Iz's 3rd Birthday

1. The ugly cake. I did NOT get the cake decorating gene that my decidedly more talented and beautiful sister got. For those of you who don't know, it is a tradition in our family (my sisters and our children) to have a train cake on your 3rd birthday. The kids liked it because they got cookies and candy on their cake.

2. Present from Mommy and Daddy: sleeping bag in a backpack with matching flashlight and water bottle. It has large glow-in-the-dark ants on it--really cool.

3. Present from Granny and Papa: Thomas the Train tracks and his friend Skarloey. You can't tell from this picture, but this was a big hit (watch for the pun) with all of the kids. M and E set it up in the living room and kinda took over. Our neighbor was over with her two girls watching it all unfold. Iz got tired of waiting to play with his present and demanded that M give him the train, grabbing it and breaking a small part in the process (It's repaired now.). M got very angry and yelled at him and would not let go. I, of course, told M that he needed to give the toy to its rightful owner. Then, Iz grabbed the trained and simultaneously threw back his foot (with shoes on) and nailed M right in the gut with a quick kick! Neighbor girls were in shock, staring with jaws open. M quickly retorted with an arm swing across Iz's knees, causing him to crash to the floor, crying. I immediately sent M to his room, while neighbor was seeing herself and girls to the door as quickly as possible. I take Iz's hand and saw them out. Meanwhile, neighbor girl says to me, "Miss Courtney, Iz kicked M first." Yes, she is very observant and seeks justice, noticing that Iz was not being punished. What she did not know is that I had every intention of having Iz go to his room, but because of his unwillingness to stay in "time out" and the ineffectiveness of spankings on his strong will, he would be locked in his room for several minutes and I was graciously waiting for her to leave the premises before I implemented such shocking discipline techniques.

4. Present from Granna: Rock It bike. You all know that it irritates me thoroughly that it has a picture of a rocket and is spelled, "rock it." Someone did that just to irritate people like me, I'm sure. Iz doesn't know the difference and you can see by the smile on his face that he is happy to be riding it!