Sam's Third Birthday

Sam had a birthday, shout Hooray! He was so excited to turn three. We had such a fun day. The kids and I had lunch at Arctic Circle and Daddy got off early enough to catch us there before coming home. Then we had a party with both sets of grandparents and Aunt Becky.

Here we are having the birthday dinner. We had pizza, olives, goldfish, baby corn, chips, soda and broccoli - all Sam's favorites.

We only had 4 party hats that we had to take turns wearing because Sammy like them. I tried to get a picture of everybody wearing a hat, and I think this picture of Grandpa and Grandma Henrie turned out hilarious!
Sam's snake cake turned out cute and he was able to blow out all three candles. We told him to make a wish and he kept saying 'what is it? What's my wish?'

Sam loved opening gifts. He really caught on to tearing the paper off to find a toy inside! I think this was the first time it really clicked, and it was so fun to watch him. He got a LOT of toys, and two of his favorites were a flashlight and a front end loader, or as Sam calls it, a "Mighty Machine".

This birthday also marks the end of an era. Up to this point Jared and I were able to take the kids to the store that day before any big event where they receive gifts and let them pick out their favorites. They would forget the minute we left the store and then be surprised again the next day. It was great! But this time Sam spent the morning of his birthday asking where the basketball we bought the night before was, and I finally just gave it to him to stave off tears. So, we'll have to figure out how to be a little more sneaky from now on.

We had made a robot pinata for the occasion, but it turned out way too cute and Sam got quite attached, so when we suggested hitting it with a bat to break it so the candy could come out he told me he didn't want to hurt his friend. So the robot pinata currently resides on top of our fridge, and we let sam hit a plain paper bag pinata with a wooden spoon to get his candy.

Overall, Sam said he had a good day, and we're sure glad. He's a delightful little guy, and we love having him in our family. Happy Birthday, Sam!!