Gabe's Third Birthday

We celebrated Gabe's birthday two days early this year because Sunday birthdays are hard. Devin and I stayed up late the night before making his crown and decorating with streamers (because we are great procrastinators) and we foolishly left his wrapped presents on the kitchen table. In the morning, Gabe ran into our room yelling, "Hey, Mom! Look I got a horse!" He had already opened one of his presents.

After taking a few pictures I started getting ready leaving his presents on the table again (apparently I'm a little slow) and Gabe opened another one of his presents (a robot backpack) at which time I told Devin that Gabe had ruined my birthday fun. Finally I put the rest up high so he couldn't reach them and got ready the rest of the way. Then he spent a majority of the morning looking at the decorations and yelling "I can't believe I'm free!(three)"

We packed up everyone except Devin who was schooling and went to HEB to get some birthday donuts. Gabe had already told me twice that morning that he didn't want birthday donuts but I figured he'd change his mind. This is coming from a kid who asks most weekend mornings to go get donuts. So we each grabbed one and then headed to Toys R Us. Gabe walked around the store for nearly 2 hours with Annie, Calvin and I in tow. We didn't end up buying anything (he honestly was satisfied with just looking at everything and pressing all the buttons) but he wanted a ride with Ernie and Bert before leaving.

We had planned to go to see the movie "The Box Trolls"  but when we were on our way there he said he thought it would be too scary so we decided to not go. He wasn't quite ready to go home after the store so I asked him what he wanted for lunch. He said PB&J and Cheetos. Three year olds are easy. We stopped at Target to get Cheetos he requested a blue Slurpee as well. We walked around the store and looked at all the Halloween costumes. 

After that we went home and Gabe took a nap. We knew we'd be staying out late and that he would need the extra sleep.

Once Devin came home we ate Gabe's choice for dinner. He wanted mashed potatoes and gravy with green beans. 

After dinner we opened the rest of his presents. He got robot masks and a hat.

We had him take a picture with each of us.

Then we headed downtown to get cupcakes from a fun food truck. We had delicious cookie dough cupcakes and brought along a 3 birthday candle so we could have Gabe blow out a candle and sing him happy birthday.

Baby Calvin is kind of smiling! :)

After cupcakes we went over to Lion's Park or KiddieLand. Gabe went on all sorts of rides. I'm pretty sure they were rides only a 3 year old could appreciate so it was perfect!

After the rides we went home and Gabe chose for the family to watch Rio. Gabe also opened a present from Annie, a green beanie that she made for him, but I didn't get a picture of it. 

 It was pretty low key as far as birthdays go but it was kinda fun to have Gabe choose all of the things he wanted to do. The next day Gabe opened presents from Grandma Nan and one last present from Devin and I. It was Boulder his favorite transformer. 

We are so lucky to have Gabe. He is one of the most compassionate boys I have met. He is so gracious and grateful. He is constantly thanking us throughout each day. "Mom, thanks for teaching me how to make cookies!" "Mom, thank you for helping me use my fork!" and then even after his birthday he thanked me for making his favorite dinner, for taking him on rides and the next morning.  Gabe has impressed me so much with what a kind older brother he has been to Calvin. He is constantly giving him kisses and hugs and asking to hold him. Gabe's imagination has grown so much this year. He can turn one toy into a tuba, a fire house, a watering can, and a rescue rope. He loves to play transformers, aquabats, buzz light year and all sorts of dress up. He constantly walks around pretending to be a T-Rex and loves dinosaurs. He has all his dinosaur songs memorized. Gabe loves music. He has a play list of 120 disney songs and he knows the words to most of them. He always asks what a song is called and later tells you the name of it and who sings it. Gabe is a great friend. He knows how to share toys. He may get upset at first about someone having his toy but after talking it over he is usually willing to share or take turns. Gabe's favorite movies are Peter Pan, Toy Story, Tangled, Frozen, Wreck it Ralph, Robin Hood and Winnie the Pooh. He calls Lion King "King Lion" and sings the Circle of Life at the top of his lungs while running around the house. Gabe comes into our room and wakes us up most mornings. He is always ridiculously happy in the mornings and we still aren't sure who he got that from. He grabs an apple or string cheese from the fridge and tries to steal someone's phone if he can to watch Netflix. We have all had to lock our phones so he can't  bet into them. Gabe has the best laugh. When he and Devin play wrestle mania on the trampoline you can hear his laugh inside. Gabe likes to play with Legos and is learning to play games. He likes Uno and Sorry. When he is disagreeable he shouts "Never! Never, ever, EVER!" and we all have to hide our faces to keep from laughing. We just love him. He is the sweetest boy and we are lucky to be his parents.