Jude's 4th Birthday Celebrations

We had so much fun at Jude's 4th birthday celebrations this past week! On Tuesday of last week, we had his birthday party at school with all of his Rabbit friends. It had been a really long time since I'd been in his classroom and it was really cute to see all of his classmates so grown up, waking from nap time, telling me stories. Jude was so pleased to have Maeve there sitting next to him. 

Working together to set the table 

On Saturday, we had Jude's birthday party at the goat farm. The date was booked 2 months ago so we just crossed our fingers for good weather and boy did we luck out! It was nearly 70 degrees and sunny (the start of a lovely streak of nice weather we are having now). 

All we had to do was book the date, select the guest list and pay at the end. Everything else was taken care of, which made it a really enjoyable day. One of the farmers, Dorthe, was in charge. She learned all the kids names and led them through all of their farm "chores." 

The kids had a grand entrance to the farm on a cart driven by Honnie the Pony (and Jude). It was too much cuteness to handle! As happy as Jude was on the pony, Maeve was just as happy in the cart, beaming away! 

After leading Honnie back to her pen, the kids had little cakes and juice. Then it was down to business!  

We were so impressed with how good the farmer was with the children!

 

There were tons of newborn baby goats and Dorthe brought two for the kids to hold.

 

Precious!

The chores included grooming the goats and laying down fresh straw. 

Then we headed to the chicken coop to collect fresh eggs. Someone found a giant egg that was later confirmed to have two yolks (we've been enjoying the eggs at home all week). Maeve found an egg with Pete and promptly threw it to the ground! The chickens rushed over to eat the broken egg! 

We met the male billy goat gruffs and the giant pig. 

Then it was time to milk lucky goat #3 :) First, Dorthe demonstrated how to do this and had fun spraying everyone with goat's milk in the process! 

Next the kids took the fresh milk to feed the baby goats and finally, they all got to enjoy the amazing goat's milk ice cream! 

Such a great birthday party! It will be hard to beat!

A little about Jude at 4:

Our little man is so special to us. He is enthusiastic about everything he does. He is clever, kind and a really great big brother. His current obsession is working on craft projects- cutting, gluing and taping various things together. Then he'll explain his creation to us. "This is the shrinker 2000!" He also loves building things, zipping around on his scooter, building forts, reading books and watching his favorite shows. He's choosing books too emotionally advanced for him at the library and without us vetting them, he's getting a look into how older elementary school kids talk and behave. Seeing this makes me want to freeze him at 4 forever! He still wants to be the boss. He apparently butts head with his best friend at school who has a similar personality. He likes to tell us, "I am the boss of my body, I decide what I need to eat" or "I am the boss of my room, I decide when I go to sleep." He is still wonderful around new people and loves making new friends. He thinks he should be able to do everything now that he is 4. He's super easy going when we travel, willingly walking more than not since he is so big of course. He takes a short nap most days and still goes to bed around 8, but is, as always, an early riser! I continue to be thrilled that my picky eating was not passed onto him (yet!). And in his words, he hates chocolate.

We are looking forward to seeing what else this year brings!