Eli is 3!!

Our big boy turned 3 today and we did much celebrating over the weekend in anticipation :) It was a great time had by all and I think this will be the first birthday Eli actually will remember! The evening after his party he was so excited that he could not go to sleep until 11pm! The next morning he was up at his usual time and immediately began playing with his new toys.

For his party this year we decided on a HotWheels theme since he was starting to have quite a collection and enjoyed playing with them daily. Last year we did a transportation theme and this year is our first using an actual "licensed" theme. We were excited to see so much HotWheels stuff out there and had no problem arranging for a party full of HotWheels! We invited friends and family and had a full house as we have in years past. The hard part about his birthday being in August is it was too hot to expand the party outside so we all had to squeeze inside! Nonetheless, it's awesome that Eli has so many friends and family to help him celebrate his big day.

Now for some pictures!

Aunt Sarah is a golf pro and decided that this would be the year to get Eli is first REAL set of golf clubs. Of course they will only be used under strict supervision and at special times to ensure everyone's safety :)

Eli's cake was really awesome! Hy-Vee did great! ;) We gave tattoos and a HotWheel cars as favors. Each kid got to choose their own HotWheel!:

The goodies:

Some of the kiddos (and mamas):

Blowing out the candle!!:

Anyone who throws a party knows that there is much clean up afterwards. I will have to say that I think this was definitely the most "trashed" Eli's room had EVER been!:

The living room wasn't too bad:

Eli got some additions to his HotWheels track and can now literally make a track with boosters and loops and turns that fills the whole basement! It really is pretty cool and here is a picture of the upstairs smaller version:


We had a great time and Eli got some wonderful gifts. Thank you everyone for your love and support throughout these last 3 wonderful years!!

Today is Eli's actual birthday so after work I took Eli to get ice cream and to play at the park. He did awesome and already is acting like a 3 year old! He played so well with the kids, introduced himself, took turns, said please and thank you....it was great!! He's such a big boy!:

Eli wanted his 3 year picture to be taken in the chair so here it is....hair twirling (his newest thing) and all!:

Last year I did a whole run down of the things he had learned in the past year. This year, let's just say I honestly don't have time!! What's great about this blog, though, is I can easily look back (and so can you!) at this last year and see all of his changes. We found out we were pregnant with Anna about a month after his birthday and his world hasn't been the same since!! Not in a bad way, of course, but definitely a change! This last year he has learned how to talk more with sentence structure and humor and quickly became (and still is!) our little parrot saying back to us everything you don't necessarily want him to! He was in his first wedding acting as the ring bearer for his Aunt Sarah and Aunt Stephanie's wedding and became much more aware of the world around him. He was more timid around Santa last year but loved the idea of him! Eli built his first snowman, and predicted the gender of his new sibling. Mommy developed a toddler schedule for him and dyed his first Easter eggs. He moved to sleeping in his own bed (although with daddy by his side) and got a newly decorated room! The most obvious change would be that he became a big brother and witnessed his mommy's belly getting "bigger, bigger, bigger, BIGGER!", as he used to say. That being said, I would say Eli's 2nd year has probably been the hardest just because of this change. But Eli has shown that he will be an awesome big brother to his sister and I so look forward to this coming year when Anna is able to interact more with Eli. He is so looking forward to this and I know they will become awesome playmates and pals.

I love my little guy and am so excited for this upcoming year as he starts preschool and on the road to becoming more and more independent. We made a calendar for him to count down the days:


He's such a loving, caring, social kiddo and school will open up a whole new world for him which I know he'll love! I'm sure this year will also hold great growth in his learning, speech, imagination, and emotions. His personality will continue to develop and he'll become more and more of a little boy!

Happy 3rd Birthday beautiful boy!!