2.5 weeks after Livy's birthday was the twins' birthday. Birthday season is upon us!
At the twins' school, the girls got to celebrate their birthdays on different weeks. This was kind of fun, as usually everything about their birthday is the same. It was nice for them each to have a special day at school an be recognized individually.
Their special week was called "Star Student Week" and they each got to fill out a poster with information about themselves. They were able to add or draw pictures and color it however they wanted. Lexi's Star Student week was the week before their birthday.
Later in the week, she was able to bring treats in to share with the class. She chose chocolate chip cookies and I brought them in. She was so excited to help pass out napkins.
She then stood in front of the class and they sang happy birthday to her.
She loved it!
Unfortunately, I was out of town during Leah's Star Student week. I sent treats with her, but wasn't able to be there to help pass them out. I didn't even get a picture of her with her poster! We really do love them the same. :)
On their actual birthday- October 6th- it dawned a sunny, gorgeous day that was quite warm. I let the birthday girls help me make their birthday breakfast- pumpkin pancakes.
The girls did not have school this day and it was so fun to have them home with me on their special day. After the big kids got off to school, they got to have a birthday bath (my kids love baths)!
After baths, the girls picked out their outfits- matching ones! They still have lots of matching outfits, but rarely choose to wear them on the same day. They match maybe 5% of the time. It was so cute to see them choosing to be matching on their special day. Dressed and ready for the day, they sat down to play a rousing game of Headbanz. Listening to the play is hilarious.
After Livy's morning nap, we headed off to the park to meet up with a playgroup from church to enjoy the gorgeously sunny day.
Livy was content to hang around with me on a park bench, until one of the twins carried her over and showed her how to climb up the play structure stairs.
The girls were excited to help Livy slide down the slide.
As soon as we walked back in the door at home, the girls begged to open the birthday cards Grandma and Papa had sent. Inside they found adorable cards and $5 bills for each one of them. To them, it was like winning the lottery. They were so thrilled.
Livy ate birthday dinner with us, but was too tired to stay up for the party. I snapped a quick shot of her with the birthday girls before she headed off to bed.
These girls have been so excited to turn five. It has all they have talked about for months.
I loved the excited/surprised looks the girls got when they opened each gift.
All of the big kids have recently gotten into Legos. They were so excited to each receive their own set from Nana and Papa.
The new rain boots and umbrellas were a big hit! Bring on the rain, they are thinking!
Grandma Cynde thrilled the girls with their own headlamps and a BIG thing of candy. She knows how to please five year olds!
Oh, they love those headlamps! Ben has a few of them himself and the kids are constantly getting into them.
Love their faces!
Leah is really into Ninja Turtles right now and was thrilled with her Donatello set. Between her and Mitch, this gives them all 4 Ninja Turtles sets.
Lexi loves a good headband or accessory. She loved her headband making kit.
Rio 2 for the both of them- it came in handy for their friend party that weekend.
A fierce Donatello, ready for action!
Complete with a ninja shell to hold her weapons.
Lex, trying out her new leg flip toy.
The best part of the night- cake! And in true Andros style- Ice Cream cake!
They shared a cake (because we don't need two!) but we sang to each of them individually.
Oh these girls! We just adore them! Happiest of Birthday's to the best twin 5 year old girls I know!
Leah, the morning after her birthday. It was her turn to empty the dishwasher and she suddenly decided that the job could not be done without her new headlamp.
A few things about my two 5 year olds:
Leah:
She was our emotional, fussy baby and toddler who has blossomed into a well rounded, socially adjusted girl. We are so thankful for that! She still gets emotional (what young child doesn't, occasionally) and sometimes she has a hard time turning off the waterworks, but for the most part handles it very well. One of her tactics, if she is upset or sad, is to go upstairs to her room all on her own accord and she stays their until she is calmed down. She usually emerges completely calm and recovered from whatever upset her in the first place.
