(Started writing this one July 20th. *sigh*...I am forever and always playing catch up! And I gave up on narrowing down the pictures, I took waaaaay too many. Thus I resort to a slideshow. =)
My first baby turned 3 on July 10th...that is so amazing to me! These months and years have flown since he was that tiny baby placed in my arms. He's hardly a baby at all any more...now he's our tall, talkative, funny little boy, and he surprises us every day with something new he's learned to do or say. He and I watched some home videos of him when he was younger the other day (he LOVES watching himself!), and it hurt a little bit when I realized I'd already forgotten so much about how he looked and what he was like when he was littler. Its amazing how the slow passing of time can disguise how much our little ones change!!! Even though its a little sad for me to see him growing up so quickly, its fun anticipating all the new phases that are coming our way. I can't believe that in just 2 short years I will have a child old enough to go to elementary school!
Tommy's actual birthday was on Friday this year, but we decided to postpone his birthday party until Saturday evening so some of our family coming into town for Jacob's blessing the next day could make it to the party. (Yes...it was a very busy weekend!) So on Tommy's actual birthday, I told him we could do anything he wanted. One of the first things he wanted was to eat chips for breakfast! Later I made him chocolate cupcakes and he had a lot of fun helping me frost them. We had a little mini-party, just the four of us. Ryan and I sang happy birthday to him, after which he blew out his 3 candles and we chowed down on the cupcakes. We saved his "big" gift for his birthday party the next day, but he still got a nice little stack of gifts on his actual birthday! We gave him a couple new books, a DVD about tractors, a toy tractor and trailer (see a theme here?), a bunch of water toys and a blow-up swimming pool, which was really something I had been meaning to get anyway, not just for his birthday. He got to skip his nap and we spent the rest of the afternoon playing in his pool. We let him play and swim until he was dog-tired and then put him to bed. I think he had a pretty good birthday!
The next day we kept pretty busy getting ready for Tommy's party that night. I decided to throw him a John Deere tractor-themed party, and it was so fun to decorate for! I love the green and yellow John Deere colors and I found so many cute things to use...green and yellow M&M's (I love getting custom colored M&M at Zurchers) and I even discovered there are John Deere fruit snacks! We had lots of balloons (love balloons) in green and yellow and I also found some really cute white ones with little tractors all over them. I wish I had better photos of the decorations...my camera was not cooperating and most of the pictures kept turning out dark). Probably my favorite things of all were the favor boxes and the cute tire-shaped cups I got for Tommy and all the kids! I had fun designing the party invitations too...I used a photo I took myself of a John Deere tractor out in a field on my Mom's cousin's farm, where we had a family reunion last summer.
For Tommy's party we had a BBQ with just family...there were more than 20 of us, which is pretty big for a family party! Tommy was lucky to have both sets of Grandparents there, lots of his aunts and uncles and a bunch of his cousins. Thomas absolutely loved spending time with his cousins Julia, Anika, Aiden & Zander, and they had a ball with all the new toys he got! He got lots of fun new stuff from everyone...his first remote control car, a truck, a tractor, a helicopter, some cool new blocks, a toy hockey set, a Transformer (which he LOVES), and probably more stuff that I can't remember!
After he opened everyone's gifts we brought in his gift from Mommy & Daddy...the "Mighty Trike!" When I found this trike I thought it was the coolest one I'd ever seen...I love the huge wheels and the fact that its a John Deere (fit right in with the theme, which I couldn't help loving!). Its super sturdy and I'm hoping it will be around for a long time. With big gifts I really like trying to find things that are more classic and can be heirloom toys.
After we showed Thomas the trike he of course wanted to take it for a spin! So we all headed outside and Tommy hopped on. He's never had his own trike or bike before, but he pedaled like a pro! Julia hopped on the back right away and he drove her around. We spent the next little while outside, letting Tommy and the kids ride the trike and Tommy's toy 4-wheelers. It was a beautiful night, which I was happy about because the weather earlier in the day had been cloudy and ominous, making me think it was going to rain.
After we came back in we busted out Tommy's birthday cake, which was so cute and which I very much did NOT make. Walmart made it in fact, and it was good! I wish I was one of those talented, cake-decorating mothers, but I'm just not! I absolutely loved the cake, which looked like a plowed field with some little John Deere tractor toys on it. I saw a picture of it a long time ago and have been excited to get it forever. I actually almost did the John Deere theme for Tommy's 2nd birthday, but then ended up doing a "Radio Flyer" theme instead because he was getting a wagon. I was so in love with the cute John Deere theme though, so I decided to save it for this year, and I was so excited to finally throw Tommy his "tractor party!" (I know, I'm a nerd...but I love themes, they're fun!) I actually showed Tommy a picture of the "tractor cake" I was going to get him a couple of months before his party, and he was very excited about it....He even started telling some people about his "tractor cake" when his birthday was still weeks away!
When Tommy finally saw his birthday cake, he thought it was pretty cool! We all sang and he got to blow out his 3 candles a second time, then we chowed down. I really was surprised how good that cake was! We had lots left over that I thought would never get eaten, but I ended up polishing most of the rest off myself over the next few days! In fact, I could go for more of that cake right now...=)
Thomas still talks about his birthday party once in awhile, and how he "had a good party" or "I wish I could have another party!" That makes me so happy! I stress myself out a little each year getting ready for his birthday, but I still have lots of fun planning it...I like doing something special to make my little boy excited and happy!
P.S. I have now reached...
Woohoo!!!
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