Tuesday, March 16, 2010

In What Seems Like A "Snap"....Pierce Turns 3

The birthday boy!
 
    
 Working on those 3 fingers!
This weekend we celebrated Piersen Benjamin's third birthday!  How can it be?!?  We had so much fun and although this little guy is a really happy kid all the time - I honestly felt like time kind of stood still for me at his party and I wondered if I had ever seen him so absolutely full of life and joy.  His smile was huge and constant.  His laughter precious and from deep within. Running around in the grass - bare footed and free - almost standing with one foot still in toddlerhood and the other boldly planted in being "big" and independent.
  
 
 
The birthday theme???  Crocodiles!!!  How did we get to that?  Well, Pierce likes crocodiles.  He has several toys of them and likes that they snap and eat things.  He loves the book Five Little Monkeys (...sitting in a tree, teasing Mr. Crocodile, can't catch me...along comes Mr. Crocodile....snap! oh no, where is he?!)  
Months ago, when we celebrated Chase's birthday with a batman theme, Pierce was on a big kick to have the same party.  That was not gonna happen :)  And then, recently, we went to the zoo and he became quite interested in the.... camel.  I think mainly because we talked about how they spit.  So....he asked for a spitting camel cake.  Ummmm.  Sometimes little boys need just a touch of direction. Ha,ha.  So - knowing he also likes crocodiles I introduced that idea and he was pleased. Up to and during the party planning,  Pierce would talk about his "sock-a-dile" party and cake.  And although we gently corrected his cute mispronunciation many times, he continued on until the day of his party - then it all came together and now there is no turning back.  It is a "crocodile" not a "sockadile"! 
Here are some party pictures!
 
The cake, the jel-lo and their very  proud owner :) 
 
Around here - we celebrate with the theme in every way possible! Even to the extent of having baby Hudson play with a...you guessed it...crocodile toy as he patiently waits for his Mommy!
  
 Not sure who is attacking who here!
 And we try to celebrate the things that the birthday boy likes....
So, we've got friends, of course...
 
We've got face painting...
 
(surprise, surprise - a crocodile!!)
 
We've got a nest of crocodile eggs for a water balloon fight...
 
We've got live music because our boy loves to sing (we invited the very cool music teacher, Alex, from the kids' school) - it was a HUGE hit and all of the kids had so much fun....
 
We've got games like: the snappy crocodile (remake of hot potato!)...
 
We've got big brothers! (here they are all three listening intently to the story/song)...
 
And we've got cake!
 
  
 Blowing out the candle and the "mordida" (Chase got him good - as you can tell by Chase's excited expression!)
Like I said...we like to celebrate with "themes" so imagine my excitement when we went to get a soccer ball for Pierce's birthday gift and we found one....with a crocodile skin pattern. Whoooo hoooo! Sometimes things just work out so nicely!
 
On Sunday, the birthday theme continued as we went with our house church to a park, rode some boats through the swampy water...
 
...and the kids searched the waters....
 
.... we found a crocodile on the land! 
 
Although it is hard to believe that Pierce is now 3...it sure is fun to watch him grow and develop his personality. And what a personality he has!  I must say, this kid is funny.  He says often to me, "stop yaffing at me Mom" because I often am!  He is a lot like his Daddy - just a natural at making people laugh and smile.  He wants to be like his big brothers in so many ways...and although he is small in stature, he doesn't let that stop him.  He can be and is feisty in spite of his small body frame.  And he can also be a pretty good tease!  He knows how to get his brothers irritated (especially Chase!) and seems to take pleasure in getting everything stirred up.  Pierce can be more than persistent when he wants something....he loves to eat and can do so many times a day.  He rarely tires of asking for something to snack on and the funny thing is that he almost always eats it....even though he eats rather slowly - choosing to nibble and watch the crazy dynamic around the table instead of focusing on his plate.  He knows there will be time to request and graze some more in just a little while - he would hate to miss a chance to be silly after all.  His most requested thing is see-weee-el (cereal) or pizza.  He thinks he is too big for a nap, but if I paraphrase things to "just a rest" and spend some time reading books with him, he almost always crashes into a sweet sleep.  Pierce is great at playing by himself and loves to draw or color....or as he puts it "do his homework" with the big boys.  He colors well and stays in the lines and uses every crayon in the box!  He is a great singer and has an amazing memory - he can learn the words to a song or Bible verse or book quickly. When the boys come home from school our quiet natured little boy changes into a loud and roaring lion - keeping up with the pack.  It really is a crazy thing to see.  He loves soccer, he loves spiderman and animals.  He is already starting to wipe off kisses and laughs really hard when we act disappointed that he does it.  He loves his baby brother and tries so hard to be gentle while he teaches him to wrestle and catch a ball :)  He is a expert at drawing out bedtime.  He wakes up happy.  He is a great snuggler and overall just a sweet sweet boy.  When he was born we sang to him "his" song and it is still true to this day.  It goes like this:"Piersen Benjamin, such a special boy, such a special boy, such a special bo-oy...Piersen Benjamin, such a special boy...such a spec-ial boy - whoooo hoooo!"
Happy birthday little Pierce.  We love you to the moon, to the stars, and back-pack :)

3 comments:

Betsy@Living in the Moment said...

Amazing party. Love the cake of course! Wonderful job as always Mom. Felt like I was there with all of the pics and detail. Thank you!! Love the pic of the 3 boys leaning on each other. Sweet moment.Maybe we can make it live and in person for Hudson's first! Love you

Timbra Wiist said...

oh your title is so clever :) what a cute cute theme and party and the carryover to the next day at the swamp was also very awesome :) you HAVE to start a blog where you post all the step by step photos of your cakes and how you pull them all of. . .they rock!!! i go with a simple cake each year, but the parties are all out around here. . .i'm already planning alani's and THANKFULLY she requested a strawberry cake from strawberry shortcake that looks pretty much exactly like what i've made every year until now :) your little guy is such a sweetie!!!! happy birthday!

Devin said...

We take rests around here too. And always, always read before--that puts everyone right out! (ummm...including me, many days....)

Care, that cake is amazing! He is so cute, too, just like his big bro. happy birthday little guy!