The Little Man Turns 3

I suppose this may border on sounding cliche, but I truly can hardly believe that this little boy is three already.  Where does the time go?  This little guy is so much stinkin' fun.  He's definitely "all boy" and keeps us on our toes for sure.  I'll be the first to admit that he was not exactly an "easy" baby.  (Especially now that we have another baby in the house to compare his baby stage to.)  But he is a pretty easy little boy.  He obeys well, loves his brother and sister, plays pretty well with them, and generally aims to please. He likes spotting taxis, helicopters, and construction trucks as well as going to the park, helping momma cook, helping daddy work, and watching Dora. :)  Oh and he likes to help care for the chickens, especially petting them which they hesitantly tolerate.

Yesterday was his official birthday and we celebrated between sister getting home from school and daddy leaving for work.  Fortunately, Aunt Rachel's sleep and work schedule coordinated as well, so she joined us for the festivities.  It's so nice to have family in town.

 Getting ready to blow out the candles...breath in...

 breath in some more...

 and blow!

His cake is called a turtle cupcake pull apart cake.  I hadn't ever made one of these before, but it was pretty easy.  Just 12 cupcakes iced like one big cake.  I tried the vanilla cupcake recipe from this site and was pretty pleased with it.  Decorated with Betty Crocker's vanilla and chocolate buttercream frosting recipes.

 opening up some presents with Aunt Rachel's help

 Thanks Uncle T and Aunt Sharon

 Thanks Grandpa and Grandma!

And because I LOVE comparison shots and reminiscing, I browsed through our picture files and found some to mark the years this little guys has been in our lives.  What a true blessing he is.

BIRTH day 2007

 First Birthday...2008 

Digging into his cake with his chunky cheeks!

Days before his 2nd birthday...2009.

Happy 3rd birthday...2010.