What it Looks Like on Sunday Afternoon

Approximately 10 minutes after we got home from church, I came downstairs to find this scene:

The boys were shirtless and half of them had winter coats on as padding so they could be shot with Nerf bullets over and over.

It's a good thing they know how to entertain themselves after sitting in church for three hours because sometimes I still feel clueless about how to be a mom to boys.

Celebrating Crew

Three seems to be the first birthday where they "get" it and Crew's anticipation was electric. His brothers asked him for weeks leading up to the big day what he wanted to do and he only had two requests; cake and the putt-putt park. Everyday we would ask him one by one if we could go to his birthday party and with a shy, glowing grin he would shrug his shoulders and reply, "Um, sure."

We made sure to plan an outing at his favorite park, but first, we thought of a few things he would love to do on his actual birthday. While the big boys were at school, we went to an outdoor shopping center to ride on the train and ferris wheel.

Crew is the easiest to please. He would probably show just as much excitement over getting the mail, but I loved seeing his expressions and gasps of amazement on the rides.

He even scored a red birthday balloon.

He practiced so hard to master holding up three fingers.

The ferris wheel was a big hit.

Everyone else in our family wanted to celebrate with Crew as well, so after school, we headed to the beach for a picnic and sunset.

Finn rather enjoyed himself.

It was a lot of work to get those three fingers in position.

The sunset was hazy but the waves were the biggest I've seen in a long time.

This boy glows, yes he does.

As promised, we headed to the putt-putt park the next day to celebrate Crew's advancement in age with some friends. I'm not sure what the actual name of the park is, but since there is a little putting green next to the playground equipment, we have always called it the putt-putt park. Crew asks to go there every single day.

I found the same bubble wands that the boys loved at the Easter festival and made a huge tub of bubbles for Crew's friends to enjoy. So low key and so perfect for this age.

As usual, Blake designated himself to be the master toddler entertainer with some exploding bubble science experiments.

There was only one more thing that could make Crew's birthday complete.

We had cookies and cream cupcakes.

He wasn't so sure about those lit candles.

"You want me to do what?"

A few days after Crew's little party, I overheard him telling his cars, "Hey guys, wanna come to my birthday? Putt-putt park? Bubbles aaaaaaand cupcakes aaaaaaand friends..." Yes, three is a fun age to celebrate.

Crew is Three

I wish every mama could have a Crew.

The three things I love most about him are:

1. His enthusiasm level for life is off the charts. He shows the same amount of excitement for going to Disneyland as he does when he spots a garbarge truck. When he recognizes a song on the radio he gasps and exclaims, "What's that sound?!" He loves to observe rain falling from the sky, bury himself over and over in cardboard boxes, take showers and help make waffles. He is excited about every aspect of life and his joy is contagious.

2. He still pronounces a few words incorrectly and I can't bear to correct him because it is so endearing. Some of my favorites are bow-nana for banana, swim-soup for swimsuit, foda for soda, oh-gurt for yogurt, bakistball for basketball and pooky pooky for spooky (always repeated twice).

3. He randomly runs into my arms to give me hugs approximately 43 times a day. He exclaims, "I wuuuuuuuv you mom." And when I tell him, "You're my boy," he replies, "You're my guh-wool." I will always be your girl, Crew. Don't you forget it! 

Happy birthday to my favorite three year old.