At 3, Sam is officially no longer "our little baby". We now have friends with 2 children under 3. Sam, it's time to buck-up and embrace childhood! Sam's Cars infatuation makes Audrey's princess infatuation pale in comparison. We don't walk around the house, we drive around the house . . . wait, correction, we RACE around the house. He is soooo boy. Except for when he "crashes" and needs mommy's love. 
Sam was feeling so celebrity that he decided to join his birthday "via satellite". He was probably stuck out on the racing circuit. 
Well, here he is! Thank goodness for all of Audrey's friends. Poor Sam isn't old enough to really have his own yet, and also not old enough to notice. One of the benefits to suburban life is a ready-made neighborhood posse. It really has been the biggest surprise since our move.
While his face might not show it in this picture, Auntie Calie's gift of a Buzz Lightyear action doll was probably the hit of the party. While there is no denying its awesomeness, I think the contrast to "everything Cars" also gave it a nice surprise factor. 
And as every parent knows, sometimes the kids find the non-presents the most fun to play with. Grammy came through with an admittedly larger than life gift bag. 
Audrey has had a lot of fun letting Sam know about all the things that he can do now that he is 3. See if you can notice the self-serving theme. "Sam, now that you're 3 we can go to Chucky Cheese! It's this amazing place that I've been to for birthday parties, but Mom and Dad wont take us until you're bigger.". GRRRRRRR. 
"And Sam, now that you're 3 you get to move into a big boy bed. So it's bye-bye to the crib, and oh yeah, binkies too. See, when I turned 3 Mom and Dad hit me with:1. You
2. Moved from the only house I knew
3. Took away my crib, and
4. Took away my binkies.
"Now do you understand why I was soo tough on you for the first 3 years?! I'm not saying it was ALL your fault, but it kinda was.".
"And yes Sam, it's time to finally nail that potty training thing. It's getting embarassing when you have your diaper changed during my play dates". 
Audrey has taught Sam how to "chillax". It's probably some parenting flaw, but it cracks me up when she comes home from school with the latest slang. I'm sure it's about to get more "slangy" than I want though. 
Chillaxin in the awesome new Cars tent from Grammy. He dials the neighborhood posse on his phone and makes "paydates". Not sure what he's collecting on, but go-Sam-go! 
Oh no! What the heck is going on with my 5-year old. Lisa thought this picture in Mommy's shoes was cute. I like to call it "How to horrify Dad". Where's my little girl that still likes to watch Mickey Mouse? 
Ahhhhhh, there she is. There was no way I could end the blog with that disaster photo above.
