Alex’s 4th Birthday

What do you get when you mix friends at a huge bouncy house? 

 

The perfect mixture for Alex’s 4th Birthday party, he LOVES his friends and he LOVES to bounce!

 

First, we started off in a waiting room, waiting for the party before us to clear out.  Sara and Alex found a fun mirror and they were having so much fun! 

 

Here’s the layout of the place – 4 huge bouncy structures, a slide, obstacle course, a flat bouncy place and a climbing wall.  And an air hockey table to top it all off!

 

Here’s one of the photos that turned out in the actual bouncy house – the lighting is terrible in there!  Unflattering fluorescent and very dim.  Not a happy photographic Mama here.  But, we did get a picture with the whole group of kids – Sara is un the upper right and Alex is right up front.  With all friends – all around!

 

The kids get so hot (so do the bouncin’ adults!) and were so thirsty afterwards!  Alex was so excited to have birthday hats. 

 

We had pizza, carrots and string cheese – the lunch of champions!   (I had to have something healthy!)

 

 

 

When it was time for cake – I let Alex put on his own candles – where ever he wanted!  He loved this and figured out where to put them all that was just right for him. 

I gave a really nice speech about how Alex loves his friends so much and loves bouncin’ around so much and the mixture of the two was like heaven for him.  I thanked everyone for joining us on this wonderful day.  And how proud of Alex we are – he is doing such a good job of growing up.  I then asked him how it felt to be 4 years old – he said “good” with a big smile on his face.   He was truly in the moment.

 

A few days before his birthday – he wondered when exactly he would be 4 years old.  He figured out, all on his own, that after he ate cake he would officially be 4.  The whole cake ritual is very important to Alex, you see.

 

(the funny part for me was that the day before – he REALLY wanted to be 4 after his birthday circle at preschool.  I told him that his birthday was the next day, but patience was so hard sometimes Mommy!  So, in compromise, I told him, that “just between you and me – you can be 4 after your birthday circle if you want, sweetheart”.  And he was very happy with this)

 

We got him a Monkey cake (actually supposed to be “Curious George” but the cake place didn’t want to infringe on copyrights!) that was just his, and a big 1/2 sheet cake for the friends and parents.  Let me tell you – he loves having his own cake!  He doesn’t share with Mommy or Daddy either!  It’s all his!

Chow down!

After a full morning and pushing Sara’s nap, I just put her in the car with her birthday hat on.  I couldn’t resist this picture! 

Thanks everyone for joining us to celebrate Alex’s 4th birthday – we had so much fun! 

Alex’s Birthday circle at preschool

 

Crazy emotional day (for me) tomorrow for Alex’s birthday – so, I just had to share what we did for Alex’s birthday circle at preschool.   I printed this photo collage the wrote the words below.  His teacher talked about all the things he has done over the years while he got to stand in the circle.  He got to hold a globe and go around the sun for each year he is old.  He was so happy.  Everyone sang happy birthday and each took turns saying a birthday wish for him.  They let me come and enjoy this event as well.  I’m so glad I did!  It was a great day for him.

 

Tomorrow will be even more great!

 

 

Alex was born on March 19^th (We have been trying to help him learn to say “March 19^th” when asked what his birthday is.)

 

Alex was born on a Monday night and was born 6 weeks early. He was a little baby, only weighing 5 lbs 2 oz. He stayed in the hospital for 2 ½ weeks because he was born too early. After we took him home, he grew quickly and was crawling at 5 months old.

 

When Alex was one, he was already walking and his first word was “ball”. He loves sports of all kinds (football, soccer, baseball, basketball, hockey, golf) and so this was very fitting of his personality. He learned what his belly button was and loved showing it to everybody.

 

When Alex was two years old, he learned how to ride a tricycle. At first, it was very difficult and Alex was frustrated. After much practice, Alex learned how to pedal a tricycle! Alex was talking a lot and one of his favorite things was fire trucks and school buses.

 

When Alex was three years old, he learned to ride a “big boy” bike. He also really likes super heroes. Alex was 3 years old when his baby sister was born. He was a big brother! He wants to teach his baby sister, Sara, how to eat, how to crawl, how to walk, and most importantly – play with toys!

