Dean is 4

Wow... 4.  That I can barely believe.


For the past few weeks we have been trying to ready him for this birthday.  It's going to mean getting him a new bed (meaning he'll have to give up his old bed... something he's reluctant to do:  give up old things).


We also readied him for the party.  What kind of cake, who should come, etc...


It wasn't until his actual birthday morning that we woke him up and said "Happy Birthday" that we didn't realize what the prepping was doing.


His response:  "It's not my birthday... where's the girls?"


We had to think for a second... who was coming to his birthday?  "Alexis, Anna, Emily, Kaitlyn..."  heh... you remember that line of yours Dean... it'll pay off in a dozen or so years.


So we had to convince him that the party wasn't actually on his birthday.


Well, that day came and went, and then it was time for his party.


Crazy time -- called for some crazy amounts of cleaning.


It was worth it as there was lots of fun.  We had balloons, a ton of candy/snacks, played musical pillows (because, after all, it was a pyjama party), some Wii, and Dean handed out trophies (part of their loot bags) because "we all won".



[Dean wanted this "cake"]


After the kids all finished most of the games, it was pretty much 'open play' time and they did whatever, while the parents just kinda hung out.  It was fun.



[this is when the home games became inclusive -- before this shot the boys were playing video games and the girls were making food, baking and sweeping in Dean's room]


Eventually they all headed home and we had a little bit of time to recover before the family portion was upon us.


If it's one thing the family brings it's food.  Holy smokes we had food.  Dean enjoyed more presents and another cake.





Just as we thought he was starting to fall asleep he got into some of the presents again and was good for a few more hours.


Don't know how he stayed awake, I was pretty much done.


I'm glad he had a great time.  He deserves it.  Often I make fun of my 'technology' that is more than a year old... but Dean continues to bring smiles and joy int our lives... wonder if there's a software upgrade for some of his behaviour tho' (anybody know any tricks to get him to like one set of grandparents?).