Joseph’s 3rd Birthday Party!

Can you believe it has been THREE YEARS since Joseph was born?! I truly cannot (and I really can’t believe I still haven’t finished that rainbow blanket I began when I was pregnant with him! Maybe during this next “maternity leave”??!). This little boy continues to bless us with his sweet smile, his mad-scientist-cackle, and his smart and witty ways. He is so much fun to be around and I truly find it hard to even remember what life was like before he transformed us from just the two of us to a family.

He officially turned three on Friday and we had a fun day with swim class, a special lunch and birthday presents (he adores his new Hot Wheels track builder set!), and we had a birthday party for him at home on Saturday for our families; of course I wanted to share photos with you!

The Decorations

 

He’s been into a lot of different stuff lately, but he really got into Mickey Mouse Clubhouse a couple of months ago, so I went with a Mickey Mouse theme for his party!

I never go over the top with tons of crazy decorations; usually one trip to Party City is all I need! I got coordinating plates, napkins and cups, a set of Mickey Mouse balloons, a big blue number three balloon, and a birthday banner.

The Food

We’ve been super happy with the food we get from a little market near my mom’s house for previous birthday parties and baptisms, so we went with our usual order of fried chicken, meat lasagna, oven roasted potatoes, and dinner rolls. Everyone loves the food, and it’s great having leftovers for a couple of days, too!

In addition to the main food, we had some snacky food as well, for munching throughout the day:

• Harry & David dip (huge favorite around here!)
• Pepperoni bread
• Veggie tray

The Cake

This was an easy choice once we decided on a Mickey Mouse theme for the party! I scoured Pinterest for some ideas, and since we only needed one round cake and not a tiered cake, I kept the design simple and did a Mickey face and then did Joseph’s name in the iconic Disney font on the front of the cake. Around the sides I did white Mickey ears, and that was that!

It took me about 3 hours, start to finish, which wasn’t too bad! The cake itself was a simple vanilla cake with vanilla frosting for the filling.

[recipes: yellow cake / vanilla buttercream frosting]

Birthday Fun!

This was the first year that Joseph really understood that it was his birthday, he got to have a party, there was cake, and he was going to open presents. It really made it SO much fun! Seeing him light up at the sight of his cake, and while opening his presents, was just a pure joy to watch.

He really, truly enjoyed his special day.

Last year was the first time I ordered Joseph a special personalized birthday t-shirt and I loved it, so I did the same thing for Dominic’s birthday, and again for this one! Joseph got such a kick out of having a “special birthday shirt” and I think it’s just the cutest!

[source: FashionistaStylez Etsy shop]

Becoming a mom has been the most wonderful, most rewarding, hardest, and most fulfilling thing I have EVER done and I am so, so blessed to get to spend my days with this little boy.