Fourth birthday party = Monster Truck Galore

I decided a few months ago that I wanted a monster truck birthday party this year. As a recap, I've had a 1 year party, a John Deere party, a Construction party and now a Monster Truck party. We got lots of cool party goods, including these Grave Digger party favor boxes. Mama and I stuffed them full of goodies like tatoos, stickers and Pop Rocks!
Mama made my cake, which was a cupcake cake with an Oreo cookie trail leading to a jump-over several Hot Wheels cars. It was super cool.

We had a cut out of a monster truck and all my guests had a chance to ride in Grave Digger, even dada!
When I got to the party, I had a surprise waiting for me....
A big white monster truck was parked outside the party and I got to sit in one of the wheels for this picture.
Here I am driving Grave Digger -- look at my "scary" face!
We rented a Monster Truck jumper. I begged mama to get inside and jump, but she declined because she didn't want to give birth to my little brother in a jumper.
My best buds the Bymans came to the party.
During the party, dada set up an obstacle course for the guests to run through on another part of the TaeKwonDo floor. It was super fun.
After that, we took a break for pizza, and then...
It was pinata time - my buddy Luke took some good whacks at the truck.
I took a few good whacks too. But thank goodness Harrison Powers was there, or we might still be sitting there waiting!
The kids made a mad dash for the candy grub!
Then we ate cake! Check out my #4 Monster Truck tshirt. My buddy Carter blew out the candle for me on my cake, and everyone got a good laugh.
Opening gifts was fun, and I got some great presents.

The Bymans stayed for the "after party", which means that Mr. and Mrs. Byman helped dada break down the party because mama was super pregnant and useless. The guys then played in the obstacle course that me, Luke and Davis set up for them.

I got a super cool authentic Italian soccer jersey from my Uncle Billy, Aunt Kristen and cousins Jamie and Katie. They just got back from a trip to Italy. I also got a Smart Car, which fits very nicely into my automobile collection.

Happy real birthday to me - July 8

My birthday fell on a Thursday this year, so I got to celebrate three times - once on "the day", also on Saturday for my party, and then with Grandma and Grandpa when they came to visit.
In the morning, I got some good stuff from mama and dada, who tried to be a little controlled in light of the fact that I get so spoiled from Ga and Papa and Grandma and Grandpa. This year I asked for a police station vehicle set (a tribute to my Uncle Chris), so I got a real die cast NYPD set. I also wanted a fire house set with a fire helicopter. I get some Cars cars, monster trucks and I am very into Battle Force 5, so I got a few of those too. Yes, I am still all about the vehicles.
I also got a big box of goodies from Aunt Bridey and my cousins -- I really enjoyed all the toys, books and the Cars pillow inside. There was also a super big monster truck. Sweet.

After mama and dada got home from work, I got a few more presents, like a construction legos set. I am not really into building what the pictures show, but I do like to just make my own things a lot.

Playing with all my toys...

I am 4! See the super cool cake Ga made me? It was a big cake on the bottom and cupcakes on the top, each one adorned with a different vehicle, and green sprinkles.

I picked the cupcake with the airplane. Delicious!

I clearly thought it was hilarious when I stuck a pillow up my shirt the other day to mimic mama's belly (no, I'm not just gaining weight over the summer), which is housing my little brother, due on August 19. I call him Gummy.

The corn grew! We certainly didn't have a big harvest, but we did get corn.

Three whole cobs. Well, it gives us something to shoot for next year. They are also not the prettiest cobs, as the ants had started to rob us of the kernals by the time we decided to pick the cobs. Dada didn't like the corn - it was a little chewy - but mama liked it a lot because it tasted like the corn she used to eat in Zimbabwe.

Pop rocks? What are pop rocks, mama?

Whoa, they make noise in my mouth....
Mmmm, yummy.

The whole family was excited to go to the beach for the Fourth of July. Mama and dada had been working their tails off and they were ready for four days of sun and fun on the beach. Well, Friday ended up being pretty ugly - rainy, windy, blah - it was the last of the effects from Hurricane Alex that made landfall in Mexico earlier that week. But we made the most of it and overall, it was pretty nice having the beach to ourselves. Uncle Chris came down to visit and he is my "best buddy."

Saturday morning we woke up and it was soooo pretty out -- bright sun shiny skies. Dada and Papa went to the beach to set up the canopy so that we could all go down and spend the day, but when they walked on the beach, they found that there was oil on the beach. Not huge globs, but enough so that their shoes and the tires on the golf cart got stained and gross. Everyone is bummed out -- Ga and Papa, because their beach is nasty, and mama and dada because they couldn't go down to the beach the rest of the weekend (not with baby gummy in mama's belly and me being only 4 years old). Our friends JB and Becky let us use their pool, but it just wasn't the same. The oil is getting worse, and huge blobs are washing ashore. There are news stations that say that it isn't tied to the Deep Water Horizon, but everyone here says that it just can't be a coincidence. We all hope the oil is cleaned up soon so that we can hang out on the beach again.

