Brian's Birthday Weekend!...

Yesterday we kicked off Brian's birthday weekend by baking Christmas cookies!  No, I didn't buy them and sprinkle powdered sugar on top to make them look homemade.  That's so last year.  I really made cookies - from scratch.  Miss Sara was there as my witness.

Brian loves to bake - and lick beaters.

I didn't want to leave Gavin out, so I fed him some batter, too.  And then I gave him a bite of one of the cookies.  And then he promptly threw up all over the kitchen floor.  Don't worry, I'm not giving out any Christmas cookies as gifts this year.

Sara and her parents were very generous with gifts for the birthday boy!  Brian especially loves (more like he's obsessed with!) his Angry Birds hooded fleece blanket.  He wore it for our kitchen dance party last night - he wore it this morning - and he snuggled up with it on the couch this afternoon!

And, he is very excited to play golf!

The four of us also went to the mall on Friday for my "Santa Do-Over" - and it was so, very worth it.  I typed up two "cheat sheets" for Santa with three to four bullet points about each child.  For example, on Gavin's sheet I wrote:  This is Gavin!  He just took his first steps!  He's doing great in school!  He's  a wonderful brother!  And for Brian:  This is Brian!  He'll be four on Sunday!  He is a very good boy and a great brother to Gavin!  Each of the boys' sheets had their photo so Santa knew who was who.  The Santa at our mall (King of Prussia, PA) is incredible.  He is gentle and patient and spends a good deal of time with each child.  I slipped him the cheat sheets before we walked up and, honest to God, he remembered every detail!  Gavin sat calmly and listened intently to everything he said - smiling and clapping the whole time.  And Brian was in awe that Santa knew so much about him.  I could have cried watching my children enjoy their moment on Santa's knee.  No cameras, no stress - it was brilliant.

The celebration continued today!  I hired our neighbor, Gabrielle, to make Angry Bird cupcakes for Brian's Angry Bird themed birthday - and boy, did she deliver!  Gabrielle has her own business called "Go Sweets" and makes and decorates the cupcakes on her own.  She did such a great job and Brian was so excited!!

Then it was party time!!  We had two of his neighbor friends over, Seamus and Molly for a birthday playdate.  Low key - low stress - high energy and lots of fun.

They gave Brian possibly the coolest gift EVER.  Seriously, I considered returning the gift we bought for him which seemed lame in comparison!  It's called "Crazy Forts" - and looks like giant Tinkertoys.  The men assembled it into this cool configuration that looked like an Igloo...

...and then I dropped a sheet over the top to make it a cool cave!  The really neat thing is that the balls glow in the dark!  So tonight we turned all the lights off and sat in the glowing igloo - it was really fun. I can't say enough about this toy!

He also got Castle Blocks from Mommy and Daddy - and a Hot Wheels race track from Gavin!  (There's more presents to come tomorrow on his real birthday!)

The cupcakes were delicious - and almost too cute to eat.

Almost. 

I'm glad my little three year old is easy to please!  Going to bed he declared, "That was the best birthday party ever, Mama."  

Hopefully tomorrow, when he wakes up four, he'll feel the same way!!