link's birthday is actually on september 25th, but we decided this year to celebrate FULLY and celebrate EARLY since his little sister will be coming no later than one week after his 3rd birthday. this way we were able to ensure he got a full-scale celebration, and boy, am i glad we did!

he LOVED being sung to and blowing out his candle. LOVED EVERY SECOND!

happy slide!

link entertaining some lady friends :)

pregnant attendees in order of birth appearance - starting at nov 6th on the left, all the way to tomorrow for steph in the stripes! love it!

happy (almost) 3 year old

the kids all loved the slide - link is STILL talking about it!

link and his bestie, finley, who came all the way from san antonio for the party!

he talked for at least a month EVERY.SINGLE.DAY about his party and "birthday bicycle" that he so desperately wanted. friday was the much anticipated day. jay brought chick fil a (one of his favorites) home for lunch and we took him outside after for the big garage-door-opening-reveal of the shiny, new, red bike. he shrieked with delight and danced around, said, "this is awesome!" and then got on and rode around the driveway, screaming, "IT'S HAPPENING!!!!" SERIOUSLY. we could not have asked for a better reaction.

FIRST RIDE OUTTA THE DRIVE WAY AND THROUGH THE HOOD!

after lots of riding and a quick nap, my parents helped me get him up and we took him to his party at the lake highlands rec center. we had a HUGE bouncy slide, about 25 of his best buds, and a giant cookie cake. he was in heaven. he loved being sung to, loved blowing out the candle, loved playing, loved opening gifts - this was definitely a big day for him and he soaked up every minute. after we came home with family and he got his other two "big" gifts he wanted, real golf clubs from nana and poppy (jay's parents) and a giant fire truck from hunny and papa (my parents). we all had so much fun celebrating our little guy.

first day of school, 2012-2013

we have also had the first day of school for the 2012-13 school year last week, and his first haircut! yes, i had given him every trim he had received thus far, kinda scary. :) but he LOVED snip it's and has asked to go back several times. ha. too funny. and this is his last year of the 2's class at school, so he is in the oldest 2's and will start PreK-3 next fall. another advantage being a mom to kids born in the fall - you get to keep them home longer! we still have three years to kindergarten! yay! :) haha.

AND, we have a scheduled c-section for october 2nd! if not before, baby sister will be here in 20 days...unreal. i am 37 weeks tomorrow (measuring 39!) and she has dropped and my belly is BIG! i heard a little boy this weekend at top golf say to his mom, "MOM, THAT LADY IS REALLLLLLY ABOUT TO HAVE A BABY!!" LOL. i was cracking up. let's hope he's correct. :) i've had LOTS of comments from kids about the size of my gigantic belly. which is fine by me, it's uncomfortable, but a small price to pay for what is to come!

anyway, we had a fun weekend celebrating with a small shower with close friends, what a blessing to have a time to celebrate baby girl (thanks to cameron, camille, audrey, mary and haley!). i seriously cannot believe she will be here so soon. we CANNOT WAIT! i still have so, so much to do - a list of things i still need to get, a nursery that is just in the very early stages of coming together, and no hospital bag, infant car seat installation, none of it! this week and next will be our last-minute scramble to get everything done. it will be good to have lots of nesting to do to make the time pass until she gets here, right?!

the fire truck he wanted, from his hunny and papa

his tombstone impression - cracks me up. this little gun was my big brothers and i used to play with it, too. it makes the BEST popping sound and he feels so cool playing w/ it at hunny and papa's house. :)

link loves giving baby sister kisses and asks all the time - i just hope he still loves it and is this sweet once she gets here!

on his way to top golf with his REAL golf clubs from his nana and poppy, he's so proud!