Mason turns 4!

Mason turned 4 on March 8th. Its amazing how many more things a 4 year old can do as opposed to just a 3 year old (from the eyes of the 4 year old of course). Mason was so proud to turn 4 and I think he had a pretty great time celebrating.

His actual birthday fell on a Thursday. He woke up in the morning to the kitchen full of balloons and his presents in a very tempting display on the table. The kids loved the balloons and played with them all morning. In fact, a month later and they are STILL playing with them. Only now they reside in the playroom.

Birthday boy!

I let him open one present before preschool. A robot backpack! He was in love. He says his favorite part of the backpack is the fact that the robot is breathing fire. It is pretty sweet. (As a side note, Nic and I actually saw this backpack at a little boutique in Lake Tahoe. We thought Mason would love it, but they were selling it for a whooping $45. So we passed and I came home and found it on amazon for $19. Much better.)

Mason was pretty excited to go to preschool on his birthday. I came in the last few minutes of class and sat with him while all his classmates asked him questions like "what is your favorite color?" and "what is your favorite TV show?". Then we handed out M&M brownies to everyone and chowed down.

Sage felt like a big girl hanging out with the preschoolers.

When Nic got home, Mason got to open the rest of his presents. He got a Razor scooter which has been permanently attached to his foot ever sense. He gives me a heart attack half the time he is on it (he loves to speed down hills) and has made good use of his helmet. He also got an awesome sleeping bag from Grandma and Grandpa KC (that is Hall, but Mason calls them G & G KC), a new Mobigo game and a board game from G & G Kelley, some awesome art supplies from G & G Pierson, a package from Deb and Dave (with the awesome glow in the dark shirt pictured below), and lots of great toys from his friends at his party. He continues to love match box cars and got some awesome tracks and a bowling game which has been a hit.

After opening presents we headed to Toy Story Disney on Ice. The kids really loved it. I worried that Sage would get bored (and she didn't nap that day, so I was pretty concerned), but she loved it. Even though she did pass out in the car before we even backed out of the parking space.

After Disney on Ice we took a very quick drive up to the hospital so Nic could get a huge brownie that one of his colleagues had bought for Mason's birthday. I thought that was very thoughtful of her.

We had Mason's party on the Saturday following Mason's birthday. At first I had it planned at my house, but as the guest list grew (and the weather in March is very iffy) I decided to do it the church gym. It was awesome. I want to have all our parties there. Clean up was a breeze and the kids loved running around like hooligans.

Mason wanted a robot themed birthday party, so when the kids got there I had them each make a robot body out of paper bags. They actually ended up being kind of uncomfortable and most of the kids took them off. Except for Jackson. Thanks for holding strong there Jackson.

We ate pizza, fruit salad, cupcakes, cake, ice cream and "robot fuel".

We played freeze dance with Mason's new favorite song (thank goodness its not longer the Chipmunk's Christmas song) Kung Fu Fighting. The kids LOVED it and its was so funny to watch them. They could have done it the whole time. It was seriously cute.

Groovin'.

After freeze dancing the kids each made their own robots out of empty soup cans with nuts, bolts, and pipe cleaners (attached to magnets).

The man of the hour.

After the games we ate pizza and fruit, opened presents and had cake and ice cream.

Mason had an excellent time. He seriously loved being able to just be crazy with all his favorite buddies. His cousin Carson even surprised him from coming all the way from Idaho! He was thrilled.

Here are some fun facts about our 4 year old:

-He is smart. Seriously smart. He loves numbers and letters and is starting to read (pretty well). He can write and knows the sounds for all of his letters. He can read signs on the road and he can sit down and read simple books. He loves to spell words using sidewalk chalk or his bathtub letters. He can spell (and write out) quite a few words without help. With help, he is sounding out bigger and bigger words and I think by this time next year he will be reading fluently. He also is loving math. He and Nic often sit down and do simple addition/subtraction problems and he loves it. 

-He is the best big brother anyone could ask for. He has really come into his own on this one. He loves Sage and he tries to include her in everything he does. I often watch him on the monitor at the gym and he is playing with Sage (or including Sage as he plays with other kids) because he knows that she sometimes gets sad when I leave. The other day he and Sage were arguing over a certain toy until finally Mason sighed and said, "Sage, I guess you just have to have it because you are just so cute."

-He is a good compromiser. More than once I have heard him compromise between two or more friends trying to make everyone happy. With that said, he is also a negotiator and we often have to strike deals with him to get him to do what we want. 

-He loves to be outside. He loves to run. (He gets really mad if he isn't the fastest of the kids on our street. We are working on being a good loser.) He loves to collect rocks and bugs and sticks. We took him on a 5 mile hike in Arizona and it was no big deal to him. Needless to say we are so excited for the warm weather.

-He is kind. He will often tell me he loves me out of nowhere. He loves to give hugs and is the more snuggly of my two kids.

-His favorite foods are pizza, tomato soup, ham and cheese sandwiches, chili, quesadillas, grilled chicken, and CHOCOLATE. He asked me the other day, "Mom, don't you just love anything that is chocolate?"

-He hates potatoes. Even french fries. We decided the idea of a potato has become a stigma for him, so we have been introducing new kinds of potatoes (potato salad, scalloped potatoes) and have been calling them tubers instead of potatoes. It has worked in some cases and not in other. He seriously gags after a few bites.

-He loves books and loves to get new ones from the library.

-His favorite movies are WALL-E and Fox and the Hound.

-He is really excited for a baby brother and he wants both the baby and Sage to all sleep in his room with him. Yeah. That's probably not going to happen buddy.

-His favorite colors are orange, green, and black.

-He is really funny. I think this age is perfect for great one liners.

-He always tells us how much he loves his family. I have no doubt that he is a very happy boy. That makes me a very happy mommy.

I think 4 is going to be good to us. Ever since we decided to add another one to our family Mason has really made some major changes. Tantrums are rare now, he is quick to help, and he has been so easy to get along with. Not that he was "bad" before, but he was definitely a three year old. And as I have been told many times, he is now a four year old and that makes a big difference.