Work to be done

As you may have already guessed, this past weekend was dedicated to celebrating the birthday of a certain little munchkin in our house. Since we have a little boy who loves all things tractor, truck and dirt related, it seemed only natural to throw a construction themed birthday party this year. Thanks to a Family Fun magazine article I had read a while ago, I knew just how I was going to go about doing this! A fair warning to all of you reading, my parents were unable to make the party and this is my venue for sharing pictures from the day, so hold onto your hardhats, this post will be a long one (at least in terms of pictures)!

Ever since Drew went to a friend's birthday party back in January (yeah, you read that right- January), he has been on a birthday kick. Four months may not seem like a long time relative to just about anything else in life, but four months of hearing "Is it my birthday?" "Are we going to have a pawdy-yada (pinata)?" and "Are you making me my birthday cake?' (anytime I was cooking anything in the kitchen), makes four short months feel like an eternity. Sprinkle in the at least once a month birthday parties we would attend for other friends, and we had ourselves a genuinely birthday party obsessed almost three year old.

So when the big birthday party day finally arrived, you can just imagine how excited Drew was. His excitement started earlier in the week as I slowly started to pull together and make some of the decorations for the party, but it definitely hit its maximum sometime around 6 am Saturday morning when he popped out of bed. He still didn't understand that Saturday was the day (he just knew his party was really close) and in hopes of getting him to actually take a nap that afternoon, we tried to keep it that way as long as possible. Fortunately Nathan's mom had offered to spend the morning with Drew at Little Gym, which offered the perfect distraction as we set up. We spent the morning finishing up last minute details and my sister Jenn and her husband Burke were even willing (ok, maybe coerced is a more fitting word here) to postpone their move into their new apartment by one day, in order to help us get ready.

I had bought this shirt specifically for party day and Drew knew it, so when we put it on him after naptime it was sort of his kickoff for the birthday shindig. Let the madness begin!!

Although he was wearing his digger shirt throughout the entire afternoon, vast majority of the party he looked more like this:

(Quite possibly my favorite picture from the entire day!). He started out with different shoes, but when Uncle Dana showed up with work boots on, he had to go find his as well.

The sign greeting Drew's "workers" as they came in the front door

The first workers to arrive, came all dressed and ready to work (tools included!)...

...but for the rest of the workers, we had aprons and hard hats waiting. Each apron had a carpenter's pencil, a kid's Clif bar, a mini measuring tape, and a paint roller. 

The sign on the way out

On the invite we had invited the kids to come to the Sloan Construction Site to help Drew with a construction job. I made sure to keep their big job a secret, but I did mention on the invite to "dress for a mess". When Drew's crew got to our house, this is what they found waiting for them:

Houses, in need of some new paint! Nathan had brought home a few boxes from work and he and Burke constructed them into these amazing little houses. Each had a door, a window, and a skylight. The boys had intended for them to have a chimney and a dormer too, but ran out of cardboard (guess I should have expected that considering I put an architect and a perfectionist on the job!). I absolutely loved how they turned out! 

Two things I love about this picture: the dot of red paint (that you may or may not see, but I know is there) on Hope's nose, and the fact that she clearly misunderstood the "Boys Only" rule written above the door. Cute Hope, these are a few of the many reasons why I love you!

The houses when they were all said and done. Drew loves them! He has asked multiple times that they come inside, but fortunately for me, they were built outside and don't fit through any of our doorways. Considering how long Drew kept his original box fort from a while ago, I'm sure these new boxes won't be making their exit anytime soon.

The rest of the party was fun and went off without a hitch. The whole thing was so easy and relatively stress free, which was nice! 

Drew and his pals had fun measuring just about everything in the backyard.

Drew's one request for the party was that he wanted a "pawdy-yada" (pinata). I looked everywhere for a pinata that I liked and couldn't find one, so we decided to make it instead!

I love making Drew's cake each year. It's one of my favorite parts of having a birthday. This year, I had Jenn to help me. We went back and forth between two cakes we wanted to make and finally decided to make both since they were small. We added a few (ok, a lot) of cupcakes, and voila!

I wasn't thrilled with the dump truck...

...but I loved how the little tractor turned out!

And in case you were wondering...

Collin spent most of the day as king of the "party blanket", where he entertained quite a few visitors (Auntie Jenn)

Grandpa

Himself

Aunite Kimmie

All in all, a pretty fun day!

As if that weren't enough, the next day (Drew's actual birthday) was also Mother's Day. I was spoiled with breakfast in bed and some beautiful roses, and Drew was spoiled with a special surprise from Lala and Poppi. Because they couldn't come down for the party, we saved their gift for his actual birthday so he would have something fun to "open" that day over Skype with the Oregon crew.

I'd say the train table was a hit...and a fun way for Lala and Poppi to be included in all the fun!

Happy Birthday again Big Kid!