Meredith is young, wild and three!

This was the first year she really knew what was going on with her birthday and she was SO excited! She asked every day for a month when her birthday was going to be. Instead of a big party this year, she chose to go to a theme park instead, so we did a little celebration at home, went for a bike ride and hung out at the beach and went to Disneyland a few weeks later after she had gotten over her cold!

Meredith’s 1st birthday:

2nd birthday:

3rd birthday!

Meredith is the sweetest three-year-old and gives the best spontaneous hugs! She loves to cuddle, rub my shoulders and she’ll randomly make comments like, “Mommy, you’re so perfect” and “Mommy I just love you!” She can throw a kicking, screaming tantrum like no one’s business, but she makes up for it in other ways. She is definitely NOT a lukewarm personality. She’s either incredibly happy and sweet or incredibly cranky. No middle ground.

We call Meredith our little songbird because she’s constantly singing. She loves to sing herself to sleep and when she wakes up in the morning, we can often hear her singing a little song to wish everyone good morning. She loves to “practice the piano” like her sisters and Miss Jenny, their piano teacher, sometimes gives her a little “lesson” after the twins. Her favorite songs right now are “Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam,” “I am a Child of God,” and “Jack and Jill Went Up the Hill.”

Meredith is so enthusiastic and bubbly– she’s not old enough to play softball, but she’s made friends with everyone on the twins’ team. She loves preschool and loves her friends! She’s an awesome helper at home and usually when I ask her to help me with something, she responds with an enthusiastic, “Sure!!”

Meredith has gone through some big changes since she was two. She got ear tubes put in the spring of last year and it was amazing how much more verbal she is in just a few months. She talks non-stop. She became a big sister this year, too, and takes her role very seriously. She’s always watching out for Eleanor and wants to give her five hundred hugs and kisses before nap and bedtime. If you’re loud while Eleanor is napping, Meredith will give you a very stern shushing.

Meredith loves to play at home and go out to play, so when she’s not in preschool, we’re either at Costco, at the park, or scootering around the neighborhood catching rolly pollies. She loves church and nursery, preschool, going to the beach, and playing with her animals, magnatiles, trains, blocks and dolls at home.

Not happy when I cut a wedge out of her funfetti pancakes.

Meredith says, “Wow! Thank you!” even before she’s actually opened the present.

Meredith wasn’t too interested in coloring or drawing like the twins, until she started preschool and now that’s all she does.

She was excited about her very own American Girl doll (she’s borrowed the twins’ AG dolls forever).

We had been wanting to check out the beach bike trail that goes from Sendero park all the way to the beach, so Samantha and Meredith biked with Jake, while broken-arm Amelia stayed at home with me and Eleanor. An hour later, we picked them up at Doheny Beach. Samantha did awesome and rode the 5-mile trail the entire way (it was mostly downhill, so that helped). Meredith rode on the back of Jake’s bike and loved the ride!

5 miles later, they landed at the beach!

I picked them up in the car so that they wouldn’t have to bike the five miles back, and ran to Parent Teacher Conferences during naptime. We ate at the Schwack beach grill, went to the beach, grabbed Handel’s ice cream and ate cake at home!

\

My sad, sad strawberry ganache chocolate cake. Meredith requested a strawberry cake, so I baked three layers of chocolate, embedded with strawberries and frosted it with chocolate fudge. The icing was looking beautiful, until I poured the chocolate ganache over it, which I didn’t allow to cool long enough. All the beautiful icing and strawberries started slipping and sliding off! It was too late to re-frost and Meredith didn’t seem to mind, but I almost cried! At least it tasted good.