Cooper's 3rd (10th) Birthday!-Dophin-Penguin Party

For weeks now we have been talking about this party. First Coop came up with the idea for a Dolphin Party. We still do not know where this came from. Then it turned into a Dolphin-Penguin Party. We just scratched our heads and waited to see if he'd change his mind. Not Handy Manny. Not a Hot Rod party. Not tractors or monster trucks. Dolphin-Penguin Party it had to be. After Tommy's huge success with the grandparent's gift of a go cart, we decided to get Coop his own ride-on toy. John went out and purchased a Green Gator four-wheel drive tractor. Unfortunately, after hours putting it together and then trying it out, even Tommy had to agree that Cooper would only be frustrated by its inability to get traction on any surface. What a big disappointment, as we were all super excited about surprising Cooper with his own gator. We just had to hope that the gifts we had bought as side gifts would be enough for him at this age.
By afternoon, the Hutchisons and Lawrences were here, Uncle Stephen and Aunt Barb were here, and the party started. John had decorated the dining room with blow up dolphins, dolphins swimming in vases and snuggly dolphins as party favors. Although Rhonda and I had piped icing on green trees for the party cake, John ended up decorating the cake with penguins, blue icing for the ocean and a cute little igloo. Our poor little trees didn't find a home! It didn't matter, though, as I was thrilled with how John's decorations turned out and happy that we decided not to buy an expensive cake.
The rest of the afternoon was spent out in the yard watching the kids swim, play on the beach, play with the new water toys that Coop received as presents, and then an afternoon of bbq, once Jason arrived with yummy food, and campfire smores. What a wonderful way to spend a birthday!
Happy Birthday, Coop! We know you want to be 10 today, but we love the little 3 year old you are! What a wonderful, sweet, beautiful little boy you are to us. We love you so very much.