brody's fourth birthday

the pile of presents

birthday boy

opening presents

aunt patti and brooke

uncle john

brody fishing

he really couldn't be any cuter

brody catching his first two fish

daddy fishing

mom fishing

the girlies

mom's first catch of the day (i caught 2 all by myself!)

dinner at chuck e chesses

brody had the best birthday ever....really! josh and i had more fun on his birthday than we did on any other birthday this year. brody jumped on our bed at 7 am letting us know he was ready to open presents...and then i hear brookie crying down the hall....too early for her. he woke us all up to come open presents. well he was the birthday boy so i guess he can get away with it. we marched straight downstairs and opened presents. he loved everything!!! he was so spoiled by everyone. the loot:

starwars guys, ship, monster towel from mom and dad
starwars game, lunchbox, book, and the entire season one of clone wars from grandma and grandpa bingham
huge box of legos from grandma and grandpa barrus
and too many more toys to count from uncle john and aunt patti and everyone else

after presents we played and played some more. finally we got ready to go fishing. we asked brody months ago what he wanted to do on his birthday and he said fishing...so fishing we went. we were just so grateful that josh had the day off of work. we took along the experts uncle john and aunt patti (they have taken us in under their wing....they are such a great blessing to our family). we went fishing on the pier and had a blast. mom had never been fishing and i really wanted to catch a fish all on my own casting it out and reeling it in. i did! i actually caught 2! i was pretty proud of myself. brody caught 4. brookie cried cause she was scared of fishies and daddy caught too many to count. we ended up catching about 38 fish to keep and more we gave away. while the men finished fishing patti and i took the kids to play in the water. after the beach we headed back to clean up and rest. after naptime we took brody to chuck e cheeses. he was thrilled to pieces. we have never been and the kids loved it. our night ended at uncle john and aunt patti's with more gifts to open. finally our little boy let us all pass out after a fun filled day at 10 pm. josh and i had so much fun celebrating with brody. he is my little man. brody as you can tell is really into star wars this year. he loves to play "hippopotamus" which means "princess padame" a game our family created where daddy, brookie, and brody rescue "princess padame"--a little teddy bear from the bad guys. he loves to play pretend in any sense of the word. his imagination is amazing. he loves to explore things and plays all day long. he has been in swim lessons since january and can now swim like a champ. he is playing soccer again and is ready to take on the game. he has started to draw people and they are so cute...we all look like mr. potato heads! he loves to learn about the stories of jesus and now insists on teaching us family home evening. he loves to play board games with mom and dad. he usually wins! he is many times my saving grace. when i am having a hard day, he can tell and tries to help. he always wants mommy to be happy and cheers me up. he oftentimes tells me "mommy you look beautiful!" he just melts my heart. his favorite person is his dad. he loves to spend time with dad and go out just the two of them. he is so brave and strong. my baby boy is now four and i hope he has the best year ever! happy birthday handsome....mommy and daddy love you so much.