4 years old

*** warning..it's a long post!!!


Cort is 4 years old!!! It's crazy...i guess I'll say it every year but it's so crazy how fast it all flies. I can't believe that four years ago on January 11th we were doing this...

and now that little boy is doing this...

Oh, Cort everyday is an adventure with you. You have made the last four years of our life fuller, richer, and exciting. You're imagination is unimaginable. Your creativity a bit inspiring. Your love for life and laughing is contagious. You challenge us, grow us, and make each day a little more enjoyable!!

It's amazing to me how much changes over a year. He is so grown up now and it's fun to see him settle into himself a bit. He has stayed true to so many of his favorites....cars, trains, animals, and dinosaurs, playing outside, crafts, books, and games. He continue to be so creative. A favorite of his is to pretend to be some type of animal and he'll keep this up for days. He'll even eat things we wouldn't usually eat if oh, say " a baby giraffe" would eat it.(he's even been a baby yak for a few days!!!) He loves to learn but is a bit of a perfectionist...not always willing to try new things right away because he doesn't want to do it wrong. Some new found loves that he's picked up at school are rhyming, making patterns, and talking about what letter words start with. He has a few sight words he reads but isn't too interested in trying to actually read. He's come full circle with "why" questions...he's back to asking them all the time but they have more depth to them. It def. challenges me since I don't always know the answer but I love how he longs to know things.

He's still a Daddy's boy... tagging along with him any chance he gets. He loves to help do things...cook, clean, make things...you name it. I would probably coin this stage the "in between" stage. He's in between needing and not needing a nap. He's in between being independent and dependent...even in his own desires....for example, he wants to pour his own drink but wants me to put his shoes on. He loves to go to school but is sad to not stay home with me and Cohen. It's all part of growing up and it's weird to see the "other side" slowly sneaking in. I know we have a long way to go( thankfully!!) but still my little baby is growing up right before our eyes!!

His four year well check went well. He's still a lightweight..He was just under 30 lbs but was back on the weight charts(5%) for the first time since he was about 3 mos. old.( YEA!!!) He was 39.5 inches( 30%) which is closer to what his height percentile use to BE( 40-50%) before we dropped off so badly last year. The shots were by far the most dramatic we've ever had. He talked about it all morning very calmly and matter of fact but then when he realized they were about to happen he lost it....though he cried a lot harder before then he did after, and a quick lunch out with a few of his buddies took care of it all!!

This year we did a joint birthday party with his friend, Sophie. Sophie and Cort are 8 days apart and her mommy and I met just after they were born. They truly have grown up together!!

We did the party at one of those jump places and all the kids had so much fun!!

(the scratch on his face is from a little run in with a suitcase zipper while putting on a show while being a "baby dolphin" one day)



all the kiddos....

you can't tell it in this picture, but sweet( and very hot - do you see her red face?) Nancy was so excited to hold Cohen for the picture...
showing off their pump it up birthday day crowns...
Sophie didn't want to hear the happy birthday song because she had already had it sung on her actual birthday( a few days before)....cute..



On his actual birthday we celebrated at breakfast since it was a workday for Chris and we had small group that night. We had Cinnamon rolls and white powdered donuts( Cort asks for them every time we're in the grocery store and I've never bought them before). He thought it was all great.




We decorated his door(thanks for the idea Beth!) the night before while he was sleeping and he was really excited about that when he woke up.( these pictures were taken after his birthday)




We did take him to the restaurant of his choice that night...Crackerbarrel and he picked out a special dessert at Strossner's bakery to eat at home. He and Cohen both enjoyed it!!


The following weekend we went down to Columbia to have a party with family. We usually combine friends and family but since we were doing the joint party during the week, family( who is all out of town) wasn't able to join us. We did a bug themed party as this was what Cort had been asking for since the summer. Have I mentioned how into birthday party themes he is? He asks anybody who has a birthday, what kind of cake did you have...and he doesn't mean chocolate or vanilla...he means a car? a dinosaur? a butterfly? Anyway, I thought a bug themed party would be easy but do you know that almost every bug themed party decor is for girls? How strange is that?...anyway, I ended up finding a few things in a teacher supply store to
use as decoration and had to craft my own bug cake but it all worked out pretty easily.


Well, decorating the cake was pretty easy( though not my favorite cake I've done) but baking the cake was a whole other story!!! I've got to be willing to laugh at myself for this one....

we rolled into Columbia on Friday afternoon and put the boys down for the naps. I headed into the kitchen to get a jump on making the cakes. I put all the parts in the oven and began to make the frosting. My mom needed to pick up some things so she waited for me to get done so i could go with her. On the way back home it dawned on us that we left with the cakes IN THE OVEN!!! I have no idea what we were thinking. We knew they would be burnt because it had been an hour longer than they were suppose to bake and Chris didn't take them out of the oven( no timer buzzer). Would you believe that the cakes were cooked perfectly? We had put the cook time on so the oven had cut off and somehow it ended up cooking them just right. The cakes were saved!!
Or so we thought...while trying a bit of extra cake, Cort accidentally hit the cooling rack and knocked the body of the bug on the ground!!! It broke into several pieces!! So, we got another mix, made another cake and checked it right before we sat down for dinner....decided it needed another few minutes while we fixed our plates. Well, after we ate dinner, we remember the cake!! Really, what is wrong with me? It was totally burnt!! Well, third time was the charm, it came out right on time and I even got in bed before midnight!!



Anyway, we just had a morning party with one little craft, cake, and presents. It was perfect and he had a great time.


I think Cohen seriously put all of his cake in his mouth in 5 seconds... can you see how stuffed it is...

What, that's not how you eat your cake?



I have to brag on my son just for a minute...his cousin, Chandler and his friend, Nico, helped him open every single one of his presents and sometimes they even opened more of it than he did and he didn't complain or fuss about it one time!! He even very willingly shared his toys once they were open!! I can't say that that would happen everyday but it did that day and we were proud of him for it!!

Three celebrations( four if you count the treats at school that I sent) was a bit much and we probably won't do it like that very often but it was nice for the great grandparents( they couldn't have traveled as easily) and some of our friends who live in columbia to be able to be involved.

So, super long post, but there it is. Cort so looked forward to turning 4 for some reason and is already saying, "When I'm 5....." Slow down, boy, let's enjoy 4 for a while!!