Davis is THREE!!

We had a fabulous little party for a fabulous little boy today! He is so much fun!
The one request that he had for his birthday was cake and ice cream, so we delivered on that!
I made an elephant cake for him, which has now been through three generations.
Here is me on my third birthday with an elephant cake:

 And here is Davis's elephant cake:

 Reagan liked it too. It was a warm-up for her birthday in a couple of weeks! She knew exactly what to do with it!

 

We also had some great friends come to help us with the present opening, like Alvin:

 And Great Grandma and Grandpa:

 And Damian and his grandma:

And Grandma and Reagan (playing with the balloon that Great Grandma and Grandpa brought):

 And Damian's mommy (sorry for the blur):

In addition to cake and ice cream, we opened presents and gave hugs to all those who gave them:

And Davis got a bike!

After the party, we took naps (Well, Daddy and Reagan took a nap) and then went to the festival of trees and saw a very cool tree with a train theme that we visited like 15 times. We also saw Olaf!

And then we went to a pizzeria and got pizza. . . and olives!

All in all, it was a fantastic and well-celebrated birthday!

Things I want to remember about Davis as a 2-year-old:

• He is so sweet to everyone. He is especially sweet to his little sister, and loves her so much. in fact, when she cries, he usually yells and cries too because it makes him very sad to see his sister sad.
• He USUALLY loves to share, which is pretty unusual for someone his age. He is just a kind little boy.
• Whenever I am upset, he tries to make me feel better by saying, "Don't worry, mommy. You are big!" because being big really helps things a lot. :)
• He has a profound love for his family. He loves mommy, daddy, Reagan, Grandma, Grandpa . . . he loves everyone in his family!
• He knows his ABC's and his numbers and colors. Not because I taught him, but because he is intensely curious about it all.
• And countless other reasons--we love you Davis Christopher Rusch!

Family pictures

We had a great session doing family pictures! We met in the late afternoon, and it was a perfect day. It was not rainy, but overcast and wonderful. My friend from high school took our pictures, and they turned out GREAT! I have no idea which ones we will frame, but that is not a bad problem to have!
Here are some faves:

Halloween

We had a fun Halloween this year! It was an improvement on last year, because we actually got the kids to dress up!
Here is Davis in his dinosaur costume, making the ROAR!

Here is Reagan in her ghost costume. She was . . . less impressed:

We went to the ward party:

But the best part of the Halloween holiday was that we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house and Davis helped hand out candy! Awesome! Here are my ghouls!

October

Besides the owie and stitches, here is what we have been doing in October:
We love to go to the local library! All the librarians in the children's section know me and Davis and Reagan and they are very sweet with the kids. Davis found a Cat in the Hat hat, which is awesome, because he is OBSESSED with the Cat in the Hat right now!

 We also love to play at the park!

This picture makes me laugh because:
a) Davis wouldn't take it without us. The tiger was scary.
b) But we had to take it.
c) He is wearing his cowboy hat. That he stole from me. He loves it!

 We also love to go to Great Grandma and Grandpa's house. We found some shoes with the toys, and had to try them on.

When we go to Sam's Club, the kids get cookies. And Reagan gets it all over her body and face.

We went to see a place that had hay decorated to look like Thomas the Tank Engine. Davis is obsessed with Thomas too. It was the.best.day.ever!

My kids love bathtime!