Heath is FOUR!

We can't believe this crazer is FOUR! 

We sure had fun celebrating him! 

Heath picked out donuts and grapes to share with his classmates as a birthday treat at school. He was so proud of them! 

Here he is in his classroom sporting his Birthday crown on the day before his birthday. 

On his real birthday: November 22nd we ate left over donuts for breakfast! 

Mark and I took the day off of work to spend it together as a family, celebrating Heath's four full years of life.

Nolan went to school for the morning while the rest of us stayed home and played. 

Heath was super anxious to open up his presents. He had to wait all day. But I caught him snooping around the birthday chair many times during the day to take a peek at what was on it. The very first thing he said to me in the morning was, "Now where is that Birthday Chair?!" We hadn't even mentioned it at all, but he remembered and was so excited to see what specialness was awaiting him. 

I love this family tradition! And I am always happy to decorate the chair for my boys! (Even though Heath decided to take it down all by himself the next morning because as he said, "Remember Mom, it's not my birthday anymore." 

When school was over we picked up Nolan and headed to Heath's favorite restaurant for lunch: McDonalds! They had fun eating chicken nuggets and playing in the Play Land. And they LOVED the Happy Meal toys: NFL football guys and footballs! They are now on the hunt to collect as many teams as they can! 

Then we dropped Brooks off to Oma & Opa's house for a nap and we took the two older boys to the movies! 

We saw "the turkey movie" Free Birds. It was cute and the boys loved it. But they also loved checking out this silly snowman in the theater lobby. They can't wait to see Frozen when they visit Santa next weekend. 

Cool boys in their 3D shades! Heath actually chose to sit by me! He never picks me! :) Well, he did choose Nolan first, but the fact that he chose me over Mark to sit on the other side of him made my day! Ha!

After the movie we came home to Skype with Auntie & Flob and open up some gifts! 

Of course my Turtle Loving boy wanted to wear his TMNT shirt on his special day! 

My boys and their CHEESY smiles! 

Nolan picked out these Turtles in Training for Heath.

Each gift he opened he SHOUTED out what it was! 

He got talking Ninja Turtles from Auntie & Flob and Uncle T. 

And he got a special package in the mail from The Sloothaaks!

Our boys LOVE packages...maybe the one perk of living far away from some of the people they love the most! 

Heath was more than spoiled! The next day he got to have a Daddy day at the mall too. They hit up all the favorite spots: the fountain to throw pennies, The Lego Store, The Disney Store, The Pet Store, Orange Julius for smoothies, and Lids for a new Broncos hat. This is what he wanted for his birthday from his Daddy & I. He thrives off of one on one time. And he had THE.BEST.TIME! 

After presents it was time for cake! Heath had spotted this Ninja Turtle cake at Target a long time ago. And he immediately started talking about wanting it for his birthday. I usually make their cakes, but he had his mind set on this one. And it was EASY. And he was so HAPPY! So it was well worth it! 

Heath insisted that he sit right where Uncle Dave sat for his birthday cake. Then Daddy lit the candles and we sang Happy Birthday to him! 

I love his facial expressions in these pictures. 

So sweet! 

The boys LOVED the cake! 

So good.

And we had so much fun celebrating him as just our little family! We are going to have Mark's family over in December to celebrate all three boys with a combined birthday lunch. But it was fun to do a few special things on his REAL birthday. 

When Grandma came this past weekend she had a gift for Heath too! 

Reading the card from Grandma & Grandpa. 

What could be inside? 

A music playing puppy the walks on a leash and wags his tail! 

Heath named him Brownie! 

Grandma & Grandpa also gave him a St. Peter's t-shirt. He loves the paw print on it! It was pretty special to be able to celebrate his birthday with Grandma here this year.  

We love you Heathy Bombs! What a fun year this will be! xoxo

{more NOVEMBER stuff}

Just trying to stay caught up on blogging. I've actually been doing pretty good! Here are some more random November pictures. 

We had Mark's Aunt Sue and Uncle Dave over for the Sunday night Broncos game a couple of weekends ago. 

We had fun munching on subs and snacks, cheering the Broncos on to victory, and celebrating Uncle Dave's birthday! 

The boys love cupcakes and Uncle Dave! 

Packing an Operation Christmas Child box for Heath's preschool. 

The boys love shopping for and giving gifts. We've always donated gifts for our church's Christmas Store, but this was our first year doing Operation Christmas Child. We have been so blessed and we want to instill in our boys the importance of giving from an early age.  

Our wacky Colorado weather! Nolan was excited to wake up to snow before school one day last week. Too bad the next day his boots got stolen while he was playing in the McDonalds play land. It was so sad! But a good lesson for Nolan in how bad things happen sometimes. We just talked about how someone must have really needed those boots more than we did. :( The poor kid had to be carried out to the car because the parking lot was still snowy. Time for some new boots I guess! 

My little helper, doing the laundry. 

P.J. day at school! Look how tall Nolan looks! How do I have a child this big? 

Catching Fire was AMAZING! 

Such a good movie! So happy I got to see it with my Mom and Mark. We had a fun night out at the movies!  

berry blendz

Heath's class took a walking field trip to a local smoothie shop last week. It used to be called "Inta Juice" but has recently been bought and the name was changed to "berry blendz". I was able to drop Brooks off to Oma & Opa for the morning so that I could help chaperone the trip. I was so happy to be able to go along for this field trip since Daddy was chosen to go to the pumpkin farm with Heath in October. 

We started at school and all the kids put on their orange field trip shirts. Then they put their coats on and we headed out for the short walk. The weather was perfect- in the 50's and sunny. And we walked behind the school, across a small field, and to the back of the King Soopers strip mall. Each teacher or parent held the hands of 1 or 2 children and we slowly made our way. The pace of the average 3 year old is quite slow, but it only took us about 20 minutes or less to walk there. 

Once there, they all took off their coats and met Ms. Matsen, one of the owners. She welcomed them to her shop and gave them a tour. 

Here they are in the stock room. 

They got to check out the freezer. Some of the kids did not want to stay in when she shut the door, so they hopped out before she did. Heath and 2 other kids wanted to try it out, so in they stayed, they turned the light on, and shut the door! He thought he was so cool! 

And we told everyone that he had already been in a freezer once before- at Streamwood Florist! 

Then they headed to the refrigerator to do the same thing. They liked seeing all of the yummy fresh fruits and vegetables in here. They also saw yogurt and juice and Red Bull! Ha! 

Can you tell he was having fun?! This kid is so expressive! Both good and bad! 

Checking out how they wash the fruits, vegetables, and blenders. Can you see Heath raising his hand? He likes to answer questions. 

Checking out the ice machine. I want one of these at home. It makes the perfect small crushed ice cubes. I love Heath's expression in this pic too...brrrr! :) 

Next we headed to the front work space. 

Miss Nancy lifting Heath to check out the coolers. 

Learning about Wheat Grass.

Watching and waiting while their smoothies were being made.

And finally time to enjoy a Strawberry Banana Smoothie! 

Heath sucked his down in no time! It was funny to me that some of the kids had trouble finishing theirs or didn't like theirs. Not our Heath! 

After drinking their smoothies we walked back to school in time for a quick drink and then dismissal. It was a fun Heath and Mommy morning! And I liked being able to watch Heath interact with his teachers and friends. He is doing great in Preschool so far this year. We had a very nice conference this week for him! He is bright and sweet and saves his crazy for home...such a relief! Love this boy!