Par-tay!

Grayson's birthday was a great day!  We started out by all climbing into bed with him and singing happy birthday.  He kept saying, "it's my birthday today, huh?!"  Totally excited.  I had set the dining room table up with just a couple gifts for him to open {since he'd be opening most of them at his party}and we all went into the living room anticipating him noticing them.  He didn't.  He just climbed on the couch and wanted us all around him.  We visited for a bit and then he looked over and saw it, gasped, and ran over to the table.  He was so excited & kept asking if he could open.  We let him open the gifts & he was totally happy with them.  He honestly didn't expect anything else which I thought was so sweet.  I made him his own stack of pancakes & we sang to him again so he could blow out the candles. He was kind of embarrassed but also really happy to have all the attention on him.  Super cute boy.
{And can I take just a little time out to mention how much I love that hottie in the background?  See that suggestive & sweet just-woke-up-and-I'm-still-hot look he's giving me?  Love that & him!}

During the day he helped me frost cupcakes {okay, he just ate about 1/2 a pound of it!} and get other stuff ready for his party.  We watched a movie together when Zac was at work & got the boys bathed & ready to go.  He had several phone calls and the first thing he would say was, "it's my birthday today!"

We headed to my folks at 5 to set up for his party.  It was supposed to be at our house, but Doll had her wisdom teeth out that day, so we went there to make it easier on her and mom.  I decided not to have a friend party until he's in school, so it was just our families, which is still a lot of people. (:  It was perfect.  For how little time/money/supplies I had to spend on the party, I was pleased as punch with how it turned out.  Grayson was giddy about having a buzz lightyear birthday & just cute about all the details-telling me everything looked awesome, cute, and cool.

Guests started arriving & they consisted of: G&G Peterson, G&G Cleaver, Great G&G Peterson, Bob-Alison-Kylie-Trista, Doll, Keri, Taylor & Talon, Kels-Lance-Jaeger, Chels-Chris-Lyla, and us.  We had pizza {requested by Grayson who didn't even eat any}, and crush for dinner.  He opened gifts next & was hilarious.  We had really practiced proper gift opening etiquette the week beforehand because I think gratitude is so important.  I kept asking him what we say when we open a gift and he would say, "Fank you, I love it!"  Then he would pretend to give the person a big squeeze.  Yeah, didn't work out quite like that.  He was grateful and said thank you to each gift, but left squeezes till the end and when he opened one of his gifts from my parents that had clothes in it, he just kind of courtesy smiled & walked away to the next gift.  Hmm... (:  He loved all his gifts & I know they will all get tons of use & love.

After presents we sang & had him blow out his candle on his cupcake {his other request}.  Everyone ate cupcakes & took off and it just left my immediate family there.  We got a few {super quick} family pictures.

Then it was time for the big talked about event of the past couple months....sending his binkies to the binky fairy!  We had pumped him up for this and he knew that on January 13th, his birthday, he'd be giving up his binkies for good.  It was pretty funny.  First of all, it took four helium balloons to hold one binky, so I just hid the rest {for Beckham} and he actually only sent one of them up, but he didn't notice.  Then he had the hardest time letting go of the string.  It was like he wasn't quite sure he wanted to actually do it.  Almost as if he was just realizing the consequences of this choice and that he would NEVER go back to it again.  Poor addicted child.  Poor mama. (:  He finally did let go & we watched it disappear {because it was dark we had put a glow in the dark bracelet on it}.  He looked a little like someone who has buyer's remorse at this point in the game.  Like, "What the heck did I just do?"  It struggled a bit and Taylor laughed & said it would probably end up on our doorstep!  We went inside & he gave everyone hugs & high fives and seemed really pumped about it.

On the way home he kept telling me he'd given his binkies to the binky fairy & he was a big boy because he was three & now only Beckham has binkies.  Yay!  Don't get me wrong.  I figured we'd have a relapse at some point, but I was determined to stay positive about it.  That night he asked one time, "Can I please have that one thing?  That goes in my mouth?"  He wouldn't say binky because he knew I wouldn't give it to him!  He went to sleep fine though and did great all night.  The next day was totally great too & when he found a random binky on the floor he just said, "Here baby Beckham, I found your binky!"  Wow.  If I'd have known it was this easy, I'd have done it months ago! (:  Last night the relapse happened and he said in his bed in a very stressed voice, "Mom, can I please have one of baby Beckham's binkies?!"  I explained that he'd given them up and he was okay after that.  We were laughing though!  Overall Grayson's 3rd birthday was a huge success & we are so proud of him for the sweet boy he is & the choices he makes.