Owen Turns 3!!!

Our big boy turned 3 on Friday!!! We were all so excited. I was especially eager for him to turn 3 so people would stop being so surprised that this 45 pounder was still a two-year-old!! A long time ago I saw a great idea for a birthday party, "Puppet Theatre". It was perfect because I had been wanting to get the kids a puppet theatre for them to perform their own puppet shows (they are really into the pretend play right now) so I decided to combine the two and make a party out of it!!

We started about a month ago thinking of ideas and how we wanted to make it happen and I think it turned out alright. It's easy for me to think about all that I wish I had done and didn't or what things I could have done better, but I think it went well! So, here are the pictures for Owen's 3rd birthday-- "RED PUPPET THEATRE"

For food, we did Owen's absolute favorite... hot dogs, but the real show stoppers were the yummy cake and cupcakes my mom made!!!

We did have to put the cake away for a bit because Owen got a little too excited and wanted to have at it right then and there. But we did let him lick the icing with his fingers later on... he was the only one that got to eat that cake :).

... and yes, these were as good as they look!! Red velvet cake with red sprinkles!

The red food bar.

Flags, flags and more flags! I had one mom say, "when you said you were making flags, I thought you were just doing one little string to go across a table or something". Um, no. She apparently doesn't realize my tendencies to go a little overboard!

I also made hats and mini puppet theatres for each of the children but I didn't get any pictures of the mini theatres and they were so cute!!! GRR.

The Puppet Show.

The puppet show, complete with popcorn for everyone, went really well!! Dan and I kind of threw it together at the last minute so it was really surprising how much the kids loved it! I mean, the house was a zoo with around 20+ kids there most the time, but during this show, the kids were eyes were GLUED on the show!! It was great... and it must be said that Daniel and I might have a future as puppeteers.... ok, not.

Getting ready to play games (the front room came in very handy for this sort of thing--- and you can see in the right hand corner the mini theatres... a little anyway).

LUNCH--me making sure everyone has what they need... though I should mention that there were LOTS of moms helping me out and cleaning up too!!!

Someone enjoyed the cupcakes a little too much.

Opening presents:

Owen opened the first present. That's it. Just the one. He wanted to open it and play with it and hardly noticed another gift (until after the party).

So this is when all the kids jumped in to open his presents for him... and this is also when control was lost.... even with 10 moms around.

All and all, I think the party was very successful! We are lucky to have lots of kids around the same ages as our children. Owen loved all of his gifts. It's amazing how every gift was so perfect for him!!! He will be entertained until Christmas for sure!!!

Happy Birthday my sweet boy!! We love you so much and are so happy you are in our family. You keep me on my toes and say and do so many fun things. Can't wait to see what 3 has in store for us! (hopefully a mostly potty-trained year).