Happy Birthday, Luke: The Party

Due to a high volume of birthdays (and parties) in Preschool Classroom 3 in January, and also (primarily) due to the fact that Mom & Dad have had a lot on their plate of late, Luke's 3rd birthday (Observed) was set for February 12.

Once again, Daddy went all out on the theme cake - and his cake decorating skills are getting quite good with all of the practice. Much less cursing this year! The cake, per Luke's request, was chocolate

He also made a "groom's cake" for the affair - a white cake with chocolate icing (Mommy's favorite)

On the day of the party, Luke helped Mommy give Harper her bath, and decided that he should "take pictures for Grammy. I think she would like to see pictures of Chooch's bath." Um, OK

Then he decided to take self-portraits


And some still lifes (still lives?)

Finally! It was PARTY TIME.
Luke and his friend, Sophie-Anne, mingled over JBs, salt dough shapes, and markers

Luke and Zoe's mom had a chat, too

And a few of the kids had fun being firefighters

Some riff raff wandered in

A rousing game of "stick the helmet on the fire dog" was enjoyed


And the kids made their own fun

Look out, Max!

Cake time!



Candle blowing outing high 5!
Luke and his besties eat cake

Harper made a brief appearance between naps

The art table was popular, too


And finally, after it was all over, Luke was pooped! This was after his post-party meltdown because the party was over wherein we had to trick him into NOT going to bed at 6pm per his tearful demands.

It's going to be hard to top this when he turns 4!

This Cute & That Cute

Luke's continuing to change so much every day. He's getting more hair (though his Aunt Roberta said that "only a mother could call that hair") and what we suspect is a widow's peak is becoming more pronounced. He's making lots more eye contact, he's smiling a TON, he's discovered his hands, and he's even given us a few full nights of sleep! Of course, I have yet to make it all the way through one of those nights without waking up, waiting for him to wake up...Tragic!

Luke has also discovered his mobile - a gift from Aunt Aimee. This weekend we discovered that it calms a fussy baby - and buys his parents a few minutes to regroup.
You can see how much it relaxes him in the video here: