We tried to make today a little more “mellow” after such a busy weekend of commotion. I think the boys were still reeling from all the excitement of presents, too much cake and M&Ms, and the photo shoots. They were both punchy and wild.
They begged all day to go outside but our temperatures are still in the 90s in the daytime so we had to wait for the evening. Then we had to spray them down with OFF so they would not get eaten.

Bath time sillies, with more throwing and spilling and splashing.

One of the things I love about the photo shoots is all of the outtakes. Sometimes I like them more than the “good” ones because they capture the different expressions and emotions, and the character of the boys. It also serves to show just what a challenge it is to get those “good” shots!

I had big ideas and it seemed to all be going haywire. We certainly were all very frustrated that the photo shoots we wanted to accomplish today felt like total failures. It is a joke to expect three year olds to cooperate.
But then I downloaded all the photos and realized that there were plenty of great pictures, just not what I had imagined.

We went for a more casual look today

A boy with his Buzz

It was important to get pictures of the boys with Gramma! They kept trying to wiggle and escape!

Love and kisses!

Hold on tight, or they will run away!

The other plan today was to do a “Trash the Suit” shoot. I didn’t figure I would have any trouble getting the boys to get dirty and I thought it would be so cute to have them in their “natural environment” with their fancy clothes. Was I ever wrong!!
We got them a big rich bag of fresh dirt and lots of water and thought they would be covered head to toe. They didn’t want to play in it!! Brendan finally got interested and got soaked and muddy. Trevor dug in it a bit, but was worried about getting his clothes dirty. He wouldn’t play in it!
Even though the pictures were not what I imagined, they still are fun and I will love looking back on them.

This concludes the special photo shoots and the birthday madness weekend. We hope for a low key, more “normal” day tomorrow. Brendan is feeling much better now, but still isn’t 100%. He played hard today!

Happy third birthday to my awesome little boys!

We started the day with opening presents. Some new garden tools meant that we had to dig in the mud.

Brendan needs more water!

Mud mud mud everywhere

The boys got lots of great gifts and were very excited.

Brendan adores his big Buzz

The boys “helped” make their own cakes. Brendan ATE, CRUNCHED, CHEWED, and SWALLOWED some mini M&Ms. All caps are required here. He had several and loved them!!

The cakes were nice and simple this year

Cake time! Trevor really enjoyed his candles. Brendan was abundantly clear that he wanted NO CANDLES. The funny thing is that Brendan liked Trevor blowing out candles and was even practicing his blowing before we started to bring in his cake.

Brendan’s shirt reads, “MY WAY ALL DAY” and he was reminding us

Brendan was happy to lick and play with a regular cupcake. No fire!

After schmooing up the “3”, Trevor wanted a chocolate cupcake too

Which he ate

Mostly

And of course we had to do a photo shoot. It seems like such a disaster while it is happening. Everyone works so hard to try to get the boys to cooperate and nothing goes quite as planned. It was exhausting!! Bill and Gramma get a lot of credit for these great shots!

Bill got a gift for the boys’ birthday too. Brendan gave him a black eye (with his head!)