Oliver's Fourth Birthday

Turning Four is a big deal and after month of anticipation, we were close enough to have a count down. Oliver had his countdown on one side of his board and Kellan rearranged magnetic letters on the other side.

With less than two weeks until the big day we created a calendar for Oliver to mark off every day.  With only a few days remaining, the excitement was nearly irresistible.

The night before Oliver's birthday, we decorated two dozen Spider-man cupcakes for Oliver to take to school.  He had his choice of frosting color and he picked red.  Do you know how much food coloring it takes to make red frosting?  A whole lot!  Do you know how good it tastes?  After Oliver licked the spoon clean he said it was So Good!

Oliver helped put the Spider-man candies on the cupcakes.

This was a very delicate process.  His Mommy is very glad that he is so detail oriented because she was having slight anxiety watching the process as she had a vision of perfection in her head.

Some things are a match made in heaven and often times that is Oliver and Mommy's ambition for perfection.  (of course, there are times when this trait and the two of us are a complete disaster that buts heads straight on.)  Oliver was very careful to makes sure that each cupcake had the perfect finishing touch.

Oliver was very proud of the cupcakes and he couldn't wait to take them to school for all of his friends.

The cupcakes were perfect and fit for a classroom full of Pre-Kindergartners and a few teachers.

On October 14, 2011, Oliver woke up with a special surprise.

A birthday gift greeting!

He was very excite to open it!

What could it be?

Whoa!  Spider-Man!

Spider-Man was a big hit and was picked out special for him by his Daddy.

As a new experiment (every year seems to be a new idea and a new experiment) we had Oliver's party the very evening of his birthday.  After a very full day at school, complete with special Spider-Man cupcakes, we gathered his buddies Owen and Charlie and headed off to Jump Street.  Oliver was fired up to have both of his friends in the car on either side of him.

Jump Street was a blur of activity as the boys ran from here to there.

Even though these are trampolines meant for jumping on, the boys thought that they were fun to run on too.

They would run up to the top and then slide  back down.

Then run to the other side and touch the red pad.

Then they jumped in the middle for a while.

Then it was back to running and touching the red pads.

After encouraging them to keep racing to the red pads for 45 minutes, their observant guardian (AKA Oliver's Mom) noticed the big bold letters that said DO NOT TOUCH THE RED PADS.  Ooops!

In between jumping, running and breaking the rules to touch the red pads, the boys would go down the jumpy castle slides.  This is Charlie flying into a landing.

Then it was back to the trampolines again to run up and slide back down.

Yes, this is before we noticed the big bold sign.  All three boys are very competitive with each other so they loved racing up to the red pad.

Just before we left the boys played on the big alligator slide.

Then for good measure, they wrestled the alligator slide a bit.

Looking back at this picture I notice that it appears that Owen has feet growing out the side of his leg.  Sorry Charlie!  Don't worry, no kids were hurt in the making of this photo and everyone got up laughing and smiling.

After an afternoon at Jump Street, the boys had an appetite of teenagers.  We were off to Oliver's favorite, Red Robin, YUM!

Owen, Oliver and Charlie had a great time exploring their goodie bags.

Hey look, it's a Ham Fam party at Red Robin.

Owen, Oliver, Charlie and Keith on the left.

Kellan and .... who's that... Nana and Papa!!

Nana and Papa were in town for Keith's cousin's wedding the following day so they joined us for the birthday celebration at Red Robin!

Nana enjoyed getting some snuggles in with Kellan.

Sometimes I wonder if I have two kids or three!

Do I really need to explain further?

On another note: the boys all wanted strawberry smoothies with their meal so they were double fisting it with water as well.

Need I say more (Mr Hamilton)??

Ahh Charlie... such a cutie pie!

Oliver enjoyed the special treat of two drinks as well.

Even Owen thought the Strawberry smoothie was pure delight.

All three boys were anxious to dive into their dinners.  Owen dined on Mac and Cheese while Oliver and Charlie thought that the Corn Dogs were lip smacking good.

Kellan and Mommy thought that the party was so fun that we should throw in some jazz hands.

I just love this cheesy grin.  Don't you just want to squeeze it?  I do each and every day!

What What What!  Spider-Man finger puppets that you can eat????

Could this be the jackpot of goodie bag finds?!

Mmmmmm  Spider-Man's arm never tasted so good!

Then out of nowhere, Oliver's cake arrived with candles glowing and an entourage of wait staff serenading him with the Red Robin Happy Birthday.

Owen: What in the world is going on, Dude?

Oliver: Ahhh... I've been waiting for this all day.

Charlie: That guy on the right looks like he wants to eat my Spider-Man finger puppet.

In action!

Going for the candle blow-out!

Ahhh... cake time!

Oliver LOVED his cakes!  He got to pick it out himself and he was BEYOND thrilled with it.

Owen, Oliver and Charlie.

These three first met as infants at Primrose and have been friends ever since.

Happy 4th Birthday Oliver

Eating cake is serious business.

One King Soopers Spider-Man cake $25

One bite, maybe two from the birthday boy $Most Expensive Bite Ever

Pure Joy from the birthday boy that he got THE cake he wanted: PRICELESS

Mmmmm Yummy red frosting!

(once again, way more food coloring than anyone really wants to know)

Owen though the cake was quite delish.  Then, on the way home he told Keith "My belly hurts.  I think I ate too much cake."  Oops!

Keith trying to pass the bill off to Charlie.

Charlie telling Keith that he'll take that bill and raise him one finger of frosting.

(Red Robin didn't take frosting as payment so Keith paid anyway)

Looking back I wonder if this is about the time that Owen was thinking he had hit his max on birthday goodies.

Charlie is still going strong.  The kid who doesn't like chocolate sure did love the frosting that came with it.

Kellan was a birthday cake fan too.  He liked it so much that he put some in his hair to save for later.

What would a party be without opening gifts?  Oliver got to open the gifts from his buddies at dinner.  The first gift he opened was.... Spider-Man!

The next gift he opened was a Hot-Wheels race track and a few new cars.

Spider-Man and Hot-Wheels: his two favorite things!

Showing the Spider-Man around so that everyone can see it.

As the boys were distracted with the Hot Wheels gift, Kellan seized the opportunity and swiped the Spider-Man for observation.

The boys checking out Oliver's cool toys.

There were several phrases that contained the words "Dude" "Cool" "No Way" "Crazy".

After the VERY full day of festivities, Keith took the boys home.  The party was a big hit and everyone had a great time.

But Wait... the parties not over.

Nana and Papa came over to the house and Oliver got to open their gift as well.

Check it out, a new puzzle.  Thanks Nana and Papa.

He also got to open his gift bag from Mom, Dad and Kellan.

New Hot Wheels!

What else could possibly be in the Spider-Man bag?

Oh, Clothes.  Ya, ya, ya... that's Mom and Dad's job to give clothes for a birthday.  Yes, they went flying as he tore through to find other fun items like the Spider Man race car!

Oliver had a great birthday and it's amazing that he is already four years old.  He teaches us so much every day about how to have fun in most any situation.  He keeps us laughing with his witty sense of humor and quirky little smiles.  He keeps us entertained with his singing and dancing and he makes his brothers day by just walking into the room.  We love you very much Oliver and we couldn't be more proud.  The world is what you make of it and we know that yours will be amazing!