Caleb has an early birthday

Caleb turns FOUR on July 18th.  I can't believe he's already four!  That means that when we go in for his well check in about 10 days we'll be doing KINDERGARTEN shots!  Holy cow!  Good thing he isn't my last baby or I might kinda freak out. :)

Because Travis is home this week & won't be here for Caleb's real birthday, we decided we would do his birthday party early.  Since I have Relay for Life nearly every day this week, we had to squeeze it in on Tuesday, July 10.  That means we were helping celebrate a birthday for FOUR days in a row!

This year Caleb was having a hard time deciding if he wanted a Spongebob cake or a Spiderman cake.  Despite my better judgement, I told him I really didn't want to do Spiderman again (he was a pain in the butt to do).  Spongebob wasn't a whole lot better though!  A few weeks ago he had talked about having a fire truck or tractor or Lightening Macqueen.  I already had those cake pans!  Why on earth I took him to Michaels to look at cake pans is beyond me!  Perhaps I can blame it on Relay brain?  Either way, his cake turned out cute.  I just need to remember that if I do this one again I need to be sure & make at least 1 batch of cupcakes to go with it.  If everyone we had invited showed up, we wouldn't have had cake for everyone!  As it was there wasn't any left over cake!

I decided I would finally buy him his much desired "dream lite".  I thought he would be so super excited about this gift.  Maybe I was hoping he'd be super excited about this gift.  Every time the stupid commercial comes on (for nearly a year now!) I have to hear about how much he wants a dream lite and how much he needs a dream lite.  This little bugger ran me $55 because I had to do expedited shipping (great planning mom). My parents went in on the gift with me so that made it not so bad.  His reaction to the gift wasn't what I had hoped though.  It was more of a "huh. cool.  moving on..."  He has slept with it both nights since he got it, but he hasn't raved over it like I thought he would.  I'm crossing my fingers it doesn't become just another stuffed animal in his bed in a week.

In case you're wondering, they are not the size of the big pillow pets.  Nope, they are the same size as the MINI pillow pets.  AND if you don't pay the $10 to upgrade, it only shows the stars on the ceiling & not the character of the dream lite.  I'm just sayin...

He got a few new books from his siblings

And the original Lorax movie.

New water guns to duel his brother with

A few new outfits & some treats from Grandpa & Grandma Bown

One of the treats my in laws gave him was a bag of fish crackers.  Fish crackers don't last long at our house.  Each kid can go through their own bag in a matter of minutes.  As soon as he saw that bag of fish crackers he was opening it as fast as he could.  He immediately stuffed a handful of fish in his mouth as I was lighting the cake....  

Notice those puffy cheeks?  That's not because he's gearing up to blow out candles.  That's because they are stuffed full of crackers!  I kept telling him, "Don't spit crackers on your cake!  Finish chewing your crackers up & swallow them before you blow out the candles!"

Brookelyn has recently decided that Grandpa Larry is a good buddy to have around.

I was excited to see Ashlee & her kids show up.  I thought they were leaving for Nebraska on Monday & didn't think they'd be around!  I was really glad I got to see them another time before they leave!  We don't get to see them too often because they travel the world! ;)  Rylee (in pink) & Caleb are only a month apart.

Ash's sister & her little boy came along too!  Parker is so stinkin' cute!  He's only about 3 weeks younger than Brookelyn & he's been walking for what seems like forever!  I wish she'd learn to walk already!

Apparently Parker thinks Sam's ok too

Parker, Rhett & Brookelyn were all sitting at the little bench we have in the backyard.  My Aunt Debbie noticed how much bigger Brookelyn's hands were than Rhett's.  It was too funny so we had to snap a picture! 

Clockwise from top: Parker (1 in June), Brookelyn (1 in May), Rhett (1 in November)

I'm glad I handed my camera over to my mom before I brought out the cake.  She took all the pictures for me!  

We had lots of fun & Caleb was spoiled!  He is so super excited about his new belt that Grandpa Russ made for him.  Grandpa Russ put a buffalo on it for him & 2 arrowheads.  It was funny when he looked at it because he thought the arrowheads were "fish!".  We need Grandpa to put a few more holes in the belt so we can cinch it up a little tighter, but he loves it & has worn it both days since getting it.

My Aunt Nikki & her two girls came a little later.  As we were talking she was telling me that when they went to pick out a gift for Caleb they were like, "What would Caleb like?  I have no idea!"  They ended up picking a Spiderman vehicle that came with a little Spiderman.  After his party was over I asked him, "What was the best part of your party?"  His response totally made me giggle, "When I got the Spiderman vehicle & Spiderman!"  Good job Snyder girls! :)

Some fun things about Caleb:

1-He is still a little Houdini!  That kid can hide like no body's business!  In fact, tonight Travis had been watching the boys & Brookelyn while I was at a Relay meeting with Sam.  As I got home they told me they couldn't find Caleb.  I unloaded my truck & started helping them look for him.  We looked up & down our street & in all his usual hiding places to no avail.  We had been to several neighbors & Sam was on her bike canvasing the neighborhood.  Nash had already checked downstairs.  I was starting to get a little frantic when I told Travis to go back inside & check the basement again.  A minute later he comes to the door & yells, "Mis!  Come here."  I asked him if he found Caleb & he tells me he did & has a big smile on his face.  I asked him where he found him.  Apparently, he was sound asleep on my bed!  Travis laughed because he said, "One minute he was sitting on the back porch playing & the next thing I know, he's gone!"

2-He LOVES pink milk & would drink a gallon a day if I'd let him.

3-He is the pickiest eater out of the 4 kids.  The foods he will generally eat are: Ramen, Mac & Cheese, Peanut Butter sandwiches (no jelly), Go Gurt, Trix Rabbit yogurt, Popsicles, Waffles, Cheese, Hot dogs, French Fries, select cereal with no milk, toast with no crust & cinnamon & sugar, frosting off of cakes & cupcakes, the frosting of Oreo's, Spaghetti with Parmesan & Cheddar but no sauce , & Cheese Quesadillas.

4-He can be a real sweetheart.  He tells me all the time, "Mom, I love you."

5-He isn't shy about telling you what's on his mind "Let's get outta here.", "Get away from me." "I don't like her."

6-He still isn't potty trained.  He only wears pull ups to bed because I finally realized that when I put underwear on him he'd use the bathroom, whereas, if I put a pull up on him, he won't even try to use the toilet.  He's doing better, but it's still a thing of convenience for him.  As in, "If it isn't convenient for me, I'm not going to do it."

7-He LOVES books & being read to.  He'd sit & let me read to him all day if I wanted to.

8-He LOVES his siblings & wants so much to be just like his big brother.

9-He has his mother's attitude & stubborn streak!

10-He comes up with some pretty good quotables: "Oh darn-it sauce!", "I'm too young to die!", "My flying suit was out of batteries, that's why I couldn't fly & hurt my face.", "I know, but...", "Mom!  I just want to help!"

Speaking of his brother, today I took the two of them in for haircuts.  It was time!  They hadn't had a hair cut in probably three or four months.  They were starting to look a bit shaggy!

Before:

After:

Such handsome boys!