Carter's 4!!!

My sweet baby boy turned 4 on Saturday....FOUR!  I just can't believe it!  It really does feel like yesterday that we welcomed him into this world.  I can say without hesitation that it has been the best 4 years of my life.  He has been an absolute JOY to have in our family.  And the older he gets, the more I love him.  This is such a fun age! 


 I love all of the cute things he says and wonder where in the world he gets some of it.  HA.  And I love, love, LOVE the fact that he voluntarily (and often!) tells us all how much he loves us.  He has such a tender heart (which I credit to being like his daddy).   Our favorite saying of his?  "mama (or dada), do you know what I love?"  Our reply, "What?"  His answer, "You!".  (yeah...melt, melt, melt!)


 I love how super smart he is.  Really, he amazes me with all he knows and how quickly he learns. (which is a good thing, because we will be homeschooling).  And he LOVES learning.  I hope that lasts forever!  ;)


 I love how much he loves his baby sister.  It's so sweet to hear them playing together.  Their newest game to play is a memory game he got for his birthday....they play it like 'go fish'.  It is ADORABLE to hear Carter say, "Baby Shae', do you have chuggington?" And her reply, "uh huh", and they proceed through the cards this way.  Ahhh...melts my heart! 


I could go on and on, but you get the idea.  Carter Thomas Lyman is a sweetheart and we are so blessed to have him in our family!  


We celebrated big on Saturday.  The day started with blue cinnamon rolls, his request.  He had asked for them earlier in the week when we were discussing his bday breakfast.  He had forgotten about it and was really surprised (and excited) to see them when he woke up. :)

BTW, the monkey...that's Buddy.  He was Carter's Build a Bear creation last year on his 3rd birthday and he has been Carter's sidekick every since.  He's pretty much part of the family now and we all love him :)  Getting way off track here, but sometimes I'll hear Carter talking to Buddy....it is so cute!  He will say something to Buddy, ask him a question, and then press Buddy's paw (which results in a monkey sound) as if that's Buddy answering him.  Really the cutest thing!


Back to Saturday, after breakfast, Carter got to see 2 of his presents.  One was a basketball goal from my parents and the other was his Lightening McQueen Power Wheels car from us.  He had been asking for this for weeks and was SO excited to see it in the driveway!

After lunch, we headed to The Little Gym for Carter's birthday party.  We LOVE The Little Gym!  Both kids are enrolled in classes there weekly and they love it.  The staff is amazing too :)  They did a fabulous job on the party.  All I had to do was bring the stuff and they did all the set up and clean up...it was the easiest party ever!  Not to mention they entertained 12 kids for and hour and a half.  That in itself is amazing. :)  Here are a few pics from his party.....

 His cake was amazing!  Thanks Valerie!!!

 Blowing out the candles.....

Posing with all his presents.  He got some great stuff!




We wrapped up the day with some play time at home, dinner out on the deck (the weather was amazing!) and a family bike ride around the neighborhood.  It was a fabulous, fun-filled day!


Happy Birthday to my sweet boy!  Each year you get cuter and sweeter.....I'm sad to see you getting so big. I wish you could stay this little forever, but I know you are going grow up to be an amazing person!  Mommy loves you, now and forever! xoxoxo