Luke's birthday

We had a great day yesterday. Luke and Ty and I went to the Scoville Zoo here in Decatur. We had a great time seeing the animals. For a small zoo it is pretty nice, well landscaped and clean. They have a train and a merry-go-round that we all rode together. Luke asserted his independence by choosing his very own seat for the train explaining that Ty and I could sit behind him. We saw alligators, a wolf, camels, a zebra, cheetahs, a spider monkey and lots of birds. Most of the birds are allowed to roam around the zoo which is interesting. Even the bald eagles. You know when you are a Mom through and through when you are even willing to brave the snake and bug house! An exhibit I would always pass on previous to motherhood. I HATE snakes and spiders and creepy crawling things. I pretty much wanted to jump out of my skin the whole time, but we stayed long enough to take the tour of each cage TWICE! That was huge for me! I tried to show genuine enthusiasm as he pointed at giant cockroaches, pythons, tarantulas and such. But, anything for my boys! Ty seemed to enjoy the zoo as well. It was drizzling a little, but Luke loved that because he could hold his umbrella.

They also had a petting zoo that we had never participated in before, but yesterday we went around checking out the goats. Luke was actually pretty timid and not interested in touching them, but enjoyed being up close. Later he tried to climb in with the Galapagos Tortoise. Good thing it wasn't the gators!

These goats would jump up on the ledge to be fed. It was so funny.
New clothes from Grandma Burt.

Sporting his recent tussle with the pavement-check out that huge bruise on his forehead-all swollen and everything just in time for birthday. Poor kid. Why is it always his face?

Tyger on the train.

After the zoo we went to McDonalds, because hey, what three year old doesn't love that. I found myself trying to make the day extra special, letting him choose the music in the car, letting him help make pancakes for breakfast, watching his favorite shows, no chores etc. But except for the chore thing, that is pretty much our typical day. Man my kids have a pretty sweet life. They are definitely the center of our universe, and they know it.

When Dad got home we started the festivities. Unwrapping presents-all 10 minutes that it took. Then we played with our new toys. A bug collecting kit ($2.00 from Target-good idea Dad!) and the Wall-E action figures were the highlights. The walkie-talkies from Grandma Swensen were also very exciting to him. So we went outside with our walkie-talkies and collected bugs!! How much more excitement can mom take for one day? ha ha.

Dad helped Luke catch a spider-Yipee!
Then time for Wall-E cake! He was so adorable. The look on his face when he saw the cake was priceless. I have rarely seen him so excited, he had to cover his mouth with his hands with genuine, lovable surprise. I was pretty proud of the cake, it turned out really cute. We had a great day.


Now I know why my Mom made us take so many pictures of the cake. It takes forever to make!
The boys enjoyed eating the cake as you can see. Ty would scream when his tray was empty.

Saturday is the friends party-can't wait.