Today, Daddy turned thirty ... something. Gavin continued his tradition of giving Daddy a LEGO set for his birthday. Two years ago, Gavin didn't help much with assembly, but we'll accept his excuse that he was only nine days old. Last year, he wasn't able to build but happily played with the finished product. This year, Gavin knew Daddy would love the Jeep in the new Toy Story green army men set and he was finally able to help assemble. He wasn't much help constructing the Jeep, but was able to join body parts together to create the men quite well.

Gavin is a real pro at putting hats on LEGO minifig heads, too! Maybe next year, father and son will be able to assemble an entire city together!

When he is unsure of the next step, Gavin always consults his LEGO building expert dad.

The Jeep is complete!

The six hours between presents and cake time were camera-free. While Gmummy took Gavin to Rhyme Time and back home for playtime and a nap, Jeff and I went to the doctor's office for a 24-week check-up on Baby Brother. He's still growing perfectly as far as we can tell - the tummy measured right on track at 24 centimeters and his heart was beating strong at 150 beats per minute.

Then, we headed downtown for lunch at The Pit for our first authentic Carolina barbeque (the pitmaster beat Bobby Flay on the Carolina ribs and beans episode of Throwdown). Wow! It was amazing! Jeff proclaimed it his new favorite restaurant and we decided we simply have to take any out-of-town visitors there in the future!

Along the way home, we stopped at both Home Depot and Lowe's (Jeff's two favorite stores) for more home improvement supplies and bought a mattress for Gavin. At home, we set up Gavin's big boy bed (separate blog entry to come) as the rest of the in-laws arrived.

For the sugar rush, I made Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Sheet Cake. Daddy and Gavin couldn't wait to dig in.

First, we sang to the birthday boy...

... which Gavin really didn't enjoy. He has issues with singing. Do we really sing that bad? We spared him the full drawn-out Happy Birthday song on his own birthday because that day was all about Gavin, but he had to suffer through our singing for Daddy.

Gavin's favorite part of the day was when we stopped singing and let him eat cake. I'm honestly not sure which of the two he liked better. Notice the tear drops Gavin produced to add drama to his "I hate singing" episode.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!