My Babies are FOUR

When Paige and Skylar turned three last year, I wrote about how they were turning into little people, and leaving the days of toddler hood behind. I even changed the sub-header on this blog from "tales of parenting twin toddler girls" to "tales of parenting twin preschool-aged girls." They were some of the youngest in their Montessoriclass room of 3, 4, and 5 year olds, all year.

Well, they are "graduating," in 12 days, and will be solidly in the middle of the pack next year, teaching the new three-year-olds the ropes at school. Every year around this time, numerous rites of passage make me wispy with nostalgia and pride. Besides the upcoming end of the school year, there was the girls' birthday at the end of May.

And oh, did we celebrate with style this year. We are soooooo lucky to have all four grandparents significantly involved in the girls' lives. And they are a talented, dedicated, generous bunch. The big task for the papas was constructing a playhouse on the platform they built last year. This is NO ORDINARY PLAYHOUSE! The roof is nicer than the roof on the main house, the doors and windows are child-sized, and it features cool treehouse elements like a roof cutout around an Oregon white oak and a ladder entrance next to the slide platform (built two years ago by the papas. I know! We are so lucky. They are just awesome!) Papa Mike and Papa Tom, I hope your heads heal quickly from the numerous bumps you suffered stooping through that child-sized doorway :-) This playhouse will provide years of backyard fun and too many memories to count.

On the

Gramma front, these ladies gave the papas a run for their money by working so hard they collapsed into bed each night. They made birthday cakes (with chocolate chips and color-coordinated M&M's, as requested), they brought thoughtful, beautiful gifts of books, clothes, scooters, toys, and doll clothes. They cooked, they cleaned, they picked up the girls from school and entertained them. And on top of all that, they SCRAPED WALLPAPER off of our hallway walls! I am not kidding. This was their idea.

And if all this is not enough, consider the fabulous birthday party the girls enjoyed in our backyard. We had over 60 kids and parents running around the house and yard, so it's a very good thing the rain stayed away. Jen May has documented the party very nicely over on her Picasa page, so I'll just let you all check out the pics over there.

I will save the story about Paige and Skylar's birthday celebration at school for another post. It deserves special attention.

Our trip to LA is coming up fast, too - we leave July 8. I hope to post updates from John Tracy Clinic (and Disneyland, and the beach...).