Holden's 3rd birthday party!

We made it! I was so worried Hunter would decide to arrive around the date of Holden's 3rd bday party. He is still hangin' out in my tummy. :) We had a blast celebrating on Sunday at Chuck E. Cheese! His real bday isn't until the 24th, but we also wanted to have it early because a lot of friends and relatives are on spring break that week. We plan to do something fun with just our little family that day. Here are some pictures (just a few! ha!) from his "big day." He was so excited to be the "birthday star!"

Mommy and Holden with his big balloon.

Daddy and Holden are ready to celebrate!

It was great having the party on a Sunday morning (esp. the day after the time change!) because it was not crowded at all. This was nice since most of the kids at the party were really little. It was easy to see them the whole time, and they got to go on everything they wanted and play all of the games. Holden even got brave and went up in the climber/tunnels, which he is usually too timid to try when all the big kids are in there. (I wanted to get a picture of Jay crawling around up there, too, but he was too quick for me! He was up there like one of the kids. Which I am sure does not surprise anyone!)

Here are Holden's bday buddies: Cade, Isabella, Natalie, Colin, Brady, and Kylie. We were so happy they could all join us!

Family shot: Jay, Aunt Allie, Pepaw, Holden with Memaw, Grammy, Papa, and me (plus Hunter!) :) Can you tell Holden wanted to get down and play?

Family close up

Playing the water game with Memaw and Aunt Allie. This is a favorite of Holden's; he takes it very seriously!

The birthday group eating pizza and watching the Chuck E. show.

Party time with Chuck E. Cheese! Holden had a Diego cake that our friend, Kam, (also his babysitter three days a week) was nice enough to make for us. It was sooo yummy! Nothing like homemade cake! Holden got his own crown and medallion from Chuck E. and thought he was hot stuff! It's hard to believe that until recently, he was terrified of the big mouse...he adores him now!

Our special boy on his special day.

On the dance floor with Chuck E! (Cracks me up that Jay has pizza in his hand.)

Eating frosting (the only part of the cake he eats!) and dancing with Chuck E. Holden was cracking everyone up with his white boy moves! (See bottom left picture for an example!)

My favorite soon-to-be 3 year old!

Opening presents. He loved everything he got: a Cars car wash system, first computer system and an extra game to go with it, ambulance, fire fighter outfit, a dinosaur that roars and walks, the Melissa and Doug birthday cake that he always loves to play with at the children's museum, walkie talkies, and a big green ball for playing outside with. (He told Kam for weeks that's what he wanted, so she found him one and wrapped ribbon around it! :) Just like at Christmas, he didn't understand why we couldn't open it all right then and there,which is why he looks so serious in some of these pictures! He also got a cool aqua pics packet with all of his ticket earnings from the games; his grandparents, Aunt Allie, and Daddy played a lot of games and gave him all of their tickets, and our party helper was nice enough to let him go over his amount a little bit to get it. :) It is nice he has some new things to play with right before becoming a big brother.

He thought he was hot stuff on the car ride home with his balloon and his gear. He wore the crown and medallion all the way home.

My funny little guy.

I just love him!

It was nap time when we got home, but we let him pick one thing to play with so he wasn't too disappointed. He chose the firefighter outfit and got right into role-playing! :) Jay and I had to lay on the floor and pretend to be accident victims while he chopped down the car door with his ax and sprayed us with the extinguisher! (Maybe the car was on fire???) Then he wrapped our legs up with a blanket cast.

For dinner, we always go to Memaw and Pepaw's house down the street on Sundays. Great Grandma and Grandpa Schulz joined us and we had another cake that Holden picked out from Walmart; this one was Thomas the Train. I love this picture of the three of them. Needless to say, he had one fun day! We love you, Holden Jay! We can't believe how big you are getting. We feel so blessed to be your Mommy and Daddy, and to watch you grow and learn new things each day. God gave us the most precious gift in you. Always remember how special you are to us, and even more so to Him!