Three.

We celebrated Simon's third birthday with the smallest party we've ever had...and it was one of my most favorite parties yet! After health issues kept me laid up in bed all last week, I've never been more grateful to have had nothing more planned for his birthday than a simple barbecue with my sisters at our parent's house. My mom bought and prepared everything for dinner, so all we had to do was show up (thanks, Mom! xoxo)!

 

 I did manage to make him a cute cake though! 

Simon refuses to nap these days, so by the time we arrived at my parent's house for dinner he was already pretty sleepy. Fortunately he doesn't get too crabby until he's completely exhausted, and his mellow mood set the tone for the rest of the kiddos who played nicely together all evening.

The big kids spent some time building Duplo towers that were taller than they are. Their goal was to make one over six feet tall (aka taller than Daddy).

They almost made the 6' mark before the towers toppled...so close!

 How many kids can we fit into a hammock? 1, 2, 3, 4...

 How about ALL of them!?!

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬...and they all rolled over, and one fell out...♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ ;)

Simon loves to talk about "Baby Lexa," but he's not very interested in her when she's actually in the same room with him!

 Cake time! Zane decided that utensils are for the birds. Hands are much more effective!

Simon was half asleep by the time we got to opening presents. He got some Disney wooden puzzles, Monsters University toys, a water doodle mat, and binoculars. Yesterday at home we gave him a new three-wheeled scooter, a Dream Lites penguin and an abacus. His favorite presents were MegaBloks alphabet blocks and a Duplo number train from Grandma Ardy which perked him up through his sleepiness, and he exclaimed, "This is SO AWESOME!"

And just because we're talking about how much he loves letters and numbers, can I do a little bit of Mommy bragging?

 

The other day he knocked out this upper and lowercase matching worksheet (and the accompanying worksheet with the other half of the alphabet) in literally three minutes flat! 

He shocks everyone around when he points out words on street signs or in the stores and can actually read them now. He constantly asks me "How do you spell _____" or "What word starts with the letter ____." He also likes to quiz me, "Mommy, what does s-t-o-p spell? What does b-o-x spell?" or ask me questions like "Can I go in the p-o-o-o-l?" [which is a step better than last week's p-o-l-l version haha!] Yesterday he brought me a book from Sawyer's bookshelf and said, "This says 'Hop on Pop'" and then proceeded to open the book and start pointing out words to me. It's amazing! Looks like all that time he spent watching "Your Baby Can Read" dvds actually paid off ;)