"This is what I've been wishing for!"

I can't tell you the number of times I have heard the title of this blog post uttered from the lips of my big FOUR year old over the past several weeks! With Christmas and his birthday so close together he has been all out spoiled with gifts of love! And his excitement over receiving just what he's "been wishing for" is just so sweet! He had a most excellent birthday and made some awesome memories that I'm sure he'll talk about for weeks and remember forever!

Nolan got to celebrate his birthday early at school since we would be on Winter Break on the real day! He wanted to bring cupcakes to share with his friends. So we went to King Soopers and ordered his favorite: vanilla cake with vanilla frosting. He picked out snowflake sprinkles with Santa and snowflake rings on top! He said all the kids loved them! And he even got to wear a Birthday Crown at school on his special day!

Ever since Father's Day when we made Mark breakfast in bed, Nolan has been telling me that for his birthday he wanted to have breakfast in bed. So on December 30th, Nolan's 4th birthday, I snuck out of the house early to go pick up his favorite breakfast treat...DONUTS!

When I got home we gave him "morning kisses" and tucked him into our bed for his special birthday request- donuts in bed! We ate donuts and snuggled up as a family to watch Curious George. Nolan had his favorite sprinkle donut!

Heath had a powdered donut and of course got crumbs all over our bed! But hey, it's worth it when it's your 4 year old's birthday wish!

After breakfast we got dressed and this excited 4 year old could not wait to open up his presents! So he ran downstairs to his birthday chair and we dove right in...

I CAN NOT get enough of this four year old boy! He is just too cute!

When he laughs and smiles naturally there is nothing else like it in the world!

Excited to open a gift from Grandma & Grandpa...Llama Llama books and c.d.s! He has read them and listened to the stories so many times in just a week!

And he got some new Duplos from my brother.

Shooting hoops on his new glow in the dark basketball hoop that he also got from Uncle T.

We got him a helmet and...

a scooter!

He looks so cute wearing his helmet- it's his first one!

Mr. Crazy also needed to try it out!

And of course what one brother does the others have to do as well! Ha!

After presents we went to U.S. Toy to do a little shopping and party planning for Nolan's upcoming birthday party!

Then we hit up McDonald's for lunch and a little play time!

Hello up there!

After lunch Nolan got so spoiled and didn't have to take a nap! He got to go bowling with Mark's family!

He was so excited to get to stay up and hang out with his cousins!

He got home just in time for dinner and dessert...

Fro Yo! His Favorite! Let me see if I can remember what all he put on his Strawberry Frozen Yogurt: mini gummy bears, sour gummy worms, Mike and Ike's, candy corn, mini M&M's, red "nods", blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries! Wow! What a concoction, but he ate every last bite with no tummy ache!

It was the perfect day and he said so many times, "This is gonna be AWESOME!" I'm so glad that he had such a fun day!

Then this past Saturday we had his Jansen family party:

Nolan had requested a Pirate theme, so I found these adorable invites made by my favorite designer: Dimpleprints!

We had fun planning every little detail for his big night!

Each cousin got a pirate hat, sword, and eye patch at their place setting.

And I found these cute plates and napkins that matched the invite.

Pirate Payton ready for dinner! I made mostaccoli, french bread, and salad. It was yummy!

After dinner it was time for presents!

Here is Nolan's birthday chair.

And presents from Mommy, Daddy, Heath, and Brooks.

He was very ready to open his gifts. He wanted to do it as soon as the first guest arrived! Ha!

He got this fun package in the mail from the Sloothaaks!

They sent him a cool plate and tie...just like the ones they got Heath for his birthday!

They Syers fam got him Moon Dough and a Moon Dough puppy making set! He loved it! But this Mommy might make this an outdoor activity...or one that waits for Grandma to come and do with him. (and clean up!)

Auntie Mal sent him this big package!

It had this Slinky Dog in it! Can you tell he LOVES it?!!! Heath also thinks it's his! We've had many a battle over this toy in just the one day it has been in our house! The package also had a talking Monster Truck card, a hat, shirt, and his favorite chocolate covered pretzels!

We got him a Luke Skywalker light sabre and a color changing alarm clock.

Oma & Opa got him a Pillow Pet Pee Wee. He had been wanting this frog and he named him "Pee Wee". He has not let him out of his sight since the party!

They also worked on fixing up this family bike for Nolan. It has been passed down through lots of older cousins and now it is Nolan's turn to ride! We'll have to practice once all of our snow melts!

Uncle Ken had wanted to pass it on to Nolan and had bought him this license plate for the bike before he passed away. So it is extra special knowing that Uncle Ken had a part in sprucing up the bike that he had bought for his own grandsons.

Then it was time for a treasure hunt for the kids! Mark worked hard on writing clues and setting up such a creative and fun activity for them.

Payton read the clues and lead the way!

This was their favorite clue, of course! Nolan was giggling and smiling so big when Payton read it!

The final map that lead the way to the treasure! Don't you love how Mark thought to burn the edges of the paper?!

They found the treasure chest in the front closet.

The kids all loved their loot!

Each cousin got a "gold dubloon" as Nolan calls it! It was really a golden dollar coin. And they each got a bag of chocolate coins too!

After the treasure hunt it was cake time!

I made this cute pirate cake.

I tried to make a friendly looking pirate!

Nolan loved his cake!

Love this face as he listened to everyone sing to him!

Too funny!

He LOVES to lick the frosting off the candles!

And of course, he LOVES to eat his vanilla cake, with vanilla frosting, and vanilla ice cream!

After cake, a spontaneous dance party erupted...

Uncle Brad, Auntie Jayne, and Cohen got him the Lion King c.d. The kids all had fun dancing to Hakuna Matata!

Then we put on some other songs with a "good beat"- just how Nolan likes it!

Heathy and Auntie Cara gettin' their dance on! Nolan booty danced so much that he danced his pants right off! Too funny!

Then we had to play with all of our new toys! Nolan and Brady battling with the light sabres!

And Uncle Wes got the Moon Dough out with Nolan, Brady, and Payton! They had fun, but boy did we have a mess to clean up! Wes is just returning a messy toy favor to me! He's been holding a grudge ever since Payton dumped the Moon Sand we got her all over the carpet in her bedroom.

And look who just slept through all the chaos! Thanks Auntie Jayne for cuddling Brooks all night!

Thank you to everyone who made Nolan feel so special and loved! He had the BEST birthday!

I'm so glad that I can help make all his wishes come true, because, really, he is my answer to prayer. My perfect gift...my dream...reality!