She often will state "I don't want to be a twin anymore." For awhile, she used to think that being a twin meant being little or young. She attributed this to the fact that she and Lexi were younger than Chloe and Mitchell and that we called them the twins, therefore being a twin simply (and to her complexly), meant being little. While she may have grown out of believing that definition, she still is prone to say that same phrase, with the new belief that it means that she can only like or play with Lexi. Leah and Mitchell have recently developed a very close bond. They can often be heard calling each other "best buddies forever." One day I asked Leah who her twin was and she said "Lexi." Then I asked her who her best twin was (totally expecting the same answer, with lots of enthusiasm), to which she replied, "Mitchell!" She and Mitch have many of the same interests- they both love all sports, wrestling and "fighting" (play fighting) with each other, Ninja Turtles, and animals (their favorites are cheetahs and tigers). Their bond is very cute and they are very protective of each other. She and Lexi are still great friends, but Leah is currently not very interested in having/being a twin.
Leah is a fantastic athlete. She has a great kick and throw and loves to play catch with a baseball or a football. It will be so fun to see her enjoy organized sports next year (if I can mentally wrap my head around 4 children in sports at a time!)
She is such a sweet helper with Olivia. She loves to help entertain her or calm her down, if she can. Olivia loves to be chased and Leah is the perfect person to do that, with her alter ego "Josh the Cheetah." I love her imagination!
Leah has a very tender heart. We recently had a huge wind storm that was very loud and caused lots of damage around our city: trees down all over the place, homes and fences ruined, electricity lost in some parts. Just the sound of the wind blowing ferociously outside was enough to scare Leah and she was very, very worried. She worried that our house would fall down or that trees would fall onto it (which, unfortunately, did happen to a number of people). Without even being prompted, she started saying some quiet prayers and later told me that she asked Heavenly Father to help us to be safe and to help the wind to stop blowing so that we wouldn't get hurt. She gives the most thoughtful prayers I have ever heard out of a young child. She will often go on and on for a number of minutes, listing everything she is thankful for and asking for very humble and sweet things.
This girl could live in her tennis shoes. I bought both twins an adorable pair of pink crocs for this past summer and both girls refused to wear them. I could barely get Leah out of her tennis shoes all summer.
LOVES the Seahawks! She is just learning what football is all about (rules, etc) but she knows who and what the Seahawks are and she is obsessed! I recently bought both girls a Seahawk shirt, as Leah had requested one for months and months. She would wear it 3-4 times a week if I would let her.
Loves to write. She has learned how to spell her name and a few family names, but will write random letters all over a page and ask me "What does this spell, Mom?" She is struggling with letter recognition at school a little bit, but she still loves to write them and pretend that she is writing words and sentences.
Alexis:
Lexi is our sweet, sweet girl. That being said, her sweet side can also be matched with a very feisty side when the mood strikes her. Luckily, she can snap out of being grumpy pretty quickly and is back to being our sweet girl who offers to do almost anything we ask, helping others with their tasks, and giving up her own wants for the better of someone else. She is especially known to do this with Leah. It is so sweet. When I drop her off at school, she never lets me leave until she has hugged and kissed me at least two or three times.
She is all girl. She loves jewelry, having her hair done in different and new ways, loves headbands and hair bows and loves a good dress or skirt and a pair of cute, girly shoes.
Loves stuffed animals and sleeps with a collection of 4-5 babies and animals each night.
She is our crafty girl. She loves creating and making big, beautiful, messy projects out of paper, crayons, glue and scissors. And of course, making the mess is much more fun than cleaning up.
She is very sweet with younger children and babies. If we are ever watching a friends' kids younger than herself, she is the first one to play with the baby or show them the baby toys.
Loves her rain boots! She was so excited when rainy season hit a few weeks ago and gave her a good excuse to wear her rain boots every day. Even on sunny days, she prefers to wear those over most other shoes.
She is very good at stalling and dawdling, especially at bedtime. She takes her time doing her nighttime routine and often has to be told to hurry so she doesn't miss book time.
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