We celebrated Evan’s birthday this weekend… thanks to Grandma Ann Marie for hosting the festivities.  I didn’t have to lift a finger, except to help around her house, and it was great.  The baby is due to come in a week, and I wanted Evan to have a fun birthday party.

The three of us, and the dog, packed into the car on Friday night and drive up to Grandma and Grandpa’s house up in New Hampshire.  After a great sleep, we got up pretty early and got ready for the party.  The best part was not having to rush around– it was very relaxing!  This is a picture of Evan lounging around, waiting for his friends to come.  I think I bought this sweater for Evan for either his two-year-old birthday or last Christmas.  It’s sized 2T; this boy is due for a growth spurt!

Pretty soon, Evan’s friends had arrived and family was trickling in the door.  We played inside with all of Grandma’s great old toys and had lunch.  Then we ran around outside, kicking footballs and playing with the Fisher-price baseball throwing toy that Great-Grandma and Grandpa Pep got for Evan.  Then it was time for cake!!  Grandma Ann Marie got Evan a train cake, which was very exciting for our little engineer.

Here is a picture of him telling me how much he liked his cake.  After loading up on the cake and ice cream, the kids all played for a little while before the little ones packed into their cars and left.  Some family and friends stayed around for a good part of the afternoon, and Evan had a blast playing with his new toys: remote control cars from Grandpa Steve, an inflatable car from Julian, Spencer the engine from Mommy and Daddy, Diego from Travis, and an AquaDoodle drawing pad from Carla…. and let’s not forget the video games: Super Mario Baseball for the Wii from Cousin Matt and a LeapFrog video game system from Aunt Maura.  Evan was really psyched about getting all the great presents.  Thank you everyone!!!

After chilling out at Grandma’s house all day on Saturday, I decided that I didn’t want to rush around and pack everything up, so we stayed another night!  We took our time on Sunday morning and made it back to our house around 1pm… giving us enough time to get our chores done before settling down to watch the New England Patriots and the Red Sox.

I’m really happy that this weekend worked out the way it did.  I’m relaxed and rested… Evan had his birthday party, and for all intents and purposes (on my part anyway) he is now three years old, even though his birthday is really on the 14th of October.  I’m not going to mention his birthday again, except perhaps to ask him if he wants to bring cupcakes into his preschool to celebrate one of these days.  Now that Evan has had his birthday, the baby can come anytime…. there’s nothing left to take care of.. so come on baby! We’re waiting!

I’ve posted a few other pictures up on our Flickr account.