Grayson and Luke: Grayson's 4th Birthday!

Grayson's 4th birthday was on October 19th. We had packed schedules the two weekends surrounding his big day so we decided to just celebrate on his birthday itself, even though it was a Tuesday. My Mom was still in town from helping us out the weekend before so he got to celebrate with all the grandparents and one friend from across the street. Even though it was small, we tried to make it a special day for him. (Now I'm just hoping he forgets about his small party before we go to a huge shindig for a classmate this weekend at Romp and Roll!)

We started the day letting him open one present before school. We found a Mickey Mouse card that played the Hot Dog Dance when you opened it which was a huge hit with our Mickey fanatic!

Weeks (maybe even months) ago, Grayson saw this truck at T.J. Maxx. He HAD to have it. Seriously - he usually picks up things in stores and puts them back with no argument. He went bananas over this. I explained to him that we would "put it on his birthday list" but that just wasn't enough. Unprompted, he says, "Let's buy it today and you can hide it in the basement until my birthday." I've never said that, much less done that so I have no idea where he came up with this plan - but that is just what we did. So when he finally got to open the present that has been in our basement for weeks on end, he was super-excited! I have no idea why he liked this particular truck so much - I think it's really meant for a 2 year old, but he loved it nonetheless!

After the present, off to school we went since Mommy has only so many personal leave days. After a half-day, though, I picked up both boys for lunch and a quick nap at home before our big birthday day! Grayson was so excited that he couldn't fall asleep in his room so he ended up napping on the sofa. So adorable! Just as precious as four years earlier when I watched him nap in my arms for the first time ever!

Once naps were done we loaded up for a afternoon filled with......bowling. Grayson got to choose the activity and bowling was his top choice.

Luke was doing OK, but quickly decided he'd had enough of bowling and we caught him napping on the ballshooter....

Both grandma's tried their hands at bowling. We had to keep an eye on my Mom because she once let the ball go and it went backwards - not down the lane!

I think we all gave Grayson some of our turns so who really "won" is still up for grabs, but according to the scoreboard Steve ended up with the most points - a 100 even. We were all wondering if anyone was going to break into triple digits! After the bowling round was done we headed into the arcade for a bit. Let's just say that all drivers should be glad that Grayson has another 12 years before driving.

Back at home we had pizza and cake - Mickey, of course!

And more presents! This dump truck from Caitlin was a big hit!

And tools from Mimi and Poppaw!

My Mom gave Grayson a kids camera - I'll have to post some of his pictures one day. He's having fun staging his toys for "special shots." I think he's taken like 25 pictures of his crane.

And his "big" gift from Mommy and Daddy was a new bike! It was pretty clear early on that Grayson was going to need a pretty serious bike. After a day or two to adjust to the new bigger size, he's already back at the top of his game with this one!