Birthday Recap

Yesterday we celebrated Garrison's 4th birthday as a family. Things didn't go exactly as planned due to Austin not feeling good, BUT, Garrison still seemed to love everything about his special day and that was our goal from the beginning. All in all it turned out pretty great.

 

 

The birthday boy woke up around 7:30 and was greeted by mama and daddy wishing him a happy birthday and a trail of balloons leading to the kitchen. Breakfast is the first thing on both of my boys' minds the second they wake up. 

 

 

Gathering up most of his balloons. The balloons were a big hit! This may have to become a tradition...

 

His next surprise of the morning was breakfast... Daddy got doughnuts the night before and yesterday morning Garrison got to pick out the one he wanted for breakfast. Chocolate with sprinkles please!Then we put candles in it and sang happy birthday to him. His expression while we sang was precious. LOVE!

 

Then he blew out the candles and enjoyed his first ever whole doughnut. It took a while to consume but he made sure to finish every bite and crumb. 

 

And declared it good. =)

Before daddy left for work and Austin woke up the 3 of us played with balloons together and tried not to let them touch the floor. Garrison loved it. =)

Once Austin woke up and finished breakfast I decided he wasn't feeling his best and that we'd need to stay close to home and try to let him take a good morning nap. But before Austin's nap I asked Garrison what he wanted to do. His only request, I want to play with you and Austin today. So sweet. And play is what we did. A lot. Huge messes were made... as displayed below. We had to have a major clean-up time before afternoon naps.

After Austin decided not to take much of a morning nap (he was congested and just couldn't get comfortable and settled) and after an unfortunate incident with a poo poo diaper that left me cleaning it up off the floor, I was starting to feel super guilty. And like Garrison wasn't having a special day at all. Thank goodness I came to my senses and snapped out of it pretty quick. The Lord reminded me that the day was about Garrison, not me and my expectations. He was having fun. He was getting to do the one thing he requested and he was happy. He didn't care about poop on the floor or anything. Ha!

After a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up what we'd need for his birthday supper request (spaghetti), I let him choose any "drive-thru" he wanted for lunch. Taco Bell it is! We had a good lunch and early naps before heading out to run one more errand. And apparently all the birthday celebrating had worn out the little man. I was shocked he fell asleep in the car... especially since he'd just finished "rest time".

After we got home he just wanted to go outside and play. And thankfully the weather was nice so we were able to enjoy lots of time of outside. He was super photogenic and cooperative with having his picture made because I told him I needed lots of pictures of my big 4 year old. =)

Normally when we play outside in the afternoons the mail is delivered so we always walk down and get it together. Yesterday when we checked the mail there was a special delivery for Garrison... a "sticker card" from Granna and Papa. Garrison was thrilled. He immediately ran up the driveway, sat down in his car, and got to work on those stickers. It was so funny. 

Garrison also got several phone calls yesterday... from his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, and even from AnAn's class at big school! Her whole class sang him happy birthday. I think he felt pretty special with all the extra attention. He didn't know what to think talking on the phone all day!
He enjoyed all his special meals, lots of play time, the balloons, the phone calls, the card. He had a really fun day.

It's hard to believe my baby is 4. (Do all moms view their big kids or even grown kids as their baby still? Ha) I was having flashbacks all day yesterday of what I was doing 4 years ago. Waiting for him to arrive, his tough delivery, holding him, introducing him to family. It was definitely (and always will be) a very special day.

Now we're getting ready to celebrate again this weekend with his first ever "friend" party. It should be lots of fun! (Which means I need to go get busy crossing things off my to-do list!)