Birthday Boy--Three Years Old!

I think Everett had a good birthday today. He woke up and opened a few presents, then later he got to open more from my family. In the afternoon he asked us if he could open some more presents, but was okay with the fact that we didn't have more for him.

Here's my little guy in the hospital, only a few hours after he was born. It is fun to see him grow up.

This is when he went straight blond, from the time he was a few months old to over a year. Now his hair is a little darker, but still much lighter than he was born.

With that, let's move on to Everett's thrill for the day: Presents!

Everett got a play oven from us. Joel and I built it, slaved over it, and made many, many mistakes. It is very imperfect and the paint job is not good, but Everett doesn't care. I think it looks boy-ish enough for him. The best part is that there is a system of hinges allowing it to fold completely flat, enough to fit under Everett's little bed. This was a must for me when I was designing it, because we simply don't have the space for something like this to be up all the time! I also wanted it big enough that both kids can use it at the same time. So far, so good, but we're only on day one. I'm preparing myself for lots of bickering.

This was a good day for Ashley too, as she loved everything Everett got. She is thrilled with the oven and all the food, but she especially loved Everett's gift from my family:

A tee-ball, ball-pitching system. It is loads of fun and the balls are a durable foam, which is fantastic. It means I don't have to worry about them using this indoors. It will pitch straight up or out, and Everett can also use it as a tee. I'm not sure what he likes best, hitting the ball or waiting for it to hit him so he can try to catch it!

They both loved having Joel help them hit the balls. Everett knows how to work all the buttons, so they just load it up for each other and the fun never stops!

Everett's request for his birthday was that he could have a blue robot cake. He has loved robots ever since we saw Monsters Vs. Aliens together, so I knew he would have fun putting the candy on and making it into a crazy robot.

It's definitely homemade looking, but the best part for Everett was that he got to decorate it himself. Well, that was the second-best part. His favorite thing about the cake was that the frosting turned his tongue blue.

Happy Birthday, Everett! It was fun to have a child old enough to anticipate and enjoy his big day.