Happy 4th Birthday Mitchell-Pear!

Mitchell enjoying Chuck E Cheese!

Today, our oldest son, turns 4. I know it is very cliche to say, but it doesn't seem like he should be 4 already! Mitchell has always been my biggest Momma's child and I feel like he is still that little toddler that loved to cling to my leg and just be with me and no one else. But here he is, turning in to such a little man, enjoying his first year of preschool and just trying to find his place and explore his likes and dislikes. I would definitely classify him as my "spirited" child, very stubborn and strong-willed, but also the sweetest, most loving child. He is the first to give out a random "I love you" or to run in to your arms for a big hug.

Somewhere along the way, his nickname became Mitchell-Pear. I think it was Abigail that came up with this when she was about 3 and he was a year old. She just started calling him Mitchell-Pear one day and it stuck, with all of us. I love having little nicknames like that for the kids, they all have one and we use them frequently.

Right now at age 4, Mitchell is very much in to Hot Wheels, Toy Story 3 and his Geo Trax. When he can be outside he loves to play with his dump truck and hauls dirt everywhere. He is not so much in to sports right now, but would much rather push his truck all over, collecting whatever he can find. Mitchell is not afraid to get dirty! He likes to be rough and is definitely all boy, and he is very much looking forward to the day when he can wrestle more with his baby brother. He likes to always know what Abigail is doing and most of the time will change what he is doing just to be with her. He loves to color and is actually very good at it, not like most little boys. One of the workers at the YMCA actually commented on this and said she could not believe how well he colors!

We had a small family party for him yesterday, with a Toy Story 3 theme. He had one of his best buddies, Noah, over to celebrate and they had tons of fun running around the house and building some train tracks. They also chased or ran with Abigail and her friend Reaghan, the laughter and screeching in our house was wonderful! I loved to hear my big kids having such a fun time and even Hayden got in on the excitement!

The super cute cake!

Tonight, just for some added birthday thrills, we took the kids to Chuck E Cheese and met their friends Mary and AJ, along with their mom and dad, for some games and pizza. Mitchell was so elated to get a trip to Chuck E Cheese, as I am not a big fan and we don't go often. But to my surprise, it was not as bad as I had feared and we all had a great time. The pizza was good and we followed all the kids around as they tried out all the games they could with their cup full of tokens. And by the end of the night, they cashed in their accumulated tickets and chose their special prizes, which in our case was some rubber spiders and frogs! Oh, the small items that make kids giddy with joy!

So, this is a very big happy birthday to our Mitchell-Pear, who always keeps us on our toes and is our little comedian. We get so many laughs from the crazy things he says or does and we love that God blessed us with this sweet little blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy 4 years ago today.