3 Years, 8 Months, 1 Week, and 6 Days

Charlotte & Ruby are 3 years, 8 months, 1 week, and 6 days old today. Rarely do they want to be called by their given names, preferring to be called "Sita" (a mama cheetah - usually Charlotte) and "Blur" (a fast cheetah, usually Ruby) along with many other wild animal related aliases. They refer to our dog Siouxsie as "Fuzzhead" most of the time too. Our friends invited us over for a Memorial Day BBQ yesterday, and we had a wonderful time. Enjoy the photos!

Excited to see that their shadows were holding hands too:

They like to pick a few wildflowers (or weeds):


We went to the zoo with Ava & Jacob on the wrong day last week, as it was the same day that 19 schools in the area also chose to go, which made any exhibit too crowded to manuever through or see comfortably while trying to wrangle 4 kids. We ended up spending most of our time there at a small but mostly deserted grass area near the giraffes, and they had a blast running about and throwing grass clippings at each other for a couple hours:



In the wagon:


Charlotte loves the carousel at the zoo:

Playing with clothespins and boxes is more fun than you might think (and improves their fine motor skills):

Since the weather has been hot as of late, we let the kids play with a sprinkler out front:


At the Memorial Day BBQ, they spent hours playing outside with other kids:

Their first water balloon fight was very brief but fun:

Ruby found a love for squirt guns and chased after Bob:

3 Years, 8 Months, and 6 Days

Charlotte & Ruby are 3 years, 8 months, and 6 days old today. We celebrated their last day of school on Saturday morning. I do not think that they understand school is over for a few months. The weather is quickly heating up, we've had days in the upper 80s and expect more soon. Enjoy the photos!

Flying kites for the first time one afternoon:


Charlotte ran all around with her kite, usually causing it to hit the ground when she ran with the wind and needed help getting it back in the air:

Ruby was more cautious and stayed in the same general area, though she did get too close to trees a few times, insisting that her kite likes trees when it got stuck:

Building a house with Magnatiles:

Charlotte burst into air guitar briefly one morning while playing outside:

Ruby smiles and squints in the afternoon sunlight:

For their end of the year teacher gifts, we made a pencil jar for Ms. Mariann and got her a gift card:

We glued colored pencils to the outside of a glass jar from a craft store and added ribbon:

We made tulip gift card holders for the teacher's aides, Ms. Cindy and Miss Payton:

For the class party favors, I chose small buckets with sand tools and a playground sticker book:

Bob designed the name tags again:

Mostly finished:

I made Lemon Sunshine cookies for the first time, which are delicious:

It took all of this:

To make these, mini strawberry trifles in 4oz mason jars:

2 hours later, I had made 24 jars full and most parents raved about them at the party:

44 Months Old!

Charlotte at 44 months old:

Ruby at 44 months old:

3 Years, 7 Months, 4 Weeks, and 1 Day

Ruby & Charlotte are 3 years, 7 months, 4 weeks, and 1 day old today. The weather has been spectacular as of late, so we have spent a lot of time outdoors. Enjoy the photos!

Outside our home:

Pretending that a toadstool is an umbrella:

Laughing:

Looking for different shapes in the clouds:

Watering the plants:

Ruby:




Charlotte:




Running after a butterfly:

We went to Kohl Children's Museum with Ava & Jacob to see chicks hatching and enjoyed all of the other exhibits too:

Grocery store:


Hospital nursery:


Habitat Park:

We were outside just in time for a Wiggling Worms class:


Ruby was cautious when studying them:

Charlotte picked up the worms immediately and then tried to free them by taking them to the nearby grass:

Ruby drew on herself instead of creating a picture of a worm on paper without us noticing until roughly 10 minutes after the class ended:

Charlotte climbed all the way to the top by herself, but needed my help getting down:

The colorful video screen that they danced in front of with streamers reminds me of a '70s TV show effect:


The Water Works area:


On Mother's Day, we went to Delnor Woods in the afternoon:

Mother's Day photo:

Running ahead to explore more of the woods:

The playground:

Making our way back to the car: