Bam! They are FOUR! They are a double bundle of energy & relished in every bit of the celebrating on the 8th of the month. As worn out as we feel at the end of any given day it is NOTHING compared to those newborn days long ago!
Charlotte stayed up late with the me the night before the special morning & we decorated & got the table set. It was fun to have a buddy & remember what it was like to be my mom's buddy. The morning came quickly as it always seems to do around here. The big four year olds hopped in our bed at seven & we gave them a birthday snuggle before going downstairs. I was all ramped up for excited squeals & thankfulness for all of the time spent making their morning special. Instead Owen got a little grumpy & they both got into a 20 minute argument with us about how they were still three. They were serious, haha! That "it's hard to be three" statement had carried on into being four ; )
Here they are finally smiling after they succumbed to the fact that it was their birthday.....
a little Anson headlock to remind Owen that he ruled in utero.
The reward for smiling was the Valentine birthday breakfast of cinnamon rolls & sausage balls. This was the third year of Anson continuing to talk about his birthday candles while Owen blew his own out. Following whatever he was sharing, we had to remind him (again) of the task at hand. Makes us laugh every time.
The sun was bright & shining much like the morning they were born. Arlo joined the party partway into breakfast.
Owen & Anson have been really into trains lately & got a few new additions. Our goal was to build a track that included every piece & we (and by we, I mean I) did a fantastic job ; )
You can imagine how helpful this cutie was. It was like having a real life Godzilla tearing through our track knocking over trees & bridges but instead of roaring he was giggling.
Owen & Anson have had a Paw Patrol shirts for the past two years that were worn with their "cozies" as they called them. The shirts were stained with everything possible & had holes under the arms. The "cozies" were cotton camo pants, size 2T with holes in the knees & on their four year old leggies looked like they were perfect for flood season. So we hooked them up with a new shirt & "cozies." It was painful to put the other ones in the trash but they have transitioned well to the new clothes.
We had a FaceTime birthday call with Grammy & Papa after we played with the trains. They shared that they were headed to the Arboretum & we decided to crash the party. It is not often that we decide to go somewhere of that nature off the cuff but I packed our lunch & we were out the door. That's when things got interesting.
When we were arriving & I was getting a stroller set up & keeping five kids safe on our trek to the entrance I received three phone calls in a row. Two from 1-800 number & one with a Dallas area code. As usual I let them go to voicemail. About 20 minutes later I got another call & then decided I should listen to the message. It started like this "Hello Mrs. Valentine, this is Officer so & so from the police department. I am at your house having responded to an alarm." I hung up immediately & called him back. The backdoor had been blown open by the wind since I apparently did not verify it was locked.
He went onto share that he walked through the entire house & it did not appear that anything of value was missing. He also commented that the living areas looked a little awry (go figure) & that the only thing that seemed really out of place was a table on it's side partly blocking the doorway to the stairwell. I confirmed that it was a makeshift baby gate to confine Godzilla. I was mortified that someone walked through my house on the morning that we made a split decision & ran out the door thirty minutes later! It was a WRECK! A wreck of a house was better than having a real break-in though. The other completely out of place room was the "library" where our entire kitchen cabinet contents were unloaded due to recent painting. Again, what a mess! Thankfully he set the alarm, locked up & wished me well.
Even with that unexpected hiccup in our day we had a lovely time with Grammy, Papa & their friends visiting from Michigan. We walked across the entire Arboretum to bid them farewell & then I almost died. The boys were already really tired so I loaded them into the double stroller with the smallest wheels ever, strapped Arlo on my back in the Ergo & began the trip back to our entrance. Within minutes I was wishing I could steal one of the million double Bob strollers that were passing by pushed by mothers with ease. I honestly was not sure if I would make it but I did! We decided to forgo the children's area much their dismay but I let them play in the fountain before we left. It was super fun especially for Arlo who had never enjoyed spraying water. Our Florida babies enjoyed the Downtown Celebration fountain year round. He was brave, got blasted in the face multiple times & laughed going back for more.
Here are two of whom I tag-teamed the crew with.
By the time we were out of the parking lot...
After an afternoon movie, a surprise pizza dinner & some good baths everyone was ready to be tucked in tight for the night. I had the lights off & was singing to the birthday boys when I told them about how much I loved meeting them four years ago. I talked about how tiny they were but they were healthy & strong just the way many had prayed for them to be. They couldn't quite understand how small 3 & 5 pound babies are so I pulled out one of our favorite outfits they wore in the NICU. They were shocked & we all could not stop laughing.
Since birthdays should drag on as long as possible we celebrated the weekend before while we were in Kingwood & then the weekend after with Grammy & Papa.
It was a fun week & we were glad those two finally believed they were actually four! We love them.
