The Kindler Five...: Zonked Out!

Today is Dawson's 4th Birthday! Can't believe that he is already 4 years old. Seems like yesterday that we were at the hospital. I remember that I was due on Christmas day, but my doctor was kind enough to induce me the week before. Good thing, since he weighed 8 lbs 9oz! Can't imagine how big he would've been if I had gone another week.
We've had fun celebrating the past few days. Last night we got together with the "Blaich" side (my mom's side of the family) to celebrate Daws' birthday as well as Christmas. The kids had a lot of fun. And today we took him out to eat at his favorite restaurant, Chapala. We were so excited to surprise him with the Chapala birthday serenade...BUT, we didn't even think that our shy little boy might not appreciate it as much as we thought. Poor guy. Started crying he was so shocked and embarrassed. One of the waiters thought it would be funny to put a spoonful of ice cream on Dawson's nose for fun...not so fun for Daws :(. He quickly cheered up when Daddy put ice cream on his nose too! We finished the day off by spending three hours at Zonkers and the mall. Yes THREE hours. The boys probably would've stayed even longer, but Josh and I were zonked out.
I have to share a few things that happened to us today to remind us of the "Christmas spirit." First, when we were cashing in our tickets at Zonkers, a man came up to us and gave the boys all of his tickets. The boys were so excited to have an extra 100 tickets to spend! Then, as we were walking past Guest Services at the mall, the woman working motioned Josh to her desk and gave him a FREE $50 Visa gift card to spend at any store in the mall. She said that the mall had some secret santas this year and they were giving gift cards away to people at random. It was so great for the boys to see such kind and giving people today! It's my hope that they will be the people showing such kindness to others in the future!

Here are some pics from Dawson's birthday celebrations. Happy Birthday Daws! We love you!!

Dawson was "zonked-out" too by the end of the day!