Happy 3rd Birthday Joe!

I can't believe Joe is 3!  He seems too grown up. 
We started his birthday celebrations by having a family birthday party the day before his birthday.  He was so excited!

Jeremy decorated the cake for it himself:

The next morning, Joe insisted on blowing his bubbles first thing. He wanted to do it before he ate breakfast and before he got dressed too.

All day long I kept asking him how old he is, he would beam with excitement as he said, "3!"
We ended the day with some left over cake and him getting to open his gifts from us. 

 He got quite a bit for his birthday.

Some of my favorite stories about Joe:
1) He is a big tease.  He calls everyone by names other than what their name actually is.  For example, he will walk up to me and say, "Hi Dad!"

2) He came up to me wearing a shirt that had alligators on it.  He said, "This is not my alligator shirt.  It's my Mater shirt. I'm just teasing you.  Silly, silly me!"

3) He loves to do things himself.  He has to buckle his car seat him self, put his shoes on himself, climb up into the car by himself.  It takes me 3 times as long to get anywhere, but I will love his independence one day.

4) He loves counting.  He will often ask me to count things with him.  We have to count fruit snacks, bugs, cards, and anything else he cares about.

5) Before he can eat any fruit snack, he has to know which shape it is.  We bought him Cars and Planes fruit snacks and before he eats it he always asks, "Mom, who is this?" He will ask over and over again with each individual one until I answer him.