He's 4!

Carter is 4 years old.  He is so proud of it too.  I woke up March 20th to a little kid singing "I am four" and marching around the house.  He knows his birthday is a big deal.

It's been a week full of celebration.  First we brought cookies to school on Monday since he doesn't have class on Tuesday (his actual birthday).  The kids in class sang happy birthday and he got a sticker and crown to wear.  Carter also got to pick a present out of the gift box. He thought that was pretty awesome.  It took some explaining from us for him realize that his actual birthday wasn't until the next day.

On his birthday he started out with a doctor's visit.  Carter loves the doctor and always has.  He loves to get his ears looked at and this time they checked his blood pressure.  A new machine at the doctors office nearly blew his mind! Carter likes Dr. Gollnick so much that he invited her to his birthday party.  Aaww, how sweet is that!  Carter is still above average in height (42 in., 85%) and weight (38.25lbs, 70%).  Dr. G said he looks great. Carter needs four shots before starting kindergarten when he's 5.  He had the choice of waiting and doing all 4 later, doing all 4 now or splitting them up.  HE decided to split them up.  Because Carter was so brave in taking shots when he didn't really need to, he was allowed to pick a toy out of the treasure chest.  While waiting for his shots, Carter went on and on about how much he liked shots and didn't need me to hug him or hold his hand.  Well, that was short lived once he got the first one.  He was in for a rude awakening.  Screamed like crazy!!  On the way out, he told me he didn't like shots like the thought he did.  Poor guy!  Later that day we opened presents, had hot dogs for dinner (Carter's choice) and cupcakes and ice cream.

That night was his Spring Sing at school.  It was adorable watching the kids file into the church, stand at the alter, sing and dance.  It took Carter awhile to get into the music.  He was more interested in waving to us and call out to Ryan and Ashley.  At the end of the program Carter was picked to give a bouquest of flowers to the music teacher.  He felt like such a big boy! (picture: Carter is bottom row all the way to the right)

Wednesday was his birthday party at

 Snapperz.  20 kids playing in bounce houses, a climbing gym, bumper cars, laser tag and arcade games....Oh boy!  Carter made the guest list.  He insisted we invite all his friends and all his classmates.  He adores all of them and couldn't stand to not invite anyone.  He did a great job playing with all the kids and had a blast at the party.  Picture to the right is before we sang happy birthday.  He picked out a Disney Cars cake which all the boys at the party loved.  You can tell by the look on his face he's starting to get worn out from having so much fun.

This is a picture of the kids getting ready for laser tag and bumper cars.  Carter is in front of the line with Ryan right behind him (with her back to him).

Next stop in the birthday celebration train is a weekend at Grandma and Grandpa Meek's house where he gets to play with Aidan and have another birthday party with them. 

*Ryan and Carter are going to Evansville while Nonna takes Ashely for an overnight tomorrow.  Mom and Dad are having a night out of town.  It's the first time I've left Ashely for the night and actually it's the fist time I've ever left one of my kids before they were 1 year old.  Usually I like to wait until they sleeping through the night and off bottles.  Sorry Nonna, you might be a little tired after your night with Dolly!  P.S. Happy birthday to Nonna!

Baby Ashley

Oh look how adorable these pictures of Ashley turned out!  Thank you to the talented Kelly Applegate who captured her little smile, chubby cheeks and big round eyes.

So cute, right?  Well, we can't get enough of our little Dolly.  We've switched her reflux medicine and she is one happy baby!  She is always smiling and does these big belly laughs.  We all spend a lot of time playing peek-a-boo and tickling her to make her giggle.  Ashley is almost 4 months old (so hard to believe!).  She has very strong head control and looks like she's ready to roll over any day now.  She loves to watch the mobile in her crib and play on her activity mat.  Of course being entertained by Carter is still her favorite activity by far!

As for the other kiddos, they're wonderful!  This picture of them cracks me up.  I have no idea what they're looking at, but both are very amused by whatever it is!

