Harding's 4th Birthday

The actual birthday was on November 30th, but the celebration has been drawn out over the course of a week and a half. On Thanksgiving day, my parents gave Harding their birthday gift--a Sheriff Woody doll "with a pull string" as Harding called it. This has been a huge hit.

Last Saturday, we stopped in the middle of bamboo floor installation chaos and went to a puppet show of Aesop's fables. Harding loved it! Here he is with Momo and Bop.

Harding poses with his four wrapped gifts from Trip and me on the morning of his birthday. He was very pumped!

Perhaps his favorite gift of the morning--an E.T. t-shirt which he wore to school that day. Harding has been a big fan of E.T. since he saw the movie a few months ago.

Forced birthday pose with mommy. When you have gone through the ordeal of birthing a child, you deserve to get a good picture with them on the anniversary of that day. But try telling that to him!

Birthday dinner at Papas and Beer. Here he is wearing the birthday sombrero that was plopped on his head when all the wait staff sang to him. You can tell how unsure he was about that situation.

Every four-year-old deserves to own a bicycle. Unfortunately, the one we picked out was too big. We'll exchange it for a smaller one this afternoon.

Our friends the Gillilands came over for dinner last night and brought Harding a gift--costumes! Harding has been either Spiderman or Woody ever since.

Here is Spiderman with his train cake:

And here is when spiderman blew out the candles on the train cake:

Derek spent the night with us last night and the boys had the best time playing together. They were thrilled to wake up to the first snow of the season this morning. Here they are on the front porch (Harding still in pajamas).

My baby boy is growing up. It seems like yesterday that Trip and I were still adjusting to our new life as parents to a tiny little newborn. It is amazing how much they grow and change over the course of 4 years......I love you Harding! Thanks for making me a mom!