Happy Birthday, Evan!

It's hard to believe that my first born is already four! After witnessing his friends' birthdays and Caleb's birthday (and having some memory of his own birthday a year ago), Evan was so excited for his birthday. I even got it together enough to throw him a birthday party, the first one I've done for any of the kids. My parents and in-laws were coming into town for Asher's baby blessing the weekend of Halloween, so I thought I'd kill three birds with one stone and have Evan's party be a Halloween party the day before Halloween. At Evan's request, I made a train cake.

(I made it a haunted train cake to go with the Halloween theme).

He also begged to have a pinata for his birthday. He was so cute about it and I have such fond memories of always having pinatas at my birthday parties growing up, that I just couldn't say no. I missed out on the Halloween pinatas, but I was able to find a dinosaur one at Target that went well enough with the Halloween spirit.

We invited all the kids from Evan's Primary class and they all had a great time hitting the pinata. Ultimately, though, Scott had to do the honors to actually get any candy out. Here are Evan and Caleb going at it with my fondant rolling pin:





And here's Asher enjoying the party with Grandma.

And a slideshow of photos:


Evan had a great time at his party and is already talking about next year's birthday. A week after we had his party was his real birthday, and he got a balloon, cake (much less elaborate than for his party) and presents, all of which he was really excited about.

Cake
Presents
Riding his new bike.

Evan really is quite the kid. Most of the time he's happy and helpful. The rest of the time he's doing everything within his power to drive us out of our minds. He's always full of energy and is endlessly curious and inquisitive. He talks nonstop. He loves to tease and be teased. He loves trains (still), garbage trucks, and excavators. He loves wrestling with his daddy. Evan is such a good big brother and loves to play with Caleb and to pat Asher on the head. If Asher is crying, Evan often tries to help him feel better. I really can't believe what a big boy he is. (Big enough that Scott and I can no longer say things around him if we don't want him to hear and internalize everything we say.) We think he's pretty great! He brings great happiness, joy, and excitement to our family. Happy birthday!