Charlotte is FIVE!!!

Dear Charlotte,

You are very excited to be five today, and we are blessed to have you in our life.  You have a beautiful singing voice; you are sweetly earnest; and you are becoming a kinder, more sensitive, and gentler girl every day.

Happy birthday, Charlotte!

Happy 5th birthday, Claire!

We love you, dearest Claire Bear "Vader" Atherton.  For five years, you have been the wheel that doesn't squeak.  We love your joy, your exuberance, and your appreciation of the finer things in life (ie sleep). 

Happy birthday, sweet girl.

Happy 7th Birthday, Louise!

Louise was able to spend part of her birthday weekend with her best friend of virtually seven years, Katie.  Louise particularly enjoyed the princess dress-up party.  On the birthday itself, she graciously unleashed her sisters on her many packages, allowing them to open everything (under her close supervision).  Later that day, we confirmed that Everything Is Awesome at the Lego movie, which Louise enjoyed watching with her sisters and neighbors Max and Ava.

Claire "lived out her dream" and reached a new milestone this weekend: she assembled her first Lego without Daddy's help.  All the babies are growing up!

Mummy was delighted to be able to spend the weekend with Louise.  She had originally been scheduled to be in Singapore, but Snowmageddon 2014 arrived.  As a family, though, we've probably had our fill of snow for the year now.

You say it's your birthday...

It's my birthday too, yeah!  At least, our family present to Daddy for his 39th birthday was...Lego!  We did have a great time this evening building things together.

The music factory also enjoyed some time at the playground whilst L was at dance class.

Focusing for a whole 30 minutes has proven too much for C&C, but L is doing well with swim lessons:

The big 4

Claire and Charlotte were VERY excited to turn 4 yesterday.  "Look how big I am now!" Charlotte exclaimed when she came downstairs.  They celebrated at daycare with cupcakes, picked big sister up from school, and opened a large pile of wonderful presents: for Claire, a tool to help her read, tons of books, some costumes, a baby elephant, and other great stuff; for Charlotte, a tool belt "like Claire's", a Hot Wheels car launcher (that serves no apparent purpose but makes her very happy), bunches of books, and a near-life-size zebra.

Today, the whole family was together for Good Friday, and the festivities continued with a trip to the Greensboro Children's Museum, where Claire enjoyed the "real, live fire truck" and Charlotte reveled in the police car and mail truck.  (We have never observed a happier postal worker).  Tomorrow we'll have another birthday party, this time with the "street people".  It was hard to get to sleep tonight...

In other news, Louise was very proud to show off the chicken dance she learned at school:

Happy Birthday part 1

Louise's sixth birthday began with snow.  She opened some wonderful presents - books, craft projects, Littlest Pet Shop figures, and the world's largest stuffed giraffe - and helped Mommy decorate her dolphin cake and cupcakes.  Louise & her friends (and their drivers) traveled through the snow to her party at the Scrap Exchange, where they created undersea creatures out of discarded household and industrial waste (as well as goggles, cameras, windchimes, and whatever else took their fancy).

Happy Birthday, Charlotte and Claire (part 3)

This morning at breakfast:

Claire: "I'm a tiger.  I hunt Saltines."
Charlotte: "I'm a leopard.  I eat food." / "The lion sleeps tonight."

Charlotte then put a paper bag on her head and started singing "We are the Champions."

Perhaps there's a good reason why children's television programmes seem to be written by people who regularly use controlled substances.

*****

Everyone enjoyed the birthday party at Gold Park (though Charlotte + cake = meltdown).  C&C want to do it again next week, and L wants to celebrate her sixth birthday there.

Happy Birthday, Charlotte & Claire (part 2)

Grandparents and sisters were very generous with gifts.  The music factory love their "monster feet" (video below), skateboard, gardening tools, balls, dinosaurs, books, puzzle, bubble flashlights, and clothes...and Claire apparently plans to spend the rest of her life wearing knee and elbow pads (ready for anything that comes).  They had a birthday feast at Elmo's yesterday, and they'll celebrate with friends at Gold Park (weather permitting) on Sunday.

C&C did well at the paediatrician's office this morning.  Both are 37.75" tall (66th percentile).  Claire weighs 38 lbs (94th percentile), and Charlotte is 34.2 lbs (80th percentile).  Dr. G wasn't concerned about Claire's hearing, speech, or weight.  She did worry a bit about Claire's reluctance to have her eyes examined, however.  She thought it might be a sign of vision problems; Mummy thinks it's a sign that Claire is Claire (stubborn, three years old).  Mummy and Daddy had great fun helping C&C obtain urine samples (50% success rate).  Claire will have eyes examined and urine sampled in three months' time to follow up.

