Seems as though this was a pretty big week for our family! Lots of activities and plenty to celebrate around here in March, the biggest one being the birthday of this sweet boy. Yep, we celebrated Griffin’s 3rd birthday on Wednesday, March 16th.  How can it be? I just want time to slow down and for life to just be put on pause for a bit so I have time to soak it all in. These days pass far too quickly and I feel like I miss out on a lot during the week while I’m at work. I’d love nothing more than a work hiatus for a couple of months, but back to reality it is. For Griffin’s birthday we signed him up for Soccer lessons at Locker Soccer in Powell. His first class was the night before his birthday.  He seemed to really enjoy all of the running around and the different activities that coach Aaron had the kids do. He is an intense listener and observer! He’s registered in the 3 year old class and I think he’s probably the youngest one of the group! We celebrated afterwards with a yummy dinner at Steak and Shake. Q

I was able to take the day off for Griffin’s birthday, which was a school day so we made birthday treats for his class and I was able to take him to school and pick him up afterward. His teachers gave him birthday hat that he was allowed to wear all day long! We had an adventurous afternoon as we headed “downtown big city” as Finn calls it, to have lunch with Daddy at Si Senor.  Mmmmm…..good!  Then we perused the downtown for a little walk before Daddy had to head back to the office. It was a SUPER windy afternoon.  Like crazy winds in between the big buildings and alleys downtown. Finn and I flew solo to the North Market for a sweet sundae at Jeni’s.  Though I must say, Finn was disappointed it wasn’t the typical monster sundae from Graeters! Boy after my own heart, Graters is my fave too!

Later that evening we had plans to go to the Worthington Mall playground and have a pizza dinner at Pies and Pints – all at Finn’s request! Then we headed home for cake and presents. This year Finn chose a strawberry cake with S-P-R-I-N-K-L-E-S! He’s all about the sprinkles lately. And I must say, the cake was quite delish!  On Thursday, Saint Patrick’s Day, we ventured out with some friends for some dinner and green beer. We also enjoyed dressing Lily up in all of our Irish gear.  And Debbie made quite the day with Finn and Sam – all things green (including the eggs)!   Saturday was the Powell Easter Egg Hunt.  It was a really cold morning, complete with flurries! But the egg hunt was a lot of fun. Finn was in the 3-5 age group, so lots more speed and competition than the last couple of years.  He filled up his frog basket with plenty of sweet treats. 

And later that afternoon was Finn’s P-A-R-T-Y! It was a mad house around here, with tons of kids age 5 and under! But Finn had a great time and we enjoyed the company of family and friends. We’re thankful that we have such a loving community to share these special times with. Griffin has been hooked on the Three Little Pigs for quite awhile so we decided to do a pig and wolf themed party for his 3rd birthday. Kevin designed the party invites and a super cute “3” shirt to go along with it for Finn to wear for his party. I made a wolf cake and pig cupcakes. In the end the cake turned out pretty good, but the first one was a disaster (as in it didn’t come out of the pans without crumbling – so much for my made-from-scratch cake!). I think I went to bed at 4 am – yikes! We had plenty of other good eats too.  The gift opening was insanity – so many little hands and such excitement to open things. I’m not sure I ever want to do that in a crowd again! But Griffin received many awesome gifts from his friends, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and such.  Mom and Dad spent the night on Saturday after the party, as on Sunday it was Amy’s birthday! So after church (Palm Sunday too) we all headed to J. Liu for a scrumptious brunch, then back to Chez Bethune where we enjoyed yummy cakes that were made by Andy and the kids.  Quite impressive, right?