Connor's Epic Birthday Weekend

 October 11, 2013 we welcomed a new year for our sweet Connor boy. We no longer have a baby, we officially have a 3 year old boy. I'm not even sure how I feel about all of this, but we did know we wanted to make it as special as possible! This is the first year he truly understood the concept of "birthday" and was super excited about his. After he went to sleep the night before his birthday, Daddy and I put streamers up on his doorway and blew up many balloons to put in the hallway outside of his door. He was very surprised when he woke up to say the least. He wasn't sure if he was allowed to come out of his room, and he said "Hey guys, what's this in my door?" Connor had so much fun walking through the streamers and throwing the balloons. We also took our rocking chair picture before getting started with the day. It is amazing to see how much he has grown. He spent the day with grandma Glenda and she made it very special for him. He even came to mommy's school for lunch and my entire class sang Happy Birthday to him. He was a celebrity.

 Connor for days had been asking to go fishing on his birthday and as soon as daddy got home from work that is the first thing they did. I am so happy it was successful!!!! He even wanted to throw it back all by himself.

 Chuck-E-Cheese, aka "Chuck-it-Cheese", was the choice for dinner and we all piled in the car and headed for toddler zone. Great Grandma and Grandpa Hebebrand even came down from Gainesville for the special occasion. Grandma Glenda and Papa, Aunt Kaitlyn, Uncle Casey, Daddy and I all celebrated our big 3 year old over pizza and tickets. Six hundred and twenty three tickets to be exact and he got all the little nick knacks and trinkets a little boy could ask for.

 We headed back to Grandma Glenda's house for presents and cake. Lots of presents, and lots of cake! I think everyone may have gone a little overboard in the present department but I don't think Connor minded one little bit. He is one lucky little boy, and we may or may not have thought about re-wrapping some of them for Christmas considering the amount of gifts he has received over the past week. Too late now though....Daddy and Connor spent last evening opening every last present out of it's box and packaging....my house has exploded into Toyland! He has "Planes" that fly, and "Jake and the Neverland Pirate's" ship, Duplo Lego sets, a bowling set, a laptop, dvds and countless other items.He is lacking for nothing. I think Toys R Us has taken up shop here at the Petersen household. We had so much fun!!!

The very next day we all enjoyed a fabulous birthday party in honor of our cool birthday boy. We were blessed with a gorgeous morning spent outside with our nearest and dearest. The "Planes" theme worked out perfectly and my vision was so surpassed I'm still in awe of how perfect it all went. I will do a separate post for all of the details and just about the party itself, but I of course had to include it as part of his epic weekend, because the party alone was pretty epic!! We have pretty awesome friends and family that sure know how to make things special.

 Connor even got help blowing out his candles from his girlfriend Isla. Her birthday is only 5 days before his, and they were inseparable for most of the party. I love that the core was all there too, and this year Uncle Casey didn't have to rush off to go back to school.

Instead we packed up the party, dropped everything off, and rushed to the most magical place on Earth. How can a birthday be a birthday without a little Disney magic?

 We spent the first evening walking around the world and enjoying the Food and Wine Festival. We did a few rides for Connor when we first entered the park, and before we could even get to the countries, our birthday boy, who had also not taken a nap on the drive like he was supposed to, had fallen asleep. Not to worry, he woke up in time to enjoy the delicious Werther's bakery in Germany. We went to Magic Kingdom the next day and did all rides Connor. My favorite part was that he got the #3 race car on the Speedway. Couldn't have planned it better myself!!

 He may have gotten slightly spoiled at Disney. As in, you want cotton candy AND popcorn...sure, no problem! To put a cherry on top, we even got to see Lindsey who was in town all the way from North Carolina on business. We got to have lunch together while Connor played on the playground to his heart's content. Who needs food when there are slides?

 By Wednesday Uncle Scott was back in town and he found his own way to spoil Connor rotten. Walking in the door bearing bags of gifts like Santa, he whisked us away to Dave and Buster's where we proceeded to own the building. Winning jackpot after jackpot I'm not sure who had the most fun!! All of the boys had matching enthusiasm and it was like having a birthday party all over again. We overloaded the system with the amount of tickets we won, and most of us didn't exhaust our Power Cards. 13,000+ tickets sure can win you practically anything you want.

 The weekend (and some) was epic but the past year has been amazing. I can't believe how much Connor has grown and all of his accomplishments. This brand new 3 year old has so many amazing qualities. He is an encourager who can be your biggest cheerleader and doesn't mind sharing who wins. He has an awesome sense of humor, and knows just what to say to make people laugh. He likes to share and take turns and is so mature in the way he plays. He is super eloquent and talkative and we are never sure what will come out of his mouth next. Some of our favorites include "Yeah, sure!", "I want to sleep in your nice comfy bed", and "but I love it so much, it's my favorite!" We have always said he is scary intelligent and not only knows his numbers and alphabet but will even read his color and animal book for you. He is athletic and I'm not sure there is a sport he doesn't like. He can already hit a ball being thrown to him, and is currently practicing his putting skills in our living room with daddy. Let's not mention his mad bike riding skills. He has a child like understanding of Jesus and we strive to make Him happy with how we listen and obey. He is still a connoisseur of Mac and Cheese, but now likes chicken nuggets and has been tricked into believing they will make him a big, strong, Connosorous. He believes all of the Mickey Mouse clubhouse characters are his friends, and let's not lie, I believe it too. His memory is incredible and the detail he is able to remember, even days later, raise our eyebrows constantly. Last but not least I have to include his musical ability. Not only is he learning songs on the piano, but he loves to sing.....all the time. We catch him singing to himself constantly and I love it even more when other people notice it. Aunt Hil this weekend even exclaimed "he's even on pitch!" Yup! I love that he keeps a song in his heart and on his lips. He is amazing. My favorite quote recently came from Aunt Leslie who said tongue in cheek "like your child would be boring." I guess I never thought about it, but there is nothing boring about Connor. There is nothing regular about Connor. He is God's gift to us, and I couldn't be any more thankful for this little boy that was created just for us. I love him more than words can describe and I am so proud of him. Happy Birthday sweet boy!

Psalm 127:3-4   Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth.