Drew's Third Birthday Weekend

Drew had a great birthday weekend starting with a lunch date with Mommy and Daddy and then a little birthday party at school. Uncle Billy and Aunt Sue-Sue arrived late night Friday night with their Kuma dog and their NEW puppy, Kaya- is that how you spell it? It sounds like Kia.

Saturday had us going out to a huge breakfast and then getting ready for his 'house party'! Hahaha! We hosted a family party for 23! We made room for all in our little house.

Cioci Candice came all of the way up from DC with her mom and dad...Aunt Kathleen and Uncle John. They arrived early- just in time to help with the decorations- while Candice hung with her BFF, Drew!

As always, I set up some sort of game for the group. This year we played Drew Trivia with typical questions like what is Drew's full name, and what is his favorite color. Then I spiced things up just a bit with a group of questions labeled 'what would Drew rather do...' He then answered them on the spot to get the most current and truthful answer. Here is a sampling:

What would Drew rather do?
pick his nose or pick his ear
play on the computer or play outside
brush his teeth or brush my hair
shovel snow or shovel food around his plate

Check back next week for the answers. Just kidding, here they are right now: pick his nose, play outside, brush his teeth, shovel snow. Hahaha.

Here is the crowd contemplating their responses:


Here is Candice teaching Drew a bad habit- sniffing markers. Hey they were smelly markers, so that's OK, right?

Cousin Katy got Drew this super cool desk, so they tried it out together.


My mom has volunteered to make Drew's birthday cake every year, and this year she formed a three layer cake into the shape of a wooden block. It got lots of complements.


The birthday boy enjoying his slice of cake.

A late night (serious) game of Pass the Balloon with Grandpa Brian.


The following day was beautiful- like 50 plus degrees, so after we went out to breakfast (again!) we went for a hike. Drew got to be in charge of Kia's (Kaya?) leash. She ran ahead to meet this other dog, and Jim caught Drew in the air like a pro before his little face smashed into the pavement. Nice save, Daddy!

Here we all are overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. It looks like Kuma is very long and gets smaller as he gets longer, but really that is the puppy's bum sticking out the back!


And finally a couple of videos:

Drew got a harmonica from Aunt Sue.

And here he is performing in his first puppet show- made out of some of the many materials her received in his birthday craft bin from Grammajo! The best gift ever!

After a VERY long and VERY busy weekend, Drew had school on Monday. He was a bit cranky that morning and as we were walking out the door he informed me that he didn't actually (yes, he used that word) want to go to school today. To which I responded, 'sometimes in life we have to do things we don't want to do.' I certainly know I heard that a lot growing up! And off we went. I had to leave him crying- but mostly whining- as I snuck out the back door. And upon my return at 4pm, he, of course, did not want to leave. This is always the case- he never wants to leave when I pick him up, and he can be a bit clingy when I drop him off. He always has a good time though, so I feel really good about the decision we made to send him to school this winter. And he is starting to talk about his friends from school. Too cute!