Happy Third Birthday, LittleBear!!

Guess who's three years old!  You got it... LittleBear!  Wow, time really does fly!  Yesterday was party day and we celebrated with family and a few friends by having a fire truck/station/firefighter themed party.  We figured this would be a safe bet considering LittleBear's fascination with all things fire-fighting lately and boy, did it go over well.  We may not have caught him smiling in every picture, but rest assured that he was beyond excited and loved it (as a side note, feel free to click on the individual pictures below to see them larger).

We started out the party with a trip to LittleBear's beloved Fire Station #8, which was a surprise to him.  We drive by it multiple times every day and there's not a day that goes by when he doesn't tell me what he sees there.  This time he actually got to spend time there, explore the truck, meet the firefighters and see the inside of the station...it was amazing.  Incidentally, I think the adults enjoyed it just as much as the kids did (I know I did) :)  The firefighters were so nice and I think they had a good time too.


We asked everyone to bring a thank you note or drawing for the firefighters and so LittleBear got to work on his with Grandma's help:


Then we started decorating and getting ready for the party.


After that it was time to head to the fire station for our tour!  When we first got there, the firefighters generously let the kids explore the truck:


Then they explained what each of their jobs were and showed us all the different parts of the truck and what they were for, including their equipment and gear:


They even rolled out the hose and turned on the water while the kids were holding it!!


After that it was time to go through the inside of the station. The kids got fire hats, coloring books, pencil toppers and stickers from the firefighters and then got to see where they eat, work out, check email, cook and sleep:

They even got a call while we were checking out their sleeping quarters that said, "This is for fire station #8...Happy Birthday, LittleBear!"  He loved it...the look on his face was priceless when he realized what it said.

We then gave the firefighters our thank you notes, plus some homemade snacks and thanked them profusely.  We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful group of guys down the street protecting us at all times!! I wish there was some way to adequately thank them for everything they do, but I know there is not, so I tried my best.

When the tour was over, we came back to the house for lunch and cupcakes, then for some playtime with family.  It was a busy day, but could not have been more perfect.


Thank you, thank you, thank you to each of you who helped make LittleBear's birthday special by driving/flying a long distance to be here, tweeting/facebooking a birthday wish, sending a card, coming to the party, giving a gift, etc.  We feel so blessed and loved and LittleBear could not have had a better birthday thanks to all of y'all!!