Clay turns 3!

Clay turned 3 last Saturday so Hannah and I drove back to Hagerstown for the day to celebrate. Notice that I said Clay turned 3 last week; the key phrase there is last week, as in, I'm currently only a week behind on blogging. I'm looking for applause here people--I've been playing catch up since I taught that class at the beginning of the summer and am just now thinking it might be possible to catch up!

Shockingly, Clay went right for the book that we got him first. Maybe it was the plain brown wrapping paper that the children's bookstore wrapped it in? No clue what the appeal was, but he opened that shortly after we walked in the door and then insisted that his daddy read him the story about Otis the little red tractor. When I called my mom and brother looking for present ideas, they both tipped me off to Clay's obsession with tractors. This tip sounded good on the phone, but in reality, tractor-related stuff is not easy to find. There's a ton of construction truck stuff out there, but tractors are scarce. I'm glad that I went to a local children's bookstore because the owner took me right to Otis when I asked about tractor-themed books, and it's a great book! Very cute.

We ate some lunch then and got out the cake that Grammy brought. Hannah snuck a hand in to feel a tree right as I was snapping a shot.

Clay was a little hesitant about blowing out the candle so Hannah helped.

As soon as the flame was out of his way, Clay went immediately for the tractor and started to lick the icing off the wheels.

Then he plowed the field.

Once the top of the cake was removed, he cut everyone a piece. I don't think I even saw him eat any--he was too busy slicing and dicing.

Hannah shared a small piece with me, and I scraped off the icing, but in spite of the small amount, the sugar rush still kicked in so we took the kids outside to run it off. Since the stomp rocket that Grammy picked out for Clay is an ideal toy, she had him tear that open before heading out. She did good on that one--it was a big hit! Clay liked to get a running start and then land on the inflated part with a heavy boot stomp. He landed so powerfully that he kept shooting rockets onto the roof, much to his delight. Hannah didn't have so much power in her stomp. She stomped, and if she was lucky, the Styrofoam rocket lifted up ever so slightly and dropped onto the ground an inch from the base.  When unlucky, the rocket didn't lift at all. In response, Clay kept saying, "Wash me, wash me!" And then he'd run up, stomp the daylights out of it, and send the rocket soaring.

We went back inside after a bit, and Hannah gave Clay the other present from us. We picked out these SmartMax Power Vehicles. They're magnetic car pieces that you can put together however you want to create a variety of vehicles. I'm not sure he's terribly interested in the building part, but as soon as daddy had one put together, he enjoyed pushing it around. 

His daddy got him a remote control truck that was a big hit between both kids, but my refusal to use flash screwed me out of getting a shot of that.

Aunt Pam was there too, and about halfway through the day I realized I hadn't gotten any pictures of her so when I noticed her 'nuggling Mason I broke out the camera. Not the best shot of her, but Mason's eyes look amazing, right?!

We took the party back outside after a while and stomped the stomp rocket a kabillion more times, then the kids rode their bikes down the hill out front and complained about getting them back up the hill.

 

Driving to and from Hagerstown really wears me out these days, but it's always worth it to be able to spend time with my family. I'm just glad that my brother has a place with lots of outdoor space now where we can all get together easily and have room to breathe and play.