Two

A certain little boy in our family had a birthday last week. That’s right – Small Fry is now officially 2!

This little guy is a real treat to know. He has his moments, like any of us, but as a rule he’s a wonderful child. He loves fuzzy critters of all kinds. Whenever we’re out walking and he sees someone with a dog, he always stops to point it out to us. His favorite place to be is outside – he doesn’t care where outside, just out in nature! He doesn’t seem to mind whether or not he wears clothes, but he adores his shoes. He would probably wear them to bed if I’d let him! But as much as he loves his shoes, he’s also perfectly happy to go out without them if it means he can get out of the house. He prefers vegetables to meat, but he does like chicken and fish when we give it to him. I don’t think he’s ever met a fruit he didn’t like! He also likes his sweets, though, so we have to be careful with them. He’s been known to turn into a bit of a monster baby if someone has ice cream and he doesn’t!

To celebrate his life, we had a barbecue with family. All three sets of his grandparents (my parents are divorced) came, along with one set of great-grandparents and the “real” (meaning not Will’s stepsiblings) aunts, uncles, and cousins on both sides. We kept it simple, serving burgers, brats, and macaroni salad (the real stuff, not from a box). In lieu of a cake, we did fresh fruit: watermelon, grapes, and strawberries.

To make this, I bought some bamboo skewers from the grocery store. On the morning before the party, I threaded eight grapes onto each skewer and topped it with a strawberry. I made 24 of these and popped them in the freezer. Closer to party time, I cut the top third (or so) off of the watermelon and used my ice cream scoop to make melon balls. I put these balls into a large bowl until the whole melon was hollowed out, then put them back in to the shell. At party time, I placed the skewers of grapes and berries into the watermelon. Since there was no cake, I had to come up with something to do for the candle. As you can see from the picture, I used another skewer, stuck it in the bottom of the candle, and placed it in there as well. Because it was so hot on the day of the party (which we did on his actual birthday since it fell on a Saturday this year), everyone was grateful to have fresh, cool fruit instead of heavy, sugary cake. The only thing I would do differently next time would be to freeze the grapes but not the strawberries. Strawberries that have been frozen and then thawed are not as good as regular fresh berries. It’d be worth the time to add the strawberries right before serving.

Overall, it was a successful party for a very sweet little boy!

Happy birthday, Small Fry!

Blessings,

Wendy