Tessa and Annie Turn the Big 0-4

Tessa and Annie are 4 now! Where does the time go?! Granted, they did turn almost 3 months ago. Yikes! I'm a big ol' procrastinator when it comes to this blog lately, and their 4th birthday is one of many, many things I need to catch up on!

Their big day came the day after our big family party celebrating our March girls. They not only happily shared their party with each other, but also with Megan. They had a ton of fun, and were more than happy to wear their new birthday crowns the next day when we picked up the girls from school.

As you can see in these pictures, there are now some distinct differences emerging between these two, both physically and in their personalities. Tessa's gained some height and weight recently, and we found out at their 4-year check-up that the difference is nearly an inch in height and three pounds in weight! Now, don't let this "height" of Tessa's fool you into thinking that she's tall or anything! In fact, I was kind of shocked to discover that they are in the 1st and 2nd percentiles for height! They are still little shrimps after all!

Besides those physical differences, they have been revealing personality differences, too. Though I'm not anxious for them to start preschool next year, I know those personalities will bloom even more at that point as well. Right now, Tessa has been surprising us with how open and friendly she is with other little girls they meet. She's standing out as the one who wants to make friends, while Annie hangs back a bit. They have a few girls they play with at pick-up and drop-off at St. Stephen, and these girls will be in their class when they get to kindergarten. It's cute to watch their friendships grow with the girls they'll be in school with for a long time!

On their actual birthday, we celebrated after dinner with gift-opening and ice cream. We were all a little exhausted from entertaining a large crowd the day before, so we had a low-key evening complete with leftover rainbow cake and rainbow sherbert.

And presents!

Megan and Bridget were especially proud to give Tessa and Annie some hand-made bunkbeds (otherwise known as shoeboxes!), complete with little pillows and blankets they helped sew. (It was a fun little project to make with them while Tessa and Annie were sleeping earlier that week!)

They were all smiles that week for their four-year check-up that coincided with Mary's 18-month check-up...until they all got four shots each! I have never dealt with such crazy crying from so many children at once as I did dragging them back to the car afterwards! I was woefully unprepared for these shots and the effect it would have on these three!

These girls are a handful every day, individually...

(Annie)

(Tessa)

and together!

How do I describe the sweetness that these two exude? I'm remiss at documenting all of the cute little things they say on a daily basis, which is a shame. They have been described as sounding like little chipmunks with their chatter - both high-pitched and hard to understand. I think that's pretty accurate, but I also think that will change with school next year. They still say "ours" as a collective possessive  (ie. "ours teacher is Coach Courtney") and they mispronounce words like little (they say "yittle"). Right now, I enjoy their little baby voices and don't want that to change!

Recently, I had sweetness just swirling around me when I took them to the grocery store with Mary. Tessa and Annie occupied the big part of the shopping cart, and Mary was asleep in the carrier I was wearing. They were so good in the store, especially as I piled groceries under them, around them, and on them. It was a rare pleasant shopping trip! Just as we were in line to check out, we all noticed some rowdy boys running around with toys from the toy aisle, sliding all over the ground and shrieking at the top of their lungs. Annie stood up, surrounded by our food for the week, and announced, loud enough for me and the customers in nearby lanes to hear, "Ooh, those boys are running around and not listening to their mommy. I would never do that to me sweet Mommy!" I appreciated the sentiment, but she is a sweet, sweet liar ;)

Not to be outdone, Tessa had her own cute moment not five minutes later. We had just arrived at the van, unloaded the grocery bags, and created some leg room for the little munchkins in the cart. Tessa spoke up in her cute little chipmunk voice and said, "Oh, Mommy! You still need to unload some groceries!" She was referring to the two of them, and she thought it was so funny, she giggled the whole way home :)

How have four years passed by with these two babies of ours?