Zachary Turns 4

 It's been four years since we brought this sweet boy home from the hospital. It's been a wild ride so far!

 I came out of my room the other day to find find Zachary had discovered the blue food coloring. Since I left it out, I couldn''t get too mad. It did take about an hour of scrubbing both him and the couch to get the blue out. 

 He has been enamored with Finn McMissile from Cars 2 for over a year now. He asked for a car last year, but I thought it was just because he had recently seen the movie. He has persisted to ask me for a Finn McMissile toy every time we go to the store for the past year, so I finally complied with his request. We themed the cake and party around Cars 2. I made the cake after attending a Relief Society class on how to decorate cakes. Let's just say 2 hours later, with a huge mess of a kitchen and a transfer that looked more like a car wreck than an actual car, I will likely be buying my future cakes! I was grateful for the dim lighting at the party!

 Zoey reached over and stuck a fork right in the cake before Zach could even blow out the candle!

 What a great shot my friend, Jen, took!

 He was ecstatic about the gifts from his preschool and Primary friends.

 The party was held in the "Life Center" of one of the big churches out here. It is pretty common for churches here to have a big play place like this. I think many of them do not have children in the worship services, so they do this for a nursery. Also, many of them have preschools. It is really a nice service to the community.

 They have an XBOX Kinect, which Zach adores, and which I will keep from my house as long as I possibly can. They really are a lot of fun, but I have enough trouble getting him to turn off a lame cartoon. He kicks and screams whenever we leave the XBOX at the church, and I seriously don't need that addiction of his in my life. 

 I got some mustaches for the Finn McMissile theme, but the kids really couldn't stand to wear them for more than 5 seconds, so I tossed that idea.

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 These are two of our best friends that Zach and Zoey play with frequently. Cruise and Laynie's mom watches my kids while I work. They are exactly the same ages and play together so sweet. 

And the sun went down on another of Zach's birthdays. I am sure they will seem to fly by now. It is already breaking my heart that he is growing up, and not quite so snuggly sweet and babyish anymore. :( He is still at the sweet and spicy stage. Daylight savings has really taken a toll on my poor boy, who is still occasionally waking up 20-40 minutes earlier than he used to. I attribute his recent barrage of crazy outbursts and fits, pounding the bedroom door while in time out, etc. to lack of sleep from DST 2 weeks ago. We may move to Hawaii or Arizona just to fee ourselves of the DST shackle!! 

At the same time, he can be very tender. The other day, he found out his friend was sick, and he immediately said, "Let's say a prayer for him, so Heavenly Father will make him better," after which he knelt down and reverently prayed for his friend. It was sweet, because we have struggled to get him to be reverent during prayer, and to volunteer to pray.

He and Zoey play more and more together. I love to hear the two of them laughing together and chasing one another around. They are both pretty partial to their dad. I guess they just get bored being home with me all day. I always wonder exactly why they seem to run to him over me. I think he must secretly be sneaking them M&Ms behind my back, while I'm the mean one making them brush their teeth! Really, I wonder what those moms do that say their children are Mama's boys or girls, because Daddy holds they keys to these kids' hearts, as much as I try to woo them!!

 Honestly, I feel so blessed to be the mother of this sweet, special boy. I hope to spend many, many more birthdays with this little angel of mine.