Happy 3rd Birthday, Ashton!!

Our sweet little Ashton turned 3 years old on August 24! He is such a charming, fun and intelligent little boy! I just cannot believe he is 3 years old...time has just flown!

His birthday fell on a Friday this year, so we decided to have a fun family celebration all day Friday and have a big birthday party on Saturday. Ashton LOVED his birthday party. I think this is the first year he has really enjoyed his party. For his first birthday party, he was very overwhelmed and a little confused with all the commotion. The next year he had a little head cold on his second birthday party. Three times must be a charm because he had a blast this year! :)

We let Ashton pick the food for all three meals on his birthday. He took full advantage of this freedom and had the BIGGEST lunch ever! He had a roll, broccoli pasta, a fried egg, an apple with peanut butter on top and some peas. WHOA. The crazy thing is he ate the whole thing!! He is such a cute little guy.

For dinner Ashton requested pancakes (no surprise there!) Ashton loved all his birthday phone calls throughout the day.

I had SO much fun planning and decorating Ashton's birthday party! Here is his birthday banner!

Balloons!

Ashton invited 10 of his friends and their families to his party. We started by playing a musical chairs type game, but with pieces of paper on the ground instead of chairs. Each paper had an animal underneath and when the music stopped I randomly picked an animal and if it matched the paper the child was in front of, he or she stepped out. Amazingly enough, Ashton was one of the last standing and almost won the game at his own party! :) Next, we played pin the hat on the cowboy which was so fun. I wish we had more pictures! Luckily a friend videotaped the entire party so at least we have that!

Some of the party-goers chowing down in our covered porch!

For refreshments, I decided to have a yogurt bar. One person we invited has Celiac Disease, and I wanted to be sure there was something she could eat. Plus, who doesn't love yogurt! This isn't the best picture, it looked much better with the fruit actually out, but I forgot to snap a picture before it was all devoured. :) We served vanilla yogurt with granola, raspberries, blueberries and strawberries.

I also made cupcakes and Oreo truffles...yum!

Ashton's party favors!

Our birthday boy opening gifts!

Spoiled rotten! :)

Ashton loooooves to sing the happy birthday song and is still singing it to himself a month later! 

We got Ashton a SWING SET for his birthday!! We decided to make it a surprise so Nelson stayed up into the wee hours of the morning two nights in a row putting it together. Unfortunately, I forgot to cover our back door window on the morning of his party, but he was still very surprised...just earlier than we planned!

Here is Ashton with Nelson's boss, Mike, his wife, Laura and their granddaughter Laura Kayte. They have become Ashton's surrogate grandparents here in NC and he could not love them more! The other day he said, "I have a grandma, a nana, and a Laura!"

Ashton loves his new swing set!! 

Ashton and Laura Kayte!

Cute boy Beckham loves our new swing set too!!

Each year I make a photo book highlighting Ashton's life. This year I included a questionnaire (thank you, Pinterest!) that I will ask him each subsequent year. It will be so fun to see how his answers change!

1. What is your favorite color? Purple
2. What is your favorite toy? Play Doh
3. What is your favorite game? Soccer ball
4. What is your favorite animal? Cow
5. What is your favorite song? The Family Song
6. What is your favorite book? Go, train, go!
7. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Swing
8. What is your favorite thing to do inside? Make cookies
9. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
10. What is your favorite TV show? Elmo
11. What is your favorite outfit? Jammies
12. What is your favorite fruit? Grapes
13. What is your favorite cereal? Captain Crunch (disclaimer: we rarely have sugary cereals so we bought him some Captain Crunch for his birthday...and YES he does love it!)
14. What is your favorite snack? Goldfish
15. What is your favorite drink? Prune juice and apple juice
16. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Gralola (granola)
17. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? A samwich
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for dinner? Pancakes
19. Who is your best friend? Nana
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A firefighter



Ashton has a special gift of memorization. He can recall things so easily, so we have been having so much fun during his daily "Learning Time." We started doing Learning Time just before Ashton turned 2 and it has become his favorite part of the day, i.e.: persuasion tool for good behavior. Ashton knows all the letters and the sounds they make, and can count and recognize numbers up to 50. I have started to teach him to read and he currently knows about 25 words and can read simple sentences. He can write the A, H, T, and O in his name and he is very close to mastering the S and N.  He loves to play matching games so I printed off pictures of the 12 Apostles and First Presidency. He memorized all their names in one night! I love his excitement for learning and hope it never ends!

Ashton says the sweetest, most sincere prayers. He will name long lists of things he is grateful for. The best part is he is so innocent and truly is thankful for "our white table" and his "cool cars" and "the woods." I have been edified and learned so much about sincere prayers from our precious little boy.

Ashton is such a good big brother and is definitely Beckham's favorite person. If Beckham is grumpy, all I have to do is get Ashton to come make him giggle and all is well again. Ashton loves to give Beckham hugs and kisses and they have a "secret handshake" they do before every nap time and bed time. It is a hug, then a kiss, then a high five followed by a shake ending with a fist bump! I LOVE it! Ashton is always so happy when Beckham wakes up from his nap and will rush into his room exclaiming, "GOOOOOD MORRRRRRNING!" no matter what time of day it is. 

Ashton loves to sing primary songs and knows so many by heart. He has the purest, sweetest little voice. He sings all day long (he got that from me!) and our shy boy will even belt out "I am a Child of God," in the grocery store. 

I love how Ashton still pronounces some words incorrectly, like "gralola" (granola), "Powder Ran-gers" (Power Rangers) and "Nike smoosh" (Nike swoosh). I love the way he calls his forehead a "foreface"(makes sense, right?) I love it when Ashton talks on his pretend phone and, when asked who he is talking to, nonchalantly replies, "The prophet." I love the day Ashton exclaimed in church, "There's Elder Cook!" This man actually does look a lot like Elder Cook... :) I love that when Ashton is describing a person who is bald, he says they have "bare hair." 

I really just want to bottle him up and keep him 3 years old forever. He is really the cutest, sweetest little guy!! We are so incredibly grateful for our precious little boy. 

Happy, happy birthday, Ashton!!