Brady's 3rd birthday party!

What a fun party we had for our big 3 year old! We had some family and a couple friends over to celebrate him. He had been talking about his birthday party and his Paw Patrol cake for weeks before, so to say he was excited would be a huge understatement!

We started the day by putting together his big gift - a green tractor. Blake had gone golfing that morning (as he's known to do...) but luckily Poppy was there to save the day and get the tractor put together!

While Brady took a nap I worked on his Paw Patrol cake. I baked the cakes the night before so all I had to do that day was the fun part - decorate! He wanted sprinkle cake and strawberry cake, so I layered them.

The finished product:

We had a happy birthday boy when he woke up to see his cake! He had been talking about this for weeks, and talked about it for weeks afterward. He wants the same cake next year, he says. :)

Pointing out all the characters...

Playing with his "little buddy named Mox."

When everyone got there we opened gifts and just hung out and watched the kids play!

His lawn mower from E&P... he's been super into mowing lawns lately. He saw an engagement picture of Uncle Levi and Ashlee and they were sitting in a field and he said "Oh, I gotta go mow that grass."

After he played with his gifts for awhile we gave him his big gift - a green tractor! It quickly became a big hit.

Time for birthday cake! We all gathered around and sang happy birthday and let Brady cut his cake. It turned into a giant mess!

Check out that bite right from the side of the cake.. Brady thinks this is how you eat birthday cake. I think it all started with his one-year smash cake.

Even Walker had some cake :)

And a couple other pictures from the weekend:

Cuddling with my baby!

And canning jalapenos with Mom. It was my first time to do this... they turned out great but super spicy!!

Walker - Hand Foot Mouth Disease

Walker got Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) in November around 11 months old. It was miserable. He had the rash all over his body and felt bad for about a week. Along with HFMD, he had a double ear infection, a cold, and an infected fingernail (random!). It was a rough few days. The scars from his HFMD stuck around for several months after he got rid of the virus.

His infected fingernail: 

His little thumb-sucking thumb was covered in blisters! 

He had these blisters all over his body: 

It is safe to say we were relieved when we saw him playing again after that rough week!

Walker's first haircut

I gave Walker his first haircut over the weekend. He had some serious old man hair going on around his ears, and Blake mentioned more than once that we need to cut that poor boy's hair, so we went for it this weekend! I have to say, it looks much better and it's nice not having to slick back his over-the-ear hair. :)

Bradyisms

-We were driving home and there were lots of school buses driving around our neighborhood and Brady said "Look at those buses taking all the children to school! Why??" and I told him the buses take the kids to school so they can get their education and he said "Oh. Well I already have my education."

-I asked him who he wanted to come to his birthday party, which he had been talking about all week, and he said "My little friend named Mox, and my big dog named Willa." (Mox is Uncle Levi's dog, but Brady thinks it's his.)

-When I picked him up from school the other day I asked him how his nap was and he said "It was good. I slept with my eyes closed but then with my eyes open. How do you like to sleep, Mom? With your eyes open or closed?" I said, "I like to sleep with them closed, what about you?" and he said, "Open. Because I like open 'tuff. And I like hot 'tuff."

-On the way home from Wonder Wild the other day he said, "Mommy please don't talk." I said "Why?" and he said "Because I don't want you to, that scares my ears."

-Says "you're never gonna believe this" and "I can't believe this" a lot. It's especially funny when he's sitting in his carseat and I hear "You're never gonna 'alieve this, Mama" and I look back and he has a huge booger on his finger. This has happened more than once...

-Got something out of Walker's mouth earlier and said, "Mom he's been eating a lot of things lately." I said, "Like what?" and he said "Leaves, dirt, rocks, pecans......."

-He loves to chew gum. At first he would chew it for about .5 seconds before spitting it out. Now he says constantly "Mom can I chew it a lil bit?" for about a minute and a half before saying "Okay, it's all out of energy!" and spitting it out.

-Talking about Daddy: "He's my best friend and nobody can stop us."

-Walker, Brady and I were in the kitchen this morning and I was heating them up some frozen sausage to eat, and Brady goes, "Wow Mom, you did a great job cooking all these things!"