My Baby Boy is 4...gasp!!!!!

Feel free to just skip to the pictures!! I wrote this LONG post SO that I can always remember our baby boys simple, yet wonderful b-day.

I don't know why but I can never wrap my mind around my children growing older. I know i've said this before but I truly feel like I could sob with each passing birthday. I don't let myself go there but I could. In some way it's kind of painful. I don't want my babies to grow up and leave the nest. They give me so much purpose and make up so much of who I am, I'm just so proud to be their mama...sigh.

Anyway, enough with the melancholy melodramatics! It's time for the worlds longest blog post.

Joshua turned 4 on February 23rd!!

At midnight I snuck into his room and hung streamers and balloons like I do for each of the kids birthdays every year. Unfortunately he woke up before us in the morning, so I didn't get to see the expression on his face when he first blinked his beautiful blue eyes.

As soon as he woke up he (and Noah) came running into our room. First thing out of Joshua's mouth was him requesting that I let him have pizza for breakfast. Of course I obliged (don't judge-ha!).

The weather man predicted snow for the day. Of course they are very often wrong so I didn't get all of our hopes up.

However I thought that would be so very fun if it did for Josh's big day!

We were all cuddled in my bed, (Jeremiah still home). I told Noah to go open up our blinds to see if it was snowing. Imagine how pleasantly surprised we were when Noah drew up the blinds to discover BIG WHITE snowflakes! To say we were excited would be a major understatement!

After we had our "breakfast of champions"-pizza, I fervently put all the kids coats, shoes, hats and gloves (Aliya had to wear soxs as mittens) on over their Pj's.

Living in Texas there's just no telling when it would all be gone and we DID not want to miss it!

Once outside we threw snowballs, made snow angels, caught snow on our tongues and did some taste testing-it was SO fun! Joshua was convinced that God made it snow just for his birthday-it was SO special!

It wasn't long before we came back inside-we got cold so fast.

Once inside I made the kids Hershey's hot cocoa from scratch-it was SO good that I don't know if i'll ever buy store bought again.

I turned on The Polar Express and got us all ready for the day.

Now that it was time to leave, we hopped in the car ready to do whatever Joshua's little heart desired.

He chose to go to McDonald's for lunch. There he got chicken nuggets, french fries and Power Aid.

From there it was off to his favorite indoor play place called Jungle Java. Since there was a winter storm advisory in effect we basically had the entire place to ourselves! The kids played and we bought some rice crispy treat snacks. We were probably there for about 2 1/2 hours when a little boy came in ran around with the my boys and then suddenly puked on the floor. That was are Que to leave. I felt so bad for the dad and boy they left immediately.

It was now around 4 o'clock and we were headed to Toys R Us. My in-laws sent Josh two gift cards and he was just dying to spend them. He went straight to the Thomas aisle and picked out this Thomas roller coaster toy. Then we walked around some more and he found a Diego dinosaur house and lastly he picked out a play-dough ice cream shop. We had a few dollars left over so I let them pick out candy.

I stopped at Red Box to get a b-day movie. It was "Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs".

Then it was time to pick up Jeremiah from work. Once we got him we stopped at Baskin Robins and got an ice cream cake.

Jeremiah wanted to take Josh to Chuck E Cheese's for dinner but he didn't want to go. He wanted steak for dinner. So we made are way to HEB to get steaks and bread.

We got home and quickly, cooked everything up then sat at the table together to eat. He ate an ENTIRE piece of steak!!:)

It was getting late.

Grandma, Papa, Grandmas Sue and Pap (who are all on vacation together) wanted to chat with the b-day boy on Skype so we set that up. He wanted to show them the new toys that he picked out earlier in the day from the gift cards they had sent.

Cake time!

Josh insisted that I put five candles on top of his cake. Oh, and all day he told me that he was turning 5 NOT 4.:) I put one of his little Thomas trains on top and brought it over to the computer where we all (including the family on Skype ) sang to him.

Josh loved it. The cake was delicious. I think it was called vanilla chocolate fudge.

After cake we talked to Uncle Jake and Aunt Cheryl on Skype as well.

He wanted to play with his new play-dough set so we all did that for a bit. We had a ball and made a huge mess.

It was getting really late (thankfully none of the kids are in school yet).

I put Aliya to bed, she was pooped!

It was finally time for the movie! We watched together all cuddled up on the couches. The boys kept cracking up, it was a cute movie!

Jeremiah and me got into bed with the boys and talked about the great day that we had celebrating Joshy. We told some jokes, laughed and snuggled. Jeremiah tucked them into bed and we all sang happy birthday one last time for the day. I said a special little prayer of thanksgiving and blessing over my boy and said goodnight.

It truly was a wonderful, perfect as it gets day, just celebrating our boy!! I so thankful and blessed.

I am going to have a small dinosaur party with some of his friends next weekend.

Blue eyed B-day boy!



Yay-snow angels!



Hershey's hot cocoa!



The clan watchin' The Polar Express!




Drivin' through the "storm"!


Java Jungle


Havin' a ball!



Toys R Us-fun!


Steak Dinner



Skype and Thomas ice-cream cake!


What you're into these days in list form

-Favorite Toys
Thomas (still)
Diego
Dinosaurs

-Favorite Food, Snacks & Drinks (Read:the ONLY things he'll eat!)
Steak
Chicken nuggets
Rotisserie chicken
Vanilla yogurt
Mashed potatoes
Apples
Broccoli (only veggie that you'll eat)
Eggs with Parmesan cheese on top
Peanut butter and toast
Mac and cheese
Hot dogs
Spaghetti w/ meat sauce
Pizza
Honey nut and regular cheerios
goldfish
pretzels
cheese
brisket
Juice
Chocolate milk


-Fun Facts About YOU!!
*You have been waking up early every morning (you sometimes like to turn on every single light in the house) and then get in bed with us to sleep a couple more hours.
*You beg me to let you wake up Aliya-I always say "not yet."-when I do give you the ok you go running!
*You are a daddies boy! Every morning you have got to hug daddy and say goodbye before he leaves for work. You then run to the front window and wave to him.
*You adore Noah as much as Aliya. You are a loving sibling and are almost always willing to share your toys with them.
*You love to have your picture taken.
*You laugh hysterically when I turn on photo booth on my MAC and we make funny faces.
*You still love baby Praise, one day I found you bouncing on the bed singing "shout to the Lord" while watching it on your little DVD player.
*You love your friends
*You make friends easily
*You are very stubborn and particular:)
*The pickiest eater EVER!!!!!
*You LOVE to read, wheter it's me or daddy reading to you or you just sitting on the floor, couch or bed making the story up as you go along.
*You love to watch movies and will sit still the entire time.
*You love your stuffed animals and have to have them at night, you keep some under your pillow, some at your side and you hold onto one tight. It's never the same combination of creatures.
*You're a sweet boy, you are not selfish, you love deeply and make it known!
*You're so smart.
*You bring your family so much joy Joshy boy! And you're growing up before our eyes! We love you so!!

I Love you To The Moon And Back
-Mommy
XOXOXO

(we always repeat that saying over & over FAST- the moon and back, the moon and back, the moon and back!!!)