Happy Birthday, Snax!  You are now four years old.

Kid, you are hilarious.  You are cuddly.  You are sweet.  You love your sister so much.  You have the cutest voice ever.  You ask me if I’m happy.  You fully live life.  Every second of the day.

You light up a room when you come running in…your lopsided run with the huge arms.  You talk nonstop.  And you won’t stop talking until you are acknowledged.  You have truly taught me how to be present to your children.

Last night we asked if you wanted to sleep with us or your brothers.  You chose your brothers.  Really, anything your brothers want, you want.  And while it’s sweet, it makes me feel as if you’ve missed being three years old.  You are too young to want Pokemon cards, but you want them because BH and Goose have them.  And that’s my only complaint about you.  I want you to just be you, the 3 year old, well 4 year old.  You have all the time in the world to be older.

You also copy the boys, if they have a tummy ache, you have a tummy ache.  Sometimes copying works for you, and sometimes it works against you.  Remember the time we were in Target and you wanted some toy insects?  Baby Hulk decided he didn’t like them so you didn’t either.  Except you really did like them!  And now we have to check the dollar spot for big plastic bugs every time we go to Target.

Seriously kid, you crack me up.  You make everyone laugh.  The amount of time you spend thinking about your tummy is a bit much.  In the middle of breakfast, you ask about dinner.  “What’s for dinner, mom?”  And if it’s chicken, you immediately fall to the ground and wail, “chicken, not chicken.”  Before you fall asleep at night, you tell me exactly what you want for breakfast.  It’s pretty obnoxious, but it’s you.  Cute and sweet.

Sometimes it’s as if your tummy has a mind of it’s own.  Not only does your tummy want a snack, it also wants to watch a funny show, not learning shows.

Your nickname has really taken off this past year.  It’s not just a family nickname.  People who don’t know you call you Snax.  It’s all over Twitter.  Because of dad, people feel like they know you.  They want to hear stories about you.

At three you developed a love of Star Wars.  You have an unusual amount of Star Wars t-shirts, but the ones you love the most are the ones with Darth Vadar.  You are in love with the Dark Side.  Which hopefully, means you are sneaky.  It would make me so proud.

Snax, you are so sweet.  You love Baby Z so much.  You share your food with her, give her toys and try and carry her.  Thankfully, you have learned how to carry her without choking her.  You love all of your grandparents.  You say grandpa so adorably, and distinguish between the two by calling one the big grandpa and the other the little grandpa.  You’re smart like that.  You love on me daily and it makes my heart melt.

You’re pretty smart too.  In a much different way than your older brothers.  You are what they call street smart.  You are somewhat of a challenge for me as far as teaching goes, but that’s fine.  I know just what to do with you and that’s to have as much fun learning as possible.

Snax, you’re sitting in my arms right now.  Napping after a nasty spill.  I love that you run to me, snuggle me and talk in that adorable voice.  I have a chocolate cake with white frosting, sprinkles and strawberries, plus ice cream.  It’s quite a cake you asked for, but anything for you on your special day.

Happy Birthday, my boy.  I look forward to next year, but hope I never forget one minute of this last year.  I love you!  God bless you.  Even if you don’t like the long church!