I can't even believe Carter is turning F-O-U-R in a couple of days.  We had parent/teacher conferences for his preschool and the teachers went on and on about how Carter is a people pleaser and how he is so caring and sensitive.  It's so true too!  He is always offering to share his last bite of chocolate with us.  He pushes Ryan up all the climbing toys at playground and places like Chickfila and Snapperz instead of leaving her behind so he can play.  The other day Ashley was crying in the car and he said her crying made him so sad that he wanted to cry too! As his Grandma Vickie would say, he is as good as gold!

Love

I love that Ashley has two looks:

Ashley with straight hair

Ashley (post bath) with curly hair

These photos also show the wide-awake and the about-to-fall-asleep looks too.

One other thing I love:
The way Ryan sings Crinkle, Crinkle Little Star.  I hope she never learns that it's supposed to be Twinkle instead of Crinkle.  Let's not tell her, ok?

What we've been doing

We've been trying to perfect our group shot.

 Ashley has been wearing hair clips.

 The kids have been playing in the snow with our neighbor, Jack.

 The girls have been playing on the activity mat.

Such a big girl

Look who turned TWO!

Ryan is officially 2 years old and such a big girl (even if she's only in the 30th percentile in weight). Ryan is a skinny-mini and a picky eater and would prefer to drink her calories away in milk.  She is now on a strict 2-3 glass a day maximum. Other then her bad eating habits the doc says she is great!  Developmentally wonderful. 

Here's a pic of Ryan trying on some of her birthday presents...her new crown and "twinkle shoes".  For her birthday Ryan also got a fish tank to put in her room.  She picked out a blue Betta fish and let her big brother pick out a orange fish for the tank too.  They feed their fish every morning and say goodnight to them before bed.  Side note to anyone buying a fish tank -- beware of accidentally dropping tank rocks in the garbage disposal when you're rinsing them.  It is a costly mistake.  Garbage disposals are NOT cheap!

Lately Ryan has become a big fan of  "Dora the Explorer".  It was only fitting she have a Dora cake to celebrate.  We had a couple of friends over to play and eat cake. Most of the party she wanted to be carried by Daddy, but got past her shyness to enjoy everyone singing happy birthday and blowing out her candles.  

Little Ryan is full of personality.  Sometimes it's hard to remember she's only two!  She loves to sing, jump and dance.  She can count to 10 (and thanks to Dora she can say it in Spanish too). She tries hard to sing her ABC's but prefers to sing the ending "Now I know my ABC's. Next time wont you sing with me" over and over again. We love the way she calls Carter by his full name, Carter Meek.  And the way she say "O-tay" is just adorable too!  She has so much fun playing pretend and dress up, but is always willing to play with light sabers in the backyard with the older boys.  Her teachers at school say she is the most improved student.  She was a nightmare at the beginning of the year and now Ryan walks in with a big smile on her face and is happy the entire day.  She enjoys every moment and is a delight to have around.  We think she is a delight too!

Happy Birthday, Ryan Michele!  We love you very much and always will!!

Super Bowl XLVI

Indianapolis is hosting it's first Super Bowl and the city is going all out to celebrate.  Last week we took the kids to the NFL Experience.

 There was a whole section for kids to practice kicking, punting and passing.  They had face painting and bounce houses too!  Ryan and Carter were great sports about waiting in line and they loved trying every activity they had to offer.

 Carter had so much fun he even tried some of the adult attractions too.  He even got a little help from the Colts mascot, Blue.

We also saw the Lombardi Trophy, a display of Super Bowl rings and jerseys from some of the most popular NFL players (i.e. Tim Tebow).

All in all it was a "Super" experience.



10 weeks x 3

I'm reposting pictures of Carter and Ryan when they were around 10 weeks old.  Here is Ashley's (almost) 10 week picture too. Enjoy!

P.S. Ashley had her 2 month doctor visit yesterday and despite getting 3 shots, she did quite well.  Her ear infections have cleared up and the dr. upped her dose of reflux medicine which has already helped with her fussiness.  She is a happy baby now!  So happy in fact, that she slept from 10pm-8am (straight!) last night.  It's a great feeling to know we're at the end of middle of the night feedings! Oh yea, if you're wondering about her stats:
Weight: 12 lbs. 4oz. (79%)
Height: 23 1/4 in. (76%)