Ethan at 4

Riding with no training wheels, more excited to play with friends than hang with mom, a determined sense of his own fashion choices, a brother who likes to pester his little sister, favorite pastimes of playing with legos, cars and riding his bike … this is Ethan at 4. This year I decided to tone things down with regards to a birthday party so instead of a large party Ethan was allowed to invite a few friends to Jump Planet and then we came home for hot dogs, burgers and cupcakes. So much less stress I don’t know why I didn’t do this last year when I was sleep deprived with a 1 month old. Happy birthday to Ethan, who, no matter how big and independent he gets, will always be my little boy and my bud!

Some of Ethan's regular play pals. Ethan looks so thrilled to be getting his picture taken.

Having a blast playing with his friends.

Ava had a blast with jumping, bouncing and sliding around as well. She's quite the daredevil for her age with a no fear tendency. I can already tell we'll need to keep our eyes on her.

New legos ... a treat for Ethan. He loves to build the original designs, with help from mom and dad of course, but then he loves to take them apart and create his own trucks, cars and space ships. Hopefully he got the creative gene that skipped me.

Aunt Stephanie came over for Ethan's party and while Ethan was happy to see her, you can see from the picture what he was most interested in. Where did this kid get his manner from?

Ava's always up for cupcakes!

Ethan's actual birthday fell on a preschool day so we were able to bring the treats to school. Ethan wanted to do something fun so we settle on these spooky Halloween bats thanks to creative folks from Our Best Bites. I'm a great copy cat, not an original. :)