He's 4!

Asher has been looking forward to his birthday for quite some time. Almost daily he would ask to look at the calendar to see what day it was and how many days until his birthday. I thought about making a countdown chain but it was kinda fun to look at the calendar together.
I had to wake Asher up on his birthday...not something I would want for my birthday! He was so sleepy that he ended up eating his dinosaur oatmeal (his favorite! Quaker has a brown sugar oatmeal with dinosaur eggs that hatch when you cook the oatmeal) in the car on the way to the gym. AND he wore his pjs to the gym.
After the gym we stopped at Gavin's house to pick him up to come play with Asher. I planned on packing us all a lunch and having a picnic at the park but the furnace guy who was supposed to come at 5:00 rescheduled for noon. Instead the boys played like crazy until Tyce was awake from his nap and Rylan was home from school. They played in the bathroom sink which I'm pretty sure that's their favorite thing to do. They fill up the sink with water and fit as many toys in there possible to go swimming. It makes such a mess but it was Asher's birthday so I allowed it :) They played inside and outside and upside down! They really were everywhere and didn't stop having fun the entire time.

We got to the park around 4:00 and it was beautiful! Asher and Gavin were side by side the entire time. Rylan was the perfect little buddy for Tyce. He really was incredibly cute with him, taking him down the slide, across the bridge and following him around the park. Melts my heart :)

Charlie came to pick up Gavin so they could get family pictures taken. Asher was sad to see him go but he had the promise of chicken nuggets for dinner from Wendy's that kept him happy. (Yes Wendy's. Asher is not great at eating dinner unless it's chicken nuggets or pizza (well, even pizza is iffy). I'm not a Wendy's fan but I gave in for Asher.)

Look at him, strutting his stuff!

I love this series of pictures of Asher and Gavin.

So after the park we went back home to finish decorating Asher's birthday cake and wait for Kev to get home from work. As soon as he got home he showed Asher his gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Doyle--a card with cash and a halloween haunted house cookie decorating kit. Both boys were thrilled with that! (And maybe it really was for both boys.) Asher was excited to show me his $4 and made sure I put it in a safe place when we left for Wendy's.

After dinner Kevin had a special surprise for Asher's birthday. He set up the tent in the loft for the boys to sleep in and he slept in their with them. They were so excited about that!

We had Asher open his gifts and seeing his delight made me so happy. He saw this stuffed animal cheetah at Toys R Us and if ever asked what he wanted for his birthday, that's what he would bring up. Kevin wasn't thrilled about getting him yet another stuffed animal, but he really plays with his stuffed animals all the time. And Asher was so happy to open his gift and see it! He immediately gave it a big hug--cute! We also gave him a balance bike that he was pretty neutral about but I wanted him to have a bike. Every kid needs a bike, right? Now to get him to get out and ride it.

My parents came over to give Asher a gift--Power Rangers mini figures and a play doh road roller. Rylan opened the Power Rangers right away and they played with them together before bed. We also sang Happy Birthday to Asher and dug in to his cute dinosaur birthday cake. After frostys from Wendy's the boys didn't eat much cake, but I sure did! I love birthday cake!

Silly Grandpa, wearing Asher's dinosaur Halloween costume!!

 After my parents left the boys got ready for bed and nestled into the tent. It was late but they really wanted to tell stories by flashlight. They each got to tell a story or two and then lights went out on a fun filled fourth birthday for my happy, sweet Asher. Love that kid!