The Big #3!

Finally after some pretend birthday confusion this Spring and having to watch everyone else in the family have birthdays, it was Charlie's big day!  And how special to get to have it at the beach!   As usual, his dad and I couldn't control ourselves at Toys R Us and of course the rest of the family didn't either.  I made a race-car themed cake and cookies too since Charlie "doesn't like" cake (see pictures below).  The most memorable moment of the party came when he totally freaked out when we cut the cake and insisted I not cut the race track.  Since it was his birthday we honored his wishes and enjoyed the track a couple days later when it was down to no cake or track cake.  I can't believe year three has come and gone so quickly but couldn't be more thankful for our sweet little boy!

"Don't cut the track"

The kid who "doesn't like" cake

New kitchen at home was a hit too

Beach Trip with the Grovers

For Charlie's birthday week, we went on our every-other-year beach week with the Grovers and Tweedy's.  Charlie and Sam had a big time playing together and we all had relaxing week chilling out poolside and at the ocean.  Charlie enjoyed the ocean for a few days until I accidentally let the water wash up on him with totally freaked him out :(  We stayed at the pool more after that point.  Regardless it was good fun in the sun and a nice change of pace from the day to day at home.

Poor Marl-dog spent much of her week with this cone on her head courtesy of her dive into the swimming pool with the bandage she had from her tail injury at home.

3-year Old Professional Pictures

I had Charlie's annual photo shoot this year right around his actual birthday (vs. 2 months later as I have in past years).  My latest photographer moved again but luckily I found another great girl who is starting out and trying to build up her portfolio.  We decided to meet down at Belle's Isle which ended up being a perfect backdrop.  Charlie was a great sport too and ran around and gave lots of great smiles.  Below are a few (ha!) of my favorites...