Elliot & Finnley - On Your 3rd Birthday

We got up bright and early (a recent trend I don't necessarily support), Dad and Mason slept in a bit.

We sang Happy Birthday to you, though  you didn't wait for us to start the song before blowing out the candles on your breakfast cookies.

Mason was so excited for you to open your presents he could hardly wait for me to make a cup of coffee. He gave you each a birthday shirt he proudly picked out.

Mom and Dad gave you some new books that I talked you into reading with Dad so I could finish making my coffee, before heading up to the playroom to try out your new dolls and furniture.

You helped do the morning chores, which usually consists of you:

• Throwing handfuls of feed where you shouldn't.
• Chasing the fearful ducks.
• Mom holding up so you can shove some grass into the turkey run.
• Playing in the duck pond.
• Collecting walnut piles and playing on the mower trailer.
• Begging to carry an egg or two back to the house.

And then there was mud. Elliot, you cried when you fell and got your hands muddy, but life was better after you wiped them on a buttonweed leaf. A bubble bath followed.

Dad spent most of the day at home. We just hung around the house, playing (and some of us cleaning). We had just gone to the zoo with friends the day before.

You talked to Grandma Deb on the phone, the conversations were short.

Grandma Kim and Grandpa Tim stopped in with Viggo and you piled on Grandma, per usual.

For dinner we had brats, taco mac n' cheese, and mixed vegetables. For supper it was yogurt, carrots, mango, grapes, strawberries, avocados, oranges, and kombucha. Your kombucha drinking faces are entertaining.

3 years old and you still make an annoying mess with your meals. You call it "soup pie."

The day ended in princess jammies, your chosen books (Turkey Day, Tiny Tiger, and Louis the Fish), and snuggles.