Big birthday post coming up....

We were so excited a couple weeks ago to have an excuse to celebrate our favorite birthday boy! I can't believe Broden is 3 years old. I love this little boy so much. He is just as mischevious as you would expect a 3 year old boy to be at times, but makes up for it time and time again by his funny and sweet moments. He loves practicing to be a gentlemen. I love that. Hopefully it doesn't change. He gets mad at me if I don't let him hold the door for me. He adores his sisters. He waits anxiously for Jacey to get home from school, and doesn't understand why Sadie has to sleep SO much. He is a picky eater, but can usually be coaxed into trying something if we promise him it will make him "big and strong like Daddy". He sure loves his dad. My favorite quality hands down though, is how lovey-dovey he is. He always has been, and it's just getting better and better. He comes up to me several times a day in the middle of whatever I'm doing to hug my legs and say, "Mommy, I love you" in a sweet, soft, voice. Sometimes he'll just look at me and say, "You're the best." Sometimes we're watching a movie together and he'll just nuzzle his head into my shoulder. He LOVES giving hugs and kisses. Before Sadie was born I would sometimes lay down to take a nap with him while Jacey was at school. He always gave me several good-night kisses. I'm sure part of it was to procrastinate falling asleep, but it's hard to argue with another goodnight kiss. I counted one day just out of curiousity and he finally fell asleep after 37 kisses. I hope it never changes. Okay... so it will have to change one day. Having a teenage boy who gives his mom 37 kisses would just be.....wierd. But someday when he's 15 years old and annoyed at me for some reason I will think back to now and know that he loves me!

So... on to the birthday celebration! His birthday was on a Saturday, so we kind of stretched the celebration over the whole holiday weekend! We began the morning by opening a few presents that he had been eyeing for a few days.

Broden is loving Lightning "the" Queen (that's what happens when you're the minority in a house full of girls) and GeoTrax these days. When Dan and I saw a Radiator Springs addition to his GeoTrax set, complete with a Lightning McQueen that goes twice as fast as his other trains, we knew it was the perfect toy. Dan and Jacey had fun helping him set it up and playing with it for a couple hours.

The next dilemma was what to do for the rest of the day. The kids have been begging us to take them to Chuck E. Cheese for a year now. We've been putting it off as long as we could. Dan and I aren't huge fans of cardboard-tasting pizza. But, we had a coupon for free tokens, so it seemed like the natural choice. Luckily, I remembered just in time that as a member of the "Birthday Club" at Red Robin, Broden was entitled to a free meal. Saved once again from nasty pizza.

However, in an effort to be good parents, we decided we should probably still go use the free tokens after lunch. It was craziness. I mean, Saturday-in-the-middle-of-a-holiday-weekend-in-rainy-Washington-with-nothing-else-to-do craziness. Nevertheless, we had fun. The kids were thrilled. I believe Jacey's exact words were, "You are the BEST mom and dad EVER! Seriously! EVER! Did you hear me? EV-ER! I love it when kids are that thrilled by something that only cost you a coupon! Jacey took her job as a Chuck E. Cheese tour guide to Broden very seriously, and Broden was very patient with her "helping" him do his games. She finally consented to allow Broden to drive the 4-wheeler game himself, although as you can tell she was very nervous about the trees that he was hitting. Kind of reminds me of learning to drive with my mom in the car! (Love you Mom! :)

Saturday was PARTY DAY! Due to his love of Lighting 'the' Queen, we decided to give all of his friends a little tour of Radiator Springs before the big race.

We started with a simple bean bag toss at Luigi's Casa Della Tires. We then towed cars at Mater's Towing and Salvage, and got tattoos at Ramone's House of Body Art.

Next, on to Flo's Cafe for cake and ice cream....

Broden didn't need any encouragement this year to start opening presents. None whatsoever. Like, I turned around and he was starting. So much for forming the standard "birthday circle"

We finally ended the party with our very own Piston Cup. I know, kind of a small track for 14 children. My original idea was to set up a track in the back yard with balloons, but then I laughed at myself and bagged the whole race idea altogether. What are the chances of Jan. 18th being nice enough to do anything outside in Western Washington? Sure enough, we woke up that morning to sunny skies, so I opted for a quick 'Plan B' and broke out the sidewalk chalk.

Such a fun weekend.... Fun birthday boy, fun friends, and fun party! We love you Broden!