a couple of weekends ago was meredith's birthday. we didn't have a big blowout for her b-day party. we stayed home and hung out as a family. meredith told me it was the best birthday party ever. first, meredith went with ryan to the store to get her birthday meal, a frozen totino's pizza, per her request. the rest of us had pizza hut. then, ice age three, the movie meredith picked out to watch (with a little coaxing from her mother; i'm so sick of princesses) was put on the flat screen while i worked on birthday cake. instead of making a giant rapunzel cake like last year (as i said, i'm sick of princesses), we opted for individual cakes. i found a recipe on my new favorite website, pinterest, used some mason jars that hadn't been used for the tomatoes they were intended to preserve, and mixed color after color of cake batter. all the kids were impressed. meredith was right. this kind of party is the best ever :)

Also, meredith started school last week. she's a big kindergarten girl!

And to think, this is where it all started!