Owen's 4th Birthday

This past weekend we celebrated the 4th birthday of our tractor-loving Owen. On Friday, his actual birthday, Grandma and Grandpa VD came down to celebrate. We gave Owen a battery-powered John Deere tractor and he was thrilled!! As soon as he got it he spent 2 hours straight on it, only getting off to add something to his trailer. He would have spent all day on it, but the battery ran out of power.

What a little farmer!

On Saturday we had his party. Thankfully we had a nice, sunshiny day!

The kids kept themselves busy walking very carefully across this board so they did not fall into the "hot lava"

Eating dinner

"Look how big I am Mom!" (Owen was fascinated with his shadow)

Owen said "Look, I'm following me" when he turned around to see his shadow was still there

The cake

Blowing out the candle (it took awhile)

He enjoyed the cake

Opening presents. He received a lot of fun CARS and John Deere toys - his favorite things!

Owen really is just the sweetest boy. We like to call him our "gentle giant" because he's such a big kid, but he wouldn't hurt a fly. The only thing is he doesn't like to share his toys, especially with Noah. I've mentioned it before but he is the best independent player, he really knows how to keep himself entertained. Right now his favorite show is "Little Einstein's." Some of his favorite foods are: oranges, oatmeal, peanut butter (straight-up, on a spoon), vanilla yogurt, strawberries and Mac n' Cheese. Owen has the ability to fall asleep almost anytime we are in the car for more than 20 minutes, even if it's 9am and he's only been up for 2 hours. He can be very opinionated about what he wears, preferring jeans and a t-shirt. He likes to have us read the same 3 books to him every night before bed (all of them are about trucks and tractors). We are so glad to have Owen in our lives, he brings a lot of laughter and fun to our family!

Here's a little video of Owen riding his new tractor:

So far this summer...

...we've discovered that Noah absolutely loves the water...

We've played in dirt piles...

We've found Owen asleep with his tractor by his side...

We've slipped and slided...

We've spent hours making crafts and baking... (here Caitlin is working on a "easy bake" cake project)

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(the finished product: it tasted revolting, but she had fun making them)

We've spent time at Science World... (the boys stayed home with grandma and grandpa)

We've taken the "aquabus" through False Creek...

We've eaten lunch on Granville Island...

We've browsed the stands at the market...

(she picked the blue flower cookie, I guess pink is no longer her favorite color)

We've gone swimming...

We've taken the kids to see Cars 2 (it was Owen's first time to a movie theater, I don't think we'll be taking him again anytime soon)

We've built all sorts of lego creations (Owen is just starting to get into Lego, it's nice to finally have something that both he and Caitlin like to play with together)

We've gone on many bike rides around the neighborhood

We've drawn all over the road with sidewalk chalk (Owen loves it when I draw a race track for him to bike around on, and I also draw parking spots and he lines up all of his ride-on toys in the "parking lot")

We've played a lot of Mario Kart Wii (I'll admit it). It makes me laugh to watch the kids play because Owen makes car noises the entire time he's racing. Caitlin is so stinken competitive and Owen is the least competitive kid I know, which works out great because of course Caitlin wins every time and it doesn't bother Owen in the least bit.

Gotta love these lazy days of summer!!