Three-Year Old Thad

We cannot believe Thad is already 3! At times it seems it's gone so fast, and others it's as if he has been with us forever. Like life wasn't really life before this handsome kid joined it! We had such a wonderful time celebrating this guy's third year of life, and there is no doubt he soaked up every moment of his birthday time!

We started the celebrations off the day before his birthday by inviting a few friends to Pump It Up, followed by lunch and presents.

 Gabe.Sophie.Thad.Jared

The previous picture was obviously not very successful, but at least we got one with Gabe in it!

These three were pretty good cheesers for the camera. :)

We showed up a little early for the party so Thad played some hoops by himself for a bit.

He's a baller!

 Sophie was a little late, so these 3 boys went down the slide together a hundred times!

It was so darling. They would wait for each other at the top and all slide down together and giggle like little school girls while doing it.

Gabe is about one month older than Thad and Jared's birthday is 2 days after Thad's, so they are all on the same page and it was so fun to see them enjoy each other so much!

 They all enjoyed gearing up for a good old fashioned boxing match...

 If they could figure out how to get the gear on, that is.

 It's hard to get 2 preschoolers to look at the camera at the same time.

I had to get a picture of Thad with Sophie in her favorite part of Pump It Up. 

She was not a fan of the inflatables, so she hung around the non-bouncy, flat areas.

 Dayna and Hanna were playing with their kiddos, so I decided to jump in on the action too! 

 I ventured into the obstacle course with Thad and he loved having me by his side so he could show me how skilled he was!

He wore this smile on his face pretty much the whole 2 hours we were there.

The morning was a huge success and Thad was so excited his birthday party had finally arrived! 

 These cute kids were all ready for lunch and devoured their pizza and oranges when we finally got home!

 Maybe seeing these little guys was a big reason that pizza was devoured so quickly.

 After the birthday song was over, Thad tried to blow out the candles just like we had practiced.

It took a few tries and some help from mom...

 But he got those suckers blown out and those kids were ready for a cupcake!

It was so funny, because each kid wanted to unwrap the present they brought. Thad was so good and let them help and they were all so excited to finally have the presents open.
Jared cried when he left because he wanted to take the present he brought. 3-year olds!

For Thad's actual birthday, we hung around as a family and just enjoyed this boy turning 3. 

 Thad was so excited to open presents after lunch. He had seen a lot of them around the house because Grandmas had bought them while they were here for Wes and a few others sent them in the mail and we told him he couldn't open them til his birthday. Alas, the time had arrived!

 I'm just as addicted to taking pictures of this kid, especially when he is up for it! I love all the faces he makes!

 Thad got a tad obsessed with Monsters, Inc. while we we stayed with Grandma Cindy over the holidays, so it was the perfect gift for her to give. 

The obsession did not fade. 

He asks to watch it everyday. I try to limit it to at least every other...for my sake.

 Gabe has a big train table at his house and Thad loves playing with it and has talked about trains a little more since becoming better friends with him. 

We went shopping with Grandma Teresa and this is what he picked. 

This is by far his favorite toy/activity in the house now. So perfect!

 Showing the camera the new cars he got.

He loves crashing all his little cars and every time we talk about crashing cars, he says, "Caden likes crashing cars!" He sure knows what his cousin's favorite thing is and can't wait to crash cars with him again!

 Enjoying the loot!

 All of the gift opening and play sure wore this little one out! 

 We love when Thad does numbers on his hands. He mastered telling and showing people the number 2 with his little hands, and we were so happy he mostly got down 3 for his birthday. 

I love that he doesn't quite get bending his pinky yet!

"Hey, Wes! I'm 3! Did you know?"

 I think this little one is going to be handsome, just like his brother (not that he's not already handsome!).

 To finish off his special day we headed to "Ol' McDonald's" for some chicken nuggets and chocolate milk.

He was in heaven.

We had such a fun day celebrating this kids third birthday and are so excited to celebrate so many more!

Although we're excited to celebrate so many more, we wouldn't mind freezing time and enjoying this three-year old face forever:

 Thad, Mom and Dad adore you. Please never forget that.

 We love when you smile. It lights up the room.

 Thank you for making these past 3 years better than we could have ever imagined.

 You're smart. You're kind. You're incredible. 

 If you every need to be reminded of that, you know who to come to.

I guess we'll have to let you keep growing, but we're so grateful to Heather for capturing these expressions. Each one of them is so you. I hope you can look back on them and know you were happy, healthy and loved.

HAPPY THIRD BIRTHDAY!