Ian's 3rd Birthday!

 3rd Birthday Party!

Ian turned 3 years old on Saturday! We started celebrating on Friday morning with a fire truck birthday party.

We rented a community center next door to a small fire station and coordinated with them to do a "PR Event" for our little party. Scott taking the day off work added to the magic. I could tell Ian felt extra spoiled.
 
I had so much fun planning all the details for the party, including this invitation:

And some fun firetruck party supplies...

The party started with some firetruck coloring pages, along with some of Ian's favorite snacks and firetruck-shaped sipper cups.

By the time all the kids had arrived the firemen had pulled a small truck into the parking lot. The kids donned their fire hats and went out to meet them. The firemen were so sweet to continually found ways to make Ian feel special as the birthday boy. 

Then came the real fun: letting a bunch of 3-year-olds spray the fire hose and climb all over the fire truck!

To understand how excited Ian was, you need to know that we drive past the fire station that houses this truck nearly every day. And every time Ian exclaims "There's the firetruck! The big door is open!" or "Oh darn! The big door is closed..." It was a thrill for him to see the truck up close and touch the hose.

Joseph made for a more hesitant firefighter.

Here are a few of the party-goers posing with the truck.

 

While the kids were taking turns with the hose one of the fireman suggested that I put on the fire suit and surprise the kids. How did he know it would be such a hit?!

Ian didn't stop staring and laughing at me. Even though Joseph watched me put it on, he didn't seem to recognize me and kept his distance.

During the group shot Ian began to complain that I was "too scratchy" and wanted to be put down.

 Then it was time for cake! The sheet cake was red velvet with yellow frosting and a firetruck on top. We served cute little yellow cupcakes covered in sprinkles to the kids.

Unfortunatley we didn't get any pictures of Ian blowing out the candles -- so just picture Ian so excited that he couldn't take his hands out of his mouth to blow out the candles himself. :)

  And lastly, we did a fire engine pinata. It was a challenge for those kids to break it open. But they didn't give up!

And it was worth it!

Ian really seemed to enjoy himself and it made for a memorable first friend birthday party!

3rd Birthday 

The next day was Ian's actual 3rd birthday and we started it out with the traditional Larson morning birthday picture.

Here is Ian's 1st birthday:

Ian's 2nd birthday:

...and Ian's 3rd birthday:

On his 3rd birthday we heard Ian get up and start to dress himself. Or so we thought... after hearing drawers open and then silence for about 20 minutes, Scott took the camera and went in to investigate. He found that Ian had created a staircase out of the drawers to reach a stash of binkies on a high shelf. I guess this was Ian's birthday present to himself. Even at three years old he would do anything for a binky!

Then we started in on his birthday breakfast which included a trip to Kroger for some donuts.  

I love how Ian happily danced his donuts around on the table while he ate.

Then while I made the cake Scott took the boys outside for bubbles...

...which turned into playing in the rain...

...then cuddling with Daddy before a hot bath.

And then it was party time again!

By request Ian had a green birthday cake and pizza, with some of our Texas family over.

He was so excited to blow out the candles. And unlike the day before, he blew them out by himself!

Then it was time for presents!

Some highlights include this Army shirt from Scott (which I found less amusing than Scott did)

And an "outside bike" that Ian inherited from a neighbor boy who he adores.

He presents this year seem like such big-boy items! He can play real board games and loves the books and cars he received too. He now even has a real tool set, just like his Dad!Our little Ian Boy has gotten so big!

First of all, I must share a blog I found recently. A mom of 11 children answers questions about parenting, but it is far more valuable than it sounds. Her words are loving and thoughtful and her advice leaves me feeling capable, refreshed and more personally fulfilled in my role as Ian and Joseph's mom. (http://askingjane.blogspot.com/)

Next up, we had a lovely St. Patrick's day. We played at the Mercer Arboretum with some friends and ate lots of delicious green goodies. 

Ian loved all the big-kid equipment. My once-chubby baby no longer has tree trunks for legs -- see? He has calf muscles!

Joseph had a blast keeping up with Ian. So many fun thing to explore.

 I don't own much of anything green myself, but I planned the boys' green outfits two weeks in advance. This was especially silly since the park was covered in an inch of pollen and we had to change clothes after they went down a few slides and then wiped the green-colored goodies and sushi we brought for lunch all over their clothes. But for a two hour period, they were dressed festively.

