Happy 4th Birthday Kyle!

Pictures:

* Kyle & Logan at birthday celebration #1 - LOVE this picture, just wish it wouldn't have been in the garage :-)

* Kyle thanking his brothers & sister for their birthday gift

* Kyle opening his Spider Man present from Aunt Kris & Uncle Mark

* Bowling with his BFF's, Drew & Jackson

* Kyle eating cake at birthday celebration #2

* Kyle & daddy with his birthday cupcake at birthday celebration #4 showing off his Cat in the Hat cupcake!

So you see, since we've had such a busy summer, Kyle got to celebrate his 4th birthday four times! Normally he would celebrate it a few times (in Illinois and at home) but this year, Ed & I were out of town the weekend of his birthday so we didn't have a normal birthday party. Therefore, we celebrated:

1. In Champaign with family - over the July 4th weekend, we always celebrate Kyle & Logan's birthday together as they are only 12 days apart. We had a fun BBQ with family and the kids had cake and opened presents. Kyle loves hanging out with Logan and they had the best time, as always! It was SUCH a hot weekend but so much fun.

2. At home on his actual birthday with friends who were visiting from Kansas City - Kyle's birthday was on Monday this year, and Ed & I had just returned from a wedding in St. Louis. Kyle woke up on Monday morning and we let him open a few gifts that were mailed to him, along with gifts from the triplets. Cheryl made Kyle a fabulous cake and we enjoyed it that evening (along with pizza - birthday dinner of choice!) with our dear friends, the Schrag's, who were visiting after moving away 8+ years ago. They were so sweet and brought an awesome Toy Story Lego gift for Kyle and he played with his new friends :-) GREAT birthday celebration for Kyle AND us!

3. With his BFF's Jackson & Drew for pizza and at the bowling alley - later in the week, since we were leaving for vacation on the following Saturday, we decided to invite Kyle's buddies, Jackson & Drew out for pizza and bowling. Although the boys beat him at bowling, he still had a great time (since his daddy took top honors - nerd!). Thanks Blasy's for a fun evening and awesome gifts :-)

4. At my parents when my brother & family were here - the final celebration was at my parents after we returned from vacation. This was our last night with Brian, Elena, Lila & Kira and we made cupcakes for the occasion. Kyle had watched Cat in the Hat and wanted pink cupcakes with purple frosting, as he saw it in the movie! Lila had been practicing all week singing Happy Birthday :-)

Kyle's 4 year old stats:

* 33.3 lbs (24th percentile)

* 3 ft 3" tall (31st percentile)

* 20/20 vision (let's hope this stays that way!) - it was so cute watching him do the vision test and he was so proud of himself that he kept getting the rows correct! It was fun watching him cover each eye and giggle as he went along.

Kyle is NOT a toddler anymore. He's turned into a big kid overnight! He uses such big words/phrases, is such a loving, patient (most of the time, anyways!) big brother and I'm so proud to call him my big boy :-)

Here are a few of my favorite things that Kyle's doing/saying these days:

* A few of his favorite things to eat:

- Peanut Jelly & Sandwich. He forgets about the peanut "butter" part and it's so cute!

- Calls Gatorade "Rator Gade"!

- Loves cheese sticks. Could eat one EVERY DAY.

- He's still a great eater, although when I make him try something (one bite!), he's thrown up from carrots and now sweet potatoes. Maybe it's an orange thing...

- Cheetos! Who doesn't love them?!

* Some of the things that come out of his mouth...

- He'll start sentences with "Actually..."

- Over the last month the funniest things come out of his mouth. We were recently at Target and Brooke saw something on an endcap that she wanted. Kyle said, "good eye, Brookie! I didn't see that myself!" A woman who was standing near us stopped and started cracking up!

* Being the big brother (aka Ky Ky) means...

- Teaching the babies new games. Kyle made up a game called bop, bop, bop (who knows where the name came from but cute that it has a name :-) . He'll take a jump rope, string, etc and have someone take an end. He'll then run around the house with one end while they follow with the other. They all know the game now and will request to play with him. Ryan seems to be the biggest fan...or biggest sucker :-)

- Teaching the babies how to scream. We'll be sitting at dinner and he'll just scream, very loud. This, of course, gets ALL THREE of them to scream back, as he got a reaction! OMG...let's hope this ends soon! It's even worse when we're out to dinner!

Kyle is still a wild and crazy boy at home but very shy and timid when we're at school, with other kids, etc. I'm still hoping he'll "break out of his shell" one of these days. I love this kid SO much. He brings a smile to my face every day, especially when I think about how long we waited for him. Can't believe he is four years old already! Time definitely flies when you're having fun. Happy Birthday my sweet boy.