Ethan is 4!!!!

I'm still pinching myself that Ethan is 4! I really can hardly believe that 4 years have gone by since he came into our lives. I feel like I can still remember every little detail of his birth, and hear that amazing cry when he was born, and counting his fingers and toes, and just staring in awe of this little miracle that we have been blessed with. It truly does go by so fast. I miss the baby stages and all of the excitement that goes with them, but I have found it true what people told me "it just keeps getting better". I think we have finally started to get out of the "terrible 3's", however we have traded tantrums for attitude and back talking! Fortunately, with this new "maturity", has also come the ability to reason. He's also just thriving in pre-school, which is wonderful. In fact, Derek and I wonder if he acts out out of boredom, that we're just not stimulating his mind enough. He amazes us with his memory and how quickly he picks up new things. He loves to "help" us with more things now. Laundry is still a favorite. He loads the washer, puts in the soap and fabric softener, and then puts all the clothes in the dryer. Now, if I could only get him to fold them and put them away!! Now, he loves to "help" us cook, especially Derek. He's also become a big fan of vacuuming, which is funny because he used to be deathly afraid of it! Derek and I have also moved from being "Mommy and Daddy" to Mom and Dad. Neither one of us saw it coming, nor do we like it! I'm boycotting it, I still refer to myself as mommy and to Derek as daddy. He will almost always correct me though. "You mean Dad, Mom". Just because he's 4, now he gets to drop the mommy and daddy??? I'm not ready for that!

Addy was quite the little ham at the birthday party. It was just the cutest. I was really surprised at how funny she was!

Ethan got a GATOR for his birthday. We split it with Grandma Twinkle and Papa. Bonnie and I could hardly contain our excitement for him to see it. His last present was a little egg with a message inside. We sent him on a little scavenger hunt all over the house, ending in the garage where the Gator was waiting with a bow on it! He loved the scavenger hung almost as much as the Gator! Of course it rained all day, but we got lucky with a very short stop in the rain so he could try it out!

He's got wheels!

He took Addy for a little spin too, but she wanted nothing to with riding on it! She hopped off right away!

Ethan wanted to make his cake this year and at first he said he wanted a "brown cake with green frosting". Easy enough, right! Well, then the day of the party, he said he wanted a frog cake. I still thought I could do it, so I looked up some "frog cakes" on the Internet and he saw this one and said that it was the one he wanted. Now, I realize that neck is a little long....but I'm pretty proud of how it turned out! Considering I'm no Martha Stewart!

Ethan also got a really cool basket ball hoop from Grandma Geeka and Papa Rich! Here he is playing in the box!