Here the boys are running around with plastic lizards. Joseph sure loves those little "doggies".

Unrelatedly, Ian has been consuming a ton of yogurt lately. I blame the broken fridge lock. If Ian disappears for more than 3 minutes he has probably already consumed two containers of yogurt and is struggling with the lid on his third. On this occasion he had poured the yogurt into a muffin wrapper and gotten cozy at the window sill to eat it. I love how much he is able to do himself and that he likes to be independent and self-sufficient. Lately it isn't uncommon for him to wake up and dress himself (and eat some yogurt) all before Joseph and I get up in the morning.

BYU Basketball Game

A few weeks ago some friends invited us on a last-minute trip to Dallas for a BYU-TCU basketball game. We were so glad we went! Next time I will try to remember to pack diapers. I don't enjoy emergency grocery store expeditions in towns I am not familiar with.

The boys did great on the 4 hour drive. Joseph did a little sleeping and Ian filled up a notebook with car and truck stickers. The boys even held hands for a few minutes and invented what Ian calls the "car-seat game": Ian puts his leg up on the side of Joseph's huge rear-facing seat, and Joseph swats it off. Hours of fun. Meanwhile, Scott and I ate Cheetos as discreetly as possible in the front seat.(PS: White Cheddar Cheetos are almost as messy as their bright orange cousin.)

On our walk from the parking lot to the stadium Ian sat on Scott's shoulders with his arms flung out to the sides, exclaiming, "I am flying on my daddy's shoulders to a BYU basketball game!" Over and over. Obviously, for Ian it doesn't get much better than that. It was a giddy little site to behold. The throng of BYU families headed the same direction seemed to think he was cute too.

We haven't brought our children to a big sporting event since we took 6-month-old Ian to an Astro's game and I swore we wouldn't go back until Ian was four years old. I remembered that promise as we entered the stadium seconds before tip off. The noise was deafening and a person dressed in a giant, air-inflated referee suit was blocking our way. The boys looked nervous and then both instantly decided they liked it all. Phew!

They loved watching the players on the court from our decently-close seats. During half-time we went down to a railing right by the court and Ian slipped under the railing and actually stood on the court until we noticed. But I think the highlight for Ian was playing with Jeff Pew's touch screen phone during the last 15 minutes of the game. Joseph preferred to squirm around under the stadium seats and collect morsels of food. My inner germaphobe was finally at peace when Scott held him in the aisle for the rest of the game. Joseph seemed to prefer it too. It was past his bedtime by then.

The horn toad TCU mascot handed out lollipops and while Ian  ate his I asked him who he liked better, "The big frog who gives you lollipops, or Cosmo?" Ever loyal, Ian replied Cosmo. We were all sad Cosmo wasn't there that night. We would have loved to get a family picture with him.

But Ian did get to 'meet' a few of the players as they exited the stadium. Unfortunately the camera was on a weird setting, so this is the best photo I got. When a player came up to Ian to give him a high-five, Ian felt shy and pulled his hand back. So the player gave Ian a pat on his chest. Ian was very happy about this. [The player was actually none other than Jimmer Fredette. I was way impressed that he stayed around after the post game interviews and everything just to high-five all the fans that were hanging around.]

Nursery!

Today was Joseph's first day in nursery and as expected he waltzed right in and acted like he owned the place. He claimed a ride-on toy, ate everyone's leftover snacks, and even dished out a few swats on the head. But he also shared, knew all the songs, and seemed to enjoy interacting with his little peers.

I know all this because it was also my first day in nursery. I was asked to be one of two teachers for the youngest nursery and I think I will really enjoy getting to spend time with Joseph and his little friends (who are the adorable children of my friends). I don't get to spend much time with Joseph without his big brother around, so I think it will be a unique setting for me to get to enjoy being with Joseph.

I wanted to get some pictures of Joseph on his very first day but the camera couldn't be located until after church and after his 'fell asleep in the car and somehow woke up in my crib" nap. So the pictures I took were of a crabby, smooshed-faced little nursery-goer and mostly looked like this:

I just couldn't resist making Joseph wear the same outfit Ian wore on his very first day of nursery. Can you tell they are brothers? I don't think they look much alike. But notice how completely adorable both of them are!

Ian, November 2008       &      Joseph, March 2010