Gotta love four!

Our birthday season has begun in earnest. We celebrate all five birthdays as well as our anniversary and Mothers' Day within the space of 33 days. Yes. We will be thoroughly partied out by the middle of May. However, since we try to make everyone's day special, be prepared for a multitude of birthday partyish pictures in upcoming weeks ...

:::

Peter's smile when he first saw his doggy cake was worth every moment of late night icing escapades. :o) He woke up from his birthday nap, and after taking care of necessary things, I picked him up and asked him to close his eyes. I carried him into the kitchen where his cake was on display and told him he could look. His eyes got real big, and then his grin started growing to match. It was great! :o) "It's a doggy. A doggy for me!" (And the smile grew bigger yet!)

(For the record, I am very excited about my new found "skill" of making cupcake cakes. They're super easy, and I'll share details another day.)

It was definitely a special blessing to have Uncle Pat and Aunt Judy here visiting, and we were all very glad that our friends the G-bs were able to join us as well, specially invited by Peter!
Can't beat the genuine enthusiasm and excitement of a four-year-old for presents. :o) Our builder-in-training was well equipped this year with ....

child-sized safety goggles

his great-grandpa's tool box (filled with a wonderful assortment of tools to be used with Daddy's supervision)
and a dump truck building kit.
Cards, books, clothing, puzzles, and other sundries were also appreciated and the smile was pretty well constant. :o)

Special family and friends make for very special celebrations!
Happy Birthday, Peter!
We love you, Buddy!