The Neals: a very special birthday boy

This is Isaac. On April 28, this Isaac boy (a.k.a. IZ, izenheim) turned 4. This day has been long coming for Isaac. Seeing that I get asked on a regular basis if Isaac is 5, I knew that he was certainly not looking like a 3 year old anymore. Nor acting like one either.

This Isaac boy is mine. All mine. Well, I share him equally with Sean, but ultimately I win this argument all of the time.
This boy wakes up almost every morning at 7:15.
At which point I hear the toilet flush, and his little feet getting closer and closer to my bedroom door. Might I add, where I am almost always found in a coma-like sleep.
Without fail, he tiptoes into my room and whispers, "I'm thirsty."
To which I almost always respond, "OK, I'll be right out."
He goes and gets dressed by himself in surprisingly matching clothes, and sits on the couch, turns on PBS kids, and waits.
Patiently, I might add.

For whatever reason, I love waking up this way every morning. With the few days where E-baby beats him in waking up, for a few seconds in time, it's just me and my boy. On the couch, snuggling.
And perhaps I might occassionally use him as a human pillow while I drool, I mean doze back off to sleep before the Creature from the Black Lagoon awakes.

Sidenote: The Creature From The Black Lagoon has lately been waking up so sweetly.

This boy named Isaac writes his name, loves to beat the clock ("Isaac, can you go up in your room and grab your shoes and come back down before I get to 10?), thinks (and is) really funny, he loves to make his friends laugh, he now has 10 instead of 8 meals he will eat without doing the gag cough, he always insists that I do a shadow puppet show using the light from his nightlight before tucking him in each night, he picks flowers for me and hides them behind his back, and huff and puffs when I make him go to the bathroom before we leave the house.

He still hates haircuts, but still loves baths. He has the longest, nobby legs you can imagine, and puffiest pillow lips this side of the Mississippi. He loves to do trick moves on the couch, be tossed by Sean, eat chocolate-with-sprinkle doughnuts, play at playgrounds, go to church, learn about Planets, say "planix" instead of Planets, and continue to have a Jersey accent with his r's.

Anyway, I'm rambling, but I suppose I have the right to ramble, especially on this point.

I have had the biggest lump in my throat lately because I am so.behind.on.blogging, so please forgive me as I give you the shorthand version of his pirate themed birthday bash with some of his favorite buddies! I majorly dislike getting behind with blogging, but it has been a crazy few weeks!

His birthday morning couldn't come soon enough, when he was able to open the boxes Grandma LesLee and Papa Lee sent him from WA. He looooved all of the presents!

At his party, the first bit was spent inside, eating pizza and other treats. The fact that I captured 9 boys sitting at a table, eating food was beyond a miracle.

Next, we went outside and had a few pictures before having a treasure hunt for gold coins. They looooved it!

Back inside, they played "Pin the Eyepatch on the Pirate" with some major peeking going on (mainly from Isaac.) :) We then sang to Isaac and ate cake and icecream.

Each Pirate then got a sword and went back outside and told them to swing at anything except for each other's faces. Surprisingly, they seemed to listen.