Luke's 3rd birthday party

We had Luke's party a few days after his birthday based around soccer games (of course!!!) and naptime!  He saw me making his cake and he said, "it's my birthday again??!"  A cute tidbit that I forgot to add in his last post was Hailey was quizzing him on his numbers and she held up 2 fingers and he said, "two", she held up 1 finger and he said, "one", then she held up 3 fingers and he said, "that's a big boy"  So sweet, sniff, sniff!!!

Of course I saw construction cakes like this all over Pinterest as I was hunting for ideas.  I modified a few ideas and pieced them together...this was the easiest cake ever since the frosting was so simple.  I used crushed up oreos (no filling) for the #3 and I found the chocolate rocks at Hobby Lobby when we were down in Texas!  

For a birthday craft, I saw on Pinterest that you can buy these cloth aprons/tool belts at either Home Depot or Lowes for less than a buck each!  Too fun!!!

Luke's toolbelt

Amy and I inadvertently dress Cody and Luke alike often!!

 Present time...we had invited the Heberlings and the Mulhollands for his party...8 kiddos and 6 adults, just enough and not too crazy!!!!

Firefighter Luke!

Leevi built this awesome rock pit that I had seen back in the fall at a pumpkin patch.  I am NOT a fan of sand boxes because I don't want the sand coming in the house, but this one is nice.  They will get a little dusty sometimes, but thankfully not sandy! 

I spray painted a few rocks gold so they can dig for treasure!

Happy birthday, Luke James!!!

 

Luke turns T-H-R-E-E!!!!!

Sigh, I don't like birthday posts because it means my babies are growing up too fast!!!!  This sweet boy makes us all laugh on a daily basis and is wild yet as snuggly and as kissy as can be!  He is the biggest Mamas boy you'll ever meet and I love it! :)  His athleticism still amazes us and we always joke that he's gonna make us rich!  He still naps about 2 hours a day although we've tried several times to wean him because he's up pretty late at night.  Maybe I'll have some luck this summer when we aren't so busy in the afternoons.  He will often surprise us in the morning by getting himself dressed before he even comes out of his room and he's as tidy as can be and does not like to go to bed with a messy room, seriously! Ha, I wish a certain middle sister would have inherited that trait! :)  His world revolves around Hailey and we have to remind him often that he loves Kailee too (a typical conversation would be, "it's time to get the girls from the bus." "Hailey's all done with school?" "yes, and Kailee too" or "Hailey has soccer tonight?" "yes, and Kailee too")...it's as strange as it is cute and our only theory is that Kai is so rough with him.  It doesn't seem to bother Kailee, so I guess they are each comfortable with their relationship, ha!  They all play so well together and the girls are very patient with him and include him when they are trying to play something.  And finally, our favorite thing from this jokester is everything is a hotdog!  I have no idea how it started, but he calls Daddy a hotdog, he'll answer a question with "hotdog", he'll end songs with "hotdog"...it's pretty silly, but sums up our crazy boy! 

Newborn, 1,2,3yr tie photo!

3yr old photo shoot!

Extra tie pics!

Leevi waited to go in to work and we celebrated Luke at the start of the day since the afternoon was filled with TWO soccer games!  

We let him open most of his 'toy' presents so he'd have time to play with them during the day!  He's been begging for this Batman Lego Duplo set ever since he saw the commercial on TV and after playing with a similar one at the Ducotes!  He was so happy that he was kissing the present!!! :) 

An awesome Spider-Man plane from Uncle Mike

I love the way he makes a 3!

He waited so patiently all day and we finally had cake at 9pm, sigh!!!!

Sweet boy!

 

This picture makes me laugh because he was fussing at the girls for helping him! He's a big boy now!

Cool pattern blocks from my parents

A veterinarian outfit from the Stampfers!

Happy birthday, Luke!!!  We all love you so much!!!!!

Random March fun

A gift Kailee earned from the Treasure Box at school.

 Hailey had crazy hair day and came up with this on her own!

Quite the bouquet!!

 Luke and Cody!

Sigh, it's tough being a boy with sisters in the house!!!!!  To forgo a tantrum, Hailey painted his big toes...at least he picked BLUE!!!!

Hailey's school had a carnival...it was really fun and Hailey, Bri and Kai wandered the halls alone like big girls (eek!!) and Luke and I went our own way!

I LOVE that Kai still gets in her own little imaginary world...I have no idea what she was playing here, but she did for a  really long time!!!

Luke had his first cleaning (he's only been checked in the past)  He did great until the flossing part and decided he had had enough.  The girls and I were also seen and no cavities all around!!!!  We celebrated with milkshakes, ha!!!!

Crazy doggie!!!

My mom had knitted us all hats! 

Luke thought his hat was the perfect place to keep his ball!

We've been enjoying the rare bouts of warm sunshine!!!!  It's been mostly RAIN!!!!

Crazy boy!

We went to a birthday party at Miner Mikes...even though it was an hour drive away, ugh, we had a lot of fun!

And we discovered what black icing on Angry Bird cupcakes does!

Luke went on his first roller coaster!!! :)

 I'd say it was a pretty good party!!!!

A new project...we have 3 bathrooms in the house, but we all use the master.  The kids like the big tub and seem to prefer our shower.  Strangely enough, the master bath is massive, yet only has ONE towel bar.  We had hung up a small hook for my towel and the kids kept their towels in the other bathroom upstairs, but would have to bring their towels in to ours for a bath (or forget them and call for help!!!) and then hang them up in the other, silly.  This was a quick weekend project...I bought and stained the wood and Leevi attached the screws and hung it up...too easy.  And I love that I could put it anywhere in a new house...coat rack, backpack holder, etc! 

 

Ah, yes, soccer has taken over our lives right now and poor Luke gets drug along for the ride!!!!  I'm coaching Hailey's u-10 team and Kailee is playing up an age group in u-8.  They have practice twice a week (thankfully the same day, but boo, not the same time!) and games 1-3 times a WEEK...it truly is CRAZY (I've NEVER heard of a schedule this rigorous, esp with games!!!!!  I told Leevi that we just won't be able to breathe until April is over!!!  Hailey's season ends the first weekend in May and Kailee's runs to the Tuesday after...sigh!!!!!