Are we 3, YET?

I couldn't have asked for a better day! I finally got the cakes baked by 3:00 am! I sat them outside; wanting them to cool and freeze(hoping that it would not snow, rain or any mixture of the two.) My luck held and at 8 am I started to decorate the cake. Now, let me tell you that I am NO Duff (The TV cake guru,) Sara Henderson (professional cake decorator and daughter of dear friend,) or Mindy Barry (the classy cake decorating- just did and awesome Percy Jackson cake for her son- teacher/mom.) But hey, Jacob loved HIS dump truck. We started out carving the cake. We staked, arranged, an re-arranged, hacked, whacked, doodled, scratched our canoodle(brain), and then hoped that the patron saint of the lost would look upon us just a little! At least until photos and kids got to see it.

Jacob underfoot, on my head, then bouncing off the ceiling onto the wall, through the twins and back underfoot (seriously it was like wrestling with a giant squid and a couple squid lings.) With a beautiful smiling face looking up and an over joyous squeal, 'Just wanted to help a little!' was finally put to work smashing Oreo cookies in a Ziploc bag and a rolling pin (I know... what was I thinking-- for the record Clint and my mom hid the big stone rolling pin so it was just a little one) for dirt. This was AFTER forced eating-s of his oatmeal (which he agrees with Pappy and comments, "I don't wanna eat THAT oatmeal!") two bathroom breaks (I think it was just to get the jellybeans) but hey he's going to the pot willingly! Now, here is where you have to picture the average roller coaster ride with 4 consecutive loops... are you picturing it? Okay, forget the picture and listen to the volume. Go up about 30 more decibels and you are now in my house baking Jacob's birthday cake with Jacob!

For those of you that love me and are able to accept me as I am -- cleaning my house is not my priority; nor has it ever been, and at my age... I am not sure it will ever be! I do attribute this to my wonderful mother who trained or is it ingrained my house keeping ability, however, it is clean just not 'tidy'. Needless to say, Clint and I start cracking to get the toys in their spots, the paper work picked up, the counters cleaned off, and everything else. We would get toys picked-up and the trio would have them dumped and strung out in less than 5 minutes time! UGH! Meanwhile, the cakes edges start to slum. So, Clint bails to go plug in the other freezer that we have and hauls the cake down to the freezer hoping to stop the majority of the issues that have started. Slightly exhausted Clint decided that it was time to build his little bike. I love the fact that Clint thought it would be great to have Jacob "help" build his bike (neither one can read instructions) and they would be able to do it together. Not wanting the little ones to feel left out I had him bring up the box and build it in the living room. This was a riot to watch! Jacob was in heaven getting to, "...wrench, wrench!" with dad and everyone else and Meghan was quite the go-getter! She would grab wrenches, parts, spin the tires, taste the seat and handle-bars and check-out anything that was set down. Quinn checked out the box and just watched what was going on (a Tom Sawyer in the making?) in the end he was willing to kick the tires.

At 5:30 friends start showing up and by 6:00 the crew of kids takes over the house and the volume is back to the roller-coaster ride. Jacob had a ball riding his bike outside on the paved court/driveway... we had tears when it was time to come in he was having so much fun with the big boys. Thank heavens that he is so willing to follow the big boys because a couple of them told him that dinner time was a good thing and that we would get cake, ice cream and presents soon. We had our bbq hamburgers, hot dogs, beans, Dutch-oven potatoes, and mac-n-cheese. All which were pretty much devoured in the first pass! There was more bike riding, running, and wild banshees followed by cake and gifts.

The kid is spoiled rotten! He was given: Large mat Cars coloring book, an t-shirt for Elko old cars, loads of shirts, a crane set with a couple trucks, a set of Chuck cars and carrying case that has a ramp and elevator, a box of crayons, a set of alphabet letters for the tub, and a few other gifts that I didn't even get to see because the other 8 kids were passing presents and flinging paper faster than I could keep up. We wrapped up the party at about 9:30 with Meghan quiting the party early. Everyone left and it looked like the tsunami had hit us! Clint and I clean up ONLY what was necessary and the rest would be there in the morning! AND IT SURE WAS!!!!

So, Quinn is finally ready to crash now that the house is quiet and Clint is on the phone planning hunting "things" with one of our friends and Jacob decides that he wants to sit with me on the couch. Me wanting to have my snuggle-time follows him to the couch, change the channel to 'his' show and he ambles over to my lap, flops down into the middle of me (good thing there is a lot of me) and drags the quilt over us, blows me a kiss and tells me to put it in my pocket to save it for later that I will need it and he pauses for a short time. Finally, he roots in a little closer, as IF I could get away, looks up a me and says,

"Are we three, yet?"

sighs drinks a shot of water and closes his eyes.

It's the moments like these that just melt my heart and turn me into puddy--

because they are so special! This is why being MOM is a blessing.

I am the luckiest in the world!