on 9 july, our little mo became a three year old! moses had spent his previous two birthdays with extended family in the usa, which was wonderful. it was also fun this year to celebrate at home in london (and not jet-lagged!). every year on his special day (and also at other random times throughout the year), i tell mo all about the day he was born. he is always totally captivated by this story. and i feel flooded with gratitude that on 9 july 2016 this amazing little soul made me a mother. it sure is great to celebrate the birth of moses thames eyre wright!
(ps: i love how gabriel is sneaking into the frame in the first picture of this post! ian and i love moses like crazy, but i think no one loves moses more than gabey.)

moses’s amazing grandma made him incredible birthday cakes for both his first and second birthdays. (first birthday here; second birthday here) since we sadly weren’t with grandma this year, i attempted to make a cool cake. mo said he wanted a blue cake, so i made a four-layer-different-shades-of-blue cake. i have to say, i was pretty proud of how it turned out especially considering i made it with a one year old constantly grabbing at my legs in a tiny kitchen, ha.
 
we had cake for breakfast, first thing in the morning. our little mo was pretty excited about it.

moses got just two little gifts – the toy bison you see in these pictures, which he is obsessed with, and a set of animal dominos which his baby brother picked out for him. he was delighted.
 
without any prompting, the second we pulled the blown-out candles from the cake, mo dropped his head right into the frosting and took a bite. hahaha!
 
we spent moses’s day at his favourite place on earth.

this animal-obsessed boy talks about whipsnade zoo pretty much everyday. whipsnade zoo is an hour drive, northwest of london, and is preferable over london zoo for moses because it has elephants, giraffes, and bison – his three favourite animals! it also has an awesome indoor play area, a great playground, and a steam train!
here’s mo showing the bison at the zoo his new toy bison. “hey, bison, wooook!” he yelled. he was soooo thrilled when one of them looked right at him 😉

moses got to pick out a new animal sticker book to buy with the money grandma sent him for his birthday. and gabriel got to see the lions, his favourite animal! he repeated his signature “rawr” louder and bigger than ever as he watched the females sleep on the other side of the fence!
 
at the petting zoo area:
 
favourite animal #2, check!: (how adorable is that baby giraffe?!)
 
 
both boys had a good nap in the buggy. i love how they had arranged their bodies exactly the same while they snoozed! when they woke up we were right by the elephants, so favourite animal #3, check!:
 
  
part of our celebration was that all of us wore (pretty much) all blue on 9 july.
riding the train, spotting animals along the way before heading home:
 

oh my goodness do we adore our three-year-old moses!! it was so much fun celebrating him on 9 july.