Dawson is THREE!

Yesterday was Dawson's birthday!! I can't believe our baby boy is 3 years old!! I wanted to make his birthday extra special because he is a bit older and is appreciating things like that more. The night before his birthday I made sure to get out a party hat for him to wear, and me and Dave blew up balloons and hung them from the playroom ceiling. Dave asked me if I was going to make his cupcakes the night before his birthday but I told him I wanted to make them on his actual birthday because I wanted the house to smell like cake on his birthday. ♥

When Dawson woke up on his birthday morning this was the conversation we had:

Me: Good morning, baby! Happy birthday!!
Dawson: It's not my birthday yet.
Me: Yes it is, today is your birthday!
Dawson: But I don't have a party hat.
Me: Mama has one for you downstairs.
Dawson: Are there balloons and decorations, too?
Me: You'll have to wait and see...

*sigh* I know my baby boy so well. I was so happy that we had gotten everything ready because it made him so happy. Here is what he saw when we came downstairs. *Notice how dark the house is. This kid wakes up between 530-630am everyday.

He loved the balloons.


And he wore his party hat for most of the morning.


I had a special breakfast, lunch, and dinner planned for him too.

For breakfast I made him cake batter pancakes with sprinkles.


They didn't taste as good as I was hoping but they looked cute! Apparently Dawson didn't think they were that great either because he ended up eating a Greek yogurt (with sprinkles!) and a banana for breakfast. Next year I will just stick with regular pancakes with sprinkles added instead.

For lunch I made him a peanut butter & jelly sandwich in the shape of a number 3. He also had salad, chex mix, and grapes.


A couple of days ago I asked him what he would like for his birthday dinner and he told me he wanted macaroni and cheese. I hadn't ever made homemade mac and cheese before but I wanted to make it special for him. So I made homemade baked macaroni and cheese for dinner. I also made homemade baked chicken nuggets and roasted broccoli.


I make chicken nuggets every few weeks and we all love them. Dawson didn't touch his broccoli which I figured he wouldn't and he was scared to try the macaroni! He is the pickiest eater ever. Since it didn't look like his usual Kraft macaroni and cheese he didn't want it. I kind of felt like I ruined his birthday dinner. :( He finished his nuggets and ended up taking a few bites of the macaroni. Me and Dave LOVED the macaroni. It was SO yummy. I'm definitely going to be making it again and hopefully after Dawson has tried it a few times he won't even think twice about eating it and will just enjoy it.

I like this picture with the cupcake tower as the centerpiece. I like how the shadow of the top cupcake and candles are on the wall next to Dawson. It looks kind of cool. :)


After dinner it was time for cupcakes! Dawson kept trying to blow out the candles while we were singing to him.


He was happy when he got to blow them out for real.



He reminded us that he needed his party hat on. Oops! We forgot! He wore it while he was enjoying his cupcake though.


Then he got to open one present. His birthday party is on Saturday so we are saving the rest of his presents for then.


He got a handy dandy notebook!! He loves it and played with it all night until it was time for bed. It was a great day. I know that Dawson really enjoyed everything we did today and had a good time celebrating his birthday. He was able to talk to his mema and peepaw, papa and Carrie, and nana, papa, Arika and Bronson all on webcam today. He loves talking to and seeing his family.

There were a few times today where I just looked at Dawson and cried. Happy tears. It's such a great feeling to look at his sweet little face and feel so much love. He makes me (and Dave and Ashlynn) so happy. I feel so blessed to have the little family that I do. They mean so much to me. I'm going to stop right there because I'm crying again. haha

Happy birthday, Dawson. We love you so much.