Ryan's 3rd Birthday Party

I asked Ryan a few months ago what kind of party he wanted. I had no idea what he was going to say.

He responded quickly, "CARS!" and "Lightning 'A'Queen!"

Really? That's easy enough! And super fun too.

For his 3rd birthday I felt like he wasn't quite old enough for a friend's birthday party, but I wanted it to be all about him. So I decorated as if we had tons of people coming over, but it was just for him. It was so much fun to do it that way because he loved every bit of it.

We had Grandma Lisa, Grandma Ann, and Steven come for dinner on his birthday. This year it as on a Tuesday. I wanted a few extra people here so Ryan could get a little extra attention than he's used to, but not have it be crazy busy.

Grandma Lisa came down the night before Ryan's birthday to hang out and help out with the party preparations.

She helped with tons of stuff. She made the cakes and then put them on the cake board that she made. She also made the frosting that I put on and helped me with the decorations that I made.

The day of Ryan's birthday she took him to the park while I finished decorating. It was so perfect! He was so delightfully surprised!

When they came home, he was surprised to see balloons outside our house. :)

 

He was even more excited to see his CARS cake! When I lifted him up he said, "WOW!!!" I wish we got it on video. :)

To this day, Ryan still talks about his awesome birthday cake.

 We weren't completely ready for the party when Steven and Grandma Ann got there, so Steven and Grandma Lisa took Ryan and Brady outside to play for a bit.

While waiting patiently for dinner, Ryan played with the racing flags. I love this video of my cute little boy being a little boy.

We finished getting ready setting up and finishing dinner. We had Jared's specialty, Hot Spaghetti. Ryan loves it! 

After dinner we played a lot of fun games. The first one we played was racing. Just like car racing, we raced each other down our front hall. We used the racing flags too, which Ryan loved. I think he liked starting the races more than actually racing. We took a few videos of us racing, which are cute and funny.

Next we played "Tow Mater". We hooked up a magnet to Ryan's car to make him a tow truck. We put magnets on pictures of all the car characters. Then we would call Mater and ask him to come and tow us the character that is calling. He would take the car back to his shop and he put them in a nice little row. He LOVED it, well that might actually be an understatement. :) 

Here is a video of the activity. It's pretty long, but so fun to watch for us.

The next game we played was stacking car tires (donuts). This was tons of fun! We would pair up and race to see who could put the most tires up before their stack fell over. Of course, some tires were eaten before they could get on the stack. :)

Ryan and Mommy raced first. Mommy won, but that's because Ryan ate his. :) But he did so awesome! We all got really into it trying to get the most "tires" stacked. Here are more pictures and videos of us competing.

 

Grandma Ann enjoying the party.

Brady just hung out the entire time as long as he got to play with the racing flags. :) Grandma was more than happy to hang out with him.

After stacking tires we sang Happy Birthday and had cake and ice cream. Ryan just loved all of the attention.

"Happy Birthday to YOU!"

Ryan almost burned his shirt blowing out the candles. :) See the video for that live action!

We let him cut the cake, which was pretty funny and cute.

Ryan loved the idea of a cake doubling as a car racing track. He drove his CARS cars over it again and again. Maybe we shouldn't cut into it. :)

Next we opened up presents. We gave him little clues to find his presents around the house. He loved running around and figuring them out. He got lots of fun things like a bike (that he "paid" for with his paci's... he is no longer a binky boy.), Cars 2 movie, Cars pajamas, a tennis racket, and a tire pump. He got some toys and clothes from both Grandmas. He wasn't too happy about the clothes. :) But they were really cute and I love seeing him in them. 

Here is a video of him finding his presents.

There are actually a few of them. 

Grandma Ann gave him this awesome fishing game. He often asks to put the fish in real water. :)

His bike was in the basement and he totally didn't see it! After he did see it, he was more excited about the pump. :) I think if we had bought the bike without him, maybe he would have been more excited. :)

Even though it was late, we let him take his bike outside for a few minutes. He was loving it. He did not want to come back in.

Putting on his new pajamas. Unfortunately, I didn't wash them before and he got a rash the next day. Oops! Mommy learned her lesson. But these are his favorite pajamas. It was so fun to have a themed party and presents to match.

Here are some extra videos of Ryan's party.

This one is cute because he is having difficulty driving his bike on the carpet. While we're watching him Natalie called Steven and Jared said "Was she calling for her booty call?" in true Jared fashion. Ryan heard him (as all kids listen when we think they aren't listening) and said "Booby trap? Daddy did you say Booby Missile?" HAHA Another lesson to teach us to watch what we say. :)

Aunt Nancy was so sad to not be able to come to Ryan's birthday party. She sent him a present, but it didn't arrive until the next day. I told Nancy to get him clothes (like I told everyone else... to save me from buying his whole summer wardrobe.) I videoed it for her, and it was so funny to see what he did. I felt bad and Nancy will never again buy him clothes. :)

Ryan had a great birthday and we love him so much. He is so smart, funny, and such a great big brother. We are so glad he is in our family. And thank you to Grandma Lisa, Grandma Ann, and Uncle Steven for coming and paying all your attention to Ryan. He loved it and we love you!