ROAR.....means Happy Birthday

James' favorite surprise for his birthday was having his Nana and Papa (with horses) from Canada come celebrate with him. They are some of his favorite people in his life. 

What we did:

Everyone made their own dinosaur birthday hats, with spikes and stickers

We went dinosaur fishing for prices

Mom did a dinosaur dig with all the kids. They loved it, it got messy, but it was well worth it.

We ate pizza, appetizers and some dinosaur grub

We all put on our big dinosaur feet and stomped to the Dinosaur song

Nana (with pokies) helped with pin the tail on the T-rex

Rachel helped me with holding James' favorite book out for all to see, while he read almost every word from it ( by memory of course)

 

James and everyone loaded up on candy

Papa made a volcano and set it off. All the kids were so excited and amazed.

Then we unwrapped all the presents. He sure got spoiled from all his friends and people that love him.

Then we made mini volcano drinks for all the kids. OWWW...... AHHH......

Meanwhile, it was time for James to blow out his THREE candles. He loved the dinosaur cake I made him. He even helped assemble all the dinosaurs around the volcano. 

Right before we tore into the cake to eat, I let them all pick out a dinosaur from the cake that they wanted to take home with them. They all got a early taste of the cake and got to examine the volcano go off too.

For the last activity we all got our own dinosaur eggs and got to open the veiny eggs up. I think some of the kids really thought they were actual dinosaur eggs, because they were all different veiny colors.

This was the first birthday I have thrown that was dedicated entirely to James. I invited all his friends (not mine) and I was just focused on him and his friends the whole time ( hardly any mingling for me). And it was a total success. He has been talking about this day for a long time, and now it is over and done with. He is still as obsessed with dinosaurs and plays with them everyday. 

Thanks so much to friends and family for coming and making this day so special for James. Thanks for the presents and love you gave him and give to him whenever you see him. 

It creates smiles like this, and these smiles are worth more than any words can describe.

During his birthday he was especially happy to have his best friend, Grace, his Nana with pokies and his Nana and Papa with horses (insider to distinguish the different grandparents) and his awesome cousins and fun friends. 

Prior to his big Birthday party which was thrown on the weekend, we celebrated his birthday with the family, doing his favorite thing. First off we had pancakes with  THREE candles in them.

 James was very excited to blow them out and was the biggest sweetheart when he even saved the last one for baby to blow out (without us even asking to include her). 

Then we went to his favorite place, The Bean Museum. He is a total animal lover and relishes every minute when he is around such cool animals. He could walk around that place for hours and play in the toy room full of animals all day long. So yes, we were there for a while. But is was his big day and he loved every minute.

To end the night out,  we went out for ice-cream, his favorite.

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY stud.
I love you to infinity and beyond and YES, even more than dinosaurs. And that's better than anything he cares about these days. 

Finally.......

James was Potty Trained 1 week before he turned 3!

A while back, right before he turned 2, I patted myself on the back because my little James was potty trained before his 2nd birthday. He was so excited about the buzz stool, his buzz toilet seat and all the Buzz Lightyear stickers he'd receive when he went pee pee or poo poo in the toilet. Sad to say.......it was only for a month though. We went to visit my family in Canada and help my sister, yet I was not persistant with him and when we returned he was not potty trained anymore and he didn't want to have anything to do with it either.

So throughout his 2nd year of life I probably tried 4 other times. Tried with excitement, stickers, games, even candy. But he would not budge. Everyone told me that when he was ready he would just be ready. I didn't believe it because I knew he had already done it and could do it. So each time I tried, I felt like I was on his case and he just hated going to the toilet, it was a little fight I finally would just give up on and hope for results next time.

Well his 3rd Birthday was soon approching, and I kept on telling James that if he wanted his Dinosaur Birthday Party he would have to be Potty trained. I told him this as far back as July probably and he really showed no interest but talked continually about his Dino party.

Well it was a week before his birthday and like everyone said.... HE JUST GOT IT. It was so easy. I bought new dinosaur stickers and he was able to decorate a dinosaur picture. He was excited and I didn't even have to put up a fight with him. Sure he had accidents, but he would have them as he was running to the toilet, so he knew what was going on. So I am now a mother that totally believes the tale said by many mothers that When your little boy is ready to be potty trained he's ready. I would have not been so persistanton trying to get him to be potty trained if I knew it would have been this easy at the end.

I must admit, it is so great not having to change two diapers and having a little man that will actually take off his pullup in the morning and change into his own big boy underwear. That's a proud momma moment. As all you mothers out there may agree. Plus, Little his little bum is just so dang cute in his little undies too.