Henry's 3rd Birthday Party

A few months ago I was looking through photos my Mom had set aside for me and I came across some from my 4th birthday. It was a party my parents had thrown for me in our backyard- homemade strawberry cake (my request every year), all of my friends running around in the grass, and random food and snacks piled on a card table, the adults gathered around laughing and talking. In the photos I could just feel the love. And I thought a lot about the parties I've had for Henry so far- kind of elaborate undertakings where I found myself focusing more on the cake toppers than on the actual occasion we were celebrating. And I thought about how now, at 31, I don't remember a thing about the decorations or the fancy touches, or the expensive favors my Mom did or didn't have every year- I only remember all the love that surrounded me.

And that's not to say there's not a time and place in my life for fancy, over-the-top kids' parties. In fact for Charlie's first I may go all out like I did for Henry. But now as Henry is getting older, I find myself gravitating towards more of a simple way of doing things. So this year we did a simple celebration for our big, almost-three year old. I rented out the local gymnastics gym, invited some of Henry's friends and all of our family and we celebrated for a couple of hours, everyone running around and playing like kids. The night before Henry helped me make Funfetti cupcakes, and together we put together goodies bags that included a Clif bar, a fruit leather, stickers and a Hot Wheels car- his favorite things! It was so, so nice to be able to just sit back and enjoy, and then of course, go home afterward with nothing to clean or put away. Heaven!

Henry turns 3 this upcoming Friday, and I'm excited to celebrate one more time....although I know that night I will probably cry a bit too. Birthdays are a little difficult for me. As much as I get excited about all the good on the horizon, it's still sad that my babies aren't always going to be babies, you know? Anyway, here are a handful of photos from our fun Saturday! It was a really wonderful day.