April 9th, 2010: Happy 3rd Birthday, ETHAN!!

This year, Ethan got a rare opportunity for his birthday... BOTH, yes BOTH, sets of grandparents got to celebrate with him!!! Of course, that met celebrating a few days early, but it still counts! My parents came up from Oregon and Sean's parents were visiting from Southern California - and the party was at our house in Washington, so we had the entire west coast represented. Oh, yeah.

This year's theme was.....

FROG PRINCE!!

And for a couple of different reasons. First and foremost is that Ethan's animal (bestowed upon him by uncle Toddy, aka family-member-animal-namer) is the frog! This stems way back to his first days, weeks and months after birth. While snuggled up in his swing, Ethan would tuck his little legs up - then, when we would lift him out of the swing, his legs would still stay tucked up. Also, he still sleeps most of the time on his tummy, "hind" legs pulled up underneath him, like a little frog! The second reason is because we are in love with the movie Princess and the Frog!! [If you haven't seen it, go rent it!!]

So, in the day and 1/2 that I had to throw the party together (we were in Seattle and there had been much debate over which day to have it - thank you to work for changing my dad's day off at the last minute!) I gathered up as much green, blue and frog decorations as I could! It still wasn't quite all I had hoped for, but I was happy with the final result.
On the menu was:
* Green veggie platter (w/ some crinkle cut carrots thrown in for variety)
* Cheese tortellini w/ Dave's butternut squash pasta sauce (pick some up at Costco - soooo good [and I don't even like squash])
* "Orange chips" (aka Nacho Doritos - Ethan's favorite) and some potato chips
* Chicken salad sandwiches - open face (one of my favorites - split and toast an english muffin, add a little mayo and a thick slice of tomato, then a scoop of chicken salad and top with something green - guacamole, sliced green onion, fresh chopped parsley, etc.)
* Lime tarts (recipe courtesy of Our Best Bites [I mean, really, how many times have I mentioned their site on my blog - tell me you have checked them out by now!])
* Frog-shaped sugar cookies w/ green sprinkles
* Assortment of green candies - gummy frogs, jelly beans and gumdrops
* Lime punch (typical recipe: limeade concentrate, lime sherbet and Sprite - makes for a very vibrant green color!)
I got all the little green and frog buckets at Target in the dollar section - found them completely by accident and they went perfect with the theme!

We munched and chatted and then it was time for... presents!! Ethan could hardly contain himself! He got loaded down with new clothes (my cheater gift, since I pretty much just pulled everything 3T out of his closet that I had been buying on clearance and saving up!), lots of fun, new books, a BIG monster truck, a new tricycle and a bubble lawn mower.Next on the agenda... THE CAKE!!! Three layers of the traditional silver white cake goodness!! I have made, from scratch, the same cake for Ethan each birthday. The frog figurine I got at Target in the dollar section (different visit, different state) - score!! It was the perfect size (and price!) and I was stoked to find it! My original plans were to make the cake and have my friend Heather (who is starting up a cake business) help me decorate it, but that didn't work out so I stuck with buttercream frosting and green sprinkles and called it good!

We attempted to get a nice family picture by the cake (proof that I was actually there) and Ethan showed his love by squeezing mommy and daddy's faces for the picture - so thoughtful!

I always end up missing some pictures I wanted to take and this time it was my parents that were jipped. So, yes, they were there - you just won't see them in any of the pictures. Also, it was their anniversary, and they had plans to go to the temple, so they had to leave a little early to make it. I did, however, get some shots of Ethan with his Southworth grandparents...

He loved having balloon wars with Papa....

And having Nana read him lots and lots of his new books!

Thanks to everyone for all of the gifts! Our Pennsylvania family (Uncle Ryan, Aunt Amy and the cousins) sent Ethan a great collection of silly books. Add those to the ones that Nana and Papa got him and now our library of nap-time/bed-time/cuddle-time story books has greatly improved!! [This especially makes me, the momma, happy because I was getting pretty bored with the ones we've got!] And here's some pictures to show just how much he's enjoying his new toys... thank goodness for the sunny weather!!

The MONSTER Truck!!

The bubble lawnmower was a surprise gift from mommy and daddy - he had to wait until his actual birthday to open this one up!

The tricycle was a big hit - thanks to Gramma Julie and Grampa Greg! [Though Papa put it together!! ;)] I love that my mom went with the retro, old-school shiny red one. This is totally like the one my sisters and I used to ride and Ethan is already a pro!

Also for his birthday, we took Mr. Monkey in to Build-a-Bear for his yearly maintenance. Ethan got him for his 1st birthday, complete with monkey sound. By his second birthday, the sound had died so we had it replaced and his stuffing topped off. This year we decided to remove the sound chip thing and were going to have the stuffing topped off again, but the nice lady offered to completely remove all of the old stuffing and refill it will fresh stuff. This is a very good thing because Mr. Monkey is also Ethan's pillow. I swear, that kid can be dead asleep, but if I dare to move him off Mr. Monkey (mainly because he likes to sleep with Mr. Monkey on top of his pillow and I think this is way too high for his little neck) he immediately grabs him again or repositions himself so that the monkey is still his pillow. Anyway, now he is nice and plump again and will be getting a sponge bath later this week!

Happy Birthday to my little Ethan!!