Happy 4th birthday to my beautiful oldest boy

Birthdays are important. We don't believe in buying huge or plentiful gifts, but we do believe in making birthdays special for our children. And we certainly made today, Elijah's 4th birthday, a special one for him.



We started the day off with a cupcake and pancake breakfast, with a side of balloons. Elijah got a few books as a present from us, which he loved. We spent the rest of the day doing whatever he wanted....movies, candy, playing..

The snow moved in quickly in the early afternoon and I started to worry, since we had invited people over for a party. I had a little talk with Elijah about his cousins possibly not being able to come over because of the snow and a forlorn look covered his face. A few seconds later, my sister texted me saying that she and her daughter, Kaleigh, would BE HERE, snow or no snow. They drove through a crazy blizzard to get to us, as did my cousin Trevor and his family, and it certainly made Elijah's day.



Dan and I agreed tonight that there is nothing better than seeing the light in this boy's eyes when we sing Happy Birthday to him.



Trevor and Auntie Lynn...THANK YOU for braving the blizzard today to get to us. It truly meant so much to our little man, who had had a rough week. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.



We made some fun monster cupcakes from a cupcake cookbook I received for Christmas. They were a hit!



I'm so overcome with emotion on this fourth birthday of our oldest son. Elijah, we love you so much.

Cousin Kaleigh loved hanging out with our youngest love, Sammy, today. She was able to experience his serious slobber problem and give him lots of hugs. Sam is so lucky to have so many cousins who love him so much (Elijah, too!).



Elijah got his first Nerf gun today from Auntie Lynnie. FUN! We spent the entire day/evening chasing "bulls" (bullets) around the living room. I said my very first, "You're going to shoot your eye out!" My stepmom told me that reciting this very line has earned me a Mommy Medal. :)



Sammy was such a chill kid (as always) while his brother soaked in all of the attention today. At times I almost forgot he was sitting in his chair, watching all of the craziness.



Practicing Nerf Shooting with Daddy..



Happy birthday, my oldest, wonderful, beautiful, smart, funny boy. Daddy and I love you so much. I couldn't even begin to explain the depth of our love for you..