Henry's Birthday

So my eldest son turned FOUR last month...and I am just now getting to download pictures. Here are pictures from his playmate pirate party (described below).

Henry was so appreciative of EVERYTHING this birthday. He had such a sweet, grateful, and excited heart...it truly made me overjoyed!! I totally understood the mantra of "parents don't need presents...they just want to make their kids happy!" Things I remember and want to remember about his fourth birthday are:

1. On Friday morning, I put his cake together...in the shape of a pirate ship. He didn't see me put it together until about an hr. after, when he just saw it sitting on the stove. He exclaimed, "MOM! Did you make me a pirate ship cake?!!!" He was smiling ear to ear. I said, "Yep, I tried to make it like the ones we looked at on the computer." He said, "I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT!!!" (And continued saying how cool it was...boy did that make me feel good!)

2. My parents came in for the weekend, starting on Friday. My mom just got her second knee replaced (but was walking great), and even arrived in time for his "playmate" party!

3. His playmate party was with his 4 friends that we've had play dates with since we moved here. They were great sports and put on pirate mustaches & beards & hats & patches. The pictures above show some of the games we played: "The shrinking island," Pirate Pop-Up, and "Walk the Plank." We also did "Captain Says" and a treasure hunt to fill up their goodie bags. I think I had as much fun planning the party as they did doing it! :) Oh yeah, I also put little sails with each kid's initials in their hot dogs for lunch...(all these ideas came off other "party" websites).

4. On his actual birthday, we started the day with Dunkin Donuts! They opened their first store in KC just up the street from us...the DAY before Henry's birthday. Since we had been watching the progress of the "building" Henry was really excited when they finally opened. I guess everybody else in town was also excited because there was a line of about 30 people in front of us (in a slight drizzle) at 6:15am!! They were super fast though, and Henry picked out some yummy choices for all of us.

5. That afternoon we watched my niece play "futsol" (indoor soccer on a basketball court) and then went to Burger King...as we left BK, Henry said, it sure was nice for Aunt Jill (& family) to have lunch with us! It was so cute!! He also thanked my mom & dad for coming in for his birthday.

6. We opened some presents in the a.m. & some that night. Here is a picture of a grateful and excited Henry opening his "Veggie Tales Pirate Ship" which has not been put down for more than an hour since that day (if we're in our house). Definitely a hit.

7. For dinner, my parents were visiting my Aunt & Uncle (who also live in town), so we treated the boys to Chuck E Cheese. We have only ever gone there for birthdays...so they know it's a special treat. Andrew has said that it was the best part of his day every night now since 11/14. Henry loved it too of course.

8. On Sunday we had my sister's family over for some "masta pasta" -- which is Henry's favorite (spaghetti), and had a little family celebration, with more presents, a rerun of the pirate games/treasure hunt for my nephews, and actually cut into the pirate ship at this point! (Up until then we had eaten the "island" and the blue sea.)

9. On Sunday he woke up saying that he didn't want to have any more birthdays. When I asked why, he said that he didn't want to get too big to play pirates anymore. And that his pirate ship & toys would stay little...so he wanted to also. Hmmmm... (Mike did also note that maybe he got that from Mike tucking him in bed the night before telling him that now that he's four, he'll have more responsibility...and four minute timeouts.) :) We continually reassured him on Sunday that it was really fun to get older. :)

All in all, I don't think Henry could have been too much happier with his birthday weekend. Happy 4th Birthday Big Boy!! :)