HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

OK, have I seriously not posted pictures of John's 3rd birthday yet? *scanning back through blog...* Nope, I have not. Well, shame on me. And here you go.


"What are you doing with that camera in my face, woman?! I was sleeping!"
This picture was actually the day BEFORE his birthday, but I thought it was nice to see what his annoyed teenage face would look like in 12 or so years when I wake him up at 6:55am to tell him about the trip his dad & I took to the hospital on the fateful day of his birth...
minus the pink mimi, of course...
on a related note, we have successfully rid ourselves of the blight of the mimi!!! we told him that when he turned three there would be "no more mimis!!" and made him repeat it back every time so it would be burned into his brain...and he bought it! we also threw in a story about how the monkeys needed them so we would go throw them in the jungle to give them to the monkeys. seems to have done the trick. after his birthday he hasn't used one since!!!

Anyway, back to birthday festivities...

After lunch the kids did a treasure hunt that took them around the house while we set up the cupcake-decorating station in the kitchen. There are a few pictures of the hunt.







Cute Janella is reading all of the clues for our fearless group because, well, she's the only one who can read.



The treasure hunt led them to the kitchen to decorate their own cupcakes.
These kids are all so adorable I want to kiss them!











After they finished their own cupcake, I let them decorate a WHOLE cake (you should have heard the shrieks of pure joy that accompanied this announcement). It was originally supposed to be John's b-day cake, but it turned out absolutely awful and so did the (blue) frosting...I'm pretty sure I spit it out when I tasted it. Thankfully I have a recipe for a SUPER-EASY chocolate cake that I can do start to finish, including baking time, in about 35 minutes, so I set the nasty cake aside and made a new one before we had lunch. I decided last minute to let the kids play with the bombed cake instead and it turned out to be a great activity for them so it didn't have to go totally to waste.
(by the way, that is my awesome friend anne in the background...yes, she is SWEEPING MY KITCHEN as the kids make a huge mess with sprinkles. i *heart* her. thanks anne!!!)