Digger Birthday

    Cooper turned 3 yesterday and to celebrate we had a birthday bash for him on Sunday, with a construction theme. It was so much fun and turned out just like we'd hoped!

     I had looked on Pinterest for some ideas and found some great ones. Then it was time to copy copy copy. Fortunately they all turned out like the original ideas, for the most part! I've discovered that I'm a food-central party person. If the food fits the theme then the other decorations aren't as important to me. Interesting….thankfully Mom was there to fill in the more creative and decorative parts of the party.

 Digger man food!

    The star of the theme was the backhoe that we borrowed from the Echols. We parked it beside the house and all of the kids got to look around at it. Cooper was especially excited about this, although he misunderstood what turning 3 means. He thought it meant that he could now drive the backhoe, dump truck, skid steer, etc. He did settle for just riding in it though.

Bringing the backhoe to the party 

     Of course we had lots of people over for the party and lots of kids. The sandbox provided a lot of entertainment for the kiddos while the parents visited. After dinner we played pin the nail under the hammer, Mia won. Somehow I didn't get a single picture of that action.

All the kiddos after pin the nail

    Then we let the kids take turns swinging at the pinata. They had a blast and it actually made it through all of the kids before it busted, yay! Somehow I managed to get everyone's picture except Cooper's…oh well.

    After the pinata it was cake time! I attempted a cake that I had seen on Pinterest and I think it was a hit. The wind was blowing so all of the kids had to hold their hard hats on while we sang Happy Birthday. Then Cooper blew out the candle and we passed out cake. Cooper was more interested in playing with the excavator on the top of the cake than eating his piece.

 

All the kids had to hold their hats on because of the wind

    Finally the craziest part of the party ensued….gift opening. When you have lots of kids around it turns into a mayhem of flying paper and opened gifts. I managed to see who gave Cooper what, dodging tissue paper the entire time. He was excited about all of the gifts but when he opened a backhoe from Willa and a front loader from us he was ready to stop and head to the sand box. We had to hide them so he'd keep opening.

 A backhoe!!

Yay! A digital camera from Mere Mere and Popsey, so cool.

   As the party came to a close and everyone left we counted the party as a big success! Worth all of the work and cost in the end. I love hosting parties!!!

 In full work attire

 Dino-utensils from Aunt Kim

 Book from Hank and Ava!

   Monday was Cooper's actual birthday but he didn't really understand. I told him Happy Birthday and he said that his birthday was yesterday. So I didn't push the issue too much. That evening, though, we went to town and out to eat at his restaurant of choice, Dos Chiles. He wanted cheese quesadillas and all of the waitstaff came and sang to him. He stood there with the sombrero on and gave his little shy pursed lip expression. He enjoyed it though and so did we!

    Happy 3rd Birthday to Cooper Dalton, our sweet, very funny, hard headed, machine obsessed, great first born son! It's been a blessing to have him for these 3 years and we pray for many more blessed times.

Surprise! A trailer for his tractor from GG and Papa

"Do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewareded. You need to persevere so that when you he done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." Hebrews 10:35-36