake. I wanted to wait for my parents to arrive, but they we’re coming late because of a mandatory conference they had to attend that day. I was going to wait for them even though they asked me not to, but I didn’t want to keep people waiting. So we brought out the cake and gathered everyone around the coffee table. As soon as I laid the cake down on the coffee table, all the kids converged around the table and their eyes got all big. hehe. It was quite funny. Jessie seemed a little nervous when we put her in front of the cake, unlike last year when she was all smiles. I think she was just nervous that all eyes were on her. But once we started singing, she was okay. When the time came to blow out the candle, it only took her two tries. Once the candle was out, Jessie kept sticking her finger into the frosting and licking it off her finger(we didn’t serve that piece btw ).

While everyone was munching on cake, I went to set things up in the livingroom. For the past 3 nights leading up to the party, I had been working on a Powerpoint presentation(photos and music) to show at the party. I borrowed an LCD projector from work to set up in our livingroom so that we could project the slideshow nice and big on our livingroom wall. After I got that setup, we congregated in the livingroom(below left) and watched that. It turned out nice, but I would have liked to have made it longer and incorporated video into it, but I was strap for time. Perhaps next year.

After the slideshow presentation, we moved back to the livingroom and Jessie, along with her helper(above right) opened presents. Jeannie shot video for me(thanks again Jeannie!), while I took pictures. Jessie seemed to enjoy herself. She loves opening presents. She got a few outfits, some Dora the Explorer toys, a stuffed teddy bear, a cute necklace, an alphabet learning toy, a Sesame Street DVD, a Barbie doll, and a few other things I can’t remember right now. It’s always fun to watch kids opening presents at birthdays. Kids love to open presents even if they aren’t their presents. Anyways it was nice to see the kids having fun. That’s what it’s all about.

I had fun teasing my coworker Son. He stayed near where the food was almost the whole time and he always had a plate of something. haha. He joked that this was his breakfast, lunch, dinner and breakfast(for the following day). He said that he only eats once a day. We were like, “Yeah uh huh…you eat once a day but all day long.” Later in the evening, some of us we’re sitting around playing with Jessie. I think it was Shirley who asked Jessie, “Where’s mama?” Jessie pointed at Jane and said “Over here.” Then she asked Jessie, “Where’s dada?” Jessie replied, “Over here,” as she pointed at me. “Where’s Auntie Rosie?” “Over here.” Then came, “Where’s Auntie Marilyn?” Jessie points to Son and says, “Over here.” For the rest of the night, Son was Auntie Marilyn.

Before Edzel and Marie left, I wanted to get a group pic of the kids together(above left). Getting all of them to look at the camera proved impossible. They were too distracted by the toys. Anyways, my parents(above right) ended up arriving at about 6pm or so. They brought Jessie some gifts, had a quick bite to eat, and then left within the hour. They had another all day conference the following day, so they had to get home to rest. I’m glad they were able to make it. Jessie always loves to see them.

We were going to start poker at around 8pm or so. So while we waited for a few more of my coworkers to show, Sunny and I set up his Nintendo Game Cube up in the living room hooking it up to the LC projector. That was sweet. It was projected nice and huge on the wall. Unfortunately I didn’t get to play. Every time I sat down and tried, I had to take care of something else. But Sunny, Marilyn, Rosie, Jeannie, and Gat, and Shirley seemed to enjoy themselves.

Shortly before 8pm, Rob arrived. And then after that, Brian & Laureen, and Francis arrived. We were ready for poker! We had 8 players(Son, Francis, Brian, Rosie, Gat, Sunny, Rob, and myself). Buy-in was $20. Son didn’t have any money(who comes to a poker tournament with an empty wallet?!?), so I spotted him. Anyways Son was the most inexperienced poker player of the group. He looked like a real expert out there… He kept fumbling and knocking over his chips, betting out of turn, betting wrong amounts, flipping his cards when he didn’t need to, etc. However he ended up winning the first three rounds, which give him a sizable early lead. I won’t go into detail, especially since my memory is bad, but Brian got eliminated first. Next was Rob. Then Sunny. Rosie was next. That left Gat, Francis, Son, and myself. Top three won prize money. I was having a bad night, so at this point all I wanted to do was outlast one more person and I was guaranteed at least $32. But Francis knocked me out. Gat was next. And as you would expect, the rookie Son ended up winning the tournament. He took home the $80 pot($60 after he paid me back) with Francis taking $48. After the tournament, Jane said Son should leave his winnings since he ate the most of everyone at the party.

All in all, it was fun. Jessie enjoyed herself and that’s what’s most important. I think she is loving this birthday stuff…opening presents and eating cake. I can’t waitI mean she can’t wait until her third birthday. Until next year…

[The rest of the birthday pics are posted here]

:: had nothing better to do at 9:25 pm ::