Now three

Once upon a time, I had a baby. And three years after that baby was born, he turned three!!!

All of us have been excited about this birthday for months. I think Joseph told us every day starting when he was 2 1/2 that he was going to have a birthday and have another bus cake. He and I went to a few super cute birthday parties for his friends and it made me really want to plan a party for him. And, after several weeks of talking about it, he started to be excited about turning three (he spent a long time insisting that he was two and would be "forever").

As it turned out, it was sort of a low-key day. Because we went to Utah, I put off party planning until it was too late. (And to be honest, the idea of having a guest list stressed me out. Do you invite older and younger siblings? If you invite one kid, do you invite that kid's neighbors too? What sort of activities do you even do? Once I realized there were 17 children that I had to invite to not have my conscience searing me, my conscience relieved me of birthday duties altogether.) I had also flirted with the idea of having sprinklers and cupcakes for the neighbor kids, but the thunderstorm forecast (albeit incorrectly) made me decide against it. So, just decorations, presents, playing, and cake.

The night before was sort of hard because I had a lot of decorations I still wanted to put up and presents to wrap (ie cover with blankets), and all he wanted was for me to stay with him. 9:30, 10, 10:30, on and on and on. Kevin was at the store getting a few last-minute things, so he couldn't help.  I knew that what my son needed more than streamers was love and attention (in fact, I could almost hear President Uchtdorf's voice in my head telling me that) . . . but I knew that he would appreciate the streamers a lot more the next morning than a bit of love and attention. Thankfully, he finally went to sleep so we could finish getting ready for the day.

And then . . . it was his birthday! We had streamers dangling right outside his bedroom door, so when he left his room it was the first thing he saw. "Oh," he said in a tone of happy yet subdued surprise. Then he saw his stuffed animals waiting to wish him happy birthday on the stairs. "Oh," he said again in that chipper voice.

And then, there were presents! As in years past, we used a combination of wrapping paper and blankets to hide the presents. (And since this year he got a few presents that might have been less exciting [new sheets, new socks, and new underwear], we made sure to put those in the most exciting wrapping paper. For the record, he is still excited he got those for his birthday.)

As a side note, my life got so much easier when I realized balloons on the ground were just as good a decoration  as balloons on the wall.

After opening presents (thanks, by the way, to grandparents, aunts, and uncles for making sure he opened fun things too!), it was breakfast time. While Joseph was eating breakfast I decided to get started on the cake before it got too hot to use the oven. By this point I had decided to make a smallish chocolate cake from cake mix, use the remaining batter to make some chocolate cupcakes, and then some cupcakes from yellow cake mix. That way we could still share cupcakes with friends at a potluck the next day.

At first, things were going well. Made the chocolate cake and cupcakes. Got the cupcakes out of the muffin tin and put the yellow cake batter in. Made the yellow cupcakes. Got them out of the oven and then tried to get the cupcakes out of the muffin tin. But I had forgotten to regrease it so they came out crumbly. I planned on texting a few neighbors to come over and eat them (and maybe have a mini party while they were in here), but Joseph headed out the door right then, so I followed him out with the plate in tow. When we went out there was maybe one other kid, but when I stepped back in for a minute to dry my hair (I had taken a shower sometime in the midst of all the cooking), I watched as about ten kids came out of nowhere and swarmed the plate. It was amazing. And hey, I didn't want those cupcakes.

But the cupcake drama was not yet finished. Earlier, Joseph had been nibbling on chocolate cupcakes, so I put the plate on top of the fridge. But I forgot about it there until I opened the freezer, which knocked the plate off balance and sent most of the cupcakes to the floor. If Joseph hadn't cried, I might have.

Anyway, other than that, it was a great birthday! Just a nice, regular, low-key day. After Kevin came home, we ate pasta for dinner, and then it was time for cake!

So, on Joseph's birthday last year, I made this cake for him.

And, although he didn't appreciate it so much on his birthday, nearly every day since he's told me about it.  So, even though I suggested other cakes, he ended up getting one like this for his 3rd birthday:

Why is it that when I'm doing things like spelling words with sprinkles, I hear the phrase "good, better, best" playing through my head? Also, how many bus cakes do you have to make in a year before they actually start looking better each time?

After a fun evening eating cake and non-melted ice cream (thanks, new fridge!), Joseph went to bed. "Will it be my birthday tomorrow?" (Or the next day, or the next day, or the next day.)

No, but most of the decorations are still up.

Joseph with a birthday blower

We sure like him.