We had Quincy's party (August 13th- two days before his actual birthday) so everyone in town could attend. Every good party has to have good food.... so we had an assortment of finger foods.
Wiener wraps and bite sized pizza.
Some veggie snacks to balance out all the salty greasy foods...
And some yummy deviled eggs.
The whole spread...
Grammie and Pappy smiling for the camera.
Even David and Spencer were able to make it over to our place for Quincy's big day.
Grammie and Grandpa Loren with the birthday boy!
An attempt to get a picture with both the boys... Braxton's not wanting to stay put.
First gifts to get opened from Grandma Teesy and Grandpa Kent: Popcorn!
...And some Twizzlers... I think we might be sensing a theme??
What could go better with popcorn and treats than a great movie? Quincy got the new RIO movie!
And even better he got a few extra dollars for some spending cash! :)
Next gift to open was from Grammie and Grandpa Loren...
Some Vanilla oreo cookies... an activity book... and some lined notebook paper for practicing writing!
Grammie also thought it would be fun to put four dollars worth of quarters on his gift. Quincy thought this was cool and couldn't believe he got $7.00 from both grandparents!
Braxton and Grammie.
Quincy also opened up a Cat in the Hat game for kids. We have since played this game for FHE with the boys and their favorite things to do are tasks requiring the 'trick-a-ma-stick'... because of course it's a fun word to say!
Finally... gifts from mom and dad.....
A Lightning Mcqueen car and a Mater Car... this kid has been pretending his other cars were these two characters forever. We figured we should get him the actual cars- though I do appreciate his creativity. :)
We also got him the movie Open Season.
And I also splurged to get him some Cars pajamas. He loves them! Braxton loves them too and frequently points to the cars on them.
When I asked Quincy this year what kind of cake he wanted he said Mater Cupcakes. It was quite the specific request and so I did my best to create little Mater Cupcakes. It took a few hours to finish decorating them, but I think they turned out pretty great!
My biggest challenge in making them was to try and get all the detail on the little cupcakes.
Quincy loved them!
Since it took me about 4 hours to complete 12 Mater cupcakes I decided to just finish out the next dozen with a Birthday Message... complete with chocolate sprinkles.
My Quincy James is now 4 years old. Wow!
Braxton enjoyed the cupcakes very much. Don't you love his black mustache?
Diggin' in!
Delicious Mom!
He had to lick every last drop up. :)
And this little kid thoroughly devoured every last drop of his cupcakes.... well, except for the parts on his face.
A little bit of fun facts about Quincy:
- He is still independent as ever. He can now dress himself completely- fortunately the outfit combos haven't been too terrible.
-He loves to sing primary songs, and when I say sing I mean he will hum the the tune and we have to guess the song. Although I did capture him singing The Itsy Bitsy Spider on video.
- His 4 year old stats are: Weight= 34 lbs Height= 39 1/4" (He is consistently in the 20-30%)
-He loves cars. I don't think it matters what kinds of other toys this kid has he always can be entertained with his cars.
- He has been practicing riding his big wheels and can now successfully reach the peddles and peddle on his own. If only we had a bigger area for him to ride on.
- He randomly surprises us with things he says. For instance yesterday when we were getting out of the car to pick up some prescriptions from Walmart he shouted "Okay. Lets do this!"
-He loves Braxton so much. Although the two fight frequently... they also have a ton of fun together. In fact I have caught Quincy in Braxton's crib three different nights sleeping next to his brother. They definitely have that brotherly 'love/ hate' kind of bond. :)
-Quincy is doing really well in reading and writing. Although it's been difficult for his to find the patience in learning to write, he does enjoy it. Next year I will be doing preschool at home with him.
- He is obsessed with a schedule and times.... he constantly asks me what we are doing and what will come next. I have to give him an hourly play by play of how our day is going to go down.
- He informed me that when he turned 4 he was going to like onions, tomatoes, and peppers (things he currently detests!) Unfortunately this announcement has yet to happen with my newly aged 4 year old.
- And speaking of food... anytime we go to a sit down place to eat this kid is ordering his meal before we get a chance to tell the waiter. Have I mentioned he's independent yet? ?
Overall we love Quincy so much. I was talking with my mom about how I can't wait to see how my kids develop their own personalities and they will change over the years. She commented on how she was watching some old videos of me and my brother's as young kids. She said "at one point I realized that you all haven't changed one bit! " I mean of course we have all matured in ways since we were 10 or 8 or 5 or 3... but for the most part that statement remains true.
Quincy is cautious. He loves to be the center of attention, but only after he feels comfortable with his crowd. He is a perfectionist at heart, much like his own mother. He doesn't like to try something new until he has mastered it. This is why he doesn't particularly like writing, because his letters don't look just like mine yet. We try to encourage him to remember that practicing something will help him get better at it and to not worry so much at being perfect the first time. He was rather mad at Tyler one night when Tyler was trying to urge him to sound out some of the words to read along with him. He finally shouted "I don't WANT to read it. I want YOU to! I don't know how to read." Well, of course he DOES know how to read, small 3-4 letter words, but he's not fluent enough to read them smoothly like we do. Tyler explained that he needed to try. Quincy is stubborn. He has been since the day he was born. He told Tyler no. Finally we explained that it was important that he TRY to read so that someday he would be good enough to read to HIS kids. This seemed to momentarily defuse the situation and he began trying.
Quincy is a natural leader... I find that this is pretty common among oldest children, but Quincy is often found directing kids older than him to do things. He has never had a problem befriending kids younger or older. He pretty much gets along with everyone. He loves to help. In fact, he is usually best behaved when given a job to do. He needs a purpose. When he isn't busy or challenged enough he becomes a trouble maker. He so desperately wanted to help Tyler clean hair out of the drain in the tub one day. Tyler, who had his hands full as it was, grew rather frustrated with Quincy "helping". Finally he gave Quincy and measuring tape and told him to measure all the things in the room .Quincy was happy to help and continued measuring things for an hour.
Most of all... I love that Quincy feels strongly. He may be stubborn and ornery, but he's also kind and sweet. He usually surprises me with loving gestures or sweet words when I least expect them. I suppose that I'm truly grateful for his natural stubborn nature. I hope and pray that we will be able to raise him in the knowledge of the gospel so he will gain a strong testimony of what is right. That he will use that strong willed personality to resist the many temptations of Satan. That he will be courageous enough to stand for what's right, even if it's not popular. That he will be worthy to serve a mission to spread the truth when circumstances are most difficult. That he will find a beautiful woman to marry in the temple. That they will be able to have an eternal family of their own. Yes. I know that SOMEDAY... or rather MANY days in his future he will be able to stand for truth when he's tempted by lies. I love my stubborn, loving, son and know that having him be part of our family is such an essential part of the plan of salvation.
Thank you to all who sent Birthday Love and Wishes to our wonderful little Quincy for his 4th Birthday!
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