Ori Turned Four

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY LITTLE LOVE!!

Ori posing for this annual birthday portrait

Okay, realistically, this post is several days after the fact. (Ori turned four on Dec. 19.) That said, I can't believe I have a four-year-old already!

As expected, we celebrated with ice cream cake (his favorite) and toys. But not until about 10pm.

You see, Mom (me) had to work job 1 from 7:40am-2pm. Then she had to stop in at job 4 for about 30 mins. Immediately after that, Dad whisked her away down state to do necessary project shopping. My one request was stopping at a pet store in order to acquire stocking stuffers and presents for the children's Christmas and Ori's birthday. The mission was successfully accomplished.

On the way down, however, I was informed that our pool full of koi (who'd been brought inside for the winter to escape a mink/otter up by their pond) had suffered some more casualties. (Our of 45 large koi, we have now lost 5.) A 50% water change was necessary. So instead of us arriving at home and immediately jumping into celebrations, the bf, myself, and Ori all headed out to the garage.

Changing water is a massive undertaking when we have such a large pool for them to swim around in. It requires draining water which travels down my driveway and forms an ice rink in the low spots. It also involves hanging out and keeping an eye on the water levels until they're back where they need to be. After that, it means dragging the hoses inside so that they don't freeze and break.

I helped with none of that. The bf did it all.

My contribution? I kept him company when he wasn't on the phone with his cousin. Then I went upstairs to my loft and wrapped Christmas presents. Unfortunately, Ori was present when I stuffed his and his brothers' stockings. Alas, I did manage to hide his own Christmas presents from him until they were boxed and wrapped. Now most everything is under the tree. I do, however, need to wrap some small things that would not fit in Christopher's stocking. But I've decided to label them as from the kids, so it's all good.

Anyway, while the water was filling back up, we did eventually go inside for a bit in order to do Ori's cake and presents. One of his presents failed miserably. (It's this weighted vase-shaped toy with a ball inside of it. You put treats in it and the ball blocks most of them from coming out so that it's a slow-feeder. EXCEPT, that it's so heavily weighted that it cannot be tipped on its side, and it HAS to be tipped fully upside down in order to get ANYTHING out of it. So here's a word of caution: don't buy this.)

His other present was a large stuffed cappybarra with a turtle on its back that we bought at Menards. (Really, I don't know why I buy dog toys elsewhere.) He loves it. I'm well aware that this fluffy toy will be de-fluffed in the coming weeks, but until then, he joyfully shoves it in our faces whenever he wants a tug-of-war session. Well, my time is up and I must away to jobs 4 & 1. Therefore, I leave you with one more glorious photo of my baby.

Ori posing on the arm of the couch