Joe's Birthday Festival Weekend

Holy buckets, folks. I am tiiiiiiiiiiired. This weekend was Joe's birthday celebration festival hoopla.

I spent Thursday and Friday deep cleaning the house. Usually I just clean the main rooms that people will see (living room, bathroom, kitchen) and shut the doors to the rooms that look like hell and pray no one opens them for fear mountains of unfolded laundry will fall on them and trap them forever.. But this time the cleaning bug hit me hard and I organized and dusted our bedroom and Joe's room and deep cleaned every nook and cranny in the house. Lawdy, it needed it.

Friday night we decorated while Joe was asleep so he would be surprised the next morning. He ran out to the living room and as soon as he saw the big dinosaur Happy Birthday banner and the other dino decorations he exclaimed, "WOOOAAAHHH!!!" It was great. My mom came early to spend some time with us before the craziness of the party started which made Joe very happy. For the first time like EVER he went down for a nap with no objections because we told him that his party would be here when he woke up.

Oh my goodness he was SO SO SO excited when his guests started showing up. He ran out to greet most of them. Our family and friends crammed into our tiny house and celebrated all things Joe. We opened presents and in true fashion he tossed the clothes aside and shrieked in joy at all his toys. Then we had cake and ice cream. As we sang happy birthday to him he sang along with us. He spent the rest of the day playing with his toys and his friends.

Sunday we all went to Mass together. It's the first time we have all gone together since Yellowstone! We spent the rest of the day relaxing.

Yesterday was actually Joe's birthday. We went super early to the zoo to beat the crowds and the heat and Joe had a blast. He loves animals so he was so excited to see everything. We definitely made the right decision to go early. The last 45 minutes we were there were spent fighting the crowds. We went to Winsteads to eat lunch and then to Ryan's parents for another little party. Needless to say, we all were pooped out.

In similar fashion to how I was feeling after Sam's birthday, I felt blue and bummed out after Joe's birthday. I am always one who can't wait for the future, but so often that causes me to not cherish what is going on right in front of me. I am so ready for our life to have some sort of stability that I forget that Joe isn't going to be this little forever. Someday he'll be a stinky teenager who thinks I'm lame. Right now he is sitting next to me with his head on my shoulder while wearing a Kermit the Frog hat and watching Toy Story. That's my cue, folks. Time to close the ol' laptop and watch Woody and Buzz with my son.

So far year three is turning out wonderful! Can't wait for the rest of the year's adventures!

 

 

The dinosaur set up

This cake came from my hometown about 2 hours away and it was DELICIOUS!

Ready to party!

Mommy and Daddy with the birthday boy. Sam was snoozing. And yes, he had a dino shirt, too!

Joe with Grandma Mary

Kermit hat

He was singing along with us!

Hugging his new dino