happy #3

Owen's 3rd birthday was a BIG day in a long line of previous BIG days.

It's really hard to be 3 and to have so much fun so many days in a row.

I say that tongue-in-cheek, but it was a lot of stimulation after being a little short on sleep =)

 Poor kid. I would never wish for him to have his birthday 2 days after Christmas, but that's how we roll in this family, and I'd bet a lot of $ he'll have a kid born during this week, too!

We started the day with a family get together. Owen's present from us was a wheelbarrow. He l.o.v.e.s to push his cars around in Amelia's grocery cart and Amelia's baby doll stroller (both pink), so we figured we would get him something with a greater carrying capacity that can also be pushed around (and wasn't pink).

He had his favorite cheerleader to help him open gifts!

Planes Movie! This has come in very handy with all of the snow days we've had!

"If you give a mouse a cookie....."

He'll likely want a glass of milk and more presents to open!

He loaded up on Monster Truck Jam & a car stacking truck & even a LeapPad.

Now I have my iPad back =)

 

Jackpot. When asked about whether he wanted donuts or presents first, the answer was obviously presents. How could I even assume something different?

So while Owen discovered the wonders of his new loot, we got the girls settled in with donuts and fruit. I don't know that either of them had ever had a donut before, so as you can imagine, they sat still and enjoyed every morsel. Together. Adorbs.

She did a good job of eating her fruit, too =)

The donuts were a hit with these two big kids as well. I highly recommend a donut party. What's the difference between a donut and cake? Nothing. I had already resolved to let him have a big piece of something unhealthy. The difference with a donut party is it's the main course. But it's SO easy. Donuts, fruit salad, juice, coffee. Boom. Easy. I think we have a new tradition!

He finally got around to his donut... this kid really doesn't care about food. (I wish I didn't!). He was thrilled with the candle in his smiley face, cream filled donut.

I think he wished for more sugar.

His wish came true. He ate around the perimeter and was done!

(Note the Hot Wheels plate... as if his 3rd birthday party theme would be any thing else!)

We tried everything we could to get our matching beauties to look at the camera at the same, but to no avail. Millie loves her 'Gog gog gog!!!' outfit =)

Carson cracked us up with his party hat creativity.

And our little itsy found someone to read a book to her.

...and Owen played a little bit more. In this picture you'll notice 'Ralphie', Owen's tiger and very very special friend. Ralphie goes with us everywhere. He eats with us, cooks with us, cuddles with us....

 

Squirming away from Papa =) Affection has to be on her own terms (as do most things!)

She found another lap to sit in, too! Uncle Steven is usually pretty obliging!

About to party 'poop out'.

Birthday buddy, MiMa, got to put Owen down for his nap. He slept decently for his nap, but he lost any shred of sanity he had left after nap. He woke up just so spent that he couldn't decide to do anything, and he spent a lot of time crying on the floor. We were going to take him to see Frozen, but instead we stayed inside and played with new toys and then got McAllister's Mac N Cheese for dinner. He had a greeeaaaat day all in all = )

 

Here's what else is up with O:

 

• He weighs 33lb & is 38.5 inches tall.
• He loves to sing. All.of.the.time. Everywhere. He doesn't always have the lyrics down solidly, but he's pretty darn good with the tune.
• He still loves to help make food more than he likes to eat the food (unless it's cookies). Mike got a popcorn maker for Christmas and O really enjoys watching it pop, but he often leaves his bowl on the counter.
• He can communicate well. Whole phone conversations on the phone & his vocabulary is hundreds of words I'm sure.
• Sleep: 7:30pm-6am and 60-90 minutes of nap in the afternoon.
• He's a total chatterbox in the car, and he points out everything he sees. Colors, cars (including the make & model!), letters, hay, construction or farm vehicles, etc.
• Red light, Green light is a recent favorite game. Probably because it involves a bit of chase/running (also a favorite!)
• All of a sudden, his imagination & creation are blossoming. He loves to add 'parts' on to his cars with play doh. Often we add spoilers & blowers. He's getting a bit more in to creating things with legos as well.. turning his Mater lego car in to lots of different characters like dragons, etc. 
• Temperament is pretty calm still (thanks be to God). I've heard that 3 can be more challenging than 2. We still have some work to do with listening, focus, & being nicer to Millie, but so far so good.
• He's eating meat. Finally! Still pretty adverse to trying new foods or eating anything with spaghetti sauce, but we're working on it. 

We continue to be thrilled with his growth & development, and we can't believe he's already 3!

I feel like he was just born yesterday!