a 4th birthday celebration…

My big boy just turned 4 on the 26th. This was his first birthday that he got really excited about, you know, to the point of asking every day for a week before if it was his birthday yet… =)

I think I got more excited about doing it up for him than he might’ve. At the last minute, I braved my fears of fish dying by the hundreds for no reason, and David and I went out to buy him a betta fish. Swish the Fish is now a mealtime favorite in our house, goggling at the kids while they eat their meals. Seth feeds him, and Evan chirps, ‘Hi, Swishdafish!”

We didn’t plan anything big for his big day, knowing his tendency to get a little overwhelmed at big parties with lots of kids. Nana and Papa came, and that was big enough for him. He got to pick whatever he wanted to eat on his big day, so…. Breakfast: cinnamon rolls, sausage, eggs. Lunch: beef stroganoff at Noodles and Co. that he was too stuffed from breakfast to actually eat. Dinner: hot dogs, potato chips, baked beans, and chocolate fish cake.

He opened a lot of his presents in the morning after breakfast, and Daddy went into work a little late and stayed for that. We went to the children’s museum after that, and it actually ended up being a big treat because I had someone else to watch Evan, and I could help him learn to make pizzas in the pizza restaurant section. I think he could’ve stayed there all day doing that. He was very serious and task oriented about his little job. =)

We didn’t get him a lot of big presents, not really knowing what he would like best. I may get him some beginner roller skates when the weather improves.

Here’s what he did get for his birthday, for posterity:

1 fish, a Nerf gun (which he loves and cannot cock by himself), his first washable markers, his first candy bar, Go Fish, juice boxes (never had at our house before), a puzzle, ringed blocks from my childhood, a race car ramp from David’s parents, a zhu zhu pet hamster from mine, a yearly membership to the children’s museum- also my parents, a plastic hippo and a plastic lion, and I think that’s it…

The older he gets, the more I appreciate my Seth. I know him better every year, and to really know him is to love him. He is my big helper, my insatiable reader, my cuddler, my enforcer of the rules… =) He deserved every minute I put into that fish cake… =)

Seth delivering a pizza to Papa. I thought the hat and apron were nice touches. David thinks I can blackmail him with this picture when he has a girlfriend. =)