Porter's 3rd Birthday

Porter has been OBSESSED with birthdays lately... thanks to Thomas books, Little Einsteins Shows (Birthday Machine and Birthday Balloons), and a Mickey Mouse Club House show. He learned to answer when his birthday was 'April 22nd,' but never quite mastered saying how old he is. All he talked about was having a party with silly hats, presents, balloons, streamers, and a cake.
So the morning of his birthday we filled the hallway outside his room with balloons. It was a long night... he got up 4 times, go figure! It was like Christmas morning, but instead of the kids being up early in anticipation they slept in and we were anxious for him to get up! We waited and waited and waited and then I went in to wake him up at 7:15 (he NEVER sleeps past 6)... he rolls over like a teenager and says 'mom what are you doing in my room?' He was pretty surprised and eventually excited about all the balloons and that it was finally his birthday (we'd been shopping earlier in the week for his party so he couldn't wait for the day to finally come!)

(trying to be excited, but still a little groggy)

Presents!!


he got a set of train tracks from his Great Grandma and some new trains from us


Breakfast pan'cakes' (his party wasn't till the next day and I hadn't made his cake yet)...

Next we went to kids club at the mall and saw Duper and Persephone and rode the carousel...

Then we ate lunch... he wanted the birthday song again (he's sang it to himself all day long!)...

nap time was next... all his new friends, not just Thomas and baggage car needed a nap too... Harvey and Butch and Percy and Isabella. It was more of a party than nap time. Add all the balloons from the morning and I should have known no nap would happen. WAY to much excitement today, but he tried for over an hour.
Then mom told him he could play after all it was HIS birthday.

so he grabbed his firehat and introduced his new cars to the 'upstairs' tracks and showed them the bridge and told them not to be scared of the tunnel...

Then dad got home and we went to the zoo... Grandparents Bird got the kids passes for their birthdays so we went for a quick visit... we saw some animals we didn't get to see the last time. The weather was perfect and it was just before they closed so we got to see a lot of the animals eating their dinner!

zebras...

flamingos... he was SO excited. He even stood like the flamingos on 1 foot...

Avery is VERY interested in the animals... she had that little finger pointed most of the time we were there...

Porter went down to the water to look at the fish... then a duck came... then a turtle...

then a sister

we also saw monkeys... until Avery scared them away by banging on the glass (funny that they were scared of the littlest of us). We watched the elephants eat carrots, saw the new 'dragon' lizard (big disappointment) and watched orangutans for awhile... very fun, but for some reason no pictures =(

Needless to say without a nap Porter was exhausted, but he did have the BEST birthday ever!

The next night we invited 2 of Porter's friends and their families over for a BBQ (I didn't really want to have a big party... I knew it would overwhelm him, plus he doesn't have many 'close' friends just lots of acquaintances)

Here's Porter's cake... what a nightmare, I almost threw it away before it was finished. Luckily Porter got up from his nap and 1. recognized what it was and 2. he was way excited and cheered me on. It turned out okay... it was a learning experience. Hopefully I learn enough that by the time he starts to care it won't look so bad.

the "Train" cake

CHEESE!

Porter and his friends Byron and Andres.

they had balloon fights... they loved the balloons.

Life as a 2 or 3 year old is so simple, nothing fancy just give us balloons.

goof balls!

remember he wanted hats? he HATED them. He only tried it on again because his friends were okay wearing them...

then there were presents. Andres got him a Thomas painting set (sweet!) and Byron got him a number stomp game... even without the batteries in yet he LOVED it! And Grandparents Cox got him a t-ball set (a big hit literally... the boys took turns. Good thing we got foam balls)

THE END (of Porter's 3rd birthday that is)

Here's a little of Avery and a few other pics:

This girl LOVES Oreos...her mood is instantly changed by a little of that chocolate goodness.

she LOVES her puppy, she LOVED Porter's birthday balloons

LOVED Porter's little animals from Aunt Melissa

(she has officially claimed them as her own)

she LOVES pink flowers

Here's a look at the Easter outfits:

After taking pictures I thought I didn't have anything good (but I'm used to that!)

A little cropping and wow... a good picture both smiling AND sitting together, lifes little miracles!

Porter decided to actually pose for me right before his party.
(when did he get so big and grown up looking!)

Since he was willing we tried some sibling pictures

k mom here's some smiles, here's some goofy

what's next, oh my when is this going to be over (Avery taking cues from Porter)

1,2,3 give mom one good cheesy picture!

well done!

and one with daddy!

THE END (for real)