Who had a birthday???

Ian had a birthday!!!

Well... that is, he had a birthday back on May 9TH!!!  He turned 4!
(Coincidentally, did you know that my due date for Atticus was on Ian's birthday too?! I thought it would be great for the two share birthdays--- I shared my birthday with my brother Jeff who is 5 years older than me---I always felt we shared a special bond...  not to mention we always shared the same cake and it was always just sort of cool to tell people we had the same birthday but weren't twins! If Atticus hadn't been born early, I think I would have asked my doc just to induce on his due date.)

I'd just had a baby, so Ian's birthday this year was pretty down to earth. 

He decided back when Noah was celebrating HIS birthday (bear in mind that was WAY back in September) that he wanted a Batman cake for his 4TH birthday... easy enough, right you say... WRONG!  I searched all over town for Batman decorations and could hardly find a thing! Everything was Spiderman!!! I should have had tons of ideas for Batman cakes since I had practically 9 months to prepare but when the morning of Ian's birthday arrived my mind just drew a blank... THEN, I remembered the fabulous people at Maceys bakery... I took them a picture of Batman and asked them to print it off on their edible paper... then I used the edible picture of Batman to top Ian's gluten free chocolate birthday cake I made, then I frosted the sides and added tons and tons of sprinkles and VOILA! I had a Batman cake!

Okay so his cake wasn't nearly as fancy as the cupcakes I made him the year before (click here to see those) but it sure tasted good and he was happy with it!

Oh yeah- I nearly forgot to mention that Ian's birthday fell on Mother's Day this year! (I was feeling pretty good so I decided to join Spencer at church that afternoon with ALL the boys, even the baby- not quite yet 2 weeks old then- just so I could hear Noah and Ian sing the Mother's Day song they'd rehearsed with the Primary during Sacrament).  We decided to sort of just celebrate Ian's birthday over the course of the entire weekend.  Saturday morning the boys ate doughnuts and chocolate milk; Sunday morning I made Ian and the rest of the fam a real BIG Sunday breakfast, with eggs, ham and country potatoes, then that following day, on Monday the 10TH they ate their choice of sugar cereal---just for the record, they chose The Reese's Peanut Butter Cup cereal- YUM! I'm a NUT for that cereal---it's SO good!

Ian woke up to find birthday balloons strewn all over his bedroom floor!

On Saturday Ian got to do a treasure hunt first thing in the morning--- he had to follow a string I tied to his bedroom door that lead him on a crazy goose chase all over the house until he found one of his birthday presents wrapped and tucked away in our ottoman.

Sunday evening we ate dinner over at my in laws house, then that following night, we invited my in laws, Les and Linda, over to our house to eat cake and ice cream with us and watch as Ian opened up the rest of his gifts.

Grandma Campbell played Mario Cart on the Wii with the boys for a bit...

I honestly can't tell you who won each race...

I'm not even sure grandma figured out how to leave the starting line!!!

Like I said, we kept the celebrations pretty simple but probably still had just as good a time as any other celebration if not BETTER!

It's crazy to think that Ian is only 4!!! He really seems so much older than 4 and it feels like he's been part of our family for MUCH longer!

We LOVE him to bits and pieces...  I love his sweet grin and his two adorable dimples (ladies are going to go gaga over him when he grows older!) I don't know where or from whom he inherited his dimples but they are to die for... his baby blue eyes are down right dreamy too! I get frustrated trying to style his hair every morning when I have to deal with his silly cowlicks in the front by his forehead and nape of his neck, but I wouldn't trade them for anything... I chuckle about his eyebrows...  They're like Jack Nicholson's--- those two eyebrows alone express more sometimes than words do! I heart his soft little brown freckles that dot the tip of his nose and his little stripe across his back and right shoulder that is darker than the rest of his skin...  I even love the way he rolls his "R's" or calls his "Eeyore", "Eli" because he can't pronounce the first said name or maybe it's because he's confused... I'm not sure about that one, I've never thought to ask; either way, it's cute!... Ian is one smart cookie!  He has a BRILLIANT mind!  No joke. His gift to memorize things as easily as he does sometimes leaves me speechless. He NEVER forgets a thing!!! And he's so curious!!!  I'm pretty sure that none of my other boys have been quite as mischievous as Ian! Don't believe me click here--- this old post will make you roll on the floor laughing!  He's TROUBLE I tell you! He may only be 4 years old, but I'll bet you he's already spent 364 days in "time out" for the trouble he manages to stir up! (I'm only kidding about how long he's been in time out of course... our kids are spoiled rotten and get away without a lot of that kind of discipline.)  We do butt heads quite a bit-- he and I... only because he has his way of thinking things should be done and I have my way I think things should be done... he's down right stubborn and I'm pleased to say he inherited that trait from both me and Spencer! He LOVES music and especially LOVES to sing--- his favorite song at the moment is "5 Little Hot Dogs Frying in a Pan" (which reminds me I need to take some video of him singing the song--- it's precious and he always busts up laughing in the end!) He's a little shy and it usually takes him a while to warm up to new folk or new surroundings, but once he feels comfortable he sure is a chatter box!

Ian's a BIG kid.  At his 4 year check up with the pediatrician he weighed 41.23 pounds putting him in the 87% among other boys his age and he is 42.25 inches tall--- that's the 89%!  He's our BIG kid!  The doctor said he'll probably reach 6'4" or so as an adult.  That may not sound so tall to some but considering that neither Spencer nor I are tall---in fact we're kinda short--- 6'4" is GINORMOUS!  We're still unclear of where exactly, or better yet, from whom he inherited his height and size but we'll take it!  He already out weighs Noah, his older brother, by a couple of pounds, and I think the two brothers are exactly the same height... strangers mistaken the two boys for being twins ALL. THE. TIME! I have no doubt, any day now, Ian will completely outgrow Noah.  He'll be his little BIG brother!

Ian's built like an athlete! He's all muscle.  We should have named him Hercules!  There is not an ounce of fat on him and that is the God honest truth!  It's ridiculous too because the kid doesn't like to eat his veggies... if he see's green he runs!  He's stronger than we'd like him to be sometimes too... his brothers have all received a real good WHACK in the face from Ian from time to time--- as you can probably tell, we're still trying to teach him that he needs to use his words because he's heavy handed naturally like Mike Tyson... I bet if we put him in boxing he'd be a champ! (no worries though, it's not like we're going to put him in boxing).  We just barely put him in t-ball with Noah and Ian really LOVES the sport! I was nervous at first signing him up to play because I thought there was a good chance he'd be too shy and wouldn't participate, but Ian's a real goof around the other kids and LOVES hitting the ball and running the bases!  It looks like he might have inherited some of Grandpa Truesdell's (my dad) athleticism!

The one thing I absolutely LOVE the most about Ian is his BIG heart! Sure he might stir up a little trouble from time to time with his curiosity or cause some real drama when he doesn't get things his ways (OH BOY!) but the kid has heart and passion for life!  He LOVES his brothers, cousins, friends, teachers, grandparents and Spencer and I... he shows us acts of his LOVE daily and we feel incredibly blessed to have him as part of our family!!!

I was looking through some of our old family pictures

and found this ADORABLE picture of Ian 

 that was taken when he was about 5 months old...