...Vree...

Wow. I am the mother of a 3 year old! What?! When did this happen? It's going by way too fast... WAY too fast. It seems like only yesterday that I was bringing my first baby home from the hospital... and now... I'm getting ready to bring home my THIRD! Just. Wow.

Jude's birthday this year happened to fall on Mother's Day... and can I just say- best.mother's.day.gift.ever. ?! ;)  It was a pretty great day... if I say so myself!  It started off with a great morning at home... followed by attempting to make it to church on time... hmmm- didn't really happen... BUT we did manage to make it in time for.... LUNCH!  Haha.  The three of us picked up daddy from church and headed to Hayashi for some yummy teppanyaki.  It's always so fun to take the kids there... mostly b/c they eat SO well... but also b/c it's hilarious to watch their reactions to the "show".  Jude's not so much a fan of the "fireworks"- as he calls it!  My kids are usually REALLY good at restaurants...and thankfully...today was no different.  As a matter of fact... a lady sitting at the teppan table next to us was SO impressed with Jude that she gave him a $15 Target giftcard that she had in her purse from Mother's Day (when she found out it was his birthday!)!!!!  It was very random...slightly uncomfortable...but so generous and sweet!  :)  So proud of that boy!

After lunch... we headed home for naps...and then turned around and went back to church!  ...but...again- I didn't end up actually IN the service!  Instead- Derrick and I hung out in the lobby!  I know- totally sadtimes!  But it ended up being a fantastic day... I can't believe my baby boy is three- or as Jude says "Vree!".  It literally has flown by and seems like only yesterday that I was bringing home my first baby...and now I'm about to have my third child!  ::crazytimes::


Birthday Parrrrrrrty
So...I had planned on throwing Jude a Toy Story party this year after I had found some really cool ideas for the cupcakes and other fun TS related stuff... but as I was planning, Jude informed me that he wanted a pirate party.  What?!  Yup.  So I quickly stopped planning a TS party... and began searching for all things pirate.  Ugh!  There were so many decisions I had to make...Peter Pan themed?  Jake and the Neverland Pirates themed?  or just pirates?  I ended up going w/ a plain pirate theme...and after weeks of looking on etsy for ideas...and going to Hobby Lobby/Party City about a zillion times- the day of the party was finally here.  It was Jude's first "friend" party...and I guess all in all it was a success... but let me tell you... I LOVE planning/crafting the party... but I do NOT love hosting it!  I swear it's so stressful trying to decide when things should happen...and getting the rhythm of a party rollin!  Oy!  After the party was all said and done- I informed Jude that he would not be having another party until he was 10... and then I can just take him and a couple friends to the movies!  buahah!  kidding- kidding!

Enjoy the pix:

These were the cupcakes that I made... spent WAY too much money on gold sprinkles... but I HAD to have everything match my color theme!  Had a TON of food... especially b/c DLo ordered too many pizzas...like 6 pizzas too many (we ordered 7 total!) 

Had a lot of fun friends come to the party!















The kids enjoyed the playset...it was nice seeing it get some good use!  And of course...the boys found the battery-less truck...that Jude pushed around!  Oh my!  (The other kids found the apples on the apple tree...)

Got these AWESOME shirts for Jude and Emme... LOVE how they turned out.  As you can see... Jude had a lot of fun opening his gifts... and the party favors seemed to be a hit too!