Ian's THREE!

While most families across America were honoring mothers on Mother's Day, May 9TH, we were busy celebrating for other reasons... our 2ND eldest, Ian Spencer, turned 3 years old!!!

Truth is we celebrated his birthday that entire weekend!  He told us earlier in the week leading up to his big day that all he wanted for his birthday was a bag of chocolate chips! Go figure.  This kid has rock hard abs, and not an ounce of fat on his entire body; he loathes eating meat, beans and rice, and anything green or even remotely healthy but he sure LOVES his sweets! It's really a wonder he's not a fatty! (He must had inherited some G.O.O.D. genes!) I was actually going to wrap up a bag of chocolate chips to give him on his birthday, but he found the bag of chips a few days before his big day and ate them all gone in a hurry!  Needless to say, that birthday surprise was a bit of a spoil.

Since Ian's birthday fell on a Sunday this year, we decided to do all the fun things we like to do as a family that Saturday before.  Grandma and Grandpa Campbell met us at IHOP for our family's traditional "BIRTHDAY BOY BRUNCH".

 It's been a long time since the last time Grandma and Grandpa had been out to eat with all of our boys.  I had to laugh as I was going through all the pictures I took that morning outside of IHOP.  We were trying to get the boys just to take one decent picture with Spencer's parents in front of the restaurant sign, but they wouldn't cooperate.  Instead, they were RUNNING circles around them!

Don't you love that the only way Linda could get a hold on Ian was by grabbing him by the neck!  I doubt she thought to consider just how little I appreciate her stretching out the neckline of his brand new shirt!!!  SERIOUSLY! I get after my boys for doing that to each others shirts, NOW I know where they learned it from! (just kidding of course). 

We let the birthday boy decide how we were going to spend the afternoon together... he asked that we take him to the beach! Now obviously there was NO WAY we were going to be able to get him to the beach like he requested (sorry, it's like a thousand miles away!), so he settled for golf (I think Noah actually persuaded him into choosing golf).
Miniature golf that is...

I've decided that Ian must had woken up Saturday morning and taken his cRaZy pill because he was sure WIRED that day!  I couldn't get him to stand still or pay attention for even a split second.  Noah wanted to take his game of golf seriously while on the other hand, Ian was just more interested in chucking his ball into the water or the bushes. 

After playing a cRaZY round of golf,  we went home.  It was almost time for the boys to take their naps, but just before laying them down to rest, we let them play out back with their water guns.

The birthday boy got DRENCHED!

Later that evening, long after the boys had gone to bed, already nearly approaching midnight, I mustered up the courage to begin making Ian's birthday cupcakes.  He wanted me to make him penguin cupcakes that he saw in one of my recipe books; I tried to convince him that what he actually wanted were the alligator cupcakes instead, because those looked MUCH easier to make, but the kid said he wanted the penguin cupcakes, so I didn't want to disappoint him. After all, it was HIS birthday and if it was penguins he wanted, it was penguins (and icebergs) I was going to make!

The cupcakes were pretty tricky to make and decorate (of course I say that because I don't bake often and I'm a novice cupcake decorator) but all frustrations put aside, I think they turned out pretty darn cute! (okay, so I admit that I'm tooting my own horn!) Some of the penguins had streaks of black frosting where black chocolate frosting shouldn't have been, but that's because by 3a.m. it was too late for me to be my "perfectionist" self.  I really didn't give a care anymore; I was tired and I was just in a hurry to "get 'em done!".

He LOVED them of course, (whew! BIG relief on my part.) and later that following day I realized that he made a wise choice in choosing the penguins, because it matched the Toy Story theme of his birthday (he got a Toy Story Balloon, a special Toy Story fun glass to drink from, he received a Toy Story coloring set, the Emperor Zurgs "Ion Blaster" and a brand new Toy Story bike with training wheels... the kid LOVES Toy Story!) and the penguin cupcakes kinda looked like Wheezy the Penguin from Toy Story Two.

Sunday morning, Ian's actual birthday, he asked to have french toast for breakfast.  He LOVES his french toast with sprinkles , whip cream, lots of syrup and likes to down it all with a big glass of chocolate milk!

After breakfast, Ian opened his presents.  

