Happy Birthday, Kyle!

The big day is FINALLY here! After months of waiting and weeks of counting down (we had a paper chain with at least 35 links on it), Kyle's 4th birthday has finally arrived! With so many cousins and friends having birthdays this summer, Kyle thought it would never be his turn. In fact, we made him wait to open presents until Grandpa Russell was home from work and it almost put him over the edge. At one point, he threw himself on the bed and hysterically cried, "This is so HORRIBLE! This is horrible! I always have to wait! I am TIRED of waiting!" Luckily, the moment the presents were opened, all of agony was a distant memory.

Kyle decorating his cake. Given my controlling tendencies, I'm sure you're all surprised I let him have a hand in the decorating. However, I'd already destroyed the thing so I figured he couldn't make it any worse. And he LOVED decorating.

Family tradition: Hide & Seek with the presents. You don't get them until you find them!

Each and every present was met with delight. Among the exclamations were heard:

"Oh wow! I always wanted one of these!"

"Oh my gosh! I've never had one of these before in my whole entire life!"

"You knew just what I wanted!"

Probably the last time in his life he'll proudly show off new underwear...

In case you couldn't tell, there was an unplanned theme to this birthday: All things Spiderman! Perhaps it has something to do with his complete obsession with super heroes.

One satisfied dude, sitting in the middle of his goods.

The finished product. Like I said, pretty ugly, but Kyle was happy and that's all that matters. He even told me, "Wow, that looks like a pretty yummy cake, mommy." And isn't the taste all that matters?

It's almost beyond comprehension that our little guy is 4-years-old. Each and every day I think to myself how I lucky I am to have him. And as much fun as his birthday was, he turned to me today and said, "I don't want to to turn 5, mom, because then I'll have to go to Kindergarten and I won't be with you." Yup, we just won't think about that right now.