Man, are we ever in love with this kid!! The past three years with him have been pure bliss. There have been more than a few sleepless nights, and this past year when he turned from being the perfect angel into being a normal 2 year old was a bit challenging. But honestly, we wouldn't trade him for anything in the world!
We began Zach's third birthday celebration by making cupcakes together. I don't know that I've ever let him "lick the beaters" before--I don't make cake often. But, as you can see from the photograph, he didn't need any instruction on how to do it like a pro!
We made them the night before his birthday party, and I frosted them green, per his request, and placed tin foil over the cake pan overnight. In the mornings, I often put on a movie for him while I feed Zoey in my bed (she gets distracted from eating very easily). So after I finished feeding her, I marveled that Zach hadn't busted in like he usually does. When I got out to the living room, his hands and face appeared to be covered in marker or something. WRONG! It was the green frosting from his cupcakes! To my horror, I found the tin foil off the pan, which he had moved to the floor, and each of the cupcakes had been licked to the birthday boy's utter delight! A few of the unfrosted chocolate ones had been poked open, as if searching for a sugary center or something.
I concluded that I just couldn't get mad. That was his birthday present from me!! He got to man-handle a whole batch of cupcakes, and eat one for both breakfast and lunch that day, just because it was his special day. I did, however, kindly explain that this was not okay, for future reference!
Thankfully, his party was scheduled late in the day so that I had plenty of time to bake and frost a new batch. I opted for yellow, blue, and white frosting this time--the green looked kind of sickly-- and I think they turned out much cuter. I then kind of massacred them by spelling out "Happy Birthday Zach" in multi-colored jelly beans on them. A real homemaker would have made sure the jelly beans were color-coordinated, right?! I'll learn! (The kids at the party were delighted with jelly beans, though, and didn't seem to mind the colors!)
We had his party at "The Ark," which is a great indoor playground at a nearby Baptist church. Several churches around here have places like this to play, which is awesome during the long, hot summers! I kind of wish our church would do something like this!
He had a few of his friends from nursery and preschool come, and they all had a lot of fun eating cupcakes and whacking the pinata. A few random kids from the playplace just joined right in the fun too!
We gave Zach a wooden train set for his gift. He loves blocks and digs the doll house we bought Zoey, so we thought this would be a fun thing for him to build and play with. He loves it and kept saying saying, "Thank you Mom and Dad for getting me this cool chugga-chugga-choo-choo-train set!" for hours afterward! Zoey is unfortunately loving to pull herself up to the table and pull it down. Oh, well!
As I hinted at previously, I am no Martha Stewart. I see the amount of time some moms put in to perfectly plan and decorate an immaculate party and corresponding cake with matching favors and everything. I seriously applaud them. Their kids adore it. But since he is 3 and will likely not remember any details of this party, I'll wait to get my Martha on until he will actually remember and appreciate it. Or maybe I'll never emulate Martha, and instead, I'll follow in the footsteps of my own awesome momma who did the best with what we had around the house and her own creativity. My birthday parties never had a theme, and the activities varied from having a fashion show with her old prom dresses and even her wedding dress to painting oyster shells with fingernail polish to twirling dance ribbons around in the backyard. Random, crazy stuff that the other moms may have scoffed at, but the kids were usually thrilled with! And I never once had a fancy store-bought cake or one with special decorations, but she always made a tasty one with love as the main ingredient.
Anyways, I thought I'd use the leftover cupcake batter to throw together a little cake he could eat himself. Since his invitations and gift were train-related, I decided I could make a quick attempt at a train cake. I had delusions of grandeur--I considered making multiple cars and smoke stacks and a little red caboose, but the practical, sleep-loving part of me won out and used random kitchen items to fashion a little smokestack and wheels. When Corey saw it, he thought it was a cabin/trailer. Now that would have been a novel theme: Trailer Trash Third Birthday! Then, when I asked Zach what this cake was, he excitedly said, "It's a guy!" (I guess it kind of looks like a robot-guy...) Who cares?! He forked the frosting off and savored the sugary concoction, not really caring if was a trailer, a train, or a guy!
I could've done worse, right?!
He looks pretty satisfied to me!
And he knows just how grown up he is, too. He keeps commenting on how he is "big" now. At naptime, he now insists on three songs and books, rather than the usual two. Whatever it takes to get him to bed!!
Here's to many more birthday celebrations with our angel baby boy!
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1 comment:
Hey, props to you for giving him a party! Kaysha just had her first party ever and she's 7, and it'll probably be her only one until she's 16 and can plan it herself! ;) As for Kenzi and Spence...I doubt they'll ever get one. Kaysha's swimming party pretty much ended my party throwing days. :) The cupcakes are cute, and that train would def. give Martha a run for her money...
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