Happy 4th Birthday, Josiah!

Today Josiah turned 4 years old. I still can't believe it. I know every parent says this, but it really seems like he was just a baby. This year I can really see how much he has grown in a year. He isn't a baby anymore. He really is a boy. It is exciting & sad all at the same time.

We began our exciting day with breakfast. The birthday boy got to choose anything he wanted to eat for breakfast. He chose waffles, scrambled eggs, bacon & chocolate doughnuts. What a feast!

After breakfast, Chris brought up a TON of presents from him & Granddaddy & Grandma.

Josiah, of course, was very eager to dive right into the paper.

He went back & forth from one of Chris' gifts (monkey paper) to one of G & G's gifts (blue).

He couldn't wait to get the toys out of the boxes so he could play with them.

He even got two vehicles straight from London. Uncle Chris went on vacation there in September & thought of his little buddy.

He got SOOOO much stuff. These are the presents he got from Granddaddy & Grandma!

These are the presents he got from Uncle Chris.

Dustin & I decided to give him 2 presents on his birthday & the rest of his presents at the party. We gave him a "Chick Hicks" truck & a Mater truck. He already had Mater, but his tow cable broke a few months ago. Mater is one of Josiah's favorite "Cars" & has been devastated about it since it broke. So, we had to replace him.

After present time was over, we had planned on taking him out for the day. Josiah, however, didn't want to go anywhere on his birthday. He wanted to stay at home & play with his new toys.

So, we stayed home & played with toys.

He had such a great time playing with his new stuff & with Uncle Chris.

After lunch we sang to Josiah & gave him a birthday cupcake.

I think you can tell how much he enjoyed it!

After a long day of play & some needed nap time, we got dressed & headed for dinner.

Here's our big 4 year old.

Our family on Josiah's birthday!

Another big moment happened when we went to go to the restaurant. Josiah's car-seat had been changed into a booster seat. Yes, that's right...he's old enough to go to a booster seat.

He was super excited to be wearing a seat-belt like the adults do. He was a happy guy all the way to dinner at Red Robin.

We had a nice dinner at Red Robin. This is one of Josiah's favorite places to eat.

It's extra special on his birthday because they sing to him & bring him balloons & an ice cream sundae. What person wouldn't be happy with that!?!?

Mmmmm.

After bath time, we went to bed to do our bedtime devotion. When we looked inside Josiah's armoire, there was another present. Josiah was so excited! He opened his present to find another Bible.

Every birthday Josiah receives a new Bible. Dustin & I feel it is the most important gift we could ever give to our child. In the back of each Bible, we write letters to Josiah telling him how we feel about him & what spiritual strides he has made in that past year.

Here I am reading my letter to Josiah.

Here is Dustin reading to Josiah about the Creation. Josiah's new Bible is really cool this year. The stories are written very well, but have the funniest pictures this time. We thought it would be cool to see more humorous illustrations. Josiah seemed to enjoy the pictures, too.

Dustin & I feel so grateful that God would allow us to raise such an amazing little boy. We are so proud of him & can't wait to see what this year holds.

Happy 4th Birthday, Josiah! We love you!