3 is DINO-MYTE!!

A week long celebration, indeed...JonJon is officially the big three. No more crib. No more diapers. No more toddlerhood. Just a sweet big boy.

The actual birthday was last Sunday. We woke up to cake for breakfast, our birthday tradition around El Rancho Dominguez. After church, the big boy wanted McDonald's for lunch...followed by present opening.

He is a master at candle-blowing.

A Madcapz dinosaur hat for our little paleontologist.

(Had to link up to Madcapz so you can see the beautiful work my new friend Carrie creates!)

A new Geotrax set, a Ramone car from Benjamin and his hat...he's good to go!

Things that Mommy neglected to bring a camera to this week (where was my brain?):

--Celebrating Jonathan at LifeGroup Sunday night. We have a very sweet group who were so awesome to our little guy on his special day! The Hubbards had balloons up and we all broke bread cupcakes together and sang to Jonathan (twice!).

--We brought cookie-cake to preschool on Thursday to celebrate with his sweet little classmates. We actually baked all week and originally had cupcakes to bring on Tuesday, but then it snowed. And we found something else to do with those cupcakes besides let them sit around until Thursday. ; )

Friday night, we had the big par-tay! I went a little more "all-out" than I usually do. Guilt-complex, I suppose, for the poor kid who didn't have a party last year due to the throw-ups. But, with a fun theme like dinosaurs, it was hard not to find more things to add to the festivities!

I'll keep working on my banner-making skills. Don't look too closely, you'll see my patterning got a little out-of-whack somewhere in the wee hours of the morning.

RAWR!! T-Rex stood guard over our cupcakes.

It took three of us to deflate this dino-dude! He was huge!

Trying to get back to baking for our parties again.

It's fun to do it yourself and it makes some great memories.

We did find out through this that Jonathan (or Beth) did not like coconut or "grass" on his cupcake. ; )

Grub for herbivores and carnivores alike.

Our favorites were the dino-shaped chicken nuggets and dino-shaped PB&J's.

The actual "herbivore grub" (aka, the veggie tray) seems to have been taken off the table when I took this photo! Hmmm....let's just blame that pterodactyl.

We filled tubs with sand and mini dinosaurs for an archaeological dig. This ended up being a crazy mess to clean....probably saw that one coming. But, the kids really seemed to enjoy it.

Very impromptu centerpieces...the six inflatable dinosaurs I ordered from OT were a total bust...well at least two of them literally were! Still annoyed about that. Found this balloon idea over at the Family Fun site.

THREE!!! Jonathan in the jump-jump before his friends arrived. The inflatable rental company dropped the air-castle off extra early. That's so nice when you're trying to entertain kiddos and set up at the same time!

Mr. Max with his cool dude hair! Poor kid had double ear infections this week. So happy he was on the mend and able to party with us. It wouldn't have been the same without our little buddy.

Excavating with Bella

Miss Abriella was ready to party!

Jenae and Avery ready for a DINO-MYTE time!

This was such a sweet moment. Lily, a preschool pal, arrived and Jonathan and she ran to one another with open arms to hug! It was just precious.

Max surpised us all and chowed down on nuggies! What a big boy!

Working hard on finding those hidden dinosaurs.

The Happy Birthday song...love our little buddy, Ty (to the right of Jonathan).

They are two of a kind...throw in Miss Landry and it's a hot mess, people.

He just soaked up the singing...it melted my heart.

A candle-blowing pro.

The Three Amigos...what is it about second-born kiddos that makes them our WILD ones? Too fun. Ty, Jonathan and Landry.

Our buddy, Cade and his momma, Becky.

This kid will play pro-basketball one day. Seriously...he's so awesome and practices all the time. Always has a basketball in his hand.

Debbie and Jenae...so happy the Hubbards are now in our real life, versus just FB and Blogworld!

Miss Harlie and mommy, Kiki. Harlie so didn't want me taking her photo!

But, I managed to sneak up on her. ; )

Opening presents.

On a side note...I usually make it take a couple of weeks after the party to open all the boxes and assemble toys (like one or two per day). It makes it more fun and drags out the "new toy" time a lot longer. This morning, my sweet husband let me sleep in a bit (I was a bit partied-out). At 9 a.m., I came into the living room to see every. single. toy. assembled and in action. We are in toy-overload! It was cRaZy! But, man, Jonathan LOVES all the cool new things he got. (Although the invite clearly stated "presents not necessary, just come for the celebration"). Oh well. I just feel so blessed to have so many sweet, sweet friends that were so kind to give some incredibly awesome gifts for our little man (lots of dinosaur items, too!).

THANK YOU ALL!!

Spontaneous Dino Racing.

Looks like that pterodactyl is in the lead.

Poor Ty....it's hard to maneuver a flying dinosaur!

Silly big brother!

It was a great week and now we all need a good rest!! So happy to celebrate with you, Jonathan!