Three, Three, Three - Owen is THREE

It's official.  Owen turned three today.  I have a three year old.  Owen is three.  I know when he turns 18, I'll look back on this day and reminisce on how little he was.  But right now, my only frame of reference is the last 3 years and today, he's the oldest he's ever been.  It's amazing to watch him grow into this little smart, funny, fun, opinionated, sensitive, loving, caring little boy.  He's perfection.

So like every year, we did a family celebration on his actual birthday and then the big party will be this weekend.  This year though, Uncle Michael - Owen's birthday buddy - was here to share in the celebration! 

So maybe we should start with the differences between this year and past years.  This year, Owen has started understanding what a "birthday" is and was looking forward to his.  However, he only associates birthdays with "cake" so really he was just looking forward to cake.  But we've been talking about his birthday and what day it would be and what we'd be doing for the past few weeks! 

So past birthdays, I decided on what the cake would be.  His first birthday, it was a purchased big cake with a lovely number "1" on top and Owen got his own personal Elmo smash cake.  Last year, I decided to attempt a choo-choo cake and it actually turned out pretty cool.  With last year's cake success, I decided to offer Owen a few choices of what he could have this year and he chose a garbage truck cake.  I found a Wilton Cake Pan in the shape of an 18 wheeler on eBay (they stopped making it in the 80's) so I figured I could use that as my base shape and just cut off pieces of it in order for it to resemble a garbage truck.  So that's what I did and it seemed to turn out ok - Owen immediately recognized it as a garbage truck and that's all I'm really going for.

The morning of Owen's birthday, we opened presents.  I had Steve videotape it but I did a terrible job taking pictures because I was helping Owen open while also entertaining Adam.  Sometimes pictures just don't get taken.  But afterwards, I was able to take this cute one of Owen playing with his new fireman dress up outfit (no pants.)  In this picture he is trying to put out a fire in the fireplace using a fire extinguisher.  One of the main reasons we got him this outfit is because he had a cheap plastic fireman hat that was broken AND he has a new fascination with fire extinguishers.  This set came with a hard plastic hat and a pretend extinguisher.  Perfect!

Another difference from past years was that I chose our "birthday fun activity" which was the Woodland Park Zoo for his 1st birthday and Remlinger Farms for his 2nd.  This year, we left it up to Owen.  However, since present opening was first thing in the morning, he decided for the majority of the day that he didn't want to go ANYWHERE and he'd prefer to stay at home and play with his new toys.  Since it was his birthday, it wasn't like we could really argue with him much about it.  At least not to the point of forcing him into the car?!?!  Luckily around 2pm, he got bored enough with the toys that he was ready to leave.  So we got ready and since Owen is now officially three, it seemed like the appropriate time to start shaving.  I have cuter pics of Steve actually "shaving" with Owen but both boys are shirtless and I just feel bad about posting shirtless pictures of Steve to the blog.  So this one will have to do.

Owen was told in the morning that he could choose anything he wanted for his special day.  My suggestion was Northwest Trek which none of us have ever been to, but I hear there is a "tram" that you ride through the park.  I figured it was train-ish enough to be cool for Owen, plus the animal thing.  Owen had said the night before he wanted to do Remlinger Farms (steam train.)  But since he took so long playing with his toys, by the time we were ready to go I had to provide some local options that would give us enough time to be back for the birthday dinner.  He chose to ride go-karts at Pt. Defiance.  Since it was a hot day, we decided to stop on the way down and get Frappuccinos at Starbucks.  This was also a first for all of us (seriously, I've never had one) and Owen was pretty excited at first but really only took about 3 sips.  Not his favorite (I feel like I should mention here that he did not have coffee in his -- this should be assumed, but I'll clarify just in case.)  This was also Owen's first time drinking a frozen beverage in the car.  I was a little nervous, but he did a great job!  After the smoothie, both boys had a sugar crash.  You would think this photo was taken after the go-karts, but nope - it was on the way down.  I almost wanted to just skip them altogether and drive around for an hour to give Owen his first nap in months.  But it's his birthday - and karts must be driven.

Steve took Owen here one time before today, so when we arrived I was ready to sit and watch them in action.  They had lovely little benches right next to the track that seemed perfect to sit in the sun and smell the fumes of the go-karts.  We asked Owen who he wanted to drive with first and to my surprise he said, "Mama!"  I'm not a huge go-kart fan and I'm definitely not the best go-kart driver, but I took one for the team in the name of Owen's birthday.  My overprotectiveness was a little disappointed when I saw that they did not provide helmets?! But maybe these cars are un-flippable. Who knows.  I was driving slowly and safely enough that my car would have never flipped.  But also kind of fast.  Fast enough that Owen thought we were going fast and isn't that really the point?

I like how every picture Steve took of me, I'm screaming.  I think it helped me drive.  I also like to think that Owen thought I was saying "wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"  instead of what I was really saying.  Steve did a much better job at not getting lapped by the other drivers and Owen did two turns with him back to back, so I think the trophy goes to Steve.

Once Owen had enough fun, we headed back home for the birthday boys dinner.  The fun part about having a baby is that you get to opt-out of most things that require extra effort.  So Michael, Kelly and Audrey and Nana came over to our house and brought food with them to grill on the BBQ for all of us.  Nana found some special pickles called "Bubbies" for Bubby.  He loves pickles so it was very appropriate.

Then Owen opened his gifts from Nana and the Steffen family.  He got some really cool stuff (as usual!)  Here he is trying out his brand new sleeping bag that he received from Michael, Kelly and Audrey.  Audrey had to show him how a sleeping bag works...we aren't what you would call "outdoorsy."  Or "sleepy in any beddy that isn't yoursy."  Owen is getting a big boy bed for his birthday in a couple weeks...Should be interesting!

And Nana gave him the COOLEST garbage truck.  Yes, he now has five garbage trucks...but this one is the BIGGEST and therefore it's the COOLEST.  I can't explain his obsession with garbage trucks and trains...but it borders on OCD.  Every night I put away his trucks and I move a couple of the five into a separate room thinking that if they are out of sight, maybe they will be out of mind.  Every morning, he pulls out every garbage truck he has and finds any of them I have hidden.  If by chance, he stops playing with one for a few days - garbage day is on Tuesday and on Tuesday, he pulls out his entire fleet.  The kid is garbage truck crazy.

After presents was dinner and after dinner was CAKE TIME!  Cake time is the best time.  It's what Owen had been waiting for all month.  This year, I let Michael replace me as the assistant candle blower outer...it is, after all, his birthday too.  Bet he never thought he'd get a garbage truck cake for his thirty second birthday!  He seemed pretty stoked though!  Also, I should probably note that we are all wearing birthday hats because Owen loves them.  In this buildup to birthday, he had been pretending like it was his birthday and singing himself the happy birthday song and every time, he found something that could be used as a birthday hat.  So I made sure they were part of the real deal day!

Happy Birthday Owen!