4 years old!!!

Look at those beautiful young ladies! Can you believe they are 4? They are smart and funny, have extremely different personalities and yet get along with each other so well.  They truly love each other, even when they say they don't.

They got big kid bikes for their birthday and after just one day they were pedaling on their own, not looking at their feet, getting going on their own, and learning how to brake. Samantha picked a princess bike with streamers and a heart basket and Catherine picked a Disney Jake bike with pirate treasure chest basket.

They had their first birthday party with friends from school. We had to be inside instead of at the park, but they had fun anyway. It was a Wild Kratts theme with vine and creature power disc decorations, gummy worm dirk cake in a pail of course, and pin the tail on the hippo game. Sam missed the first time but did much better the 2nd try. Catherine nailed it.

On their actual birthday we had ice cream cake and played with Nana and Grandpa. Bocce ball and balloon games, even using static to put balloons on the wall! Sam tried to rub the balloon on her own back but to no avail. Only Grandpa seemed to have the magic touch.

A few pictures from school. Samantha is loving school and has songs memorized after just a few times, she really impresses me. She sings and Catherine dances. We're growing out her bangs and she hates having it put in a pony tail. We have to work to get her to use clips. She says the funniest things and you swear she is putting the moves on you. "Mommy, I saw the perfect flower and picked it just for you." She thinks looney toons are hilarious and pretends to hit her foot and hop around. She also tries to reason her way out of things and then later her reasoning backfires on her.

Catherine has started getting very serious about some things and when she does she looks up at you through her bangs, slows her voice down, and uses her hands like a little old Italian lady explaining something to an idiot. It makes me smile every time! She is progressing so much at school, writing her whole name without help (poor thing, Sam only had to do 3 letters), and insists on coloring all parts of a project. She especially likes rainbows and smiley faces.

Aunt Alyssa and Uncle Mike got them tents for their beds and they were so excited to go to sleep tonight.

So happy birthday to our girls. We love you so much and can't imagine a world without you. It would be a boring place without laughter.

a quick Jake update

I'm doing a quick update on Jake because this weekend the girls are turning 4 and I'll devote a post to them and their party weekend.

Look at this handsome boy!!! Notice the lack of drool on his chin? Sometimes photoshop is a good thing. He is quite the character and we all love him very much. He is constantly smiling and giggling and getting into trouble. He opens doors and takes stuff out and tries to climb in. Changing his diaper convinces us that there is some octopus blood in his DNA, he's always rolling over and trying to sit up. He insists on helping when I give the girls a bath, which mostly just gets him wet.

He and his daddy are buds, that's for sure. They speak the same language and make the same sad face with the crinkly eyes and pouty lip. At his 9 month check up he weighed just over 20 labs and I swear he weighs more every day. Definitely not my side of the family where we never get above 10th percentile.  Oh, and Jake thinks everyone is funny.

This is his new favorite game, he begins to climb the stairs laughing and looking back to see if I'm chasing him to bring him back to the bottom, or even all the way into the living room to start over 

again.

Just last week he started standing by himself. He's usually very serious about it until he starts pinwheeling his arms and falls down. He's also learning how to clap and how to reach for everything he can and pull it down. He's very like Sam in that way, and he talks…a lot. And just like Catherine he likes to feed the dog his food and eat her food. I think he considers it a fair trade. Jake is also a master of his walker. He is so good that the can make it move even when another small child is standing on it, and he's figured out, and is strong enough, to pick it up to go over the threshold between the kitchen tile and the carpet.

He's learning to clap and his favorite game is peek a boo. He just laughs and laughs!

I know he's looking forward to spring and playing outside. We were out for one day and he managed to find the mud spot and get his jeans all dirty. We put his walker on the deck, too, and now he looks longingly outside. I guess I do, too.