Birthday Boy #5

What a difference a year makes!

You are so sweet and loving, yet so zany and funny!

You love to give and receive hugs and sometimes kisses, but you are starting to become more manly about not giving them as freely to Daddy.

You are gentle and sweet, yet wrestle and pretend fight with the best of them.

You are so smart. How many 4 year olds sing their ABC's backwards??

You can be stubborn and willful, but you are learning everyday how to be the best you can be.

And we love each and every bit of you.

It was a great day!!

The morning began with a wake-up call at 5:45 by the birthday boy himself. He came quietly in but then announced, "It's my birthday!" I rolled over with the reply of "Happy Birthday, now climb in bed with us."

While bed didn't last more than 15 minutes, I did manage to contain him on the couch in the family room with me until 6:30 when Katie got up. And then it was present time.

We let him open a select few of the bounty he seemed to receive this year. And above all he loves his new Lightning McQueen toys from Daddy and Katie. They went to bed with him yesterday and then to dance with him today.

After playing for a while his only requests were to stay in his jammies all day and to eat peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. Both so simple, but both denied.

Instead we took him out to the mall where he got to choose whatever he wanted to eat and both kids finished almost every bite of their lunch. Then we went to Chuck E Cheese, which was his birthday wish to play a few games. I had leftover coins from a birthday party some time ago, and the kids played enough to make them content.

Birthday dinner was a peanut butter sandwich. Yes, he is a simple boy at heart. And then Katie and I headed to tap class while he and Daddy went to t-ball. After coming home at 7:15 he finally got to have his cake.

And what a cake it was! Mike and I worked together to make this masterpiece with the help of another friend's cake decorating grass tip. (I still can't find mine. I think it got lost in the move.) But luckily now that good friends have moved nearby, the tip was only a 2 minute drive away.

So he got his wish of a race track birthday cake that was yellow and chocolate cake inside. Green grass, oreo cookie track in the shape of a number 5 thanks to my husband's brilliance, sprinkles on the sides, and Luigi's tire shop made out of chocolate donuts. We didn't put race cars on it, but it didn't seem to make a difference to him.