Happy birthday, Charlotte and Claire! (part 1)

Three years ago, you were so eager to see the Tar Heels win the NCAA basketball championship that you tried to push your ways into the world, feet first and seven weeks early.  You were tiny and helpless, and you needed to stay in the hospital for nine days (we feared Claire would have to stay longer).  Worst of all, there was no big screen TV in the Special Care unit, so you didn't get to see the final anyway.

Now look at you!  You race around on scooters and balance bikes.  You drink out of cups without lids, you are both potty trained, and you are very loving to one another, your Big Sister, Mummy, and Daddy.  This morning in the car, you serenaded one another.  Charlotte reported to those of us in the front of the minivan: "Claire singing, 'two little boys have a little master.' " (Alt version: "Baa Baa Black Sheep").   Charlotte then sang the ABC song: "A, B, C...M, O, O, P..."  Finally, you did a duet - an extended version of "Happy birthday."

Charlotte: you speak beautifully.  You have a dirty, delightful laugh.  Causality eludes you ("I made a mess because I made a mess"), but you are curious and often ready to share.

Claire: you recently started saying, "I love you, Mommy" randomly and without prompting.  You love books, as you've always done.  You have a mischievous grin and continually surprise us.

Happy birthday!

 This year, we're walking for the March of Dimes, a charity that working to address the problem of premature birth.  Please feel free to support us!

Happy birthday, Louise!

Dear Louise,

Happy fifth birthday!  FIVE!  Wow.  How did you become such a big girl?  You can ride a 20" two wheel bike with grace, you learn more words by sight every day, and you are turning into a sensitive, generous, and loving young lady.  One of your favourite phrases now is "Don't agitate her, Daddy," when one of your sisters gets upset, and you can share graciously.  Yes, your sisters sometimes annoy you, but it is often to you that they turn when they wake up or get upset.  You are learning to calm yourself down when you get angry - an impressive, valuable skill and a sign of maturity.  We love you so much and are very proud of you.

Five years ago today, you arrived in this world a large, healthy baby.  You weren't a big fan of sleep, and you spit up a lot.  You informed us yesterday that "I could read as a baby, but I thought you'd be mad if you found out that I was the only baby in the world who could read."  We were clueless parents, but everything we did was done with a great deal of love.  You taught us everything we know about parenting.



Happy birthday, Lulu.  We love you.

Getting gift bags ready for your friends (first of three parties):


Doing experiments with Ms. Meg:


and Alex


Playing games:

Happy Birthday, Charlotte & Claire!!

Happy second birthday, Charlotte & Claire! They celebrated as only two year olds do. Everyone was very generous. Pop and Granny's gift, sadly, is still somewhere between Derby and NC, but it will be treasured when it arrives. Nana & Grandad gave coasters with the girls' names on them, and brief descriptions of the characteristics associated with those names. (Louise wanted hers read again - "I'm exciting and 'venturous, Claire! I'll take you on an exciting 'venture!!"). They also gave money, which Louise directed towards a gigantic balloon, a sit-n-spin, two books, a ball (for Claire - Charlotte "already has one"), and two recorders. Pops gave the girls a basketball hoop (a source of much joy & fighting - we will organize a pool for anyone foolish enough to wager on the outcome, or canny enough to see Charlotte as the embodiment of VCU), a craft kit, a toddler laptop, and a scooter.

Here are some pics -


A scooter from Pops:

















CAKE!!!! (Charlotte had been waiting for this moment since she woke up this morning).


















What is it??? (Help from big sister).


















All playing with the craft kit Pops got for Claire:

They made it (and so did we) - Happy 1st Birthday

Charlotte and Claire celebrated their first birthday with a small party at home. Our neighbours Judy, John, and Natasha came over. Louise and Mummy made and decorated cupcakes for the occasion - Charlotte & Claire were not terribly impressed.

Louise has finally hit the terrible threes with a vengeance. She enjoys testing boundaries - "okay, Daddy said not to do x...let's see what happens when I do x!!" And after three years of being willing to eat anything, she has become rather reluctant to eat most dinner foods.

But Louise continues to surprise and delight, when she isn't pushing Mummy and Daddy's buttons. Louise studied her sisters' diaper box carefully. She counted "two babies holding sign, two babies not holding sign...one, two, three, four-five". She then noticed that the four babies were wearing only diapers, and there was a bus in the background. To the delight of the grocery checkout operator, she observed seriously, "all kids need put on clothes before they go on candy bus. That's the rule."