THREE Cheers for Gunnar

On October third our third child had his third birthday!

He woke up and put on his favorite shirt (his "whale shirt") in time to open presents. The rest of us were still in our jammies, but Gunnar was rarin' to go.

Gunnar loves orange (see the shirt?) and tigers (see cake below), so Adah and Maggie both made him tiger-themed birthday cards. Adah's was a pop-up card.

Gunnar got some Cars Lego Duplo blocks, a remote control ladybug, a puzzle, and Zhu Zhu pets from his parents and grandparents. Here he is checking out his puzzle after lining up Lightning McQueen and the gang.

What? You haven't heard of Zhu Zhu pets? Well, maybe you have. We hadn't, but apparently they were the it toy last Christmas. We missed the boat on that one, but Gunnar AND his sisters were so delighted with these little wheeled hamsters that they spent the day in the guest room creating "Zhu Zhu World," by laying down cardboard and wood so there would be a good surface on which the hamsters' wheels could roll. The photo below only shows the beginning of Zhu Zhu World. By the end of the day there were "rooms" made from boxes and chairs and ribbons were strung everywhere to make the whole thing quite decorative.

I made this fun and tasty tiger cake for Gunnar. The frosting was orange colored and flavored (made with OJ and orange zest). The cake was chocolate so that when we cut it open it was striped like a tiger! The external stripes are made from Oreo crumbs. The eyes are marshmallows and chocolate chips. The teeth are dried apples. It's a 3-layer cake and the trickiest part was frosting the triple-layered cupcake ears. We were happy to share Gunnar's cake with our friends the VanSickles who have a 3-year-old boy of their own.

Gunnar had a happy birthday and seems delighted to be three. We think he's growing up more and are happy to report that he is now potty trained!! That's the best birthday present that his parents could hope to receive. Gunnar constantly insists that he's a BIG BOY if anyone tries to call him little. He's also currently rejecting all nicknames--a struggle for Damon--by insisting, "I Gunnar. I not [whatever nickname anyone tries to use]." We're glad he likes his name. We like him.