4 Years Old!

Our 'little' Eli turned 4 yesterday!  I laugh at the term 'little', cuz he's SO big in his own mind!  He makes us laugh so much- especially when he's being a stinker, I really have to hold it in sometimes.

The night before his birthday, I let him pick out what we would have for all our meals the next day... he quickly decided on Froot Loops for breakfast, pizza grilled cheese for lunch (surprising to me, because he really doesn't like pizza...), and breakfast for dinner- specifically french toast.  Sounded yummy and easy to me!

We had a funny little conversation yesterday morning as he was getting ready (very methodically picking through his shirts to find his shirt with a big '4' on the front)...
Eli: Mom, I'm getting SO big!
Me: I know you are Eli, you're 4 years old now!
Eli: No, mom, I almost 4.
Me: No, Eli, today is your birthday, so you ARE 4 today... because it's your birthday...
Eli (eyes growing bigger): *gasp* Bryson!  Dallin!  I'm FOUR YEARS OLD NOW!

I found it funny later to realize, he was very deliberate in choosing his '4' shirt, but didn't understand that his birthday meant he was now four years old!  I love discovering their understanding...

He had fun celebrating at school...

Eli is uber-crazy about all things Super Mario Bros right now.  He and Dallin play for hours pretending that they're Mario and Luigi... Hailee is often princess Peach (unbeknownst to her!)- I love to hear their scenarios.    When I asked Eli what kind of birthday party he wanted this year, it was no surprise that he answered "MARIO" without even thinking.

Since we all had the stomach flu last week, I didn't get much done in planning or prep... and I was running errands the whole day yesterday.  I didn't even start the royal icing transfers for his cake until 2pm (nevermind that they're supposed to set up for 24 hours!)  Fortunately, they turned out *nearly* perfect.  

We had over some family and his 2 best friends and their families for cake and ice cream- he thought it was the greatest thing ever.

 Love his cheesy smile!

The last "you" in the happy birthday song was not even finished when he blew out the candles... he knew exactly what to do...

My camera died, so I'm relying on my phone camera- it's a great camera, just not for motion shots...

He got a fun game and a robot and several Mario Bros toys that he's been having fun with, but the hit of the night was a gameboy we got off craigslist... he calls it his 'ds'- I've really been impressed with how well he's sharing it with his brothers too.

Eli's favorites at age four- 

Favorite Color: Light Blue (a BIG and recent change... from red)
Favorite Restaurant: Chuck E Cheese
Favorite Food: Um, Cake
Favorite Drink: lemon pop
Favorite thing to do: Play the Wii
Best Friend: Emerson and Megan and Carson and Natalie
Favorite Movie: Cars 2
Favorite TV Show:  The Super Mario Brothers Super Show
Favorite Toy: My Mario guys
Favorite Animal: a fis (fish)
Favorite Book: Clifford

DEFINETLY still a boy!

For the last 6 weeks (since my last ultrasound), I have been mentally chipping away at the surety of the images I saw that day... to the point where I was rather convinced, I saw nothing at all, and that this baby very likely was a girl- but me thinking it was a girl should have been my first clue... I've thought ALL my boys were girls!  

So I had my 20 week ultrasound today.  As I was talking to the tech as she was getting ready, she asked if we wanted to know the gender, I told her 'yes' just as she was putting the sensor on my tummy- good thing we wanted to know, because the very first image was so obviously a boy, it would have definitely been a spoiler otherwise- he was completely flaunting it!

The ultrasound looked perfect, nothing at this point to cause concern- I have been so blessed with such healthy babies!

Eatin' Time!

Honestly, she eats her brothers leftover food, better than her own.  It's the same food Hailee!!

She just can't stand to see food go to waste...

The problem with piggies

I love me some pigtails on this little girl!

 Totally worth the effort...

and the 3 do-overs because they weren't symmetrical...

even if they don't last long...

but the 'after' look, is the problem with piggies....

Silly boys-

Bryson came home with these silly glasses the other day from school- he really thought I didn't know it was him with them on *grin* Unfortunately, I can't find the pictures of him, so Dallin and Eli will have to suffice-