suddenly 3

Despite being Isaac & Bethany's THIRD!!! birthday, January 7 was admittedly kind of an afterthought. Daddy would have to go to work, and all my attention was going to the party the following weekend, so I hadn't planned a single thing for their actual day. However, we managed to pull off a pretty fun but ordinary day, and I wanted to put it on the record.

Superdad Jared cooked up some delicious Mickey and Minnie blueberry pancakes. We stuck candles in them, sang Happy Birthday, and practiced holding up 3 fingers instead of 2.

Over breakfast I asked the kids what they wanted to do on their birthday. Bethany said, We want balloons for our birthday! and Isaac concurred. So after getting ready for the day, I took them to Vons and let them each pick out whatever ONE balloon they wanted. Their selections came as no shock: Buzz for him and Dora for her. We then went to our favorite park in town and flew the balloons around like kites.

We came home at the regular time for lunch and naps. While I had to take a deep breath before paying $10 each for those balloons, it quickly became evident that they were a worthy investment: Isaac, show Buzz how you eat that chicken! Bethany, let's read our favorite book to Dora! The things that are usually the hardest (like leaving the park, or getting both kids up the stairs at the same time-- impossible!) were so ridiculously easy that I was ready to shell out 20 bucks a day for new balloons as long as the good behavior kept up.

It got even better. After a couple of pre-nap books, Bethany started chasing Isaac and Buzz around their room. She gave Buzz's leg a bit too rough of a tug, split it open, and Buzz slowly leaked to his death. We all just stopped and watched. I didn't know what to say and didn't really want to intervene, so I stayed quiet. After a few heavy seconds, Bethany meekly said, Sorry Isaac. A few silent seconds more, and she said, Want to share my Dora balloon? and held her toward him. (Yes, I'm thinking, that was the right thing to do!) Isaac, who had yet to make a sound, said, Okay, and he took Dora. They shared her back and forth for another couple of minutes, and then they climbed into bed under Dora's watchful eye. I walked out of the room absolutely amazed by my incredible kids. The most incredible kids on Earth, I'm completely sure of it now.

After that short but blissful moment began one of the least successful naptimes of all time. Playing, fighting, crying, whining, and generally making their mama go BONKERS. Neither got a wink of sleep.

Suddenly... they were 3.