noah is 3!

so we survived the fourth of july and have enjoyed noah's 3rd birthday!

the fourth: we hit a festival downtown, a mini neighborhood (not ours!) parade and the pool (whew!) and today woke up and drove to the zoo an hour away in asheboro. more like a five-mile hike (uphill) than a zoo, but hey, we did get to see some animals. jeff and i both agreed this would be something we do once every five years.

the fifth: noah had a great day! he's been saying for weeks, "i so excited" (about his birthday). and he woke up saying the same thing. he told us exactly what to do: bake a cake, provide gifts, daddy is to stay home from work, and last night at the grocery store reminded me, "mom, you get me a card yet?"

so we did it all at breakfast. the gifts were opened, some cake (blueberry muffin) was eaten, the card was enjoyed, and we even sang. then off to the zoo. man, it was hot! highlights? he loved the puffins and sea lions, he found all of the hiding turtles and snakes in their cages, and we caught joe-the-zookeeper feeding the elephants (no, not peanuts! actually sweet potatoes, carrots and apples...you know you are saying 'hmmm....interesting' right now!)

we returned home for playtime with his favorite gift so far--a baseball glove and ball. he's throwing like a pro! (jeff taught him how to pitch tonight and he's already got the leg up and everything!) we of course had some chocolate cake and ice cream too. all day i asked noah what he wanted for dinner, hoping we could start that tradition of me cooking the birthday kid's favorite meal, but all he said was,

"cake, please."
"no, noah, we can't eat cake for dinner."
"okay, muffins."

so we ate our rice and beans, thanked God our little boy has become quite a smart, cute, and thoughtful little man, and wished, as he blew out his candles, for many more years like this.