Three.

Gage is three.  Seriously.  Three.  His birthday was this past Friday.  We had his party on Saturday and it couldn't have been a more perfect day!  We had a construction party per Gage's request at Nanny and PawPaw's house.  We set it up at the barn and the weather was absolutely beautiful, I think it was about 72 degrees.  With a few decorations, balloons, tables/chairs and riding toys we were all set up.

Gage picked out a few construction worker "hard hats" and orange cones for decor.  He brought every riding toy we own along with some toys/cars to play with.  We served hot dogs, fruit, chips and drinks.  There were about 30 adults and 15 kids.

After everyone arrived we ate and the kids placed.  Not long after,  the ice cream truck arrived.  Yes....an ice cream truck.  Erik set it all up.  At first I told him that was unnecessary but the look on Gage's face when it pulled up....priceless.  He was so excited!  The man driving the truck did a quick magic show and then the kids (and some adults) got to pick whatever ice cream they wanted!  Definitely a hit and something we will hopefully do again.

After the ice cream truck left, we sang happy birthday, cut the cake (which no one really needed) made by my sister and the kids went fishing!  Lots of fish were caught and memories were made.

Thank you to all our friends and family who came to celebrate!

As for Gage, we love you buddy.  We are so proud of you and cannot wait for many more years to come.  You keep us laughing and you amaze us every day.  You are full of personality and are so, very smart.  You are an AMAZING big brother and love to be with your sister.  You say some crazy things that we had no idea a 3 year old could come up with......like you woke your daddy up the other day by saying "Cock A Doodle Dooooooo"....seriously, where did you learn that?!  You love to go, go, go and your favorite thing to do right now is ride on the little red riding toy starting at the top of our driveway to the bottom of the cul-de-sac.  I make you wear your bike helmet because you are        CA--RA--ZY.  You have no fever and rarely get hurt.  You are in a big boy bed and have transitioned very well.  Potty training...not so much.  You love to do puzzles with your daddy and enjoy reading books before bed time.  You love for your daddy and I to tell you made up stories too.  You will do anything to stall bed time, ha!

You are a carefree, sweet, easy going little buddy that makes us wonder how in the world we get to be your parents.  You have blessed us so.  Happy Birthday Gage Timothy.

 Awesome cake made by Lauren!

Food, yum.

"I dig you" party favors.

Aunt Alicia was so sweet to take care of Lyla practically the whole party, love her!

Uncle Zach praciting before baby Finley gets here, he is gonna be a WONDERFUL daddy.

My husband planned for an ice cream truck to come to the party.  Once the guy got to the party he did a little magic show, it was super adorable.  

Watching the magic show!

The Birthday magician

So the for the magic show the guy gave Gage a magic wand to make the rabbit appear.  He started out with this tiny wand and they got MUCH bigger!

Finally the rabbit appeared.

The HUGE wand that made the rabbit appear :)

Hmm....which one to choose.

He went for the minion ice cream.

Tayleb and his Ninja Turtle ice cream.  

Sweet Barrett and her snow cone.

Mia and her minion ice cream

Sloang went for the Ninja Turtle ice cream

Bella and Gage

We tried to get all the kids in front of the truck, ha!

Jen and Elise :)

Lyla and Alicia

The kids always go fishing after Gage's parties :)

Michael giving fishing lessons :)

Such a great day, thank you everyone!

Big Boy Bed and Dentist.

Baby steps here....baby steps.  Gage is a week away from his third birthday and we finally got him into a big boy bed!  I've always been told not to rush it, so we didn't.  He started climbing out of the crib about two weeks ago after him and my niece Mia were playing in his room and kept climbing in and out.  Since then, he has decided to come and go when he pleases :)  So....that was our sign.

I ordered his bedding several months ago and bought box springs and a mattress so we basically had everything ready to go.  Gage was really excited because he knew he would be sleeping in Pawpaw's bed!  His bed is my dad's old wagon wheel bed that he slept in when he was a little boy.  With some sanding and paint, it looks great!

Erik worked on the bed all day this weekend and we got it set-up for Gage's first night on Sunday.

To prepare for the switch I asked for advice on Facebook.  So many friends had great ideas!!  Here is how we prepared:
Santa wrote Gage a note to tell him how excited he was that Gage was gonna sleep in a big boy bed.  He also mailed him a Ryder (from Paw Patrol) stuffed toy to keep him safe.  Gage was super excited about that!

Then we gave him a sticker chart.  For every night he stays in his bed without getting out, he gets a sticker.  5 stickers = some sort of treat.

Then we put a door knob child protector thing on his door knob so he can't open the door.  Lots of people said use a baby gate but Gage would climb that in no time.

ROUTINE...that was the biggest piece of advice we got.  So at 7:00 Gage can watch a TV show.  At 7:30 he brushes his teeth, tells everyone goodnight and then Erik and I read him a story in bed.  After the story he always wants us to "tell him a story".  I love it.  Such a sweet time.

Anyways....The first night was AMAZING.  I was out of the room by 8:30 (we try for 8 at the latest but sometimes that doesn't happen).   He didn't get up once and Erik had to wake him up in the morning.  The second night he did get up twice but was asleep by 10:00.  I'll take that for a second night!  Tonight is the third night, he was asleep by 8:00, woop woop!  Hope I don't jinx myself :)

Here is his bed:

Daddy fixin' it up!

Baseball Bed ready to go!

That's Ryder (sent by Santa)

Gage also went to the dentist for the first time!  Sorry, I'm didn't take my kid to the dentist when he 6 months with 1 tooth, but we all have our opinions, right?!  He went to my dentist, the one I've been going to since I was little.  He did AWESOME and Kristen was great with him.  I asked about the slobbering (you know, he still wears a bib) and as always we were told "no worries, its normal".  Um....I don't see any other 3 year olds wearing a bib?!  But I get it.  Like they said, he's just so busy he forgets to swallow, ah!

Oh and this is as far as we have gotten with the potty training.  To be continued.....