Andrew turns Four!

Well, now my baby is four. How is it that our kids are growing up so fast? Chad and I recently had a surreal moment when Aubrey was at a birthday party and Andrew was at a primary activity and it left Chad and I to pass the time together without needing a babysitter. We felt like empty-nesters, in way. It's a good thing we like each other because if we didn't, I could see that getting old real fast.

So, anyway, Andrew had a birthday last Tuesday! We decided to celebrate a little early this year, and so Monday, the night before his birthday, we went down to the Galleria to Rainforest Cafe. Andrew LOVES animals and so we thought this would be a fun family activity. We got to sit right next to the elephants and Andrew was totally mesmerized by them and kept asking, "what are they saying?" every time they would start making noise. He did get a little freaked out when the fake rainstorm came through every so often, but other than that, it was super fun. The food there is really good too, I had this most amazing mahi mahi with coconut milk and pecans. So good. And they sang to Andrew and gave him a little ice cream sundae. So that was fun.





The one funny thing about the night was that we were also sitting next to the gift shop, where there was this talking tree named Tracy, that repeated her same dialogue every 10 minutes or so, and by the end of the night, Tracy was driving Aubrey nuts!



On Tuesday, we decided to celebrate similar to the way we did last year, so we had a casual party at the park, with one of Andrew's friends who also shares the same birthday. It was super fun. Andrew loves playing at the park and we stayed there for 3 hours running around with the other kids in a pack, and playing on the playground equipment. I was hoping it made up for the fast that he had to go to the doctor that morning for his four year old checkup. And, sigh, I kinda feel badly about it still, because, he had to get 5 shots. 5! I guess four years old is a big year. But we had to do it because he had to be up to date with shots to start preschool that week, couldn't do it until he was four, and couldn't do it the next day because that's when I had to turn in his shot record so he could be admitted. So, anyway, after the shots (and I also got him a donut and chocolate milk too, to buy back his affection and happiness) we played at the park. It was a nice day for playing and he had a good time. We sang happy birthday to the birthday boys and had cupcakes too.

Here's the birthday boys with their entourage:



And here's the birthday boys themselves:



When we were asking Andrew about his birthday, and what he wanted to eat for his birthday dinner, he told us, Oatmeal. He was adamant about this. So, here's the birthday boy with his birthday oatmeal, in the special yellow place setting, which is for special occasions and birthdays only.



And he also said he wanted a Toy Story cake. But once we were getting supplies, he saw a Micky Mouse theme birthday cake, and changed his mind. I think he may have been experiencing a little bit of remorse because on his actual birthday because he kept telling people he was going to have a Toy Story cake. But, in the end it was Mickey cupcakes and he was happy with them.







Grammie and Grandpa and Aunt Kathie, who was visiting from Utah, came and sang happy birthday and were there to open presents. We even had my mom and dad on the webcam from India for part of it, so that was really fun.

I really hope Andrew had a great day.

I love this boy so much. It's hard for me to describe him with words. I wish I could describe him with the feeling that I have when I look at him, play with him, and help him through his day, but even then I'm not sure I could do this angelic little boy justice. He is so sweet, good natured and easy going. He is thoughtful, has a great sense of humor, and has an incredible imagination. I love to hear him, when we're blowing bubbles, say something like, "I wish I could get into that bubble!" or when we're looking at a picture of someplace fun, have him say "how do we get into that picture?" He is so fun to be around and play with. I hope we have many more years of fun birthdays with my favorite little boy.