happy birthday pace!

pace is our big three year-old!  he is really, really into all things trucks--construction, farming, city trucks--you name it, he loves it.  so we did a truck-themed birthday party.  i asked him which friends he'd like to have over for his party, and he said, "mama, my friends good to me."  mama-heart-melt moment!  i said, "who's good to you, pace?  who do you want over for your party?"  his eyes lit up after thinking for a minute and he said, "abby and kyra!"  (a 7 and a 10 year old girl, respectively).  a couple days later i asked if there was anyone else.  after thinking, he said, "heather and jack!"  (heather is my good friend, and jack is her 5 year-old nephew).  i asked him about two boys his age in nursery.  when i mentioned one boy, pace looked down at his arm and then shook his head.  this particular boy had bitten him in nursery a while ago.  the other one he didn't even really know.  i love that my son is an old soul with sweet friend-girls...

welcome to the construction zone!  pace was so, so excited ( "pace so 'cited', as pace says) when he heard the first door knock.  we opened the door and everyone came in at once!  pace turned into the gracious host, "c'mon, friends, come see my truck cake!"

   

everyone put on their hard hats!  i had pace try on a hat earlier, and he accidentally pulled the elastic when he was taking it off, and it snapped on his cheek.  he immediately started crying and said, "pace don't like hard hats!"  ...so pace didn't wear a hard hat... 

and then we played pin the present in the dump truck.  pace helped me paint the dump truck that morning--he did the dirt and the sky.  the little ones didn't want to wear the blind fold.

after everyone had a turn, i asked if anyone wanted to go again.  everyone was ok, but all the girls said, "wait, max didn't get a turn!"  

and then we built our city!  costco graciously gave us lots of boxes, and we got other fun supplies from the craft store.  everyone got to make whatever they wanted--a house, a skyscraper, a garage, or an "applesauce factory", as pace said.  he's recently gotten into mr. roger's neighborhood, and loves the "field trips" he goes on--his particular favorites are the crayon factory (also my fav from my childhood), the backhoe episode, and the applesauce factory.  building our city was a really fun activity--everyone got focused on their own designs.  they all turned out really cute--and we had instant take-home party favors!  

oh, wait--we had to make a tunnel first.

emma made our house, and drew our family inside of it!  she left it up in pace's room for him.

it was a perfect day outside--so we set up a table and chairs for our pizza and cake.  abby's birthday was on sunday, and pace's official birthday was monday, so we had them blow out the candles together.  

the slide and the sandbox of course came out to play...

and the presents.  trucks, trucks, and more trucks.  after this birthday, i think we are going to have to build a garage just for his trucks!

i made a sock dog for abby, and she thought it was an octopus.  ha ha!

after naps, david and pace built the sweeper truck we got for him.  it really sweeps!