We decided to celebrate the 4th one day early and bought lots of fireworks to set off on the 3rd. I went with dada and Chris, and convinced them to buy all the "vehicle" fireworks -- like a fire truck where the ladder rose up when it was lit up, an aircraft carrier where the planes shot off the back when it was lit up, a race car that took off down the road, a green tractor, and my favorite, this fancy red plane.
Waiting for the sun to go down to light up my vehicles.
I really liked watching my vehicles get fired, but I am still not a huge fan of "adult" fireworks because they are loud.

My first 4th birthday presents came all the way from Chicago from Grandma and Grandpa. I was so happy to start getting presents.

Who knows where my grandparents find this stuff, but I got a very cool set of, um, Asian?? construction wind-up vehicles.
I also got a cool pair of binoculars, and a flashlight.
Probably my favorite thing, though, was this gummy snake. Seriously, this is a huge long gummy. I begged and begged to eat some all day long, so mama had to cut me off inch long sections. Mama "forgot" the snake at the beach when we went back to Katy, so we'll see if I remember it is there when we go back.

We are all still enjoying delicious treats from the Farm each week. Look how beautiful all this produce is -- Eggplant, heirloom, cherry and roma tomatoes, cucumbers, different color bell peppers, Anaheim peppers, potatoes and the sweetest melon you have ever tasted (even if it did have seeds).

I am an Apple kid -- I have been really digging playing on dada's Iphone, and Ga's brand new Ipad. I like the monkey game and Carl, and love playing the Cars matching game. I have gotten really good at dragging things across the screen.

Admiring a tomato from the garden. Look at that bright red beauty!

Funny looking purple heirloom, yellow heirloom, and plain ole delicious roma.
When tomatoes taste this good, there is nothing better than eating them like an apple. Yum.

I am my mama's boy - love having whooped-cream shot right into my mouth. Unlike fingers in the cool whip container, whooped-cream in the mouth = no evidence!

School round up!

My teachers took lots of pictures throughout the school year, and they gave mama the pictures on a disc. Here is a snapshot of what happened during my three year old school year. Above, I'm posing with Ga, who brought me to school every day and even came to some of my school parties.
Halloween -- I was a bat. I look very sad, but I was happy to be a bat. In fact, I asked to be a bat.
The infamous Christmas pageant where I cried my eyes out on stage because I was hot and tired and getting sick, and poor mama was crying in the audience watching me.
Rescue worker day where the firemen came to visit. I still talk about how cool it was that there was a firetruck in the parking lot.
Spring day -- we each got a worm to bring home and release in the yard. I put mine in the garden and still look for him out there.
Umbrella day - my favorite color -- green!
Rodeo day - only in Texas.
Graduation from 3 year old class. I'm moving on up to 4 year old class starting in August, and I'll go four days a week.

This summer I took soccer lessons. It was fun and for the most part, I really enjoyed it. I liked it best when I had Coach Juan as my teacher, and did not behave well the couple of times that mama took me to a different coach. I was much better behaved when dada took me to class.

Here I am with Coach Juan stealing the ball from him. I had some pretty good skills, for a four year old.
Coach Juan had us play the messy monkey game where we picked up cones with our feet. I was a good, neat monkey.
Mama and dada are going to look into getting me into a soccer program that allows a little more running around. This program was more about skills, but what I need to someone to wear me out!

A few weeks ago (yes, mama is behind, give her a break), I graduated from guppie swimming class. In the picture below, I am posing with my teacher Travis. I really like Travis, he was a great instructor. I now say that when I grow up, I want to be a swimming teacher.

Here is my report card. I still need some work on floating on my back, which I will get when I sign up for more lessons in August. I have a couple weeks of summer camp coming up, so I will start back to swimming when camp is over.
Posing, happy me!

Today I started swim lessons at Houston Swim Club. I was nervous when I watched the introductory video last night and told mama that I didn't want to get my face wet, but when I got to the pool today, I was excited. There are three other kids in my group. There is a step on the side of the pool, and I had to wait for the other three to take their turns first. I'm not great at waiting, so when it was my turn to go, I ducked my head under and blew bubbles like a champ (mama and I practiced in the tub last night) to show off. In the picture below, you can see me swimming with my instructor to the play structure. Summer is fun!