Blake's birthday fell on a Monday and Wyatt and Sadie were off school, so it worked out perfectly for us to all meet up with Matt for a birthday lunch for Blake. His choice? Sushi--granted it was just sushi at Kowalskis, but it was sushi nonetheless. He is our only child that likes sushi, thus far, and it always reminds me of the time when my mom was shopping with Blake and I and he asked for sushi for lunch--her jaw just about hit the floor!
Other than a special lunch, the rest of the day was a pretty normal day. But Blake did think it was fun to have Wyatt and Sadie home all day for his birthday!
And since we don't really do birthday parties until the kids turn 5 and then they get a friend party every other year, it was just the five of us for Blake's birthday. And especially at this age, it's so much more fun to be able to focus on the birthday kid as opposed to being so consumed with food and guests!
Wyatt and Sadie picked out a few gifts especially from them….
TicTacs (orange, of course!)
Sadie got him a Letter Factory spelling tool, which helps work on spelling many three-letter words by flipping letter cards over…..she thought it would be perfect for her to be able to teach Blake! (Possibly more of a gift for her than him, but she really was thinking of him when she picked it out!)
And this was the best reaction I have seen Blake have yet! Both Wyatt and Sadie have book lights that they use to read with at night, so we got one for Blake. But as is the case with many colored items, they don't come in orange (you'd be surprised how hard it is to find things that are orange!). His face here shows his disappointment with the blue light….
..fighting back the disappointment and trying to warm up to the idea of a blue light, now knowing that they don't make it in orange (how orange ever became his favorite color I have no idea!)
And the highly anticipated gift--a new booster seat for the car now that he's 4 years old!!
(the magic age at which you are no longer required to be in a 5-point harness)
And then Daddy's special gifts for him….(Matt's gifts for the kids are never wrapped and usually brought out last, directly from his car---Matt has turned it into quite a tradition that the kids think is so great and exciting!) And Wyatt was with Matt when he got these, so he got to be in on the surprise...
..love the anticipation and smiles on Blake and Sadie's faces
New skates!!! (technically not new thanks to Play-It-Again, but new to Blake and the laces were new!)
And the last gift….
(he did such a great job keeping his eyes covered)
And I think based on his reaction, that he was most excited about this gift--a new hockey stick!
Then on to cake…Blake wanted the guitar cake this year
Notice the giant finger swipe out of the frosting from earlier in the day
And this year his choice of cake color was green (we did orange last year so we had to change it up, right?)
1. His favorite color is orange and although we aren't sure why he ever picked it, Wyatt was the first to notice when Blake was only about 18 mos. old and Wyatt (my most observant kid) pointed out that whenever given a color choice on anything, Blake always chose orange.
2. His is very passionate--about just about everything! From wrestling with Wyatt, to any form of competition to singing and dancing, there is no lack of enthusiasm and gumption from this kid.
3. He isn't in preschool yet (next year) but does go to Mom's Day Away at the kids' school on Wednesdays.
4. He can write his name but has no interest in writing any other letters yet.
5. He's great at math and loves counting to 100 by 1s or 10s--just ask and he'll be happy to do it for you!
6. He plays great with both Wyatt and Sadie, but usually separately. He loves to play any/all sports with Wyatt and wrestle and race around the house, but is also happy to play school or house with Sadie. In fact Wyatt and Sadie often fight over who gets Blake to play with them and they get so upset when the other one 'steals' him away.
7. He only naps about 3 days a week and doesn't get too grumpy unless he's hungry. On our recent ski trip out west, we quickly realized that if he seems tired or lacking energy, all he needs is food and then he's back at 100%.
8. He is BY FAR our most sound sleeper---he never wakes up to anything!
9. He will take a nap anywhere if he's tired--under a table, on a couch or chair--he'll just grab a blanket and lay down, regardless of how many people are around and how much activity is going on
10. Any physical activity seems to come quite easily to him for two reasons (1) he has a great sense of balance, coordination and body awareness but also (2) he is quite competitive and doesn't want to lose
11. He can swim almost a full length of the pool on his own
12. He is anxious for warmer weather so he can get back to riding his two-wheeler and wake boarding, but he still wants to be able to snow ski (hmmmmm…)
13. He is hilarious and most nights at the dinner table, he is the one causing the most laughter
A little story to illustrate how hilarious he is (often times without trying, but then eating up the attention and laughter for as long as possible). …we were sitting in the chalet at Afton Alps last monday since the kids were off school and Blake walked over and picked up a juice box and brought it back to our table. I immediately said, "Blake, you can't take that….that's stealing"
Blake replied, "I've never tried stealing before"
So of course I then said, "Well Blake, I'm glad! You should never try stealing!"
Blake: "But I want to try stealing!"
Me:"What? No you don't! It's wrong!"
And then I notice Wyatt laughing hysterically and I turned to Wyatt to see what was so funny. Of course Wyatt realized something that I had failed to see and told me, "Mom, he thinks the drink is called stealing!" Wyatt, Sadie and I could barely contain our laughter over the situation and poor Blake just wanted some juice!
14. Blakes loves yogurt, milk, apples and any type of 'snack'…..definitely the biggest snacker in our house and therefore eats the least amount of food at meals
15. Blake doesn't like meat
16. He does the Puggles program at AWANA on Wednesday nights and loves his teacher, Mrs. Jodi.
17. He knows the 10 commandments from the GoFish song and every time I tell him we are going to take a nap, he says, "No Mom. Only on Sunday. Because on Sunday we take a rest."
18. Despite being rough and aggressive at times, he's also a softy who gives amazing hugs and kisses!
We are so thankful for the blessing of having Blake in our family and couldn't imagine how dull things would be around here without his excitement and zest for life. Happy Birthday Blakers!
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