Alex is THREE!!!

April 26th was Alex's THIRD birthday! Hey, better late than never. I have to admit I had a bit of a hard time with this one. I mean technically he's not a baby anymore. Technically he's not even a toddler anymore. He really is a big boy...a "Preschooler". (Can you see my big pouty bottom lip from there?) But enough about me. What a birthday it was!

Ben and I got him an outdoor playhouse he had been lusting after at Costco but Ben ended up being out of town for the week leading up to Alex's birthday and I wasn't about to unveil such an awesome gift in a box. So after some begging and pleading (and maybe even a little whining) I convinced my mom to come over that Saturday (Alex's bday fell on a Monday) and help me bang the thing out. I'll spare you the details and the none-too-attractive photos but come 11:30pm Saturday night (hey, we did have to wait until the boys were in bed!) we were finished. And there were only 2 screws left over! We were pretty pleased with our work and judging by the look on Alex's face come Monday, so was he...

Please disregard Alex's stylish ensemble. We'll just say one of the males in the house picked it out and leave it at that.

Happy Birthday brudder!!!

Next up...THE PARTY. Oh, the party. We decided to keep it "simple" (can you see me rolling my eyes?). We had it at home, served snacks versus a whole meal, and kept to basic decor with a few key theme-inspired details -- a CARS birthday banner on the back wall, plates and napkins, and of course the Lightning McQueen cake. You know, the one Wilton sells all the supplies for in a nice bundled package complete with step-by-step instructions? Now admittedly it wasn't all that difficult to do and I think it turned out really well. But it literally took about 3 hours to complete (that's after the cake was already baked and chilled), a good hour of which was simply mixing all of the frosting colors. Needless to say it didn't get quite the reaction I was expecting from Alex but it sure did look good on the "paved" table cloth!


It was a beautiful day so we set up shop in the back yard and just let the kids have at it. And let me tell you that the Little Tikes bouncer is probably one of the best investments I ever made. Seriously. If you have young kids go out and buy one now.

It was great, don't get me wrong but holy cow who invited all those people?!?

We even had a couple of guests from as far away as Minnesota! That's right, gramma and grampa Lindstrom came down for the weekend. We had a great time visiting and watching them enjoy their grandsons. They also brought with them one of Alex's most beloved birthday gifts -- his first "big boy" bike. A LIGHTNING MCQUEEN big boy bike with training wheels and everything. I'm not sure who got more of a workout from that bike though, Alex or poor grampa!