Look who turned 3!

Well folks, we survived! The terrible twos have passed us by, and now the blissful threes are upon us.
Lucas woke up this morning in a great mood to find lots of little balloons scattered on the living room floor. I made the mistake of displaying the presents, but not wanting him to open them all right away...

We let him open one right away, and another when he accompanied Ben on a trip to the gas staion for ice. While they were there, the attendant also gave Lucas $1 for his birthday - very sweet. Then we were off to his 10:30 party. On the way to the party we realized we never fed the kid breakfast, so I passed a fruit leather back to him hoping it would suffice. (It's not like I didn't try to feed him, he was just too busy playing with his new cars, then I was too busy getting ready for the party!).
We met some friends at a cute little park so the kids could play. I made subs for lunch accompanied by fruit, carrots, and chips. FYI - kids love cheese Doritos. Lucas only dined on watermelon, chips, carrots, and about 5 Capri Suns. Seriously, F-I-V-E.
I made a bug cake for Lucas this year. I was going to make an ice cream cake, but decided that would bite me in the bum if I tried to bring an ice cream cake to a Texas park in August. Instead I made a log roll cake (white cake, orange chocolate whipped cream filling, chocolate/orange frosting) topped with bugs. Lucas loved his cake.

Unfortunately he was upset about something right before cake time and didn't want us to sing to him, he also slapped the cake in outrage that we would suggest singing at a time like that. But, he was very willing to sit and eat the frosting while I served up the cake. He dipped his "3" candle in the frosting over and over. I tried to provide him with his own pile of frosting, but sometimes he chose to scoop directly off the cake instead... sorry, guys. I just realized he never had a cupcake either - just frosting. No breakfast, no sandwich, no cake.

(Here you can see the damage done to the cake. The last picture is supposed to be a shot of Lucas's chocolaty hand, but you can also admire my blossoming physique).

The kids played around the park and the dads played soccer in the heat. Luckily, no one suffered heat exhaustion.
After the party we headed home for a much needed nap time for all of us. (During my nap, I did make note when it was almost 2:36 - the time Lucas entered the world, then I drifted back to sleep). After naps, Lucas enjoyed playing with his new toys and then we headed out for a night of IKEA and outlet malls, followed by more presents at home. I felt bad for taking the poor kid to IKEA on his birthday. Hopefully I can make it up to him tomorrow. I already promised pancakes for breakfast, but then we need to shove as many veggies down the kid's throat as possible.

Happy Birthday to my little man!