Saturday, June 25, 2011

3 Years Old!

Ashton with his red velvet cupcake on his actual birthday

Ayden lovin his cupcake
Can it really be that my little babies are already THREE?!  Could it really have been THREE years ago that I brought them home weighing only 5 pounds?!  Could it really be that we have made it through the infant days, potty training, the toddler years and are now preparing for preschool?  Could it really be that we have now planned, executed and survived THREE birthday party's?!  Well....the proof is in the pictures so I guess that means that my precious little boys are REALLY THREE!

Ashton and Ayden are really into all things transportation - typical boys!  So, when we started talking to them about their birthday about two months ago we tried to get an idea of what they wanted to do to celebrate this next milestone.  Trains was a big one but they couldn't settle.  Once one was set on trains the other wanted trucks or airplanes or....So we said we could just do them all.  Our boys don't watch tv/movies and don't regularly get to go to the store to buy/pick out toys.  This really limits what their idea of a birthday is as well as commercial toys, etc to ask for. ( This is NOT a complaint!)  As we asked them what they wanted for their birthday for the past two months they always responded with "A choo-choo train cake!"  They have only had cake a few times and it was only at their birthdays and a few family members birthdays.  To them a cake was what you had for your birthday.  I knew if we did nothing else for them for their birthday, they were going to have a train cake!

A birthday tradition was for me to make them their birthday shirts.  We started looking at shirts online so that I could give them some ideas.  Again, they were old enough this year to give some input so we tried to incorporate that.  It looked like we were going with a train shirt as well.  As the weeks went by I never bought any of the supplies and Jeff thought I should just buy the ones we found online.  I was a little preoccupied with other things, and still kinda wanted to do it myself, so I never did anything about the shirts.  The day before their party my mom and I took the boys to Hobby Lobby and bought the supplies and the shirts.  We switched from the train idea, although the boys did get a choice in fabric color and they both (after 15 minutes and about 5 color changes apiece) ended up with the same color!  In the end the train shirt was never mentioned and they were very proud of their 3 shirts.  The shirts had a circle of race car flag material with the numeral 3 in a race car number font.  On a side note, they still wear their 2 shirts sometimes and nearly always comment about their party or that I made the shirt when they do!


While on this same shopping trip with my mom we bought the supplies for this train cake the boys were still very anxiously awaiting!  I was very hesitant about this and nearly ordered a train cake because I was scared of it not meeting my, or their, expectations.  Last years did not turn out as great as I had hoped and I didn't want a repeat!  Luckily my mom and husband talked me into making the cake as planned.  With all the other work needing to be done at home on Friday and Saturday morning my mom ended up making the cake nearly on her own.  Jeff and I just gave her our thoughts and ideas and she put it all together!  Each boy had his own train engine with 3 train cars.  They LOVED their cakes and loved eating them just as much!







The decorations were a hodge podge of transportation.  We had a Cars movie wall hanging and confetti.  There were balloons with dump trucks and motorcycles.  The train cake and train whistles for decorations.  Black and yellow plates, napkins, etc.  Race car were on the shirts, table centerpiece and we had a pennant flag banner.  So...you get the picture.  The boys had a little bit of everything!

We had a large portion of our wonderful family at our home to celebrate this big milestone with us.  It was a very relaxed affair with balloon chasing, grilling hot dogs and brawts in the rain, and opening (and of course putting together) too many new toys and activities!  A few of their new gifts include an indoor trampoline, 2 battery powered 4 wheelers, bubble toys, a sit and spin, 2 Buzz Lightyears, and a cool bridge from the Chuck and Friends line.






Daddy grilling in the rain


The boys had a great day surrounded by family and friends.  The day was focused on them and they loved every minute of it.  They are remembering so much now that I hope they will remember this day as special one just for each of them!

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