Meredith is Four

Meredith turned 4 yesterday.

Four.  Wow.

 Sometimes it's hard having a December birthday.  Red and green get old fast.  So it's nice having a little pink  in the mix.

 And a big brother who draws a Rapunzel sign for your birthday.

 And a big sister who makes you a pink cake

 and another  big sister (Cardin) who makes you a birthday shirt...that's our new tradition in the last year or so to make a birthday shirt for each kid... 

 We painted our nails, pink of course

and our toe nails.  We dropped kids off at school, had lunch at McDonald's, attended school parties, and our ward party and then we just sat and soaked up some quiet time.  We decorated hats and set the table.

Meredith set a very special plate and hat for her best friend, Addi, in Tennessee.

I love that she stills thinks of Addi.  Sometimes at breakfast she saves her muffin or when she's getting dressed she remembers a dress or shirt  that Addi gave her. 

I love when something unexpected happens and out of the blue she says "I didn't see that coming."

 I love that she is the only girl in sunbeams with a room full of four year old boys and when the little boys see her in the hall and say hi she shows them her pink necklace and states in a matter of fact way that her necklace is gorgeous and waits for them to appreciate and admire her necklace as much as she does. 

I love how she sings her answers (like the goat on "Hoodwinked") and is always ready to put on a performance  for the school staff. 

I love how "Fly Guy" is her favorite book. 

I love how sometimes when we are listening to the radio while running errands she yells from the back seat  "boy song" or "girl song."  Girl songs are okay to listen too. 

I love how she doesn't mind if a dinosaur crashes her garden party. 

 I love that despite the fact she loves dolls and all things pink, she doesn't mind playing with dinosaurs too or how she doesn't judge people or dinosaurs just because they are different.  I love that when I asked her why  the dinosaur was wearing a dress.  She immediately jumped to his defense.

 "Leave him alone. He's a nice dinosaur. Don't judge him!"

I love when she peeks around the corner and tells me she's ready for her debut and then twirls and poses until she's dizzy. 

I love her confidence. 

I love her when she's having a bad day and  says we're not friends anymore and she wants to be alone.  I love her when she kisses me on the cheek and whispers she loves me. 

She's amazing, funny, smart, and sweet...all the things I want to be when I grow. 

In case I forgot to tell you...

I'm not sure I  ever got around to mentioning that we moved.  I mean there was the small matter of buying our first house last November

and moving to a new city, new schools, and friends but right in the middle of painting projects

and dreams of French doors and wrap around porches  something amazing happened...James was offered a faculty position with the University of Idaho. 

So 7 months after buying our home and making some of the best friends:

we packed up and left our new home, new city, and new friends and headed across the country to exotic Idaho.   Back to the first town we lived in when we were first married, before we had kids, back to the university James attended and received his undergrad degree from, back to the mountains, the snow, and more importantly closer to family.

 It took 5 days to drive across the country.  There were lots of tears, moments when I threatened to turn the car around if the kids didn't stop fighting, hours of long jam sessions to the radio.  We memorized every word to Anna Kendrick's cup song "When I'm Gone."  It came on the radio so often that it became our theme song.

 The camera was passed around from kid to kid so they could take pictures and pass the time.

 It was long and arduous, but we arrived to overjoyed grandparents

and a doting aunt with only boys who doesn't mind getting creative with hair.

And we arrived just in time to celebrate this sweet kid's 10th birthday.  Who's favorite thing to do  on her birthday was  kayaking with Aunt Marilyn on Fish Lake.

And then we found some time to soak in the beauty that is Idaho and spend time with family, after all, that's what life is about and why we took a leap of faith and followed our hearts when it made more sense financially to stay in Tennessee...and I'm so glad we did.  We couldn't be happier, unless...

 

 

all of our family and friends decided to move to Idaho (and to be honest, I'm working on that starting with these sweet nephews...one hour and forty five minutes is still too far away.  (  =

Halloween

Most of the kids had croup this week.  There were several nights of interrupted sleep by little  knocks on the bedroom door in the middle of the night with complaints of coughing and wheezing and one poor little guy who was having a difficult time breathing.  The kids spent most of Halloween day snuggled in blankets, watching Netflix and bemoaning the fact that it was Halloween and they may not be able to trick or treat.

 But I figured if they could drag every chair from every room in the house and make a large fort in the dining room, they could spend a little time trick or treating the neighborhood which always culminates with 

 "The Great Candy Exchange" that takes place the next morning.

 Everyone gets to get rid of the candy they don't like and exchange it for something they do.

 Some people are very organized and methodical.  They organize their candy, count it, and take an inventory just in case any one gets any ideas about looting their stash.

 Some people just toss it in a bowl and some us negotiate to get all the m&ms by agreeing to do the kids chores and bake a pizza.

 And some of us who were sick and didn't go trick or treating get to pick something out of the family bowl.

And some of us finally get an excuse to use the Halloween stamps they bought from Michaels for only 75 cents.

Latah County Fair

This week, we headed to the county fair. 

 I couldn't convince child number 1 to join us...something about watching Jericho reruns.  But kids 2-5 were game.  Of course we did what all good fair goers do, we headed to the cotton candy first.  It was a big hit.

 Followed by looking at livestock.

 But then those kids discovered the joy and thrill of all the rides.

 There was the Yoyo.  I wasn't sure if the boys were up for the ride. 

 But they survived...

 Meredith mainly watched.  She was too small for most of the rides she wanted to go on.

 Of course, there was the gravitron.

 The kids were a little dizzy after that one but it was their favorite.

 There was a lot of talk about riding the ferris wheel.

But the ferris wheel was no comparison to running into friends at the fair...

who were a little better prepared than I was.  Thanks, Kendra for keeping the kids hydrated!