Nathan’s Hot Dog Party

Once nap time was over and dinner had been grilled out or prepared in the kitchen it was time to finish up celebrating with this special boy.

Our guest of honor was seated at the head of the table and given the “Special” plate.  Sandy (pictured on the right up on the fence) hurried home when she heard us outside.

Weeks ago, without being prompted, Nathan told me he wanted a hot dog birthday.  He wanted to eat hot dogs and have a hot dog cake even!!!  The latter part would be a challenge for me so I was glad he gave my mind a few weeks notice to let the creative juices flow.  For dinner we had some of Nathan’s other favorite foods to go with the hot dogs; like ketchup, grapes, matchstick sweet potatoes, noodles and corn on the cob.

After dinner the kids had a wonderful time playing together out on the swings.  Nathan and Tristan love to do the “spider” on the swing set.  Scruffles took it easy while it was quiet indoors.  I found her lounging when I came inside to get the presents out for Nathan.

Time for presents!

Nathan found a nice pile of presents waiting for him.  He loves watching Max & Ruby at Quiet time and got a couple new ones to add to his collection.

Kaitlyn had picked out a little truck to give to Nathan.  He liked his tithing bank with the lock and key too.

Haley helped Nathan read his cards.  His new baseball hat looks a lot like the ones his big brother wears and he was THRILLED to get a truck backpack with a matching lunch bag.

Now he looks ready to go to school too and promptly got his new magnadoodle and put it in his bag.  Nathan got a fun monkey card from his cousin Porter… Nathan loves monkeys and got a book about the five little monkeys reading in bed (which is hilarious).

And one of the cutest books about a boy and his back yard garden which reminds me so much of Nathan came from Porter as well.  Not pictured, Nathan got a butterfly garden so he will be able to get his own caterpillars and watch them turn into butterflies before we release them into our garden.  On the right Nathan is standing by his birthday cards.  He’s getting so big!

And the race track with a couple of trucks looks like fun for Nathan and Tristan too.  They make plans to get up early and play with it since it is already getting kind of late.

And here is the HOT DOG CAKE!!!  The hot dog sits in a New England Style bun served with a side of french fries and ketchup wrapped in tin foil of course! 
This cake was one of my more challenging requests but once I thought about it and figured out what to do so this boy could have a hot dog cake it was just fine.  I sort of made it up as I went along thinking about what it needed and what did I have around.  Just don’t count on this being lowfat.  That wasn’t my goal.  But is any birthday cake low fat???  Maybe I’ll figure out one for myself next year.  The bun is a home made Fannie Farmer pound cake.  The middle section that I took out was cut into strips, broiled carefully and became the french fries.  The exterior of the “bun” was frosted with buttercream frosting which gained its brownish color from peanut butter; therefore it became a peanut butter-buttercream frosting (delicious, actually).  Nuts donned half the bun to serve as sesame seeds.  The hot dog was two Twinkies next to each other with buttercream turned brown with cocoa and then given a reddish hue with red food coloring giving it a cooked look.  The ketchup and mustard were just squirts of icing.  The pickle relish was colored coconut.

We sang to our special birthday boy and he blew out his candles immediately with no trouble at all.  I think he’s been practicing with his play-kitchen birthday cake. 

Nathan was totally thrilled with his hot dog cake but then he was really sort of taken back by it for a minute.  I think it was the “ketchup” and “mustard” as well as the “french fries”.  That’s not usually too good with cake… but then neither are hot dogs.  Maybe it was the relish!

We had to tell Nathan it was really cake with frosting and then he decided to try one of the “fries”.  He was a happy boy then.

Rick’s homemade chocolate ice cream gave us our chocolate fix for the night and everyone enjoyed Nathan’s hot dog cake.  He ended up with a really great chocolate smile that had to get cleaned up before ending the day and going to bed happy.  Nathan had a wonderful day.  We love having him added to our family.  Happy 3rd Birthday, Nathan!
I came back to finish cleaning up about 30 minutes later and found that I was being “HELPED” out in the kitchen.

Not only does Oscar earn his keep by keeping us mouse-free but he cleans up after the kids as well!!!  And who couldn’t use a little more of that?

Nathan’s 3rd Birthday–Highfield Discovery Garden

Nathan woke up to a beautiful sunny day greeting him outdoors on his birthday.
 
He eagerly ate his favorite breakfast of yogurt and homemade muffins – lemon this time. Then he got ready for some fun.

We made our way to Glenwood Gardens, part of our county parks system, and got Nathan an annual family pass to Highfield Discovery Garden so he can go there any time in the coming year for some fun.  When we got to the gift shop, built in the style of an English Cotswold Cottage, to purchase the membership Lindsay let Nathan pick out a gift for his birthday.  Lindsay has been earning her own babysitting money and she was excited to get him something he really liked… a frog bracelet he picked pictured on the far left.  Then we left the cottage and made our way out onto the garden paths.  Rabbits (center) greeted us on our way and Nathan was excited to discover a railroad traveling all around him and through the air in a very natural looking setting. 

He also discovered a very large tree house awaiting him for adventures.  More trains and villages to be discovered. 

There were giant toadstools, anthills and even frog and toad.  Nathan was running around in circles hardly knowing what to do with himself first or which way to go.  He was so funny to see, he was just that excited.

Real frogs and fish thrive in Frog and Toads pond, a large witches hat serves for a shady hiding spot and as the kids investigated they found the most ginormous spider EVER!!!

There were dragons and hidden fairy gardens along the shaded paths.

The interior of the train depot was shady and cooler.  Plus it had buttons and was a great place to watch the trains and a trolley.

Nathan loved watching this scene from the depot.

Nathan climbed into the tree house to investigate it’s heights as well as to visit the nocturnal creatures in its lower levels.  Then he saw that there was Grandmother’s house nearby to go and visit for a tea party.  Once down on the ground again he needed a little help to follow the right path to this funny little house.

Above it looks as if a giant has taken a plunge into the wooded area below as we make our way across a swinging rope bridge. 

Is that a dinosaur foot print or that of a dragon?  Regardless, watch out for whoever tromps through these woods.  Imaginations run wild!

The tree house back in view, Kaitlyn investigates some more.

All that running around makes Tristan really warm.  Kaitlyn runs into the mouth of a giant caterpillar.  And Grandmother’s roses make me think of my grandma who always wore some kind of rosy scented cream when I was a little girl.  The color of these match the container of the cream and the scent is an absolute match.

Nathan pumps water collected from gutters of the learning center into a rain barrel.  It can be hard to keep plants hydrated around here in the summertime.  And finally it is closing time.  Haley was babysitting all day and missed this fun but the other four had a wonderful time.

Nathan was worn out and transferred to the couch from the van easily to complete his nap under the “magic quilty” with Oscar, just like normal, at his feet.  Nathan had a really fun day… a great start to being three years old!  Three years old!  Where does the time go?