A few weeks ago, right before Christmas, my first little baby turned THREE. I swear Liam was just born yesterday, but he acts likes he's going on 10. He cracks me up and exhausts me all at the same time. This age is interesting... he's saying the cleverest, darnedest and sometimes, sweetest things one minute and then throwing a tantrum because I gave him something he asked for. It's hard to know what mood he's going to be in, but those sweet moments make everything worth it.
Lately, he's been professing how much he loves us (me, my husband, my parents...). He slows down and softens his voice to say, "I love you sooo much." Even drawing out the "soo." I keep waiting to find out what he might want, but so far it seems genuine - and I'll take it! He will request hugs and has been cuddling with me more lately. He also can be so sweet with Nora, affectionately calling her "Nora-Beanie" and kissing her on the head. He'll tell us he loves her, too, and sings her songs - especially when she's upset. And boy, she loves her brother - so it's extra sweet to see.
Then there is the flip side, the side where he asks for oatmeal for breakfast, I give it to him and then he breaks down. Tears, grunts, kicks. The oatmeal wasn't the right color or something. Mornings have been rough lately - he doesn't like to be rushed to get ready for school, and he doesn't like to get ready. Mornings really aren't our finest hours for any of us.
So, to capitalize on our favorite time of the day... we threw Liam a brunch birthday party! In the midst of holiday parties and fresh off of Nora's big 1st birthday, we wanted to do something special for Liam, but also keep it casual. Moving forward, since both our kids birthdays fall around the holidays and near each other, we'll have a combo celebration and celebrate the bigger birthdays (like turning age 1, 5, etc...) with more personalized parties.
This year, I turned to Minted to and their party decor themes. I let Liam help me pick out what theme he'd like (having a pretty good idea of what he'd go for) and then I took it from there, selecting the pieces that would help me put together his party. We selected pieces from the Beep Beep Party decor theme and I love how it turned out. More importantly, Liam LOVED all the cars and the personalized touches.
^^Inspired by the car theme and after I screwed up on drawing out a road with icing, I turned this cake into a race track under construction. I used Liam's cars as props, on the cake and around the table, with chocolate sprinkles as the "dirt" on the cake. It was a hit with my car and construction loving boy.
^^We served breakfast pizza from Casey's General Store (YUM!), homemade biscuits and gravy and fruit - oh, and cake. Mimosas were available for the adults. :)
I still can't believe he's 3 already. I'm so lucky to have him.
Thanks to Minted for partnering with me on this post!