 His brothers gave him a bug hunting kit, that included a little vacuum to safely suck up live specimens for close observation

 (Ian's older brother, Noah actually got more use out of the bug hunting kit later that afternoon in grandpa's garden than Ian did).

I've said it before, it doesn't matter whose birthday it is, or who a present belongs to, in our family, especially since we have ALL boys, they all seem to think the same toy rightfully belongs to them!
Noah also thought to give Ian his favorite bouncy ball and insisted on wrapping it himself.

Spencer and I bought Ian a Toy Story bike equipped with training wheels, a bell to ring and a thing that makes bubbles when he peddles; he picked the bike out himself (sorry, no pictures of him on the bike yet; we've had kinda cruddy weather ever since he got the bike, so he hasn't had many opportunities to ride it yet, and when he has, I haven't had the camera out.  Pictures of him on the bike will come soon though; I PROMISE).  He also received an Emperor Zurgs (the villain from Toy Story) weapon called the "Ion Blaster"; it's an air gun that pops little ping pong balls out.  The boys L.O.V.E. IT!

I just thought I'd add this cute picture of Cohen... it's hard to believe it, but he'll already be two next month in June!

The boys soaked and played in our BIG bathtub in the master bathroom for a while that morning; then after getting dressed, just before church, we watched Toy Story Two all together on our big bed and munched on kettle popcorn.

The boys took short naps later that afternoon, before we headed over to Spencer's parents for Mother's Day dinner and to celebrate Ian's birthday with the cupcakes I made and some yummy Tillamook Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream. On the drive down to my in laws house, the penguins toppled over a couple of times.  A few of the penguins needed to have their arms (which were actually Famous Chocolate Wafers cut in half) put back on; with out thinking I put them back into the cupcakes and carelessly brushed the crumbs off on my skirt.  With in half an hour, my stomach started to twist and turn in knots, I started getting hot, hives started to develop and my breathing was getting raspier and more shallow... immediately I KNEW I was starting to have an allergic reaction to the wafer cookies I touched! (yes, I am EXTREMELY sensitive to flour/gluten!) so I found some Benadryl in my diaper bag, took two, laid down and waited 40 minutes till it took effect and I started feeling better.  It was a close call and it wasn't exactly how I pictured spending the evening!

Once I started to feel better, I enjoyed some time out back in my in laws backyard snapping pictures of the boys playing on the swing set and playing with silly string!

 My mother in law prepared a nice dinner for all of the family, and after we were all finished eating, we sang "Happy Birthday" to Ian and let him blow out his 3 birthday candles and watched him DEVOUR his penguin cupcake, practically whole!!!

He received a fun card game from his Aunt Laura (which we still have yet to play... maybe tonight? The boys love to play games before bed...) and grandma and grandpa Campbell got him a a set of two HUGE TONKA construction trucks!  He LOVES those trucks (currently they're at grandma and grandpa's sitting in the sand box... we don't have a sand box here at our own place and he likes to use them to dig with).

I'd say the birthday boy had a pretty great weekend!  I sure do LOVE him; especially those dimples of his (which b.t.w., we're still not sure WHO he inherited his dimples from).  He seems SO much older than he really is; it's hard to believe he's only been with us for 3 years now.  He's a smart cookie; he likes to tinker with things and he's always figuring out where I have hidden things that I don't want him to get his hands onto (i.e. the peanut butter, syrup or frosting).  He's a really great tic-tac-toe player and can usually beat his big brother in a game of it. He's also extremely mischievous!  He's really very sensitive and VERY dramatic; oh boy the tantrums he throws are definitely "Oscar Worthy", but funny thing about the kid... his tantrums don't last for long (thank goodness), he can usually snap right out of them and back into a good mood immediately! So far he's been my only child who enjoys cuddling and snuggling. I love spending mornings in bed with Ian.  I love him. We all love him! I may not always (or ever) appreciate his works of "Pooh-caso" that he leaves me on the wall from time to time (a.k.a. pooh art) or the HUNDRED'S of books he's torn to shreds "just cuz"'... but I just can't ever seem to stay upset with him for long because I just love his adorable dimples and Jack Nicholson eyebrows (Ian shows so much expression through the movement of his eyebrows, just like Jack!) and those baby blue eyes... they're GORGEOUS!  He's gonna be a chick magnet with eyes like his! He's a stud and I'm so thankful that my Heavenly Father sent him to our family 3 years ago.