 

When Alex is four years old, he is at “big kid” school and learning so many new things. Every night before he goes to bed, we talk about what his favorite thing was that day at school. Most of the time, it is playing with friends.  We also talk about something that makes him happy, sad, frustrated, or laugh every night. He is playing T-ball with a team and loves sports and being outdoors! He still loves his bicycle, riding his bike alongside Mommy or Daddy. He likes helping Mommy in the kitchen or in the garden and helping Daddy with tools outside.

The details of Sara

 

 

She absolutely LOVES carrying around her markers.  She carries them everywhere she goes.  She chews on them, bangs them together, makes music beats and they just fit in her hands. 

 

 

 

Ahhhh – Sara curls!  She just has the most sweet smelling freshly washed curls anywhere!  And the most lovely shade of strawberry blonde.

 

The way she says “Ohhhh!” when she discovers something new.  Or is so excited about something that she is looking at.  We just love it. 

 

 

Now that she’s more and more mobile, she even has a few bumps and bruises.  She crashed into the coffee table with one and fell down (probably the one stair in the lower floor) for the eyebrow one.   See below her lip and above her eyebrow.  Boo boos!  And of course the totally cute chompers. 

Stair master

 

 

 

We have a stair master in our midst…  And she sees the gate open, and she hustles over to the stairs.  She’s dangerous! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sara’s feet

 

 

Who knew feet could be so expressive?

 

And so cute?

 

She’s learning sign-language and is learning to say “all-done” when she is finished eating

 

 

 

 

Although, sometimes it alternates between being “all done”, clapping for herself and being guilty (of being too cute!).  She’s doing a good job of figuring all this new stuff out!

 

 

T-ball

 

 

What a blast this is going to be!  They “warm up”, do some running bases, home runs, do some catching, some throwing, some hitting the ball off the T, totally in a 4 year old non-competitive way.  Alex is LOVING it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Puff doggie dog

 

 

 

 

No, we don’t have a new rapper in the house

 

 

 

But, we do have a doggie that had a allergic reaction to a vaccine…

 

Bella and Rock went to the vet on Saturday for their regular check up and both got rabies vaccines.  Standard stuff.  She’s had it before.

 

We came home, played outside, all the normal things.

 

I was putting Sara down for a nap and Bella just looked funny, it took me a few seconds to see what was different – her muzzle.

 

 

So puffy and swollen, obviously different than normal. 

 

We called the vet and they said to bring her back in, gave her some antihistamines and steroids and said to watch her.

 

If it continued, she could have had difficulty breathing.

 

Luckily, the puffiness went down pretty quickly.

 

But, I have a feeling “puff doggie dog” nickname is here to stay for a while.

Growing so fast…

Last night when I walked in the front door, I forgot all about it – even though I was reminded (many times) just that morning.

 

T-ball has started.

And – my boy is growing up so fast! 

 

The look on my face apparently said everything to Lance -

 

choke, gulp!  What happened to my little boy?  Where did he go?  Who is this big boy who looks so grown up, wearing a baseball hat? 

 

 

 

The Woodinville River cats will be practicing on Monday and Saturday afternoons, with games starting in April.  Alex is SO excited.

 

He also likes to wear his baseball hat “like Daddy does when he’s driving the boat” backwards.

 

 

Sara even got to try on the baseball cap.  And she’s showing off her favorite new thing to carry around everywhere (even to sleep).  A marker.  Sometimes she even taps them together to make a musical beat.  And she loves it when I pretend to eat it – it just cracks her up!

 

 

 

And she gets to wear it backwards too, of course.

 

 

 

I distinctly remember the last time I felt this way – Alex was about 1.5 years old and standing up against a tree.  We were outside and I was snapping pictures.  It was a lovely November day. When I got inside and uploaded the pictures, he suddenly looked so grown up compared to what I had seen him as before. 

 

Wait a second here – what happened to my little baby/toddler? 

This photo below was taken the same day – he just looks so much younger to me!