Braxton's 4th Birthday

{August 28th}

It seriously boggles my mind that Braxton is already 4!
He is such a fun little dude right now.

Brian and I were out of town on his actual birthday so we got to celebrate a week early when my parents were in town.
We went swimming in the morning and then had a little pizza party in the back yard with some of our friends.

I love these boys so much!

I can't believe they are mine

 

He was so excited and sweet and loved everyone singing Happy Birthday to him and I loved that he felt special.
He also loved tearing into all his new presents.

 

This blue-eyed, blonde haired boy sure has my heart!

 

our Ninja Turtle cupcakes turned out so cute

Everett loved it!
It was technically his first once since he didn't really get to enjoy his at his first birthday.

Sweet Britton and Connor and Reid

Everett was so funny and was just as excited as Braxton over each present.
He would check it out and hold it up so excited like "look what we got!!!"
Having little boys so close in age is so fun.
We have such generous friends and family who spoiled him/them good.

Braxton is such a funny, smart, sweet, creative boy and I just love his little personality and the conversations we have lately.

He definitely picks up on the phrases Brian and I use and throws them into his vocabulary at random times.

He can count to 100, knows all his letters and letter sounds.
He has a few books memorized and can read/site them back to us.
And he has started to pick up on addition.

His school wanted to move him up to the Pre-K class to prepare for kindergarten and we decided to keep him back in the preschool class he's in for another year.
He had just moved up and instead of moving him up so quickly again, we kept him back
since we are planning on waiting until he is 6 to start kindergarten.
(instead of starting next year, just before his 5th birthday)

He still has the best imagination.
He is so good at playing on his own and loves to reenact things from movies or shows he's seen.

He LOVE big boys!!
He adores our friends Caden and Caleb and thinks our neighbor Jacob (who is 12) is the bees knees!
Thankfully, they are all so great and play with him and he eats it right up.

He is still in to all things boy.
Batman, Star Wars, Paw Patrol, Ninja Turtles, tools, cars, planes, trains, sticks, rocks, bugs, going on adventures, swimming, camping, and fighting bad guys.

He got a few sets of big boy legos for his birthday this year and has been so enamored with them.
He can't follow the directions on his own and doesn't really have the interest/patience to put them together yet, but he loves to play with them once they are built.
He can only play with them and have them down when Everett is sleeping due to the crazy amount of tiny pieces but it's been fun that he is getting into them.

He got such an attitude this last year.
(amongst the random tantrums, testing limits, and not listening)
We have been really working hard on his sassy mouth and the way he says things to Brian and I.
His big thing lately is telling us when "he is so frustrated" with us.
At least he's gotten better about communicating his feelings and we try to give him space to cool off before it escalates.
He gets most frustrated when we interrupt him while he's trying to tell us something.

He has been in swimming lessons for the last 6 months and is doing great.
He can basically swim with big arms and kick and is just working on breathing to the side.
He loves jumping around and diving for rings in the big pool.

We've been to the dentist a few times now and still cavity free.
He does so good and loves to lay down and let them check out his teeth.

He still naps at school but we skip them at home for the most part.
We really only push it on days we go to the pool or spend all morning outside in the sun and he is exhausted by lunch.