Jack's 3rd Birthday Party

Wow, what a weekend! Jack will be turning 3 in just a few days and since David's parents were in town this past week, we decided to celebrate his birthday last Saturday. Everyone from last year made it back and this year Jack completely understood what was happening. It totally made my day when Jack came out of his room after naptime and saw all his "friends" there for his birthday. He spun around in circles amazed at who was there and then said "my birthday here?" Even now I'm smiling as I replay the scene in my mind. I'm so grateful to all those who joined us in making Jack feel so special.

Guests started out by following signs up our driveway...
and then the front door indicated where they were - Fire House #3Everyone got a Junior Firefighter Badge! (hi grandpa)It was on to the food! We had grilled "Hot" dogs, 5-Alarm Chili, plus Flamin' Hot Cheetos. Then cooled off with some "Water" melon. Everyone got a fire hydrant drinking cup too!We had to play a game, of course, but with the weather not cooperating we played indoors. A "Bucket Brigade" formed as we had to fill a water hydrant (cup) to overflowing using tiny espresso cups (buckets) passed down a line of 7 people (per team)! Congrats to the winning team!Then it was time for the sweets! Besides the cake there were "Blazing" brownie pops, "Marshmallow Flamers" (homemade marshmallows), "Combustible" Caramel Popcorn, and "Fire House" Cookie Pops (Oreos covered in chocolate). It was so cool to see how excited Jack was when he saw his Fire Truck cake and dessert table. I had rotating police lights on the table for effect. I made it Red Velvet to match the "red" theme. Not sure if you can see it clearly but I made him an iron-on logo for his red shirt. It say "Fire Chief Jack" above the fireman cross logo.
Then it was presents time! With most every present he opened he said "It's my birthday now?" Probably because we said he had to wait until his birthday for this or that. Now he was getting gifts so logically it had to be his birthday! This card below played a song from his most requested movie "Cars". He got a couple of boxes of Matchbox cars and he knew the names of each vehicle. Then, before moving on to the next gift, he had to park them neatly.
He loves his new cookie set, which he uses in his new kitchen. Sad to see the one I made him be put to the side, but this new one takes up much less space!
More reading... he really enjoys looking at pictures and wants us to read the words to him. I'm very happy about this!
In the end, everyone got to take home a favor. Each guest got their fire hydrant cup, a "matchbook" (chocolate tipped pretzel sticks), and a cookie pop.It was a great time for all! I'm very happy with how everything went and feel so blessed to have such great family and friends.