Happy Fourth Birthday, Joshie!

Today is Joshie's fourth birthday. 

Can I believe that he's this old already?  Yes.  As much as we love Joshie, this has been a long four years.  I think I deserve a medal for not running away.  Joshie deserves a medal for stubbornly never giving in.  Ever.  Lance deserves a medal for hauling Josh off to time-out when Mommy's had enough.  Medals all around!

Josh was adamant about wanting a chocolate cake today.  So here's what I made:

What?!  That's not a cake?  It's just a giant brownie? 

SHUSH YOUR MOUTH.

I just couldn't bring myself to make a whole cake today when I had just made 24 cupcakes on Friday.  Plus, my kids are notorious for ignoring birthday cake and only eating the frosting and the ice cream.  So I'll admit it: I just put a brownie mix in a springform pan, baked it, and then threw on some white chocolate chips and sprinkles.  I called it chocolate cake.  Daddy called it chocolate cake.  The boys never questioned it and happily ate large slices.  Everyone wins.

This is one of the more exciting birthday videos we've shot.  See if you can catch Lance almost dropping the cake, my voice changing like a 13 year old boy while we sing, and Spencer adding a little something special to the cake at the very end.

Notice that Josh actually blew out the candles and enjoyed being the center of attention today.  (As opposed to his behavior on Friday.  Cantankerous four-year-old!)

Josh got some pretty great gifts.  He got some Battle Bugs from Spencer and Cole.  (Nice finger, Josh.)

He got an awesome voice changer from Lance and I.  (He and Spencer fought over it all evening, which means it is an excellent gift.)

Grandma Joy and Grandpa Viggo sent a really cute Tickle Monster book, complete with tickle monster gloves.  (He wore the gloves to bed.)

And Grandma Susie and Grandpa ElRay sent Spongebob Sorry.  Josh chanted "Spongebob!  Spongebob!" over and over as he opened it.  He was quite excited.

Obviously, when it's your birthday you don't have to wear pants.

The evening was laid back and fun.  The boys actually played nicely for a while!  (Miracle of miracles!)

Oh Josh.  We sure love you. You are definitely the character of the family.  On your fourth birthday, when I think of you I think of:

• How much you like dinosaurs, dragons, and running and jumping away from them.
• How much you LOVE to swing.
• How much you love to be a stinker in Primary.  You're so good in class, but when you're in the room with me you are naughty!
• How much you really do like Cole, even though you'll never admit it.  (Even if you did hit and shove him the other day.)
• How you trick Cole into going into the toy closet, close the door, and then turn off the light and listen to him howl.
• How even though Spencer is bigger than you, you have no qualms takin' him down when you find it necessary.
• How you can be really quite sweet.  (Especially when you want something.)
• How you are so good at getting yourself dressed - much better than Spencer was at this age.
• How you like to snack ALL DAY LONG.  You would be perfectly happy skipping all sit-down meals and just snacking.
• How you have recently started coming into our room at 6am and laying down on the floor by my side of the bed.  You do it about 3-4 times a week.  I'm not sure why.  Have you noticed the pillows and blankets I've started leaving there?
• How you would be perfectly happy wearing the same shirt for three days in a row.  Pants optional.

I love you, Joshie!  Happy fourth birthday!

Joshie's 4th Birthday Party

Joshie's birthday is on Sunday, so today we had a little friends birthday party for him.  A while back Josh decided he wanted a Popcorn birthday party.  What can I say - the boys likes his popcorn.  So first we mailed out these invites:

Not bad, right?  (The smudge is our address, in case you're wondering.)

Then we decided that a popcorn birthday had to have popcorn cupcakes.  What do you think?

I think the marshmallows really look like popcorn!  So did the kids, apparently, because they all wanted the cupcakes with sprinkles.  Go figure.

This is the first time I've entertained in our new house.  I have to say, I reallllly love having the wetbar downstairs, especially since we now have a fridge down here too.  It makes life so much easier!

Big Kudos to Grandma Susie for finding these awesome popcorn bags for the party favors (which I forgot to give to some of the kids, dang it!) and for eating our popcorn.  I thought they were great!

They set the color scheme for the party - red and orange. 

I drove across town with a dozen helium balloons and two kids in the back of my mini van. You've never seen such happy, giggly, and entertained little boys!

Here's the birthday boy - refusing to pose for a birthday photo.  Growling at his mother.  Because that's how he rolls.

He was actually quite anxious for all of his friends to arrive.  He was quite excited to take the gifts they brought and then show his little friends downstairs to the party!

It was a typical four-year-old party.  We played a few games - like Don't Eat Popcorn Pete.  But mostly the kids just played with toys and each other.  Us mommas chatted and tried to prevent too much kid-related damage.

Finally, it was time for the birthday candles!  I thought Josh would totally be into this.  He loves to be the center of attention.  (Heck - half of his behavior - good or bad - is related to him wanting attention!) 

But no. 

He wanted NOTHING to do with blowing out candles. 

He wouldn't sit in the chair, he wouldn't listen to the birthday song, he would not cooperate at all.

It wasn't until I threatened to blow the candles out myself that he finally got his act together.

Pesky child.  I didn't really expect his "terrible three's" stage to be over right away just because we were having his birthday.  But I was kinda hoping...

Well, despite his protests against the candles, he had no protests whatsoever against eating the cupcakes and ice cream.

He also didn't mind opening his gifts. 

He didn't act that impressed right then, but trust me - he loved his presents and played with them all afternoon!

As you can see, he really liked the knight outfit his friend Cassidy brought for him!

Thank you to all the fun friends who came to Joshie's birthday party - it was a fun afternoon!

Return of the Jedi

I love living in a neighborhood where Jedi vs. Sith battles spontaneously occur in our back yard.

Oatmeal

Cole totally thinks he's ready to feed himself breakfast.

What do you think?

First Day of Preschool

Today was Josh's first day of preschool.  In typical Joshie fashion, these were the only First Day of School pictures I could get out of him.

Classic Josh.

I knew Josh was a bit hesitant about going to preschool.  (Despite the fact that when Spencer was going it was all I could do to convince Josh that he wasn't quite old enough for preschool!  It was all he wanted in life.  Go figure.)  We went to the preschool open house on Thursday and for the first ten minutes Josh wouldn't even let go of my legs.  He growled at his teachers, ignored his friends, and refused to make eye contact with anyone.  He eventually let his guard down a little and played, but still.

So I wasn't quite sure what to expect this morning.  I talked about how fun preschool would be, but I certainly didn't play it up as much as I could have - doing that usually has the opposite effect on Josh.

We walked into the preschool and Josh happily put his snack in his cubbie.  Then he grabbed onto my hand.  And refused to budge.  I had Cole in my arms, which made things considerably more difficult, but I eventually dragged Josh through the crowded hallway and into his classroom.  His teachers happily greeted him.  Josh took one look around (looking like nothings so much as a hunted animal) and dove behind a rather large plastic boat, deciding that this was the best hiding place at the present moment. 

I tried to coax him out with his special name tag, but we would have none of it.  So I talked to his teachers for a minute, said good-bye to Josh (making sure to mention that I would be back later to pick him up) and then left.

I half expected him to come screeching down the hall after me.  (Apparently there were some other children who did that!)  But nothing happened.  In fact, he was fairly happy, although quite ready to go home, when I came to pick him up.  I guess preschool wasn't that bad.

Good Job, Joshie.

The Saddest Baby In The World

Like Father Like Son

What... 1000 feet of networking cable doesn't make your 15 month old this happy?  Weird.