Christian's Birthday Extravaganza

This past weekend was full of exciting things, topped off with Christian's third birthday party.  It was his third birthday, but actually his first, because he'd never had a birthday party before, and it was our first birthday together.  All the more special.

We drove to my parents house Friday late afternoon, just in time for Uncle Larry and Aunt Lisa to give Christian a ride in Uncle Larry's police car. We grew up in a small town, 1350 pop., so the town police officer giving his nephew a ride isn't a big deal.  They drove out into the country where deer usually roam that time of the evening, trying to find one to show Christian.  Then my sister calls, and in an excited, but serious voice, to tell me that Larry got a call about a house fire. They would drive by my parent's house (where we stay when we visit) and I was to stand on the street corner so they could pull up, open the door and hand him off to me. They didn't want to waste time pulling into the drive and taking him in the house to me.  So out the door I go, standing on the street corner waiting for my son to be tossed to me like a football....just kidding.

They did come roaring down the street, lights flashing and came to a hard stop by me. My sister opened the door, I grabbed Christian, the door slammed and they flew off.  Christian looked a little stunned but quickly recovered to point at the flashing lights and say, "Oooo, Oooo."  What an exciting ride for a little boy!

The next morning we ran last minute birthday errands with my sister.  She was buying him pants for his birthday and we had to try them on.  Another little boy in the department was running around and through the clothes racks. You guessed it, it gave Christian some ideas.....ideas that led to him getting into trouble.  We had just tag teamed him from changing back into his own shorts when he made a break for it. He's pretty good at dodging and weaving, it took both adults to catch him.  We plopped him back in the stroller, turned to get more clothes off the rack to try on and in that mere 15 seconds, he bailed out of the stroller and was on the run again. This time Aunt Lisa caught him and gave him a firm talking to, which hurt his feelings and the loud crying began. Thank goodness we were done shopping and I'm sure the people in the store were glad we were leaving too!

Back to my parent's for Christian's nap and my cupcake baking spree.  Then off for a going away dinner for our local student seminarian and later to hear my nephew (Christian's cousin) sing with his band at a nearby small town summer festival.  The band sounded great, but of course I am a little biased.  Christian did pretty good, but as it neared his bedtime, the grumpiness began.  We managed to last for an hour and a half before it was just plain over for Christian, so home to bed we went.

The next day after church, I scrambled around doing final decorations, icing cupcakes, blowing up balloons and helping cook lunch for the family. Everyone was able to attend the party which thrilled Christian. He ran from person to person, playing, laughing and wanting to "help" with whatever anyone was doing.
He blew out his cupcake candle like a pro! This was a dual party as my Dad has the same birthdate as Christian.  After we sang Happy Birthday to Christian and he blew out the candle, he handed the cupcake to Dad and said, "Papaw's turn."  So we sang again and Dad blew out a number 3 birthday candle :)
Christian loved opening his gifts but wanted to open the toy box and play with it right then.  It was tough getting him to put the toy down to open the rest of the gifts, but we got it done.  I think he had a great birthday.  I know I had a wonderful time planning it.

Tuesday Aug. 30th is Christian's official birthdate, and we can take treats to preschool. I went to Schnucks grocery store to buy one of those large chocolate chip cookies you can have a message put on with icing.  My guardian angel nudged me to read the ingredients and it read that "this product may contain peanuts or tree nuts."  He's allergic to tree nuts, so I put it back and looked for something else.  After literally 15 minutes of looking at almost every item in the bakery department, I couldn't find one thing that didn't have that statement on the label. I asked the bakery worker what it really meant. She told me that all their bakery items are made in the same plant with items that have peanute or tree nuts and some contamination is possible. Well due to the fact that I don't know how severe an allergic reaction Christian might have, I didn't want to take a chance.  So I ended up buying popsicles, a helium balloon and "Cars" stickers.

He had a blast at preschool telling everyone it was his birthday and he was THREE YEARS OLD!  The teachers do a wonderful job of celebrating with the kids to make them feel special on their special day.  The next morning he woke up and told me it was his birthday :)  I told him his birthday was yesterday, he wanted another party, and I told him it was over.  Then today was another little boy's birthday and when I picked Christian up from preschool, he told me it was his birthday again today. It made me laugh, he thinks every day is his birthday now!  I wonder how long this idea will last, he does have a good memory :)

I've posted some photos of the big "Hot Wheels" birthday bash.  Enjoy!
~Amy