Blogging is something I decided to do when Roman was only a couple months old, so I could document our sweet memories and milestones, and also share my journey through motherhood and pregnancy. I haven’t been very intentional about keeping up with it but I want to start making it important again. That little baby who was just a couple months old, just turned three years old last week. These last three years have taught me so many different things, but most importantly about love.

When he was about a year and a half old, he started showing a great interest in animals. It started when we brought out a bag of animals I played with as a child and it kept growing from there. Pictures, books, videos, even just talking about animals always made him so excited. Since then we’ve built him his own collection of animals and they’ve been his very favorite gifts. He’s never shown much interest in cars, trains or airplanes because his little heart always goes back to his animals. My in-laws generously gifted us with passes to the zoo last year and I couldn’t even count how many we went because it’s his favorite place in the world.

*on a side note, we really love our zoo because their mission is to “rescue, rehabilitate, release” and care for endangered wildlife.

For weeks leading up to Roman’s birthday, I asked him several times what he would like and his answer never changed – “an animal birthday”. I was so excited to do this for him because I knew he would love every single bit of it. Thankfully, we had so many animal things to work with so it all came together really quickly as we had most of it already.

We had a build-your-own trail mix bar and called it “Safari Snacks”. I’ve done something similar with each of Roman’s birthday parties and it’s always been a favorite!

Every time I’ve asked him what his favorite part of his birthday was, he’s said “my animal cake you made me” and it’s been the sweetest thing. I had the best time making this and the hardest time trying to keep it a surprise for him because I was dying to show him!

It was actually pretty easy. I baked 3 layers of vanilla cake, and made a quick chocolate frosting that played as the glue for the “bamboo” which were cookie straws. I threw a sleeve of graham crackers into my food processor to be the “sand” and topped them with some animals. I found the zebra candles at Hobby Lobby!

These amazing cake pops and cookies are courtesy of Divine Cookie Designs, who we’ve used for just about every gathering since moving back to Florida. Her work is amazing and her passion for what she does surely speaks for itself.

My incredibly talented sister, Victoria, made this little safari truck that had actual wheels and a steering wheel! She’s the perfect person for any sort of creative pieces like this for parties!

As we started setting up decorations, the wind picked up really strong and everything was falling. Pictures were being blown off the photo display and one of the centerpieces I made for the table fell and sand went everywhere. The wind was steady for about an hour and we waited for it to calm but it didn’t. My mom and I stopped and thanked The Lord for our precious birthday boy and for the amazing weather that we knew He wanted to give us. We asked that He would calm the wind and keep it from raining. Within about 20 minutes, the weather was nothing short of perfect. It was cool, but not too cold and the wind was almost non existent. The whole rest of the afternoon it stayed that way and it was such a sweet reminder of how praise & thanksgiving truly is the most powerful, and He is faithful.

*peep that little monkey just hanging out on the “thank you for swinging by” sign. It’s the little things, y’all.

I did a really cost-friendly favor for the kiddos which were little baggies of animal crackers!

We had the best time celebrating the blessing of his life and of course had to top off this party weekend at the zoo on his actual birthday!