Whackeroni-Nackernoni

Jay turned 3 yesterday! May 21st. Books, Star Wars, and Star Wars books. Tractor, park, macaroni, cake, and family. It was a good, Jay-style day.

The 3 year old!

Let’s start at the very beginning. Joseph Argyle White:

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Here’s what we did on Jay-Day 2012:

We had planned on doing Jay’s presents before Jeff left for work in the morning so Jay could play with them all day. BUT, Jay actually decided to sleep in to 6:30, so Jeff was gone when we got up. So we called him and arranged to meet him at Sunnyview Park, half way between Grandview and Sunnyside, for lunch and presents at 11am. It was 4.5 miles from our home along the bike path. Since Jeff took the car, and I was not up for a 9 mile round trip run, I hitched up the bike trailer to Jeff’s bike. First I had to hunt around for nearly 45 minutes to find the spare key to the bike lock. Then we started the hitching and loading.

I am NOT a very good biker. I would like to be, but I just can’t get past that awful, pointy, ROCK-HARD seat. Before yesterday, I hadn’t ridden a bike in two years. And I had never ridden a street bike—we always had mountain bikes growing up. So that thing felt all wobbly and flimsy and I thought I was going to crash for at least the first mile. But then I got the hang of it. Somehow I managed to ignore the stabbing pain in my bum, and we made it to the park in 27 minutes—about 15 minutes faster than it would’ve taken running with the stroller. But running would’ve been easier on my bruised booty.

We had never been to this park before, so Jay and Rose had fun exploring the new territory.

Rose loved the rocks. Mmmm, tasty.

Jay thought the skate park area had more slides, so he tried them out.

Rose did the half-pipe.

Then Rose sat in a puddle. Did I mention that we had our first cloudy day all MONTH on Sunday, the day of the eclipse? It stayed cloudy on Jay’s birthday and later, it rained.

I adore this picture—even though it’s kind of fuzzy.

When Jeff got there, Jay went over and started opening his present before we were done saying “Hi, Daddy!” He was excited. I think he knew that we would get him something Star Wars-y. He was right!

We found these fun little Playskool Star Wars action figures on Amazon. Jay adores them. Darth and Luke started light-sabering right away.

Family birthday picnics are the best. Jeff only could stay for 15 minutes, but it was so much fun to see him in the middle of the day.

FOOD. Rose got sandwich lodged in her nose and in her sandals. She ate the pieces right out of her sandals while her mother cringed on the other side of the blanket.

Rose gave Jay a Star Wars book, and Jay couldn’t decide which thing to do—read his book or play with the “guys.” It started to drizzle, though, so we packed everything up, rolled down the rain cover on the bike trailer, and pedaled for home. It started actually RAINING real rain (not just fitful drizzles) when we were about 3 miles from home. I got soaked, but Jay and Rose were snug n dry in their little pod. Even though she was dry, Rose was NOT happy back there and my bum was killing me worse than ever. It took us 40 minutes to get home because we kept stopping. Rose cried for most of the ride home, until she fell asleep with bits of carrot in her mouth.

I biked in a dress and it got wet. My back and legs were wetter. But central Washington rain is gentle at best, so it wasn’t too bad—no Missouri monsoons here.

Jay and I spent a quiet afternoon together while Rose slept. We read all his new birthday books from Grama Meri and Grampa Charley. We looked at his Star Wars book forEVER. We made his birthday cake together. Jay likes to put his hand on the electric beater while I mix things. It makes the beater heavier and harder to move, but he feels like he’s helping so I let him.

Birthday Dinner! Jeff got home and we had the same birthday dinner Jay has had his whole life: whackeroni and cheese. Also known as nackernoni. We also had Jell-o, even though I’ve never made it before ever. It seemed kid-y. And peas, but Jay didn’t eat his peas and I didn’t force him to for once.

The Cake. I admire all mothers who figure out cute clever fun whimsical ways to do birthday cakes. I just couldn’t manage it. Fancy frilly baking is just not my forte. So sheet cake with blobby I-cut-the-hole-in-the-baggy-too-big frosting words is what Jay got. He kept saying he wanted pink on his cake, so I made one word a nice dark pink. We did make a yummy pound cake and not a boring bland box mix, and the frosting was homemade chocolate cream cheese frosting, so I felt ok about the boringness of the cake since it tasted pretty good. Jay chose the piece with the pink B on it.

We had the White grandparents, Dan and Leslie over and also dear Aunt Steph. I think this is the first time he’s actually blown out his own candles. It was so fun to have the birthday boy KNOW what was going on this year! He was so excited and enjoyed every little detail of his day.

CAKE!

PRESENTS! The Whites and Steph brought presents over, so Jay had presents, round two. Isn’t that great motorcycle wrapping paper?

A tractor! We loaded all the Star Wars guys into it right away. Jay also got more books. I know Jeff and I are GLAD for this “fresh meat” in our home library. Jay says thanks for all the cards and presents! Everyone loves Jay. We are so glad he’s in our family.

Happy Birthday to Jay!