Calvin's 4th birthday

The day after Christmas I gave Calvin a hair cut.  He looked much more "grown up boy" with short hair.

This is also the LAST paper chain link left of the very long paper chain that was up on the wall that represented how many days until his birthday. 

I could sum up Calvin's birthday with one word: Chocolate!  The boy loves, loves chocolate.  He ate the entirety of his reeses peanut butter cups from his Christmas stocking in 2 days...and requested many chocolate items for his birthday. 

We started the day with chocolate chip pancakes!

My dad (Grandpa Jon!) came down to spend the day with us to help celebrate Calvin's birthday.  He brought along a very fun bouquet of helium balloons for him.  That was a huge hit!  Calvin and Violet talked to their cousins on Skype (first Austin, Renee and Wesley), then Kristina, Anja and Emma.  They wanted to wish him a happy birthday which was very sweet.  He enjoyed showing them some of his Christmas presents.  Rachel helped them with that while my dad and I decorated the chocolate cake Calvin requested.  He even wanted the cake to have chocolate chips, chocolate frosting, chocolate sprinkles, to be served along with chocolate ice cream and chocolate milk!

Rachel had to leave that morning to head to another orthodontist's office in Mason City so she gave Calvin his present before she left.  A remote control monster truck!  We had to charge the batteries for 8 hours before he could use it though. 

We got out of the house for awhile and took the kids to KT's Inflatable Indoor Park for a couple hours.  They jumped and bounced their little selves to the point of sweating.  They LOVED it!  Vanessa enjoyed herself too, playing with all the 1 yr old toys in the corner.  I took a few pics, then Dave stayed with them to bounce while my dad and I walked around the mall. 

After that fun but exhausting outing, we made a quick shopping run to Kitchen Essentials so dad could look for a set of stainless steel measuring spoons for my mom.  We ran across a nice kitchen mat also which is something I'd been looking for since standing on the tile by the stove sometimes makes my legs hurt.  We found what we were looking for, and headed home.  My dad read the kids books for over an hour, which they really enjoyed.  It was a perfect relaxing activity to occupy them while I got supper ready.  Calvin requested chicken and broccoli for supper, so that's what we had, along with potatoes.  After supper we lit the candles on his cake, sang him happy birthday, and ate more chocolate in one sitting than I probably have in a long time.  He opened his four birthday presents, and his favorite by far was the dinosaur figurines.  Besides the balloons, got a little pair of army men from Violet (she got them at her school and thought of him, what a sweetie), a Cars water bottle, dinosaur figurines, and a Digger Man book from Grandma Martha. 

We love our little boy!  I can still call him little, right? :)