Kaden's 3rd Birthday

As usual, I can't believe how fast three years can go by.

Kaden turned three today, which means that I have also been home from school for three whole years.  Unbelievable!

With much deliberation, this is the present he picked out himself at Target with Kaaren. 

A Batman Little People car set.

 

We've never done a lot for birthdays around here (I've never thrown a party) besides a gift and/or a nice dinner out, but several months ago Kaden mentioned his birthday. I nonchalantly asked him what he wanted for HIS birthday and his reply was, "a blue Lego® cake"

and when further prompted he also said that he wanted, "candy," more specifically, "M&Ms".

Easy enough.

 

THEN every day for the past 6-8 weeks, he talked about his birthday & turning "tree"...

The blue Lego® cake then morphed into having his "friends come over to play with me."

 So... we had a "big-giant birhtday party" at our house with Kaden's three friends:

Danni, Jace and Alice.  Nonnie & Papa and Kaaren also came over for the festivities (but with all of the action, I failed to get any pictures of them).

I made the blue cake, roasted a pork shoulder and we had a night of burritos, cake and capri suns.

Running back & forth between the dinner table and the toys in the backyard.

 

Alice & Danni

 Jace, Kaylee, Stefan & Angie Bressler

 Jeff, Alice & Tara Merrell (and Jace)

Miss Kaylee (who just turned 1), and then Kaylee with her mommy

Kaden with his cake.

We practiced blowing out candles the morning of his birthday.  He didn't have much/any success, but by the time the real deal came around, he got them all out! (with minimal spit on the cake)

Proud daddy.

Happy Birthday Kaden!

 

eating cake!

 

Although I specifically stated, "no gifts please" on the invitation, Kaden got quite a few presents...

Jace giving Kaden a purple Hot Wheel that he picked out himself.

 Kaden opening a few presents, including this tangram set from Kaaren.

 Owen enjoying all of the action.

 Heather brought Kaden a tee-ball set...

 Taking a lesson from Daddy... which obviously paid off!

 Fun with Danni & Mr. Dan

 Owen at the end of the night... hungry.  Ha!

 After everyone went home, there were still a few more gifts to open. 
First, we got in the webcam with grandma and openend the box that came in the mail, and then we dug into the box that came from Mary.

 Not able to go to bed before piecing together the GIANT 2'x3' floor puzzle.

And then working the gear puzzle from grandma until he was a zombie and couldn't function anymore.  What a birthday!

 

I know that a 3-year-old birthday party isn't the highest priority on everyone adjenda-- especially on a week night, but we had so much fun and were so glad that everyone could make it. 

 

The only down side: Kaden had so much fun and got spoiled with so many presents that he might think that this is the birthday norm...