Valex's 3rd Birthday

Valex turned 3 on Friday, but Vanessa decided to do his party today. Moving has made my life CRAZY, so this day really snuck up on me. I forgot to order his present in time, so it won't be here until next week. Then I forgot to get something for my dad for Father's Day. And Vanessa and I forgot to figure out a cake early enough to order a new pan. 

 

 Since we currently don't have a washer, I decided to do my laundry at my mom's and spend the entire day with them. It was a blast! We started the morning by making the birthday cake. The birthday boy LOVED liking the batter off the mixing blade.

 

I told Vanessa what pans I had on hand and she let Valex choose one. He choose the tractor one. That night, I found a few pans at the grocery store, but when he was given new options, he still wanted the tractor pan.

 

I'm glad he did! I feel like this is my best cake I've made so far! The last time I made it, I tried to follow the directions to the letter, but I hated how it turned out. So this time, I just went at it on my own. I love, Love, LOVE how it turned out!

 

The party ended up being pretty small. My dad had a stomach bug and my brother Alden was camping. So it was just the boys, Vanessa, my mom, my brother John and myself.

 

Uncle John got him a basket ball hoop, which he loves! When he would miss a basket, I would hear him tell himself "too hard" or "too fast" and then he would try again.

 

When I realized my gift wouldn't arrive in time, I thought about buying something else. But in the end, I just bought a big ball and decided to wait for the rest to come. (Buying a house seems to make me a little more conscience of how I spend my money. I still want to spoil my nephews, but try to control myself a little better.)

 After dinner, he opened the presents from his mom.

 He's really been wanting a helicopter, so she got him one.

 Then she got him some Leap Frog books and a pen that reads them to you when you scan the pages with it.

 The last present was a wagon from my mom. My mom didn't have her camera ready, so Vanessa covered his eyes to keep him in suspense.

 

He loved it. And so did Daxsen. Daxsen has to do EVERYTHING his big brother does. When he saw uncle John putting his brother in, he went and climbed right in too.

 When it got windy, we headed inside for birthday cake. (Notice the Spiderman tattoo on my shoulder. Valex and Vanessa each had one, so I needed one too.)

 What a fun day. I love spending time with my sister and her kids and I can't wait until we live closer and I can see them more often.