Happy Birthday Hunter!

My baby turned 3 years old on Monday, June 14th (Flag Day)!!  He is growing up so fast!

We spent the entire weekend celebrating!  Hunter has never had a birthday party before, so I decided it was time!  He LOVED it!  Jacob DID NOT!  Well, Jacob had fun, but he was sure jealous of all the attention and presents Hunter was getting.  He said he wished it was his birthday so he would get all the presents and Hunter wouldn't.  Poor Jacob!  Hunter is always his willing side-kick. It's hard for Jacob to step aside and let someone else enjoy the spotlight for a moment!

We had a water party on Saturday, June 12th.  I wanted to have a small party..I wasn't feeling up to a big bash, so we just invited cousins that he is close to.  I was worried the kids were going to be toasty being outside for the whole party but we had unseasonably nice weather and it was perfect!  Well, the kids got a little chilly while running through the sprinklers so that didn't last very long!

The Birthday Gang!  Hunter doesn't look very happy but he was!

Too cold for sprinklers!

The kids' favorite games were all the ones involving water balloons!  I might buy a few packages next time..although it took Trevor quite a while to fill up the 101 we had!  The kids had a water balloon toss.  That didn't last very long.  Turns out they weren't very good at catching!

Then we had target practice.  The target drawn by chalk on the sidewalk was invisible after a few tosses!

We had a relay race with the water balloons. The kids had to run to a chair and sit on it to pop it, then run back so their next teammate could go.  It was pretty cute to see these little kids hopping up and down on the balloons, trying to pop them!  Some of the balloons were pretty tough to pop!

This picture made me laugh.  In the previous picture, Zachary is messing around with his water balloon.  A second later it fell to the ground and splattered. Hunter acted all annoyed and said in his irritated tone, "you got my feet all wet Zachary!"  I was laughing!

Relay Race, sitting on balloons to pop them.

The games ended very quickly, I guess I should have planned more.  Each game only lasted a few minutes! The kids really just wanted to play with the water balloons so we let them take the leftovers and have target practice with the chairs.  That game went REALLY quick!

The kids are lining up to watch Hunter open his presents.  Jacob is so photogenic!

Hunter was being shy as we sang Happy Birthday to him.

When it was time to open presents, he asked, "Are those for me, Mom??"  It was really cute.

The party finally ended and I realized there was one more game we forgot to play. The kids had these balloons tied to their feet and they tried to pop everyone else's.  A few of the kids just wanted to pop their own balloons.

On Sunday, June 13th, we had my parents and Tyler over for dinner and dessert.  Hunter requested a Strawberry cake.  I just made him a white cake with strawberry frosting.  He was content with it.

Jacob was sure to "help" Hunter open his presents and micro-manage who was going to play with each toy.

This is the Birthday Boy on his actual birthday!  Trevor and I left that afternoon for his business trip. I was lucky enough to tag along thanks to our wonderful and generous mothers!  It was nice to get away.

Hunter had a great birthday!  Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes and gifts!

Unfortunately for Hunter, his 3rd birthday meant the farewell of his binky (does it seem like we are saying farewell to lots of things over here?)  I did let him keep it until we returned from our trip..I didn't want Trevor's mom to have to suffer!  The night we got back, I told him it was time for binky to go bye bye.  He ran and got it for me and acted like it was no big deal to hand it over forever.  I hid it in the kitchen (one of them was still roaming around the house but luckily I found it the next day before he did).  He asked where binky went and I told him it went bye bye since he was too big for it.  I thought he was taking it pretty well..until that night as we were getting ready for bed.  He was laying on the floor, bawling for it.  He calmed down to read stories and fell asleep during them.  I was relieved.  He has been doing great ever since.  He has asked me a few times where it is, but I keep telling him the same thing.  He still carries his blankie all around the house, but we are ok with that.  I held onto them for about a day, then I thought, 'why am I keeping these?  I won't give them back to him, no matter what.' So they ended up in the garbage.  So long binky!!

A few 3 year old things about Hunter:

*He still loves cars, trucks & trains

*He and Jacob are best friends.  Even though they fight every now and then, they are usually happy and playing together. In the morning, if Jacob is up before Hunter, he will ask me when Hunter is going to get up.  If Jacob is not home, Hunter is very bored and gets quite obnoxious!

*He is the sweetest boy.  He & Jacob are always telling me I'm beautiful and pretty.  Plus, he LOVES to bring me flowers.  He will hide them behind his back and say, "Mommy, I have a sprise for you!" with this big grin on his face.

*Up until a few days ago, he carried his binky & blankie everywhere he went in the house.  Now it's just blankie that gets dragged around since binky's departure.

*He is REALLY loud and has been this way since he was a baby!  When he was a few days old and we had just brought him home, he kept letting out these LOUD screeches, for no reason at all!  I was so shocked that a tiny baby could make that much noise.  Even in his regular voice, he bellows.  I have to remind him to use his quiet voice when he gets out of control.

*He loves to tease and call people the wrong names.  He gets the biggest kick out of it.

*His favorite movies used to be Baby Einstein, but now he loves to watch Thomas the Tank Engine, Tom & Jerry & Diego.

*Trevor says he's just like me in the mornings..crabby!  It takes us a while to shake off the sleepiness & be happy!

*He LOVES to eat!  His favorite cereal is Cap'n Crunch and his favorite foods are chicken nuggets and french fries.  He also likes spaghetti and candy of course!

*He LOVES to swim!  Who knew after those first tragic weeks of swimming lessons that he would be begging to swim to me in the pool??!!

*He loves to sing (which is really loud yelling).  This is how he sings the ABC's: a-b-c-d-e-f-g-h-i-k-k-nah-nah-nah-nah-b-q-r-s-q-r-b-nah-nah-nah-nah-noo-q-r-s..now I know my abc's next time whey whey nah-nah-nah-nah-b!

*He loves his big brother.  He follows him wherever he goes!

*He and Jacob LOVE to wear the same clothes, pajamas and underwear.  They get SO excited!

*We are so lucky to have him in our family!

We love you Hunter!