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Our son, BT, celebrated his third birthday the middle of last month.  As I was looking back through some recent pictures, I realized that we had at least 4 (official) celebrations with him.

Here we are with Gram and Poppy (my parents).  They visited before his birthday and celebrated with us while they were here.  They're fairly recent snowbirds, and have been splitting their time between Florida and Pennsylvania.  They stopped by (for two weeks) on their way from one home to the other.

 

Here we are celebrating with our small group at Jonathan and Greta Leinbach-Kreider's home the Friday night before his birthday.  I wasn't able to make it that evening because I was involved with a Ted & Company show at Court Square Theater (http://www.tedandcompany.com/shows/laughter-and-lament/).  When you meet BT now, more often than not he'll introduce himself as, "I'm three years old!" and proudly hold up his middle three fingers, touching thumb to pinky--he usually shows both hands, holding them down low at first and studying them to make sure he's got it right before displaying them, but in this picture his other hand is occupied.  His little sister, JM, has caught on to this ritual and loves going around holding up her three fingers, on both hands, though she prefers to touch thumb to forefinger.
BT also had lunch with Mimi and Papa H earlier this day.

On the day of his birthday, BT and I went and played a round of disc golf at a nearby park (http://www.harrisonburgva.gov/westover).  It's a wooded 21-hole course (they recently added three extra holes to connect hole #18 back to hole #1) and is quite hilly.  BT loves to play and I thought we'd be able to get in a few holes before he got tired and needed to be held.  Nope.  We played all 21 holes and he walked the entire way on his own--2.5 hours!  It was only as we finished up the 21st hole and were heading for the car that he let down and asked me to carry him.

 

 

Here we are celebrating at home later that day.  I can't believe they all stayed still long enough for me to get their picture.  The cupcakes were chocolate cheesecake with cream cheese icing and sprinkles--very tasty. 

 

 

 

 

There are several September birthdays in our family:  BT on the 15th; cousin IL on the 16th; Papa H on the 28th; cousin SM on the 29th.  BT got to celebrate with cousin IL and Papa H on the Tuesday following his birthday.  BT loves his tractor.

And a week after his birthday, his balance bike finally arrived!