Rorys 4th Birthday Party

The Birthday Boy!! I cannot believe he is 4. (Ignore his ridiculously long hair. He is in dire need of a haircut which he will be getting - like it or not - tomorrow).

Here he is in his "party shirt" (I have no idea what makes a boy party shirt). We had a great party with his classmates and some family friends. We had it at Kidzfun, which is a woman who hosts kids parties and just has endless energy and love for kids. She memorizes up to 20 kids names as soon as they walk in, plays games with them, runs them around ragged, and then there is cake. What a great way to end the school vacation week. Despite some snow and tough roads we had 20 kids there and everyone seemed to have a great time.

What a big boy! He is

• "taking a break from CARS movie" and
• has decided, after a Xmas weekend viewing of all 3 original Star Wars movies, that he now likes Star Wars, the Clone Wars (even though we haven't watched the Clone Wars cartoons). He likes C3PO (b/c he's yellow), would have liked an R2D2 or Yoda cake (no chance I could have handled that), and thinks Jabba the Hut is scary (gross maybe, but scary?).
• He also is dabbling in Superheroes these days - Spidey mostly, but also Batman and an occasional Superman.
• He LOVES his friends at preschool, especially Evan (who loves Spidey, which I think is why Rory has leaned that way). They love each other so much that on most days one of them cries when they get separated to go home. Literally, they hug and start crying. One of the other parents, when asking me what Rory might like for his birthday, said that her husband shouted from the background "A framed picture of Evan!". It's a very public love they have. So cute. Shelagh had a fierce best friend at that age too. I'm glad he also likes some other kids too, but it is nice to see him make his first friend that wasn't a sibling of one of Shelaghs friends.
• He is still an incredibly picky eater (although when reading the Charlie and Lola book, "I will never not ever eat a tomato", he declares that he is not a fussy eater). He can inhale a man-sized breakfast, but will go days without eating a bite of dinner if it doesn't meet his particular tastes for the day.
• He adores both of his sisters and is constantly hugging and kissing Kelly and calling her "Kebsy or Shepsy, my baby".
• He is getting tall (almost the same size as Shelagh) and likes wearing "collared" shirts with his "worker boots".
• Every day he tells me I'm his love and assigns a number to it. For instance, "Mommy, you are my 18 love today". Or, "Mommy, you are my 7,8,9 love". It's heavenly. He also throws his arms around my neck and snuggles so tightly every night at bedtime. He is my angel boy and despite entering an annoying whining/screaming stage right now, I cannot get enough of him. Wow...4 years old.

P.S. - I had to also include this picture of Kelly b/c it's her first time with pigtails! Plus, the poncho was Shelaghs and it's just too cute. Check out her lounging move.

Special thanks to my niece, Madison, for taking complete care of Kelly yesterday so I could concentrate on the kids and picture taking.