look who's four.

two weeks ago was my nephew, malcolm's, fourth birthday. i was lucky enough to spend the morning with him and i even got to attend his adorable play-doh party (my sister decided to get super creative with the birthdays this year).

his birthday was on a saturday and my sister wanted to take him to breakfast...he loves ihop. i couldn't pass up breakfast with the fam, so i drove down to slc after i got off work, friday night at 11:00 pm.

the kids didn't know i was coming...i was a surprise. well, jesse and malcolm woke me up and malcolm let me squish him and sing him my own little happy birthday song. he sometimes doesn't like it when i want to squish him. then he disappeared upstairs and a few minutes later, he came back downstairs with jesse. they said that their mom told them their was a surprise for them in the guest bedroom. they were looking in the closet and the drawers of the dresser and everywhere and they couldn't find it. kristen came down and that's when they were informed that i was the surprise. they weren't that excited. rude, i know.  shortly after that, we jumped in the car and headed to ihop.

this kid loves him some bacon and pancakes. and even the eggs. check out the devouring of the bacon.

it only took three takes to get this, but how can you not want to squish that malcolm in the middle.

after a little while, malcolm's friends showed up for the play-doh party.
i love that his shirt coordinated with his party hat.

kristen, the brave mama that she is, invited 9...yes, NINE, of malcolm's friends over. he is in a preschool group, so they all came. two little girls that are family friends and his new little buddy from across the street were there. and another young one that i didn't really know. maybe he was from primary.
but seriously...there were TEN kids.
it wasn't too chaotic, but i have an aversion to messes and play-doh, so i was on high alert.

they were very serious about their play-doh skills.
i'm not sure that they made anything specifically.
mostly they were just squishing it around and such.
and making messes.

after the play-doh, there was a pinata. the kids were far too little (i.e. weak) to break it open, so aunt chelle had to step in and bust it up.
it was pretty funny.
then malcolm opened presents and they had cupcakes.
it seemed that the proper way to eat these cupcakes was face first into the bright, bright frosting. some kids left with stained faces.
oh well.

this little guy thinks he is tough.
i think he is adorable.
we get along...

...most of the time.
hahaha.

because malcolm's birthday was the day i made a life changing decision, it will always be a special day to me.

i was so grateful to spend the day with the little tikes (messes and all) and, as always, to spend it with my family.
i can't believe he is four!
crazy how time flies.

that's all.