The Birthday Bash

Monday, January 31st, was Luke's 3rd birthday and it was a cold, but beautiful and sunny day!

For weeks, seriously, we've been counting down (we even made a chain) for this day.

I thought it would be fun to have Luke have a little birthday party with his friends. Don't be offended if you weren't invited, he was very specific on who he wanted there. He especially wanted "Spencer, Yogan, Julia, McKay, Sam, Dave, Meg, Doug and Katie (his cousins, aunts and uncles)" there, but I tried to explain to him (showing him a map, several times) that they all lived too far away.

I know that the trendy thing right now is to have lavish, over-the-top, adorable and themed birthday parties (which I would totally do if I could pull it off!), but I wanted to keep it simple and that was enough work for me! 

We had quite a few little friends and their mommies over for games, snacks and fun!

The spread.

I didn't want to serve cake and ice cream to kids ages 19 months-4 years old at 10'o clock in the morning, so I found these adorable little cupcake boxes (top left in the picture) and sent each child home with a cupcake.

Luke asked for "cone hats and cupcakes" for his birthday. My friend made the cupcakes and they were so yummy! Maybe it had something to do with me not having to make them!

I think my favorite thing on the snack table were the animal crackers. I dipped them in Wilton vanilla flavored melting chocolate. They were a hit and quite addicting.

I planned two games and that was just enough for all those little hoolagans. 

We played "Don't Eat Pete" and it was a hit!

We played with Skittles (the Crazy Core kind-they are so good) and it was hilarious to see how almost all of the kids kept sneaking and eating them, it was just too tempting.

Then we headed downstairs (where the music was set up) to have a cup cake walk. Each kid got a little wrapped present, a nurf ball. I think they all had fun.

Here are some of the guests.

Isn't she the cutest little thing?

Marilyn, one of my closest friends out here, who is most likely leaving me very soon (sniff, sniff)-holding my baby on her 8 month pregnant belly. Kate and her baby Eliza, who is also leaving me (in fact almost all of my friends are leaving this year), and Janelle, who is one of the few not leaving!

These hats were just so cute!

Luke even got a few gifts. I had to snap this picture of him, sitting in front of all his guests, digging for gold and his mind off somewhere in la la land. Classic.

Here are some after-party pictures of my sugar-high, messy-faced three-year-old.

 He is so silly and he knows it.

During the party and throughout the rest of the afternoon, every now and then Luke would sneak away from me, go up to my room and find an unopened gift (that he was suppose to wait to open until Dad got home), open it and bring it down stairs to show me. He was so spoiled this year by his friends and family-especially the grandparents! 

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing several games (thanks mom!), his latest favorite thing to do these days. We made a Fun-fetti birthday cake (I think it was more for Matt). He picked the frosting color and wanted lots of sprinkles. I think it ended up looking like a giant doughnut. If you've ever seen Better Off Dead, it looked like the nasty jello thing his mom makes, that walks off the table. Haha. But it's what Luke wanted.

He also got to choose what we had for dinner. Which was green eggs and ham, orange juice and blue waffles.

We sang, blew out the candle, had cake and ice cream, nearly died from a sugar overload and then opened a couple more presents.

We all put birthday hats on to sing to Luke. We put one on Devin and he instantly started screaming (and this kid rarely cries). We thought it was funny, because of his reaction and then we realized the string probably snapped on his face. Poor Devin.

Couple of toy highlights: 

The bow and arrow (he loves Robbin Hood) from us. We soon realized he's not coordinated enough for it, no wonder it says ages 8 and up. But check out that face, that's his "fight off the bad guys" face.

Matt gave him his old Palm Pilot and Luke thinks it's the coolest thing ever. It has games and he can draw on it.

Gma Johnson gave him a doctor case full of doctor "tools" that light up. He especially likes pretending to throw up in the emesis basin-or as normal people know it-one of those barf tray things. Matt was teaching him all the correct-doctor words. And he loves turning into an evil villain doctor and giving us shots.

Whew! It was a fun, but exhausting day. I was so happy to hit the sack that night. 

Luke said he had a great birthday and is already asking for toys he wants for his next birthday.