Ethan's 11th Birthday!

I cannot believe that my little sweet guy is 11!!!  Just thinking back on the day I had this little guy.  Chris and I did not find out the sex of the baby--we didn't find out with either of our first 2 kids--WAY more fun than knowing..but after 2 kids, we became practical:)  So we were anxious to find out what our baby was!  Well, Ethan knew we were anxious and he came FAST!  From start to finish, my labor and delivery was just under 3 hours!  He came quickly and was a chubby "little" 9 lb. 2 oz. baby boy we had been hoping for.  He had the MOST perfect round head which was really good because it took a really long time for him to have any hair.  Bald boy but beautifully/perfect shaped head--we lovingly called him "Charlie Brown."

Well now he's 11!!!  And he wanted a birthday party with his friends.  This party was SOO much fun!  We had 6 boys come.  They played dodgeball:  (Chris even got in on the game:)

Max, Nikolas, Ethan, Michael, Chase, Kyle, Tatum, Ethan, & Brandon

**We were laughing early this week because we have this ride-on tractor toy that we've had for years!  Chris and I have thought about getting rid of it many times but it is always used by all the kids that come over--even Carlie's friends (12-13 year olds) were riding all over the yard on it this past Monday.  These guys mostly used it to mark the middle of the dodgeball field:)

They played "Creationary" (the Lego game kinda like Pictionary)

Ate pizza and lots of other not-so-great food:)

Ethan J.B., Michael, Ethan, Nikolas

Brandon, Kyle, & Max

And Ethan LOVES the soda geyser.  I guess this has become a tradition at his birthday party.  It lasts like 10 seconds but ALWAYS a hit.  Cheap way to entertain boys for sure:)

Afterwards, Ethan's best friend--Michael--chugged down the remaining diet soda and then ATE the Mentos in the bottom of the bottle!!!  Seriously HILARIOUS!  I kept asking, "Michael, you SURE you want to do this???"  He did:)  Crazy kid!

The traditional "Cookie Cake" since Ethan doesn't like real cake:)

 

I just LOVE Ethan's little group of friends that he invited this year.  Really great little guys that are totally welcomed at my home any time.  So sweet and well-behaved and just plain FUN!  Thanks for making this day so special for my little guy:)  Love you Ethan Christopher!!!

Masquerade Ball

For the past 4 years Actor's Youth Theatre hosts a "Masquerade Ball."  This is a fundraiser for the company and this is the first year that Carlie and I were able to go!  This is a full on formal/mask-wearing event so we HAD to go dress shopping and shopping is ALWAYS better with a friend:

Carlie & Savvy with matching shirts AND dresses:)

The night of the event--Friday, March 23rd--Carlie's group performed first with a couple of numbers from their upcoming show (this NEXT WEEK AHHHH!):

Afterwards Carlie was able to change into her fancy stuff:)  SOOO MUCH FUN!  Carlie just had the best time singing and dancing with all her friends.  I had the best time hanging out with other parents just getting to know everyone better--great group all around.  

There was so much going on at the ball--silent auctions, tons of performances, including a FLASH MOB!!!  Carlie is in this mass somewhere:)

LOTS and LOTS of dancing:)

Eric (the CUTEST little guy) & Carlie

Carlie & Savvy in their matching dresses:)

Petyon & Carlie

Me:  "Hey guys!  Let me get a picture of you two."  SERIOUSLY Kale?!

Carlie & Kale (a.k.a. Prince Eric)

Me:  "Seriously Kale, just look NORMAL okay?!"  This is what I get...BOYS!!!  UGH!  As long as he doesn't do this in the show next week:)

The party ended around 10 pm and we were pretty much exhausted!  But I did win a "Little Mermaid" snow globe!!!  WOO HOO!  How appropriate!  My lucky night for sure:)

My Secret Goal/Obsession:)

Growing up, my house was always the "hang-out" house.  We ALWAYS had people over, eating, staying the night (or two/three/or four:), or just hanging out.  I LOVED it.  I guess being one of the very few mormon families in town, we had the most food--which seems to be a huge draw to teenagers:)  My goal is to have a home with a "revolving" front door always open to any of my kid's friends--NO knocking required:)  This may prove to be an expensive hobby of mine but I don't care!!!  If they want to "hang out" it might as well be here:)

Well, Carlie is not quite a "teenager" yet but she has this fantastic group of friends and they just want to be together ALL the time.  So, anxious to start "establishing" my goal, I let Carlie have her first boy/girl party today at our home--President's Day/No School/No Piano.  Perfect:)

These are her very best friends.  They have all been in multiple shows together and are all currently in "The Little Mermaid."  They live mostly in Mesa but they all made the trek down to our neck of the woods--the SOUTH SIDE!  I mostly stayed out of the way BUT I HAD to take a few pics:

And YES!!!  These CRAZY kids went swimming in February!  And guess what?!  It was COLD!!!  The boys didn't jump in only because I had no extra clothes for them--note to self...make sure to ALWAYS tell guests to bring a swimsuit:)

Carlie and her very best friend Kayleah W.

