Four years ago TODAY

I was at the hospital hooked up to piotocin trying to get this beach ball out of me!





I'll tell more about the day in a bit but had to post those so you could go DANG you were HUGE! LOL...

Happy 4th birthday Drew!!!! :)

--------------------Edited with photos Monday, July 14 ---------------------

You know back in the day...you know, the good ole days... not the days before color tv or remote controls (as if) but the days when you were young enough to really enjoy a moment without thinking about EVERYTHING else in life that you have on your plate...but to really just stop, soak it in and just BE in the moment? ... no? yeah, me either but it's a nice thought huh? ha ha!

I remember when I was a kid and birthday parties were simple fun affairs held in backyards with cake and ice cream and silly games and friends having fun... and cherry Koolaid. You gotta have the cherry Kool-aid. These days birthday parties are just so elaborate and over-done. Don't get me wrong, it's not that they're not fun, they are, but is it really necessary? Instead of worrying about which flavor ice cream to buy, you're worried about having enough bottled water not only for your guests but the parents and siblings. The goody bags have to be crammed full of trinkets that will be inevitably left out in the middle of the floor forgotten until that late night thirst hits and you then while trudging through the house in the pitch black you unknowingly step on that little gem of a gift and mutter a few words better left unsaid... and then actually contemplate if you SHOULD throw it away or if you SHOULDN'T.

I chose to scale down a tad bit this year. For Drew's party we had it at a gymnastics facility where he takes lessons. He wasn't thrilled at the idea of having it there (even though HE CHOSE IT from the list I gave him) but when we said "party" and "gymnastics" he didn't understand I guess and thought he wasn't going to the party, he was goign to class. Once he realized what was up, it was okay. So in lieu of having a backyard birthday in JULY in TEXAS.... I opted for A/C and letting someone else clean up and entertain. :) WOO HOO





I did opt for simple in terms of cake (no ice cream). Ok, in fact, it wasn't even cake. Drew doesn't EAT cake (I know... I know... what kind of sick freakin kid won't EAT CAKE? He CANT be mine! LOL). So his "cake" was a giant cookie (he gets that from his father the self confessed chocolate chip cookie addict).



But, as you'll see from my photos below, since his mother IS a scrapbooker, I DID purchase a little cake from Target so that I could get my "candle shot" LOL. YES... can you even believe I did such a thing? LOL

SO we did the party... it was great, well organized, fun, the only thing I didn't like was that parents were allowed on the gym floor UNLESS they had a child 3 or under so that they could take photos... so I kept borrowing my best friend Sarah's daughter, Alli. :) Ha ha! :) I love loop holes! Thanks Sarah! (this is her and Alli)


They all jumped on the trampolines... then they did some fun games on the mats. They had a great time in the foam blocks, some ran down the tramp ramp and some swang like little Tarzans from the rope.



We went to the room and had some Chex mix, Capri suns and the cookie cake. That's ALL I did for nourishment. I just didn't feel compelled to feed everyone. Is that wrong? No. Do I have guilt? Sure... HOWEVER... I got over it because it's a party for a 4 year old not a brunch for everyone.



I hope he made a GREAT wish!




I wasn't planning to initially but we did presents there. It was SO unbelievably calm. The children were SO well behaved. They (the staff) maintained complete control. They did a gift list for me... It was fantastic. But my biggest surprise. Truly, my biggest surprise was my little Drew. He is such a perfect little courteous gentleman. They'd announce whom the gift was from before they handed it to him. HE would make eye contact with the giver and thank him... and then open the gift (he was excited about every one) and then thank them again. He did all of this COMPLETELY unprompted. It was such a wonderful thing to witness the true respectfulness and kindness he exhibited. It's one of those little nuggets that you can specifically hold onto for a while and just smile to yourself when you think about it.



(and this is why you SHOULD'T let little kids open presents (just kidding - it was staged, sort of)


Once the gift orgy was over I had Drew deliver one at a time his friends goody bags to them. Did I buy something that was going to wind up on the floor? Perhaps, but it'd probably be something that was surrounded by children. . . I found (thanks to my MIL because she bought 6 of them) these little activity packs that had 5 coloring/activity books in them. The girls got Suzy's Zoo (so cute) and little Alli got Hello Kitty. The boys got either Peanuts (Charlie Brown, Snoopy) or the Justice League... Drew was so proud to be able to go around and give the gifts to his friends and thank them for coming. I just smiled with pride. I love a thankful and giving heart. He was as happy giving his little surprises to everyone as he was to receive them. THAT was a glorious thing.

After the party, his two very best friends and their moms and the rest of us went to eat at Double Dave's Pizza (actually pretty good). If you ever go, have the cinnamon/sugar dessert pizza (YUM). I had a little karate kicker knock over my sweet tea -- I think she was trying to tell me something... ha ha! :) But after that we ate and then headed over for a real treat. The 3 boys and us big people went to tour Fire Station #3. Drew is SO completely into everythign related to Fire Trucks right now. He was just... I think he was completely in awe of it all.... some of these photos show that.

















And this was the buddy hug after the station tour... they were all saying goodbye.


All in all it was such a great day. Sure beats the heck out of the TRUE "birth" day... OUCH... this one was MUCH less painful. :)



so, happy birthday little man... mommy loves you and is already so proud of the little person you're becoming. :) (oh, and thanks for the kisses -- I won't wipe them off)



(here's the pics that I HAD to have though!) :)