Aaron's 4th Birthday

My little boy turned 4 on June 1!  Hard to believe, he still seems like a baby to me.

Aaron can be very cheerful and happy, but for some reason, he wasn't quite sure about opening gifts, which is plain to see by the scowl on his face.

After a little prodding, he soon got in to the spirit of things.  He was quite impressed with his Herbie car.

And a train table!  We had one when Andrew and Noah were younger, but they never played with it so we got rid of it.  Aaron loves trains, and he loves his train table.  Unfortunately, he and his younger brother aren't very good about keeping the pieces together, so I plan on hot gluing them down.

Pretty pleased!  Tunnels, hills, noises and all!

Luke was ecstatic to have his own cupcake.  He's never noticed when I've given the boys dessert after dinner before, but when we were eating the leftovers the next day, he made certain to let it be known that he wanted one too!

4 is a big milestone in our house because when you turn 4, you don't get a pacifier when you go to bed anymore.  He put himself to bed for a nap a few days after he turned 4 and I went to check on him and found this!  He didn't get to keep it.  

Magical Coffee

Andrew and Noah are at art camp every morning this week so the 3 youngest and I ran errands this morning.  I was sorely tempted to make a trip to Bigby, but suppressed the urge and instead drank some magic coffee I had in my fridge.  I've tried many iced coffee recipes at home and this is by far my favorite.  And bonus, it isn't full of sugar.

Magical Coffee

2/3 cup coarsely ground coffee (I've used coffee I've ground at Meijer, but this time all I had was Folger's Black Silk and I'm enjoying it just as much as the coarsely ground Meijer Gold coffee.)
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
3 Tablespoons of brown sugar

Pour ingredients into quart size mason jar and fill to the brim with water.  Screw the lid on and shake ingredients around a bit.  Place in refrigerator overnight.
The next day, strain the coffee through a filter or paper towel (Make sure you put a bowl under the strainer so you don't lose any coffee!).  Pour over ice cubes (frozen coffee ice cubes if you think ahead.) so the cup is 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full.  Fill up the rest with milk or cream (whole milk tastes wonderful).

I go through mine in about 2 days.  I may have to start doubling the recipe!