iPad killed my blog!

well...not really, cause i'm trying to revive it!  but aside from life (which is crazy busy with two littles), i blame the purchase of the ipad with the decline in my blogging.  you see, pre-ipad i actually had to go into my office and sit down at my desktop to do anything on the internet...so it forced me to post to my blog.  now, i can pretty much do anything on my ipad (pinterest, blog reading, facebooking, words with friends...yes, it can be a problem!) except easily post to my blog.  well, i could easily post...but not easily add pictures and what's a blog with no pictures? 

so, i need to find a way to bring this blog back to life and i'm working on that (have a lot of things to work on at the moment though...so we'll see how it goes!).  i have so much to catch up on over the last few months - most importantly a certain someone in this house turned FOUR!  four...are you kidding me? 

despite the lack of attention on this blog, he was showered with celebrations for nearly a week.  first off on the night of his birthday he chose sushi for dinner.  so our little foursome ventured out to the neighborhood sushi train (which was rumored to be pretty good) and enjoyed a feast of sushi.  rolls, edamame, noodles and sesame balls.  it was quite exciting for the birthday boy to grab the little plates off of the rotating conveyor belt.  sadly, i brought my camera sans memory card...so no pics of my sweet birthday boy's sushi outing.  afterwards we went to peachwave to get a froyo with unlimited toppings (faves include:  popping boba's, m&m's, anything gummy and of course sprinkles)!  we brought it home and did a little cupcake/candle and singing action.

family shot...so hard to get all four looking good!

the next day was the day he celebrated his birthday at school.  it was my day to work in the classroom and in honor of his birthday we brought mini ice cream cones from trader joes.  they were a hit in the classroom.  he was given a birthday crown to wear and got to pick out a book from the birthday basket - which of course was the highlight for my book loving boy!  instead of rushing back to pick up maya, i took him on a little birthday lunch date at mcmenamins.

finally the weekend arrived and it was time for his par-tay...a fire station party to be specific.  portland fire and rescue rents out their historic belmont firehouse (no longer a functioning station) for events.  the highlight was getting to sit in the real fire engine and to slide down the fire pole.  well, the fire pole wasn't really kellen's highlight (he made it to the top of the pole only to turn around and say no thank you), but it was a highlight for many of his friends!  what fun to celebrate with some of his closest friends - including our baby and me group (6 of us who all had babes around the same time and used to attend the hospital based support group for new mamas!). 

firefighter cousins sam and maisy!

playing in the firetruck with best bud, max (from nike)

the kids on the tour listening to the real firefighter lecture them about fire safety

the cake...by beaverton bakery

my boy...too nervous to go down the fire pole he'd been talking about ALL week!

max TILDEN! going down for his fourth time before he had to be cut off!

mama's two babies!

daddy helping him to blow out the candles (must have taken 10 tries!)

the next day we had a family dinner and his choice of meal was chili bar.  i made two kinds of chili - regular red chili with beef and italian sausage and a white bean, green chili and chicken chili.  of course lots of toppings were offered, including chips, sour cream, avocado, tomato, hot sauce, green onion and cilantro.  we followed the chili bar up with a little ice cream cake (again with lots of toppings) and a few special gifts from family.  what a lucky boy to be loved by so many.  needless to say, by the end of the week we were a bit birthday'ed out. 

k blowing out candles one last time

papa, b and k

"dancing/running in circles"

baby sammy, sarah and grandma

it's crazy to think our boy is four years old - he's a full blown kid now, who can carry on a real conversation, who loves loves loves books (and also tv!), who is sweet, cautious, kind and sensitve...with a bit of a stubborn side, who is open to trying new things, but often needs a little reassurance, who is fascinated with learning about new things, who wants to know all the details of your day, but not so willing to share the details of his (when we are apart), who is gentle and protective of his little sister (except when he's not, which is about 15% of the time!), who loves his family, who has a hard time picking a favorite of anything - it's ALL his favorite, who is a little on the shy side, especially with new people, who has one of the most contagious and genuine smiles, who can't wait to run as fast or be as big as his daddy (it's almost a daily conversation...when will i be as big as daddy, when will i wear the same size shoe as daddy, when will i be as fast as daddy?!), who still loves thomas and also cars the movie charactors, who has really good hair, who is a puzzle master, who is my "snuggle bug forever" (according to him!!!) and who is FOUR!  it makes me want to smile and cry at the same time.  i know they say time flies, but i really can remember that day we brought him home from the hospital (to a 55 degree house...brrr!) like it was yesterday (and yes, i did want to return him to the hospital in a brief moment of hormone and sleep deprivation insanity).  we love you sweet boy!