AJ's Birthday Party!

HE TURNED 3!

Time goes by so quickly, so quickly.  Madonna was wrong.

:)  We had his birthday party a week early so our great friend Mandy could finally attend!  She has missed his first two birthdays, and because she is our forever Colorado family we were not letting her miss another one!~!

I battled with my Pinterest-Perfectionist self about how fancy to make AJ's birthday party!  It is so tough because I see what's on Pinterest, on Facebook, at my other friends' houses.  I KNOW how cool I could make his birthday party, but a part of me just DOESN'T want to fret.  The more things to do, the more things that could go wrong, the more money, the more time....when in the end I seriously doubt AJ could care one bit.

In my eyes, my son wants his parents to be there for him and not be stressed.  He wants to hangout with friends, play in the pool, play in his play yard, eat ice cream, eat yummy food, blow bubbles, throw some planes, etc.  AND by GEORGE that is what we did!

It was great because I truly didn't stress too much at all!  I didn't even make a cake.  I came to the realization that AJ doesn't necessarily LOVE cake (neither do Russ and I), but what AJ LOVES is ICE CREAM.  So we just had Ice Cream and some homemade cookies! AND I seriously had a great time, and I witnessed our friends having a good time, and their kids having a good time!  IT was grand!  We finally had a really legit pool party where no one drowned, everyone had fun, and I felt like I really really liked our pool!

We did have a theme-airplanes (AJ loves them!).  So Russ insisted on buying those little airplanes that you put together.  PERFECT.  AND then I remembered I had a laminator and decided to create Pilot Licenses for all the kids that came! AND yes you heard right, I have a laminator.  It's perfect.  AND goes perfectly with my paper cutter.  Pretty sure my Husband and Momma Della know me well.  
 
SO I created licenses, very similar to the badge that Russ wears to work.  AJ insists on wearing Russ's every so often when Russ gets home from work, so I thought why not make him his own!

THE day ended up just being super fabulous with great friends, and crazy kids all over the place.  It was one of those days when I tried a couple of times to take a step back and watch the fun.  Watch my friends and see how they have become awesome parents.  Watch our kids and how much they have grown.  Watch my husband and see the Dad that he has become.  Watch.  It was a moment where I was so proud to be where I was in my life (I still am).  AND just so happy to have a family that I love so much and friends that are our forever family:)
 
Great times.  Great boy-turning into such a BIG BOY.  
I love you AJ!
Momma