Three! Three! Three!

Happy Birthday Mr. Sneaky Pants! It was a special treat that Gramma Robbie and Grandpa Ron could stop by for a quick party before they left to drive back to North Dakota this morning! Mr. Sneaky Pants has never had the opportunity to share his birthday with any extended family.

The ever brilliant cake decorating grandmother brought a John Deere tractor cake along with her from North Dakota. Mr. Sneaky Pants was extremely excited about this. When she first showed him the cake Thursday night, he insisted that he have it all to himself. It took some convincing over the next day that he would need to share with everyone. He was so enamored, in fact, that that evening he traipsed upstairs to the bathroom to retrieve his litlte stepstool so that he could stand next to the counter and “watch” the cake. The next morning the cake watching moved to the kitchen table while I prepared the turkey for Thanksgiving. There was a lot of anticipation about the birthday cake. I repeatedly reminded him not to touch the cake. He asked if he could touch the plastic yellow bees on the cake. I said I thought that would be OK if he were careful and gentle.

A few minutes later I walked through the dining room and he beckoned me to come over and see the bees. I did. There were no bees! There were some slits in the cake. “Where did the bees go?” I asked. “Oh, the disappeared. They’re playing hide and seek.” Hmmm.

Today, his first day of year three was marked by candle blowing, followed by a rousing breakfast in the bathtub. So that Gramma Robbie and Grandpa Ron could take part in the cake, we indulged in the ultimate: cake for breakfast in the bathtub. Both Gramma and Grandpa chickened out of actually getting INTO the bathtub though. We opened presents sporatically throughout the day: lots of great farm equipment toys, some plastic dinosaurs from Great Grandma Edna, some really neat Lego pieces that make fun slides, and a blue monster puppet named “Gulp” who likes to eat spinach. Fun stuff.

Sarah was an excellent sister all day, helping out, playing nicely and not taking over! It was amazing. The day couldn’t be complete without at least one small tantrum, though, when Mr. Sneaky Pants found out he would be taking a nap even though it was his birthday.