Caleb's 4th Birthday Weekend!

Caleb's 4th birthday fell on Sunday, July 8. So, we had the opportunity to celebrate with him all weekend long. On Saturday evening, Caleb requested that we eat at Infinito's Pizza Buffet, which we agreed to. He loves the alfredo pizza there and plain noodles. The other boys also enjoy it, and they all usually eat very nicely and behave well when we go there. Afterward, I suggested that we take Caleb shopping for his birthday gifts from us. He's a hard one to nail down on gift ideas, and any that I had for him I had given away. So, I thought some one-on-one shopping time would actually thrill him where he got to choose some gifts. We stopped at Five Below, and I told Shawn he could go in along while I waited with the other kiddos in the car. Both Daddy & son were thrilled to go into the store together. Caleb picked an angry birds ball, a water shooter, a sports cup with juice in it and a candy snack. I'm trying to remember if that was it. My little buddy loved picking out some things by himself. :) :) :)

 When we got home, he asked if the whole family could play Wii. I knew Mamaw had gotten him a controller for his birthday, so I said he could open just one gift the night before his birthday. He was ECSTATIC to find a Wii remote and nunchuck to get to play Wii together with all of us. So, that's how we finished Saturday night. :)

Sunday morning, we let him pick our activities for the day. First, we let him open his gifts. He received money from Jamie's mom in a card, which I thought was very sweet.

 Next, he opened his gifts from Mamaw & Papaw from Florida. There was a toothbrush and paste:

 My favorite was when he said "Oh, look, a box!" He was just as thrilled to have a box as his gift!

 Don't you love that he wanted to wear his hat that morning?

 We read him his cards:

 And he was excited for another box!

 He received some socks and some Batman undies.

 And he got a new outfit.

 I loved the pictures of him opening his gifts:

 He asked if he could put on a pair of the new undies and his new outfit right away. We said sure.

 So, he changed for the next pictures. He opened the rest of the presents from Mamaw then, including a new game for his Leapster (thanks!). Joshua immediately asked if he could play it, and Caleb let him. :) :) :)

Shawn baked a coffee cake for breakfast. I asked Caleb if he wanted to bake a cake together or if he wanted a store-bought cake. His response was a store-bought cake. So, after Five Below the night before, he and Shawn went into Giant (right next door) to grab a small store-bought cake (since we weren't having a big party, we didn't want a lot of leftovers, but I know they sell small cakes). Once inside the store, Caleb picked out a chocolate ice cream pie instead (???). So, Shawn decided to bake this for breakfast so we could have him blow out his candles:

 We all sang to Caleb that morning.

 And he made a wish and blew out his big four candles.

Next, we headed to Talmage Park to play. Caleb didn't want to pose for any pictures, but I got a couple of Joshua there.

 

 While we were there, a little boy came to the playground dressed in a costume complete with mask and gloves. Joshua & Caleb were on two different pieces of equipment at the time, and the boy went up to Caleb and we didn't hear what he said, but Caleb's response was "NO, I DON'T WANT TO PLAY WITH YOU!!! GET AWAY FROM ME!!!" I was disappointed in his response, but I think the other little boy scared him in his mask. The boy kept following him and looked really lonely (his mom was on her cell phone), so we suggested that Joshua go up and ask his name and play with him. But, both my kids wanted to play with each other. We talked about how we could do better in teaching them. Shawn said the kid did look strange all dressed up, but it made me feel bad to see a kid playing by himself. :( But, it was Caleb's birthday so we just decided to continue on and use it as a future lesson.

That evening we asked Caleb what else he'd like to do, and he picked McDonald's play land. So, we let them eat chicken nuggets and french fries and play at the indoor playground of McDonald's.

They had a great time there, and we were surprised at how full it was.

When we got home, we all enjoyed some of Caleb's chocolate birthday ice cream pie thing that he picked out.

I think even without a big party, he had a great time! Later that week, he received a butterfly garden from Grandpa Georgia along with a bell for his bike (that he was thrilled with!) and even a new Cars2 toy set from our friends Chris & Lisa, Isabella & Aiden. I think he had a great 4th birthday weekend!

Happy birthday, my little Caleb Luke!