Happy Birthday, My Little Sonny Boy

Little man turned 4 today.

It makes me both happy and sad. 4 seems so old. He's no longer a toddler. He's a little boy. I have to register him for kindergarten(!) in 10 months. Where did the time go? But on the other hand, it is so much fun seeing his personality develop. Patrick is really such a sweet little boy. He's polite, and a good friend, and loves his sister to death. He loves to tell jokes, his favorite being one he wrote himself, and is best repeated very loudly and very quickly... We go to school at 20 o'clock! Laugh hysterically. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

It's hard to believe I've been a mom for 4 years. It seems like just yesterday we were blessed with this amazing little baby boy. I was so scared about having a baby, let alone having a baby boy. What did I know about boys? I really and truly believe Patrick came into our lives to teach us. Patience, humility, understanding, unconditional love, faith... all things taught to me by my son. He's a blessing and a joy, and every day we are thankful to have him.

So how does a newly 4 year old boy roll? With a bowling party of course! Imagine 14 3 and 4 year old with 6 pound balls in matching shoes. It was a miracle no fingers were lost. It was a little chaotic, but the kids seemed to have a complete blast. They all seemed to have the most fun running in circles around the table after cake. Go figure.

Molly helped to keep score

The cake was from one of the very few Carvel's on the West Coast. Yummo!



Today, we let Patrick decide what he wanted to choose and he chose a trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium (surprise, surprise!). The weather has been absolutely gorgeous and summer like for the last few days and today was no exception. It was one of those rare 80 degree days at the beach, just perfect for a birthday celebration and some ice cream! Patrick even wore his new "Super Patrick" cape we gave him for his birthday.

Patrick with his seafood lunch. Seafood...see food...get it? I crack myself up. Now I know where he gets it from.