Four Years of Jalen

Four years ago today, we learned about the birth of Jalen. He was actually born on the 19th, but we didn't learn about him until the 20th. He was the answer to so many prayers and his adoption remains the most spiritual experience of my life. (You can see the right column of this blog for details on that.)

He has been a joy from the day he was born. Jalen has one speed: fast, and one volume: loud. He is like a whirling dervish, bouncing off walls, furniture and when he throws a tantrum, the floor. He can collapse to the floor like a limp rag, but he can also melt you with a sweet smile. He cannot hear a beat without swinging his hips and he bursts into song on a regular basis. He loves pizza and vegetables, but doesn't like cheese or eggs. He has a large vocabulary and cracks us up with the things he says. (Yesterday he was crying that he didn't want to be 4 years old because he still wanted to go to nursery and not to Primary.) He loves his daddy and his granddad. I am so in love with him.

Jalen loves superheroes, especially Spiderman. We started his birthday celebration at our Tuesday music group. We had a donut walk (gotta love Krispy Kreme 2 for 1 coupons).

Then we had a Spiderman piñata.

Spiderman has now taken up residence in the playroom/David's office. It helps keep David from bonking his head on the light fixture (which has taken skin off in the past), but it kind of freaks me out in the dark.

I had this vision of this awesome superhero cake.  

This is what we ended up with.

Fortunately, Jalen loved it.

It was actually pretty tasty.

Jalen loved all his presents.

Self portrait.

I love this little boy so much! I had to throw in a couple extra pictures just because.