The Stone Family: Garrett's 4th Birthday!

January 4, 2017

Kimbri was already snuggling in bed with me while Rick was outside scraping the enormous amounts of snow off his car so he could get to his rotation in Payson on time. I heard Garrett's footsteps upstairs, running above my room, then down the stairs and through the hallway. He hopped up in bed with us and we both sat up and said, "Happy Birthday Garrett!" and we all did a group hug and I said, "I love you Garrett!" and he replied with, "Awwww, I love you too, Mom" in the cutest little voice ever.

I can't believe my baby boy is 4 years old. Was it really 4 years ago that we got to snuggle our 8 and a half pound baby boy in our arms for the first time?

Garrett is really and truly one amazing little boy. He is definitely a 3 year old (4 year old today I guess) and has those 3 year old tantrums now and then, but in his heart he is pure goodness. I have loved watching him become a big brother to Brenna. I love to see the way he helps her get a book, gives her a hug, or takes her hand and walks her to the door when we are getting ready to leave the house. He's so gentle and kind.

I'm so grateful for Garrett's personality! He is SO expressive and gets extremely excited over things. For example, at Christmas someone gave him a present that was wrapped in a kitchen pan box. He ripped the wrapping paper and way and said, "I can't believe it! I got a kitchen bowl!". It was so funny how he was genuinely excited about a "kitchen bowl". Haha! But really, his thick eyebrows that pop up above wide eyes when he sees something cool or exciting to him just get me every time. He is a gift to our family and I'm so grateful for him.

Anyway, today we celebrated his 4th birthday, his "golden" birthday where he turned 4 on the 4th. We got up and got going first thing, after snuggles in bed of course, and went to Walmart and Sam's Club to finish getting stuff for his birthday dinner and to pick up his Star Wars cake we ordered from Sam's.

After errands, we came home and the kids had donuts that we had picked up from Walmart, because that's what Garrett wanted for his birthday breakfast. Also, when we were at Walmart I let Garrett do a .25 ride on Pumba (from The Lion King movie) and he thought it was the coolest thing! I'll have to post a picture of that later.

We did Kimbri's homework and got her off to school. Meanwhile, Garrett found one of his birthday presents hiding under my bed and I just gave in and let him play with it so I could get a few things prepped for the party later on while Kimbri was at school and Brenna was napping. It was a truck with a dinosaur cage on the back that has an orange dinosaur in it. He loved it and he was so entertained by it.

Garrett really has such an amazing imagination and loves playing with trucks, planes, trains, cars, dinosaurs, the Little People sets we have and any other little thing he can find. He often will stand at the bathroom sink, fill it up with water to make a "pond" for his animals or boats or whatever, and stand their for 30-45 minutes at a time playing and dunking his toys in and out of his pond :)

Another thing about Garrett is that he knows and recognizes his ABC's (the capital letters) and almost all the sounds. He loves reading (really me reading to him), especially his new Ninja Turtle books he got for Christmas. Garrett is very in to Paw Patrol and Blaze, both show from Nick Jr. on tv. He loves macaroni and cheese and fruit and is a pretty picky eater compare to his sisters. Also, he often says that his favorite color is orange. It usually changes day to day but most often it is orange, haha!

Anyway, we had the party this evening and so many people came to support little Garrett! The Stone's came, Levi & Zanna, Tj, Mindy & Logan, Dawson and his kids, the rest of my siblings, except Wyatt, and my parents hosted the party at their house! It was so fun and Garrett had the time of his life, surrounded by people that love him so much.

He requested macaroni and cheese (which I made a crockpot recipe and it was a huge fail!) so my dad ordered pizza and saved the day. I also made a Caesar Salad and my mom made a yummy salad too. Zach brought cheesy sticks, the Stone's brought grapes for a side. We also had Garrett's blue Star Wars cake and ice cream sandwiches upon his request, and I also added ice cream to the mix as well.

It was such a fun day and I'm so happy that we got to celebrate Garrett and him being 4!! I'm so grateful that he is growing up to be such an amazing little boy and I am truly grateful that I get to be his mommy. He teaches me so much and I can't wait to see him keep growing and developing. I love you Garrett!!!!!