He's four!

Yes, he's four! The dark haired baby that melted our hearts when we first met him has blessed us beyond words and humbled us continually, and he is now officially four.

Happy birthday, lil' man!

Party time!

After some time in the water, everyone came in for some supper - hamburgers and hot dogs from the grill. We also had potato salad, chips, beans and watermelon! Nothing like a yummy summer meal to celebrate a birthday!

Here's some of the boys at the kids' table. Baylen was sure loving something!

The birthday boy and his best buddy

Daddy and Granny were talking it all over at the kitchen table.

There's the cake again. Cash was super excited to blow out the candles and dig in!

This little guy is such a goof ball!

Yes, we had streamers, balloons and a birthday sign - nothing too hard, but it makes it festive, right?

Cash's favorite - presents!

And we also had silly faces with cousin Josh!

Make a wish!

He talked all week about wanting to lick the icing off the bottom of the candle ... it's the little things.

Ms. Bobbi, his Sunday school teacher, saw this picture and said, "If his smile got any bigger, I think his face might crack." I agree! :)

Our little family - with a two year-old and a four year-old! Wow, how did that happen?

I had to include this picture. Karalee was helping take pictures, but she also wanted a piece of cake. After the shutter snapped to take this picture (see her other hand on the plate?) it landed icing down on the counter. Oops!

Present time!

Silly faces here ...

more silly faces here ...

and one more silly face here! 

He was even eager to open the cards. I, of course, had to read them to him, but he liked looking at the names.

Here I am reading one to him. I love how I'm always in the opening-presents-pictures. 

*note the sarcasm*

Kennick entertained us with song as we watched Cash open presents. :)

Smiles from Grammy and Grandad!

Yay! A giant fire truck floor puzzle from Bubba, O and Kennick!

Aunt Kaffy got the birthday boy (and little brother) lots of dinosaurs!

She also got Cash a combine! Note the face-cracking smile again! :)

Cousin Josh (who works at John Deere) helped him get it out of the box.

Wow! Monster trucks from Grammy and Grandad!

And another floor puzzle, this time Finn McMissile, from Baylen!

Hugs to everyone!

More thank-you hugs!

And another one for Gran-Granny! What a fun night!

Water party!

As I posted earlier, we decided to only fill the pool up part of the way so all the boys could play easily before Cash's party. Cash still loved floating around on his ring, but all four of them could stand. I decided to get in, though, just in case. They splashed around for a bit while the "grown-ups" watched and Heath cooked the burgers.

Cash had his water cannon, and was ready for attack!

Nick was armed with the other one. As you can see here, Cash was a pretty good aim.

A big, crooked grin from the birthday boy!

New rule: Mommy doesn't want to get squirted.

It was only a matter of time until everyone wanted in on the water fight!

Yes, all the boring grown-ups just watched from the sidelines. :)

*sigh* This boy loves some baseball!

Finn McMissile cake

I'll admit it. I think I get more excited about the boys' birthday cakes than they do. It's something that I splurge on, but their reaction + the delicious taste + the creativity and detail = completely worth it to me!

This year, Cash wanted a Finn McMissile cake. (If you remember, Cash wanted a Cranky the Crane cake. Obviously, my oldest never chooses the main character, Thomas or Lightning McQueen, as his favorite.) Tammy, our super-wonderful cake making friend, did not disappoint this year. Take a look!

Huge smile! He loved it!

Finn McMissile was made out of rice krispy treats and covered with fondant. Lightning and Mater at the bottom were toys from Cash's collection. 

Every detail was perfect, and with a chocolate chip layer and a white layer, it was incredibly yummy, too!

She even looked up some Japanese to include on the cake. The first says Auto Repair, while the other says Gasoline for $1.00. Hilarious!

She even included Big Ben. I tell you, she's awesome!

A big (wet and fun) idea!

Yes, we had an idea to buy a bigger pool to enjoy for the rest of the summer, and Saturday afternoon, after paddling, we acted on that idea, bought one and started putting in together. We had been thinking about it for a few weeks. We talked with some friends who have one, asked lots of questions, looked around at prices, and one trip to Toys R Us, and it was a done deal. The boys were so excited! (Heath and I were eager to get it up and filled, too.)

After naps, the boys helped Heath put it all together.

Lots of pieces and books (yes, more than one) of instructions. Thankfully, our friend Bryan had put his together every year for the past four years and was a pro at it. We had him on the phone during each step, and it cut down time down to about an hour!

Woo hoo! It was loads of fun before we even had it up!

We let the boys run around it in while it was filling up. Brr! That water was cold, but they didn't seem to mind!

Excited! We were having Cash's birthday party the next day, so we planned a sort-of-pool-party with family!

We only filled it up about two feet at first, we wanted it to get a bit warmer for the boys to play in at the party. Later, we finished filling it up, and now it's complete. Yay for lots of pool fun the rest of the summer!