Four.

Four. Babyhood is long gone. I have a little man. A little man who has opinions, a distinct personality, a funky style. We are peeking around the corner at Elementary School and talking about preschool friendships. I tell ya- it's lightening speed. One minute you are changing diapers and rejoicing at a 4 hour stretch of sleep and the next moment your negotiating scooter riding time for picking up toys. Parenting my spirited son has always been [and will likely always be] uber challenging but today I focus on the fabulous Declan Isaac. My FOUR year old.

Declan is such a SWEET boy. Always caring and concerned.

 He is so silly. These days he role plays a lot- mostly 

as Sonic the Hedgehog.

 He is so handsome. I know all mamas think this about their

kids. :)

 He's extremely active and very goofy.

 He is sensitive to sounds and crowds.

 Ah....my sweet, adorable, opinionated, happy, silly son. You bring

unexplainable joy to our lives. Looking forward to seeing how your rock your 4th year. :)

Sonic the Hedgehog 4th B.day Bash!!

For most the year, Declan's wanted a Mario Bros party but, for the last few months, he's been obsessed with all things Sonic. Even though I was all pinterested and Mario inspired, the switch was made and I'm so happy we did. If Declan wanted a hoola hoop party, I'd make it happen. :) We had to make a last minute location change due to rainy weather but the birthday boy could care less!

So fun celebrating our sweet son today!!!

First Pitch

This past Saturday was such a fun day! It was "Night at the Ballpark" with the Children's Home and Declan got the opportunity to throw the first pitch out at the Saltdogs game.

 Getting instructions:

 Meeting the team's catcher:

 There he goes!!! He did awesome!!

Wish I had the video version of this picture. Basically, Decs took off and started dancing on the pitcher's mound. Homer the Dog (the team mascot) joined him! Leave it to Decs...

 The catcher was nice enough to sign the ball:

 Lots of family and friends joined us to support Decs. Here with cousin Asher:

 The grand parents:

We settled in to our seats (by settled I mean "struggled to keep Declan in one spot") to watch the game.

 

Notice the sweat shirts? Yes, it's August in Nebraska and we are wearing sweat shirts. It was freeeezing. We actually bailed about the 6th inning because we were so chilly. Tomorrow? The high is 91. Totally stereotypical Nebraska.

We had so much fun and it was great to support the Children's Home. Declan was a rock star first pitch thrower.

future olympian...

Ignore all the Sonic talk...my son's obsessed!

yep.

idump

This is a good representation of where I stand in Declan's world.

It has been sooo nice here lately..especially in the morning. 

I've gotten some good reading time in!

 Gabriel is an honorary family member and Decs loves him. Here they were dancing:

 ...and here being super silly:

 I worked all day Saturday and Mark went to the Omaha Zoo w/ his parents and Decs:

 Up to trouble...

It's that time again....

Goodbye summer, hello pre school!! Declan was oh, so excited to start school again today. I was excited for him too...he's such a sponge and loves to learn.

For fun, Dec's pic from when he started pre school last year (he started mid year):

Fair!

I haven't gone to the fair for as long as I can remember (elementary maybe?) This year we went twice! Earlier in the week my friend Sara and I took our boys to the petting zoo and pig races.

Declan's favorite thing was the pig races. Each spectator got to pick a pig to cheer for (they all had different colored fabric "shirts"). After you picked your pig, you tore off half a numbered ticket and dropped it in the color slot. Well....Declan's colored pig won! Yay! But, there were a bunch of tickets in that slot so we weren't expecting to win the whole race. Wouldn't ya know it?? They drew his ticket!! He was thrilled and enjoyed his big prize: shaved ice. :)

Friday night, the temps cooled off and we were excited to go back with Mark and some family!

To say Declan loved it is an understatement. My little adrenaline junky!!

 Little man begged to go on the "big rides". Someday buddy, someday.

 Decs was barely tall enough (on his toes) to qualify for a smaller roller coaster. He loved it!!

 Mark road this crazy ride that slowly inched  super high and then did a sudden, fast drop. Yikes.

 Oh, did I mention the fair food? YUM.

 We had an absolute blast! Can't wait to go back next year. Decs was zonked by the time we got home and hasn't stopped talking about it since...."mommy, remember when we went to the fair? And road the rides? And, remember when I won the pig race?" I sure do. ;)

Mr. Personality

There is no doubt my little guy lacks no enthusiasm. :)