A lot of celebrating...

Well, Max turned three. 

Three feels big. 

His world is about to grow so much...a soccer team, music class, preschool...many new and exciting adventures lie ahead. 

In a way, though, we are finishing the first chapter, the stay at home with Mom days...they slipped by so fast. 

Looking back over the past three years, I am profoundly grateful to have been able to spend every single one of those days with him, watching him grow from a tiny baby in my arms to the energetic child he is today. 

We tend to make a big deal about birthdays around here, mostly because another year of continued health, growth, and shared memories is big deal to me. 

Here is a round up and probably way too many pictures of our week spent honoring Max's third birthday...

Zoo Trip 1

If you ask Max where his favorite place to go is, he will tell you "the zoo", so to the zoo we went for fun day where he was absolutely spoiled by his Nana. 

"I wore my stripes too!"

Stubborn. Always has to pull the wagon. Always. 

brother bears <3

  

This was definitely one of our best trips of the summer, we got there at 8:45 and they let us in before they officially opened. It was quiet and we beat the heat. 

We rode the merry go round twice, since it's Max's favorite. We sang him happy birthday for the first time, complete with a cupcake. He has been checking in with me for weeks now, making sure he would get cake for his birthday, each time I would reassure him that there would definitely be cake. 

He doesn't eat cake or frosting, yet this was still very important to him. 

Eli, on the other hand, LOVES cake!! 

We finished up at Chipotle, where they have the best kids meals ever, and Max was beyond excited to receive a shiny red bike...with pedals!

Laurie Berkner Concert

When I saw that Laurie Berkner was coming to our area, I knew we had to go. 

Even though the concert ended up falling on the morning of Max's birthday party, we decided to squeeze both events into the day, because she has been such a staple in our household. 

One night, when Max was about 4 months old, and still only sleeping 1-2 hours at a time, Julian happened upon the song "Goodnight" by Laurie and we both thought it was the sweetest lullaby. We started singing it to him over and over each night, and it seemed to be one of the only things that helped soothe him to sleep. He still requests this song, almost three years later, and we often hear him singing it to Eli when he is falling asleep. 

As Max has gotten older, he has learned and loved many of her other songs as well, so we were all  excited to see her live. 

free sunglasses!

It ended up being an extremely hot day, and we weren't expecting or prepared for it, but thankfully they provided water and sunglasses. 

And Max, he was just beaming and so enjoyed dancing up front with the other kids.

This sweet girl picked Max as her dance partner, so precious. 

We didn't hear the live rendition of "Goodnight" but we did hear "Moon Moon Moon", Eli's night night song, it was very special. 

After three hours out in the sun, I was exhausted, sunburned, and so ready for a nap...but there was this little thing called Max's birthday party a couple of hours later! 

Ice Cream Party

While the morning had been blazing hot, by the time the party was supposed to start we were under a tornado warning with thunderstorms happening outside...oh, Colorado. 

Aside from not really knowing if we should set up outside or in, and the deli not having the sandwiches ready on time, everything went pretty well. 

Max picked his own theme this year, ice cream, and we tried to keep the details of the party aimed around things that were important to him. 

I am not at all a natural hostess, in fact, I am pretty clueless in that area. For example, we had an ice cream party, and it did not occur to me to put out spoons? 

Yeah. 

Anyway, we are beyond blessed to have Uncle Steve and my friend Natalie who are both awesome photographers and captured the day while I was running around trying to do hostess stuff. 

Max loves balloon animals...so that was our splurge for this party! 

buddies. love this picture.

so many balloons!

The only thing that really matters is that Max felt honored and celebrated, and we absolutely succeeded by that measure. 

He was happy. 

I was happy just seeing how happy he was. 

And the whole day worked out amazingly in that Gwen the balloon lady entertained the kids while it rained, and just as she finished up the sun came out a bit and we all headed outside for some play time and ice cream. 

I have to say, he did a good job picking a theme. 

Ice cream was fun, messy, but fun. 

We sang again, and he blew out his candle. 

This is always my favorite part of birthday parties, so classic. 

I wasn't sure if he would sit still to open presents after such a long day, but he was a trooper, and our generous friends gave him the most thoughtful gifts! 

I love how they all gather around to see the gifts. 

a ukulele from Uncle Chris!

cars!

planes!

 We had a lot of fun celebrating year three, and by the end of the day Max was beyond exhausted...which is saying a lot with his energy level!

See? 

We are so grateful for all of our amazing friends that came to make his day special.
All I can say is that we are immeasurably blessed with friendships, I love watching our kids grow up and share these memorable days together. 

Zoo Trip II

We were back up bright and early the next morning for another zoo trip, this time with my Dad. 

I like that there is always something new to see at the zoo, we learn or see something different each time. 

I brought along yet another round of cupcakes, we lit another candle and sang at least three more times at Max's request. 

Of course, Max had to pull the wagon again, and we had to ride the merry go round as well. 

We saw the elephant show for the first time. 

After a few hours, the boys were starting to show signs of fatigue after such an action packed weekend. 

I think they were asleep before we even got out of the zoo parking lot, but it was nice to spend some time with my Dad and celebrate together. 

Real Birthday

By the time Monday morning came, we were all pretty exhausted, but it was his actual birthday, so a little more celebrating was in order. 

We watched as the clock hit 7:05. 

We sang to him one last time as he snuggled up next to me on the couch. 

I cried. 

I think I will always cry at 7:05 on August 5th, in remembrance of the most breathtaking moment of my entire life. 

Daddy made special birthday pancakes. 

And even though we were dragging a bit, we made it up to Belleview park to join our friends for an afternoon of bike riding and splashing in the river. 

Max chose a special birthday lunch of salad from Panera, and we finished the day up with his first soccer practice (post coming on that later). 

If you have stayed with me this far, you are in for a treat...I have an announcement I have been holding onto for a couple of weeks now, just to make sure it's really true. 

Max is potty trained!!! 

We were hoping to hit this milestone before his third birthday and we made it...barely :) 

So there you have it, our boy turned three, and oh how we celebrated!