Owen is 3!

Today my baby turned 3 years old. Wow. Three! Time to potty train (can you tell I've been putting it off....)
It's so fun to watch your children grown, learn, and to see how their personalities are still the same, whether they're one or 15 (well, I'm assuming that's the case). Owen is such a goofball kid. He loves to act silly, jump around, and pretend that he's Buzz Lightyear. He follows Lucy around doing and saying everything she does, and easily gets his feelings hurt if she runs off without him, "Lucy! Wait for me!" Yes, he can be emotional at times but on the flip side it means I still get a lot of hugs from the little guy. He's always been a cuddler.

For his birthday over the weekend we had a small family party. Laura made the cutest hats by taking cheap party hats from the store and adding tissue paper pom-poms on top. Brilliant!
And the kids loved them, well, except for Owen. Guess he wasn't in a hat mood that night.
The fun thing about Owen's birthday is that he shares it with his cousin Ava! Today she turns 4!
I share a birthday with my cousin Kam and it was always fun growing up to have birthday parties together, especially since it falls around Thanksgiving time so there's tons of family around.

With colorful hats on, we started the party. First the presents. Ava and Owen took turns, while Lucy closely supervised and even tugged at the paper a few times. That girl's gonna love having her own birthday in February.
Then we had a pinata! Laura planned the whole night and did a cute Ice Cream theme. Ice Cream cone pinata, Cupcake Ice cream cones for dessert and even ice cream cone balloons (which I didn't get a picture of. Bummer).
Owen smacked the pinata first and did no damage.
Ava was next. She got some good hits in there, smacked it around.
And then with one hit, Lucy knocked off the top. Definitely a design flaw by the manufacturer, since I know Lucy isn't a powerhouse hitter.
I felt bad that Tyler and Jeremy didn't get a turn at bat. But they all loved diving for the candy. They each gathered a bag full and my dad picked up the pinata remains.
Then it was time for the classic "picture around the kitchen island"

Gathering,

lighting,

singing,

and picture!

Time to chow. Owen ate three of these. Of course it was confusing when he kept asking me for chocolate ice cream. I got him a bowl of chocolate malted crunch and he whined, "noooo. the chocolate ice cream..."
Hmmm. Ohhhh, the pretend ice cream cupcake with chocolate sprinkles on top?
"uh, yea."

Cute little Anna.

The Blairs! Cameron and Wendi, Tyler and Jill (and one on the way!)

And our birthday boy.

Happy Birthday Oboe! I love your cute face, your funny personality, and your sweet sweet hugs. We're so blessed to have you in our family!