Celebrating the Birthday Boy

Yesterday was Carter's official 4th birthday!  It is so hard to believe.  I definitely spent the day thinking back to all of the craziness that ensued the day he was born.  It's just mind-blowing that the tiny, scrawny, hairy baby they handed to me that night is now this running, jumping, constantly talking kid who's really not a baby anymore.  Time is going so fast.

Even though it was a work/school day, we wanted to make the day special for him.  I decided to spread the presents out during the day as it would keep things more exciting and also minimize the chance we'd be dragging him out the door after he opened something he really wanted to play with.  So once he was dressed in the morning, he got to open one gift.

Excited to open gifts!  (And I swear, he's not sticking his hands in his pants--hes holding his shirt with his one hand up the sleeve.  His pants probably were not positioned well, however--waistbands are not his friend yet!)

I let him open a gift bag that had a Ryder Paw Patrol guy, a Batman shirt, and a really random pirate dress-up outfit I got super cheap (like a buck or two) a couple Halloweens ago.  It's the right size for him now so I figured we might as well get some use of it now that he has Jacob's pirate souvenirs from Disney World. 

Batman!  Shockingly, he did not ask to wear it!

Immediately trying to get Ryder out of the package!

Before we left the house, I wanted to take our annual picture before the day passed us by and I forgot.  I posted my favorite at the end of yesterday's post, but here's another version...

It's so funny to look back at his first year and see that the bear was almost as tall as him when he was just a month old and propped up in the corner of the chair!  And now look!

He got Happy Birthday greetings on his way into daycare, and his teacher even decorated the classroom door!  We brought donuts in to celebrate, and he seemed to have a fun day.  And then it was home to open more presents and get ready for his birthday dinner!  He opened up a Finding Dory nightlight (I got it free, but it's cool!) that projects Dory's silhouette on the ceiling, and also one of those magic marker coloring books that reveals colors with one clear marker.  He loved one that he got for Christmas and finished it last week.  Turns out this one is a little different--less vivid colors and pictures...it's actually like what I remember getting as a kid--but it's superheroes so I think he'll like that one, too.  After that, it was off to Chuck E. Cheese!

Now, anyone who's read here for a while knows I am not a fan of the place.  Yes, we go an average of once a year--usually for a fundraiser or a birthday party.  But usually other people don't watch their kids and they run around terrorizing the place.  Last night was no exception, though it wasn't as busy so at least there was less of it overall. The good news is that they have gluten-free pizza so it's an acceptable place for us to eat.  As always the kids had fun playing games.  Here's Jacob on a horse racing game...

And here's Carter and me trying out one that was supposed to be a bit like a roller coaster simulator.  I don't think the motion was working quite right, but he liked it anyway!

After dinner we tried another one--first Carter and me, then Jacob wanted to do it.  That one was much more action packed and the boys both enjoyed it!

Carter also tried a snowmobile ride...

In the end we had a bunch of tickets (some from a past visit) and all Jacob wanted were Tootsie Rolls, and Carter wanted a suction cup spider web (hmmm, wonder why...his shirt might be a hint!) which we had more than enough for.  Aside from a couple little behavior issues, we had a good time. 

Then it was back home for the last of the gifts.  He got two more Transformers Rescue Bots, which were what he really wanted most.  One is a dump truck and the other is a fire truck with a whole bunch of cool features.  He's still working on learning to transform them (yay, small motor skills!) but he definitely enjoyed them, along with the one he got on Sunday.

So, as a whole it was a fun birthday for him.  He still has a couple more gifts to come--one more from Uncle John and something when we see Craig's brother's family, which is still up in the air with all of Craig's busy weekends right now.  Probably in another month at worst...but nothing wrong with stretching out the celebration a bit! 

In other news, my college roommate, Mary, is coming to visit for another concert this weekend, and then Monday I will be off with both boys (against my better judgment, but Carter deserves a day off, too) for Presidents Day.  Jacob has the afterschool program the rest of the week, which he's not thrilled about, but it is what it is.  We're working our way through February pretty well right now, and spring will be just around the corner before we know it...assuming the snow ever stops falling (though, to be fair, it's also been melting pretty regularly this year, which is nice!).  And now we move forward with a four-year-old!