Kamden's Third Birthday Week

 Oh Kamden.  As Mother's Day once again approaches, you celebrate your 

third birthday.  Thanks for making your first appearance in the world on 

Mother's Day; a grandma couldn't ask for a more wonderful gift! 

You're pretty stoked to turn three, 

even though you can't always get the three fingers up just right. 

You recently got on your little training-wheels bike and told your mom, 

"See you later, I'll be back when I'm three years old!"

 You love balloons. At the sight of them, you are likely to exclaim, "It's a party!"

 Your mom and dad planned a family party for you that was held last Saturday, a few days before your birthday, and we were so glad to have it at our house.

 You enjoyed some playtime outside with Cousin Evy.
She loves to drag your little car backwards. 

You politely say, "But I want to go the other way!"

 You loved opening presents as well as looking at the cards. (You have recently become quite interested in letters and words. Unfortunately, the only example your Nana can think of right now is when you said, "Poop starts with the letter E." )

 Another super-soft Paw Patrol blanket! 

You are exceedingly fond of snuggling with soft blankets! 

 When your mom asked what kind of birthday cake you wanted, you said, 

"A brown one."  She was happy to grant your wish! 

Great choice, Kam, Nana's favorite is also chocolate!

 You're so proud of yourself, clapping when you blow out the candle! 

 Nana and Papa love you and enjoy your company SO much! 

 Papa is teaching you how to use tools! You know just where to find your 

"Kamden tools" when you come see Papa. 

 "I can fix anything with my Kamden tools!" you declare! 

You work mostly on your car and tow truck, and 

you love to use the pliers to pick up small toys. 

You are so much like your daddy as a little boy!

 When it's time to go, you give Aunt Molly and your soon-to-arrive cousin a hug.

 Aunt Stephie gets a hug too.

 And of course you must hug Baby Evy. 

(Although we're noticing she's really not a baby any more!) 

You make the rounds and hug everyone.
Of course, Nana doesn't photograph every single one. 

(She's not totally crazy, really, no matter what the family 

says about how many pictures she takes!)

The next day, we celebrated Mother's Day with Nana. 

(A week early to honor all the other mothers in the family 

with a day of their own on the official Mother's Day.)

 Look at the cute handprint planter these two helped their mommies make!
(Those moms say the experience confirmed that they are not Pinterest moms. )
But the planter turned out absolutely beautiful and I love it!
(Apparently footprints are harder!)
(And Nana tried to do some photo editing to tone down the gleaming bright whiteness of your skin, dear Kam, but instead it appears she only made her face look freakishly pink in comparison. Oh dear.)

Your Nana's boys and their babies - her pride and joy! 

And by now, you were growing weary of picture taking!
(Just so you know you weren't totally faultless!)

Nana loves her beautiful girls too! 

We all enjoyed getting pedicures while you and your daddy hung out with Papa!

This was the day that your funny Uncle Eric 

broke through the little table he was sitting on, 

about two seconds after this picture was taken!

 Two days later on Tuesday, May 9, Uncle Eric and Aunt Molly
became parents when your sweet baby cousin Stella

 joined the family, just two days before your birthday!

The next day when your mom and dad took dinner to them,  

you got to stay with us because you had a slight cough and sniffles. 

 But you were able to climb the slide at the playground, 

warning Nana almost every time, "This is very dangerous."

 Hey buddy, your poor Nana is getting blamed for this protruding tongue thing 

you keep doing. Just stop it, ok? It's a very bad habit and 

will cause chapped lips your whole life long if you don't stop it NOW!
Trust me on this!

 Yep, you said it was dangerous! There you go, back down the slide!!  

You love the steering wheels at the park and pretended you were driving a firetruck, then you would go down the slide and say, "I'm gonna rescue people in need!" 

You'd jump off the slide and pretend to spray, "I'm putting out the fire!" 

Then climb back up the ladder saying, "I'm so brave!" 

 Back at Nana's house, there you go with the bird bath again! 

It's been one of your favorite things ever since you could reach it!

You had the hippopotamus (which you call your triceratops) 

from your Tupperware Noah's Ark, and you were very careful 

that it never stayed under water long enough to drown. 

Nana realized she didn't get any pictures of you with your dad 

or with both your parents at your birthday party, 

but we did take some lovely family photos at Easter a few weeks ago!

