Jonas's 4th birthday!

I still can't believe Jonas is another year older. He looks more and more like a little boy and less and less like a baby/toddler. I wish I could slow things down and at the same time, I love watching them fly by. I want to savor all the moments we have with him, yet I get excited as he progresses to new levels and learns new skills. I guess parenthood really is about a confusion of emotions! Still, I wouldn't change it for the world. My greatest treasure is my family...and today we got to celebrate Jonas! Since my parents couldn't be here for his actual birthday, they took him out for a donut earlier in the month and let him open their gift. He loves donuts and he LOVED the Lego set they gave him!

For his birthday party, he chose a "Transformers" theme. We started off with a Transformer training course. Each of the kids had to perform certain tasks associated with certain Transfomers (or Rescue Bots). To learn to be Heatwave (a firefighter), they threw water "bombs" at a "fire" (I drew a sidewalk chalk image of a blaze on the sides of our garden boxes). Next, they shot a "gun" (water cannon) at the Deceptacons (soda cans with a Deceptacon logo on it) as they learned how to be Chase (the police car). Afterward, they practiced moving "boulders" (balls) to clear the road as they learned how to be Boulder (the bulldozer). The next game was one of the most favorite! Next, they had to transform into Bumblebee (the racecar) and race through a "tunnel" (swim noodles). The tunnel led them to the zipline where they had to race to the top of the platform to save some animals. They threw the animals down to their friends on the trampoline then "flew" across to the finish line as they practice being Blades (a helicopter). Finally, Optimus Prime (a semi-truck; leader) greeted them (as a pinata) and gave them all medals. The boys got to smack the pinata and collect all the candy.

For lunch, we had Heatwave's crispy chicken nuggets, Chase's lights and sirens (red and blue berries), Blades veggie (heliopter) blades, Boulders (donut) boulders, Bumblebee's wheels (oreos), and Optimus Prime's energon juice (lemonade).

Next, Jonas got to open his gifts. He was excited to get some "real" Legos from Aunt Nichole and Kate, like his big brother, Danny. He also got walkie talkies from Dallin, a magic tracks racetrack from the Tanners, books from Mom and Dad, and the hit of the party, more magnet blocks from Danny!

Finally, he got to blow out his 4 candles and officially start his next year as a 4-year-old (although he already told Jeff he misses being 3). Happy birthday big boy!