Layton's 4th Birthday!

Layton turned FOUR on June 21st.  My baby is getting so big.  Since his birthday was on a Saturday, Mimi and Pappaw came up.  We went low key this year.  We went to Chuck E Cheese and let the kids just play games.  They had a blast--Layt especially!  Perfect!

I LOVE this picture.  Precious boy.

After all the games, we went to Larry's Pizza to eat.  Layton loves their pizza and we wanted to let Mimi and Pappaw experience Larry's!  We love Larry's!

When we got home we sang Happy Birthday and let him open his presents.  Since Layton's favorite food is fruit, I made another fruit pizza.  He also loves Paw Patrol and so I decorated it with Paw Patrol figurines.

So excited!!

It is so fun to watch his excitement!

His money flew on the floor when he opened his card.

Big 4 year old!

Layton,

If I had to use one word to describe you right now it would be precious.  I love you so much, buddy.  Here are some other words that I could use as well:

**Helper - You love to help out.  You thrive on it I think.  I enjoy watching you help your dad with firewood or be right there with him when he is working on or fixing something.  I love seeing you follow along with your mower as one of us mows the yard.  Recently you want to help me cook all the time.  You want to chop veggies, crack eggs, stirs things, or set the table.  You are great about going and getting something if we ask you to and pretty good at cleaning up (most of the time).  You love to vacuum and dust when I am cleaning.  You are our big helper!  My prayer is that this love of helping will grow into helping others in much bigger ways one day!

**Confident -  You think you can do anything that your siblings can do.  You have tackled swimming with no fear and great confidence.  I pray that you always believe in yourself and work hard at things.

**Expressive - The faces that you make when you are talking about something are something that I never want to forget.  Your eyes get really big and you talk so big.  You can hear the excitement in your voice.  You really know how to get joy out of things and show it.  I love that and pray that this is always the case.  Finding joy in life (especially in the little things) is so very important.

**Loving - You give hugs and kisses easily.  You say things that are so sweet.  You love your brother and sister.  You love to cuddle.  I love when you reach over and put your hand on my arm or hold my hand when we are sitting next to each other or I am reading to you.  I pray that you always show love easily with your actions and your words.

**My buddy - I know you love being with me and I am going to miss you so much this fall when you start preschool 3 mornings a week.  This is your first year of preschool and it means that little by little you will begin to get more and more independent of me and oh how I will miss you.  My prayer, though, is that you always know that I am here for you and that one day when you are grown we will still be buddies.

Well, these are just a few words to describe you, Layton.  Here are just a few other random things I want to remember about you at this age:

** You love to say the prayer at the dinner table.  You are always the first one to raise your hand.  Somethings you pray for are:  Mommy, Daddy, Hannah, Lincoln, Grandma and Grandad, Mimi and Pappaw, "help the people in the hospitals to get better", "help God not die on the cross", "our friends", "our dogs" (even though you have just one), "Dash", and "help Hannah and/or Lincoln to have a better attitude".

** You and Lincoln have a hard time going to sleep some nights because you goof off in your beds.

** You still love any fruit.  That is probably all you'd eat if I'd let you.  You are a pretty good eater, but really want the "snack" (dessert) at the end.  So, if you don't particularly like what we are having, you will sometimes eat it anyway just so you can have dessert.  Sometimes you don't eat it right then, but will come back an hour later and decide to eat it even though you don't like it just so you can have dessert.

** You are very inquisitive--especially in the car.  Oh my goodness at the questions you (and your brother) ask me.  It is exhausting.  :-)  I want to start writing them down, but it is hard because I am driving.  One day in Chickfila you asked "Mom, why is this building made of bricks?"  Ha!  Why, why, why?  Lots of whys!

** You are really liking Legos, especially Lego Duplos.  You love to come show me what you have made.  I think you get this from Lincoln.  You get so excited telling me about your creations.

** You love to watch tv.  You are into Lego shows, Twisted Whiskers, Zig and Sharko--mostly shows that Lincoln watches.  You don't really watch many baby shows anymore.  

** You love to be outside.  You have finally learned to ride your training wheel bike!  It took awhile for you to get the hang of it, but now you really enjoy riding your bike.  You also still LOVE to ride the four wheeler with Pappaw.  You beg to do it all the time while there.
  

** You rarely ever take naps, but I think you still really need to most days.

** You still love cars, trucks, and tractors.

** You can throw some doozy fits when you don't get your way.  We are working on this!  You are still mostly a very sweet boy though!

Layton, I love you at four!  You are so fun and so so sweet!