Boy Howdy Turns 4

This Sweetheart just turned 4. He has been looking forward to it for some months and been counting the days. His disappointment at having to go to church on his birthday was major. Why couldn't we bring his presents to church? Did we really have to go to ALL THREE hours? Why did we have to wait until daddy came home from his extra meeting? Thankfully it was his turn to say the prayer in primary (his prayer was to thank Heavenly Father for his birthday, for presents and for church) and we had a birthday cake to decorate to pacify him. That and he got to open one of his presents before church that he got to take with him.

The cake: My sister-in-law lets her children decorate their own cake with the candy of their choice. Sounded like an awesome option to me! So after going to the store to pick out his candy earlier in the week, Boy Howdy got to decorate his birthday cake and was so very proud of the end result. I was kind of surprised he didn't add more candy to it. But that just meant more candy to eat later.

Presents: When Matthew finally came home we opened the rest of his presents, this tornado simulator being one of the favorites. Why, I will never know. I wanted to get him all number of other presents, but for the last several months he has been asking for and talking about this tornado simulator (really just a battery-operated whirlpool) that he hoped to get for his birthday. He and Cheeks were mesmerized by it for the longest time. Baffling to me, but mesmerizing to them. 

Not pictured is a robot his Grandmother Marler gave him that definitely won the prize for most loved present of the day.

 Another present was a junior science kit. All children might be budding scientists, but it is especially true of this little boy. It has been fun to try the different experiments in the kit and let Boy Howdy test things out, "hey, let's see what happens when we add baking powder to this."

We love this little boy. He is inquisitive, wants to be obedient, is getting very competitive, loves all things shorts and short-sleeves, and loves making "armies" out of just about anything he can find. Lego space-ships (no matter what the lego creation is, it's a spaceship), k'nex robots, cars, or even just lumps of playdough. They are all part of his army. He loves cuddling and kissing his mama. Loves playing with his sister and friends and is an overall good little boy.