Joseph's 3rd Birthday!

It's hard to believe, but my first baby is now a three year old! This year I didn't plan on any big party, partially because his birthday was mid-week, but also because it was impossible to pin him down on what he would have wanted. When prompted, all Joseph would request was a cake...with white frosting. That's it. He never named any gift ideas, fun things to do, nothing!

He does request pancakes for breakfast almost every morning, though, and green appears to be his current favorite color, so I decided to have some fun ready to go. He's discovered a love for maraschino cherries, "funny face" pancakes and all kinds of berries, so I opted to combine them all - I made plain and green pancakes, used my #3 cookie cutter to cut out alternating sections from pancakes, and filled the space in his big pancake with cherries.

He was pretty thrilled with this whole breakfast, which was good because he completely ignored all of the balloons and decorations all over the first floor when he woke up!

After a few rounds of eating cherries and whipped cream, he decided to fill his pancake with strawberries and blueberries.

 He eventually finished his breakfast, just in time for Papa and Ethan to come over so we could head to open play time at Pump It Up. Before we knew Ethan was going to be in town, I put the playdate on the mom's group calendar so Joseph could have some fun with his friends. A few people showed up, but it took awhile before Joseph wanted to play with anyone other than Ethan.

When we first got into the room, Joseph took off excitedly after Ethan, and ended up scaling to the top of one of the inflatables. Ethan came tearing down the slide, and I saw Joseph at the top, but he disappeared back down the other side. I was concerned that he had fallen, so I started back into the play space and discovered him, making this face:

It had been a few weeks since we'd played on such big inflatables, and he'd apparently forgotten how much fun the slides could be. It took a while watching Ethan before he was ok with going down the slides, but only on my lap.

 Ethan definitely had a good time, though!

 The boys spent a lot of time running around this circular inflatable, throwing bouncy balls at each other and making sure to scream and shriek as much as possible.

 Joseph also spent some time driving the little tykes cars, but stopped when he saw Papa and Maddie and had to run over and spend a bit of time with her.

I'm so glad that Gary was able to come! I was a little concerned when I set this event up, knowing that Joseph may want me to play with him, but not being sure what I'd do about Madeline. Gary watched her for most of the hour and change that we were there, and she was a good sport to sit back and watch the big kids play.

Open play ended at 11:30, so we headed to Joseph's favorite restaurant: Fritz's! He was definitely starting to get tired, so his favorite thumb hung out with us for a while.

Both of the boys had a lot of fun watching the trains going around the perimeter of the restaurant, and especially loved trying to guess which train was going to deliver our lunch!

 My parents decided the night before to drive up and surprise Joseph, and arrived just as our food was delivered. Joseph was definitely surprised and wasn't sure what to make of them being there so suddenly!

And what trip to Fritz's is complete without a ride (or two) on the mechanical train with your best bud?

It was getting late, so we said our goodbyes to Ethan and Papa so each of the boys could get in a good nap before regrouping at dinner. While Joseph was napping, Joe came home early so that we could open some birthday presents before dinner. Grandpa Joe sent a fun digital camera, and Joseph got the hang of it really quickly!

 He loved running around, snapping pictures of everyone and everything. He wasn't too good about using the viewfinder, but somehow managed to actually get a few good shots!

We convinced him to put the camera down long enough to open another gift, this one from Aunt Lisa, Uncle Dan and his other cousins - a take apart car!

 He was definitely excited to take the car apart and put it back together, and Papa was happy to help show him how to use the powered screwdriver.

Of course, we had to document the new gift as well, just in case he forgot.

We took a few more gifts with us, as it was time to head to the T-Rex Cafe, where we were having dinner with Ethan, Nana and Papa. Even though it was a Tuesday and the restaurant was pretty empty, service was rather slow. That wasn't really much of a problem, as the boys had fun exploring the restaurant, checking out the dinosaurs, and taking a number of trips to the bathroom!

I had opted to bring his birthday cake with us, and after opening his fireman sheet set and wall decals from Nana and Papa and a tow truck from Mimi and Papa, it was time for the main event!

Joseph was pretty excited to see his big number 3 birthday cake with lots of white frosting and candies, and wanted to take some pictures before we lit the candles. It's like he's watched us take thousands of pictures of him and knows exactly what to do!

We were planning on waiting for the staff to join us to sing, but they were taking too long, so we went ahead without them. Definitely not a big deal, as this little boy LOVES blowing out his candles, so when they finally made it back to us, we just did a repeat before cutting into the cake.

I'm pretty sure Joseph had a great day, and we were so glad that Ethan was around to make it extra special!

At his check up this week, we learned that he's right on track with his stats:
Weight: 29 lbs
Height: 37 1/4 inches

Loves: his sister! trains, trucks, fire engines, helicopters, airplanes, jumping off everything, spinning in circles, long naps, school, playing with friends, putting puzzles together

Favorite foods: All berries - blueberries, strawberries, blackberries in particular, waffles, pancakes, scrambled eggs, yogurt, most veggies, cheese, corn dogs, grilled cheese sandwiches, cheese "roll ups"

Favorite color: green

We are so very blessed to have such a sweet, loving little boy in our lives! Madeline absolutely adores him and giggles at him constantly, which in turn makes him so happy. We love you JoJo!
He talks up a storm, and his vocabulary and grammar skills grow noticeably each and every week. He's great at counting to 10, can sing his ABCs, knows his colors and loves being read and sung to.