Oh Kamden. You inform us, "I have so many questions." (Yes, we were all quite aware of that.) You want to know why and how and what. Last week, it took you forever to finish your dinner at Nana's house,  as you ate lettuce and spinach, one leaf at a time. You want to eat ketchup as if it were pudding (again like your daddy when he was little), but you'll dip your meat in it when reminded. You like to run to the park with Nana, although you have been known to tell her, "Not too fast, honey!" You love to go look at the bear carved out of a tree trunk on the other side of our neighborhood. Last night when we looked at it, you insisted it was made out of brass. What?!

You love Thomas the Train, cooking dinner in your little kitchen and sharing it, playing outside, climbing into Papa's boat and declaring "We're in the deep blue sea!", playing with cars and trucks, and pretending all kinds of things, including crawling around with Zeek and acting like a dog. You adore your dad's young cousin (age 7 I believe), who you call "Aunt Serena", and a few weeks ago when I asked how old you were, you replied "I was 60 points when I got married to Aunt Serena this afternoon." (You hadn't seen her for a couple of weeks!)

 Your speech is still not quite perfect and the way you say some words is so cute. However, when Nana recently agreed with you and repeated your pronunciation that something was "doity", you gently corrected her, "No, dir-ty."

I am constantly amazed at all the things you know and say and do and remember. You are loving and sweet, and give the best long hugs a Nana could ask for. Your compassionate heart is evidenced in many ways, but most adorably when Papa's chocolate lab is lying down and you squat down to look him in the eye and inquire, "Why are you sad?"

In a few weeks, your life will change in the most wonderful way, when your loving mommy and daddy will present you with the best life-long friend a boy could ask for, a little brother.

Happy Birthday, Kamden! I know your mom and dad have some more birthday adventures and surprises planned with your daddy and your other "Grammy". You are a very special little boy, and we celebrate your  beautiful spirit, your happy personality and all the love and joy that you bring to this world!

Evy is One!

Happy Birthday, dear Evy! She loved every minute of the Happy Birthday song…

in spite of the candle falling off the cupcake halfway through!

(I had to put this picture first because the first picture

 is what shows up on the blog link!)

 Looks like she got ahold of cousin Kam's "sticky toy" from the goody bag!

 I wanted to get a picture of these five….It was very difficult! 

But Evy was certainly taking it seriously!

 Brody finally sat down and he and Kam are both saying "cheese" (Kam is holding Brody's little brother Bentley, Brittany's new baby!) but look, Evy has turned away!

 This was the best we could do! Sweet Bentley slept peacefully through it all!

 Little Miss Evy looked like a little princess!

 Evy loves food and headed straight for Brittany when she saw her plate!

 This Nana made the cupcakes, and if I do say so, the cream cheese frosting was to

 die for, even if the frosting job itself was less than perfect!

 Mommy shows her how it's done!

 Just a few cameras on the little girl thoroughly enjoying the cupcake!

 Cousin Kam is also a serious cupcake fan.

 Oh yeah.

 This girl was loving it!

Her smile just lights up our world!

Any grandma can relate to this fabulous feeling when you are honored with 

a grandbaby's joyful smile and laughter!

Evy's other grandma is also enjoying the celebration!

She's really good at eating cake! 

The "work" table - Steph's boss and co-workers love Evy (and Steph!) too! 

(I didn't get good photos of other family and friends who were there….

no one likes pics of them eating so I honored them by not sharing!)

And there were other shenanigans going on…

Uncle Nick just couldn't resist taking advantage of the high ceilings!

Aunt Christina enjoyed some newborn snuggles from Bentley.

 Evy is waiting for two more cousins to join the family in the next five weeks, 

and I spotted the mamas with another friend who is also awaiting a blessed event!

 Aunt Molly was the official photographer for their family pic, 

and I'm sure she got better ones than I did! Evy likes to look at her daddy!

 Great-Uncle Dave and Aunt Sandy got a fabulous rocking dolphin that Evy loved!

 And of course the box it was in became an instant hit! Kam says, "I'm in a movie!" 

Evy immediately came crashing in to join him.

 She promptly took over the lead role!

 She had some fun with Great-Uncle Dave.

 And of course she let Kam have another turn in the spotlight. (That dress!)

 That Uncle Dave is such a fun guy!

 When the nearly everyone was gone and things were mostly cleaned up, 

Kam spotted the balloons and shouted excitedly, "It's a party!"

 It was indeed a wonderful party, celebrating a sweet beautiful girl 

with her loving family and friends. 

Evelyn, may God continue to bless your life and guide you with His love and wisdom.

We are so thankful for you and love you so much.