Jude's 3rd Birthday

Well, my little guy turned three this week! Part of me wonders how the time could have gone so fast, but the other part of me feels like "of course he's 3!" It just kinda seems like the perfect age for a little Jude.

Our house all decorated. He LOVED it, of course. Especially the train track on the floor.

Looks like our new tradition is opening presents first thing in the morning.

I'm totally okay with this!

This birthday we got adventurous and hosted our first birthday party! Jude invited our neighbors and his little friends from nursery to come to the park and play, eat pizza & cake, and just have a fun time.
It actually went really well! We ordered a LOT of pizza (and we are still eating it...and will be for probably a week). I tried my hand at a few simple ideas I saw on pinterest (I'm not that ambitious...it is just a 3 year old's party), and even made the cake! But you all know how much I love to bake so that wasn't too hard for me. Funny story about the cake though... Jude has been asking for this Thomas cake he saw at the grocery store, and I thought, I could totally make that! Well, my cakes are known for tasting awesome, not looking awesome. It took me almost 5 hours to make and didn't look anywhere as good as the store, but it tasted great! (And I'm totally okay with that.)

half way through

the finished product! don't mind the train falling off the melting frosting in the sun...

veggie train

More pizza than we know what to do with. Also, please ignore the dirty baby crawling around stealing food off abandoned plates; that's what she did all party.

So we just ate pizza and cake and watched the kids run around the park with their very loud train whistle favors (sorry, parents). We even got some party crashers! A group of kids (who were clearly old enough to know better, by the way) decided they wanted to take half our whistles and run off with them. I couldn't exactly ask for them back because, you know, random strangers' spit. One of the kids, however, was very, very "friendly" and kept coming back for chips, snacks, and even tried to get some cake. Eventually (like an hour later), his mom showed up and pulled him away. It was a little annoying, but whatever. We had lots of food and sharing is caring! Now it's just a funny story about 5 year old party crashers at the toddler train fest.

We don't know the kid in the bottom left. To his credit, he did give Jude a massive high five after he blew out the candles.

Overall, it was a great party. I was too occupied getting everything together and sadly forgot my camera :( Thankfully, another mom took a few little shots on her phone, so there is at least some photographic evidence that I can, in fact, hold a fun party (for 3 year olds...the bar's not that high...).

Happy Birthday, Jude! We love you and your train-lovin' ways!

PS Jude's already started planning his next party. No joke. He says next year he'll be 20, and he wants to have his party at the other park with the green train and only one train car. Also, his cake needs to have Percy on it...so stay tuned for that party...