Well children - age 5

Charlotte & Claire had a 5 year-old well child checkup.  They are So Big!  Charlotte is a whopping 3'9.125"; Claire is 3'9".  Claire is still heavier, at 51lbs; Charlotte is a feather-like 44.4lbs.  The pediatrician recommended that we read Stanley Turecki's "The Difficult Child" to help us do a better job of parenting Charlotte.

We are also busy getting ready to put the house on the market.  The kids are excited and positive about the move, and they are doing a great job of keeping their rooms tidy.  (The house no longer looks like ours!).

Finally, we are enjoying our final weekend with Nana and Grandad.  Today we took them to the zoo, and the rest of the weekend will be filled with egg hunts and other Easter fun.

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.

They're blinding us with science!

Last night, Louise offered salon services (hair & wardrobe) to her sisters in her bedroom.  Some of the results are below:

Today, Hillsborough was hit by an ice storm, school was cancelled, and we were without power for nearly twelve hours.  This meant that we had time to hear what was on the girls' minds.  We had surreal conversations such as:

Claire: "Why did you have three kids, mommydaddy?"

Us: stunned silence

Louise: "Mommy just got pregnant two times.  That's all.  Daddy wasn't involved AT ALL."

Pause.

Claire: "But why did you have three GIRLS?"

Louise: "They just did."

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Louise also took the opportunity of car travel to teach her sisters other things.  "Ice is like poison to trees, because it makes them bend over.  See?"

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Perhaps inspired by big sister, Charlotte also announced, apropos of nothing, "They call me Science Kid."

Lego Kidsfest in Raleigh

Claire had to be woken up on Christmas day.  But today, she woke up at 5:30 am, ready for the day's adventures.  Charlotte wasn't far behind.

They had their picture taken with a movie star (Emmett from The Lego Movie):

They raced Lego cars:

And they sat in a giant pile of Lego bricks and started creating:

They also enjoyed seeing some of the amazing things other people had created:

A Lego map of the USA.