Speaking of Faces. . .

This girl has one for every occasion!  She is adorable one moment and has her tongue and eyes popping out of her head the next.  I think she is the queen of funny faces.

Faces We Love and Miss

Wolf family faces. . .

Shaw family faces. . . not as many photo ops with the Shaw side :(

My Budding Artist

Miss Lila has transitioned from scribbling to drawing and coloring within the lines.  All of this took place during our trip out west.  At the beginning of the trip, Lila was giving her crayons a ride all over her papers.  By the time we left, she was thinking about what she was going to draw and very carefully comping her pictures.

Here is a tree with grass and a flower.  She added a sun and her name too.

Unfortunately, she spilled water while drawing Baby Einstein.

Here is a chalk self portrait - hard to see though because of the sun.

Her favorite picture is what she calls rainbows. Her favorite way to complete them is with Mommy's participation.

Packing

How does one pack. . .

5 suitcases
5 boxes of cr*p that we accumulated during our 4 week stay
5 carry ons
and
2 strollers

with three kids running around??

Put the two that cause the most damage in the shower with a bottle of shaving cream!!  I may have to try this at home.

Point Defiance Park

A couple of days before we said our good byes to the gray and cooler skies of the Pacific Northwest, we took the advantage of a rare sunny day and went to Point Defiance park. We skipped the zoo and checked out a beach. I knew the girls would never imagine it to be rocky or too cold to swim. Beaches that we visit, are blissfully sandy and unmanageable if you don't take a dip to cool off.

Upon arrival, Lila kept asking where the beach was and where she was going to dig. Savannah wanted to know what we were going to do. After about 15 minutes, the girls settled in and after an hour or so, didn't want to leave. We saw boats of all kinds, did a lot of climbing on logs and ended up spending most of our time playing in the rocks.

When we were driving out of the park, the girls spotted a pond and I couldn't ignore the begging for running around in the big grassy field and looking for ducks in the water. It proved worth while. There was plenty of wildlife to observe and, of course, the baby ducks forced all other events of the day to take a backseat.

Never Underestimate your children

I didn't dream of asking Savannah if she wanted to go off the high dive.  I didn't have to.  She asked her Daddy if she could and with the answer of yes, climbed up the ladder and jumped.  I missed the whole thing but luckily she did it again.

A Ducky and Caterpillar Birthday

The girls decided to celebrate with two different themes this year.  I guess this is something I am going to have to get used to.  Lila has fallen in love with duckies and wanted nothing more than to have a duck cake (just like Ernie's rubber ducky, she told me).  Adeline was torn between Thomas, Lightning McQueen and the Baby Einstein caterpillar.  I helped her decided upon the caterpillar and once it was decided she was super excited about a Baby Einstein cake!  The girls were so excited that they felt the need to sleep with their cake pans a few nights before their big day. 

After asking over and over if was their "birthday party day," days before their actual birthday, it was a relief to wake them up and tell the girls it had finally arrived.  Here they are fresh out of bed.


We decorated, struggled with balloons taped together like caterpillars and spent HOURS decorating the cakes.  Thank goodness Aunt Amy jumped on board or Lila's cake would have been a plucked duck.  Eventually it all came together and the girls were ready to party!  It was a lot of fun feeling their enthusiasm this year.

The party started with treasure hunt.  The girls followed clues to a treasure box hidden being the biggest tree trunk in the yard.  When opened they were thrilled to see caterpillars and ducks peering up at them.  We took the ducks and played Chuck the Duck.  Each duck had a design on the bottom and after chucking the ducks around the yards, the twins had to go and find matches.  They did really great job.  The last activity was Pin the Wing on the Duck.  Lila could clearly see through the scarf (no honor system for her) and Adeline was not going to let me tie it around her so my hands did the trick.  Eventually, the girls had fun spinning the other kids adults at the party and seeing how well they did at the game.

Here is a short clip of Savannah taking a crack at Pin the Wing on the Duck


It was finally cake time.  The girls LOVED their cakes.  They loved them so much that I was worried that they wouldn't let me cut into them.  Luckily, the girls didn't seem to mind as long as they got their desired piece.  Here are a couple videos of their big moments.  The second video captures the sweetest moment of the entire day (be sure to listen to what Adeline says to Lila).  All of my girls were happy for each other.  They really are able to think outside of themselves and celebrate one another.  Nothing makes me more proud!

So my babies are FOUR!  Where did the time go?  I dreamed of this day.  I prayed for this day.  I just never thought I would ever get the chance to participate in it.  Now that I have, I can honestly say that this was a typical 4 year old birthday party.  It was the first year that I didn't watch the clock and relive their births.  I wasn't caught up in the past.  Instead, we celebrated along side our very enthusiastic four year old girls.  Of course, that is the greatest gift of all!  It is amazing how time changes everything!

Here are some additional cute moments from the day.


Lila showing that she can blow bubbles and ride her bike at the same time. . .

Lila sneaking one of Adeline's presents out into the garage so that she can peek at what is inside. Funny how she wasn't brave enough to sneak her own.

Miss Adeline looking 4 going on 14

Lila telling the world she is FOUR