Carlie, Thommy, Kayleah, Mitchell, Lois, Kale, Savvy, & Tayte

We had a SUPER yummy dinner of Cafe Rio Barbacoa before heading out to rehearsals--after being together for almost 4 hours, they would go on to be together for ANOTHER 4 hours at tonight's rehearsal:)

If you feed them....they will come:)

And like ALL parties at the Meeker house, they end up at the piano:)  Lots of LOUD but beautiful singing:)

 

And truth be told...I just ADORE Carlie's best friend Kayleah!  These girls make an AMAZING singing duo--they actually sang together in Kayleah's ward a few weeks ago.  As SOON as I heard them singing this song I ran out to record it!!!  So I didn't quite get the whole thing--another time.  I could listen to these girls sing ALL day!

So not my most relaxing day off ever but it sure was FUN!  No one was hurt and I was able to get them all back "north" to rehearsals--with help from Lois' mom who lives on the "South-side" with us:)  

Maxwell's Baptism

Whew!  WHIRLWIND of a weekend here!  But we made it through it and most importantly...my little Max was baptized!!!

The kids had rehearsal ALL day on Saturday.  So we had to take them to rehearsals, pull them out of rehearsals, go to the baptism, rush Carlie back to rehearsals when Max's confirmation was done, then rush the boys back to rehearsals when the baptism was over!!!  Whew!

Max was baptized along with 2 other boys in our ward:  Jake C. and Brigham B.  One of the other moms had the BEST idea of taking a picture of all three of the boys for the cover of the program!  LOVED IT!!!  So this is the picture of the SUPER handsome boys that when on the cover:

Max, Jake, & Brigham--Baptized Saturday, Feb. 16, 2013

Now this day was mostly about Max BUT I just have to brag on my other son for a moment.  He was the pianist for the baptism and he ROCKED IT!  He played "When I Am Baptized" (from the Children's Songbook) for the opening song and then "Choose the Right" (from the Hymn book) for the closing number.  Piano is something that does not come easy for my Ethan and he worked his butt off on these pieces.  Hours and hours spent with me listening, correcting, conducting while he played, etc...  I honestly don't know HOW this boy put up with me for this past month but I was SOOOO dang proud of him!  I was seriously HOLDING back my tears during the closing hymn because he was soo AMAZING, perfectly prepared, and NOT nervous in the least bit!!!  Honestly, in my huge piano studio of 50+ kids I can count on ONE hand how many 10/11 year-old boys that can play from the hymn book.  And I applaud these boys.  They have accomplished something truly amazing!  Every mormon mom's dream:)

Just LOVE this boy!!!

The man of the hour:)

The SUPER handsome boys again in their whites:)

Dad & Max:)

Of course my girls were there too:)

It was a TERRIFIC day!  We are soooo proud of our Maxwell!  Days like these just make me so grateful to be a mom and to know the joy of having children and raising them in the gospel.

"Maxisms" of 2013

My Max has the most vivid imagination and says the FUNNIEST things!  I like to call these funny things "Maxisms."  We're not very far into 2013 but boy, he has cracked us up!

In the Meeker household, it's been "Little Mermaid" 24/7.  It seems like that's all we talk about!  We were soo proud of Carlie getting the lead that Chris kinda forgot about the details like..."Oh yeah...there's a prince....and oh yeah....he's SUPPOSED to try and kiss her."  Chris is coming to terms with it all--SLOWLY but surely:)  We were asking the boys about how the rehearsals have been going lately.  We asked them what they think about Carlie getting pretty close to actually kissing a boy.  Well good ol' Max says, "I'm TOTALLY fine with Carlie kissing boys....but NOT Tatum.  She pretty much can't kiss ANY boys or EVER get married."  Sorry Tate...I guess we'll cross this bridge when we get there:)

ALL BOYS BEWARE!!!
(This picture is actually a couple years old but very fitting:)

Bro. Carroll--Max's primary teacher at church--informed us today that Max was asked to give the closing prayer in class a couple of weeks ago.  In his prayer he said, "...and PLEASE don't let my mom and dad poison my food..."  Bro. Carroll was wondering what inspired that....I usually have an explanation but I am speechless.  I have said it before, Max has this constant movie playing in his head and maybe to Max, Chris and I are just characters in his "movie" rather than his parents--that's WAY more exciting right?!  Well, Bro. Carroll has seen that Max hasn't been poisoned (yet) so we're all good here right?

It's a GOOD thing he's sooooo handsome:)