Sweet 3!

(...doesn't have quite the same ring to it as Sweet 16, but we'll be there soon enough.)

A very sweet little boy at our house turned 3 last week.

Found this little motorcycle at a yard sale this spring and it's been "hidden" in the attic waiting for this morning. Except a couple little boys discovered it when we were moving. I found two of them up in the attic one day playing quite happily. I chased them down and figured, they're kids, they'll forget soon.....No such luck. Almost every week they would ask me if they could play with it. But the great thing about little kids is that they don't mind second hand gifts that they've seen before, he was more then delighted with his new treasure!

His birthday kinda got lost in the chaos last year since we went to Florida for Christmas so we had to make sure we partied hard enough for two years this time. It's always more fun when they get old enough to remember what a birthday is and look forward to it ahead of time.  Is there any  better way to celebrate a sweet boy than with  an over the top, sugar loaded  sweet theme??

Candyland

There are lots of Candyland cake ideas online, this is how mine turned out.

It was a fun cake to make but let's just say I've had better tasting cakes.

Of course the kids loved it. I told them they could cut any piece they wanted. 

"Go ahead, take the gumballs outta the middle."

"Sure, you can have the piece with the chocolate tree."

And then, when know one was looking, the remains just "mysteriously" disappeared.

Decorating for this theme is easy-peasy!
Anything in primary colors works great!

dug deep down in my creativity for this game :)

build your own candy house

 Like I said, SUGAR OVERLOAD!

 If you want to use this party idea, I highly recommend a January birthday! It's a great way to use
up all that candy that collects over the holidays. And if you don't happen to collect enough, a good
after Christmas 75% off sale will set you up in a hurry!
One more quick tip: fastest,easiest way to do "Gingerbread" houses.....
use graham crackers and hot glue. At least at my house it's more about the fun of making then about eating them. So if you slap the crackers together with hot glue ahead of time, it will save you the
waiting time till the icing hardens or the frustration of trying to decorate a house that's not dry and
wants to fall apart.

Fun gifts from a fun Aunt.

It's hard to believe it's been 3 years already!

Some days I'm sure I can see him growing taller!

He's sweet. He's funny. He's snugly. He's smart. 

He's determined. He's a stinker!

But he's a keeper!

FYI, motorcycles make little boys a lot more excited and cooperative about photoshoots!

(and I know someone who has one if you ever need to borrow one.)

So we've officially (and almost instantly) gone from the "terrible two's" (not that I really believe in those) to the "Why Mom?" three's. Should be another adventure!