A beary happy birthday

Today was Philip’s 3rd birthday party. Peter wanted to mop the floor before the guests arrived, so I took Philip with me to pick up his birthday brownies. Here he is in the shopping cart at Hawkins. To allow time for the floor to dry, we next headed to my parents’. They were on the way to the grocery store, so we joined them. Dad said Philip should always come along because Mom kept moving the cart and they were finished shopping more quickly.

We invited close family over. Peter’s sisters were unable to join us, so it was my parents and my brother and his family that came to the party.

I picked up pizzas from Dorlo’s. I knew that Philip would eat the pepperoni. Here he is sharing pizza with Grandma & Grandpa.

After pizza, it was time to unwrap presents. At first, Philip wasn’t interested in unwrapping the gifts. He held the first one for about twenty minutes. Hannah offered to help him on this one and others. By the last one he was managing on his own.

He didn’t need to unwrapped the gift from his uncle, aunt and cousins. They had left in their van when they arrived. When Bruce and Rebekah brought in the oversized teddy bear, Philip hid behind both me and his grandma. Rebekah and Hannah tried to show Philip there was nothing to be afraid of.

We tried to walk Philip over to the bear, but he wanted nothing to do with it. Peter moved it to the rocking chair in the corner. As he expected, Philip eventually became brave enough to investigate.

Instead of cake, we treated Philip to brownies. I put a candle in and we sang “Happy Birthday.” Philip actually smiled at the tune, unlike during his first birthday party when he cried.

I cut up the brownies and served them on Lightning McQueen plates. Philip ate all of his and a few bites of mine, too. After this snack, he played with some of his new toys. Eventually, I put on his new “Wheels on the Bus” DVD and he fell asleep. The guests left with a beary happy birthday boy napping on the floor clutching his most recent card from Grandma.