Nolan Turns Three

I can't believe it but we have a three year old in the house!!  Weeks ago, Nolan had decided that he would like a dinosaur birthday party and he never wavered from his theme.  As soon as he chose his theme we were in birthday party mode and started our preparations!!  It has been dinosaurs, dinosaurs, dinosaurs over the past few weeks!  Nolan's birthday fell on a Tuesday this year so we had a fun family night on the 18th with his favorite spaghetti dinner, cake, and his big present from us (his first big boy bike and helmet).  The 18th was a warm day so it was awesome to be able to get him outside to test drive his new bike!  We held his party on Sunday, the 23rd and had a great turn out with lots of friends and all of his family members.   We knew we wanted to throw him is first "big boy birthday party" with friends and family at a place other than our house.  We ended up choosing Buckeye Bounce because Nolan always has a good time jumping around and they offered a great package that included a party room, assistant, pizza, and drinks for everyone.  It was a great time!  The kids had a blast, Nolan was ecstatic to have everyone celebrating his birthday, and we got to soak in another fabulous life moment as we watched our baby boy turn three!

It really has been a special couple of weeks with lots of celebrations along the way for Nolan.  He is such a smart, loving, sensitive little boy with a big personality and imagination.  We are very proud of the three year old he has become and can't imagine our life without him.  It baffles us how fast the past three years have gone.  Feels like we were just in the hospital meeting him for the first time and here we have a walking, talking, independent little boy.  Here's to another great year with our Nolan!!

 Nolan's preschool class celebrated his birthday the week before his birthday.  He chose to bring cupcakes with dinosaur sprinkles :)

 Filling the favor bags for his guests.  After his party he told me that one of his favorite parts of the day was, "giving my friends their bags!"

Birthday morning:  Tuesday, March 18th 2014. 

 It took me three years to make Nolan a birthday cake but I was pretty proud of the finished product!!  Nolan approved!

 Birthday boy!

 Checking out his new bike.  Quinn is never too far behind!

 Getting ready to go.  It took some coaxing (a big bag of M&Ms) but he finally got on the bike and gave it a go.  The bike we got for him is a balance bike, meaning that there are no pedals or training wheels.  The purpose being that Nolan will get a feel for his balance and propel himself forward with two feet, eventually eliminating the need for training wheels.  At this point, he is pretty much sitting and walking his bike up and down but he'll get it with more practice :)

 Birthday cake time!!

Nolan's Buckeye Bounce birthday Party:

 

The party room ready for all of Nolan's guests.

 Dinosaur cake.

 Pizza and drink table.

 Favor bags.

 Excited birthday boy ready for his friends to get there!

 Nolan and Quinn.

 Nolan's friend James was able to come to the party.  Nolan and James played together for two years at our sitter's house and have remained such great friends.  Nolan was SO excited to have him there!

 Crazy jumpers.

 Maddox (1), Kendall, Emma (2) and Rachel.

 Grammy and Quinn.

 Best buds.

 Naomi (5)

 Rylen (4)

 Grandma Mary and Nolan.

 Grandpa and Nolan playing skeeball.

 Maddox (1)

 One of many attempts at a good picture of all of the party kids in the "cheese pit."  Pretty funny.

 Quinn thought she was one of the big kids :)

 Pizza time.  So funny how all of the kids wore their party hats.

 Happy birthday to you!

Nolan got so many great gifts from everyone.  Gift time was complete chaos with a party of kids all under 5 years old (there were a lot of helpers!!)  Nolan has been enamored with all of his new toys and has only taken a break from playing with them to eat today :)


Nolan's 3 year old favorites:

Color:  green
TV show:  Umizoomi (animal episode)
Food:  pineapple
Thing to do outside:  ride his bike
Toy:  dump trucks