4 Years Old

4 years old!  

(Yes, this is a selfie)!

Another year come and gone and now we have a sweet 4 year old in our house!

Landon was really excited about his birthday this year, which makes it that much more fun!

Unfortunately it was super rainy on his birthday but that didn't stop us from having fun and celebrating our little (big) boy!

Festivities actually started Saturday when we decided to take the boys to "Build a Bear"! We haven't taken the boys there before and it was a lot of fun.  It was a quick visit and we just did the stuffed animals but both boys LOVE their new buddies.  Neither one has ever attached on to a stuffed animal before but both of them have definitely been attached to their little animal since we got them.  Landon made a Spider Man Bear which he calls "Spider Bear" (very original)!

And Blake got a cute puppy do that we named "Skip", but he lovingly calls him "Skipper".  Blake sleeps with him and drags him everywhere...so cute!

Landon requested a green monkey cake for his birthday and although I suggested a super cool green circle or rectangle cake he wouldn't let go of the fact that he wanted a monkey!

I let the boys help me out on Sunday night making the cake

(which basically meant they got to lick out the yummy chocolate bowl)

And then I decorated it after Landon went to bed.  I'm definitely not a professional cake decorator but I thought it turned out pretty cute :) 

And it made my 4 year old happy, so that's all that matters!

After Landon went to bed we also decorated his door, that has become a tradition since he was 2!

We gave him his big present in the morning which was a big boy bike!

He was really excited about it, 

But unfortunately due to the rain he couldn't really try it out...there may be a bit of a learning curve as we are attempting to do it without training wheels.

We then took the boys to get the annual birthday donut!

It is so hard to get Landon to take a good picture nowadays!

He is either making a goofy face, not looking at the camera or moving around like crazy so every picture is blurry!

Jared was very sweet and took the morning off to spend with us!

After that we went to Chick-Fil-A to play (per Landon's request), which worked out great because it was raining so much outside.

We spent the afternoon inside taking naps (Landon is still sweet enough to let me occasionally nap with him),

Playing with puzzles,

 And watching shows and eating crackers in mom and dad's bed.

Jared got off work a little early, so we decided to let Landon open our presents before we went to dinner (he had been begging to open them all day)!

He was pretty excited and loved his presents:

A soccer ball,

Shinguards

 (Landon's playing soccer this Spring for the first time),

A Boogie Board (writing board),

And some magna form light up magnets.

We met Jared's family at Fuddruckers for dinner because Landon requested hangubers (hamburgers) for his birthday dinner.  It was the perfect restaurant to go to.  It wasn't crowded, didn't require reservations and the kids could run around and not have to stay at the table the whole time!

After eating, Landon opened more presents

And we ate his monkey cake!

All-in-all it was a great day with these two crazies!!!

Hard to believe our oldest is 4, but so thankful the Lord chose us to be his mom and dad!

He is a handful and a blessing wrapped up into one lovable guy!

And only because it is so cute...here was Blake's rendition of "Happy Birthday"!!

Landon has grown up so much this past year.  He has developed physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually!  He is such a bright boy that loves learning and picks things up quickly.  He still loves to laugh, loves to make jokes and thinks potty humor is the FUNNIEST thing in the world.  He is a bit of a perfectionist and wants to be able to do things the right way the first time, which is a little tricky at times!  He has learned how to write his name this year and is learning to spell and read simple words.  He is so close to reading and is very curious as to how words sound out and what letters they start with.  He says simple prayers and is really beginning to grasp who Jesus and God is (grasp in a 4 year old child like manner).  He likes to make up songs and sing to Blake before he goes to sleep.  He also loves to listen to made up stories and can't go to bed without one.  He loves playing outside, getting dirty, wrestling and playing with cars/trains/planes/tracks and balls! 

All-in-all, we are so grateful to the Lord for this amazingly special 4 year old boy!