The birthday wrap-up (finally!)

Ahhhhh, it was a good fourth birthday. The best. Here's what I think Ro and Ree will remember: Fun dinners with family. (This one was at our fave Mexican restaurant, minutes after Aunt R, cousins S & H, and Ma and Pa landed. The girls ate their enchiladas, then daddy's, then started looking around at everyone else's plates): Their first-ever sleepovers! Each girl had a cousin in her room, and they rotated each night. (squeal) Four carseats in the van (so much more exciting than two boring 'ole seats). Playing at a warm, sunny, fun beach all day, and seeing tons of dolphins! Sharing the birthday grins with a sister. Here they were dressed up and on their way to Ro's party at Pump It Up (Ro in pink, Ree in yellow): Frolicking at the local FCC Moon Festival, where they got to stay out "wheely wheely yate" (really really late), carry lanterns, listen to a fun story about the moon, and roll around on the grass like crazy: Opening an incredible pile of presents from family and friends and loving every single thing: Intently watching Pa check his sugar levels each day (have I mentioned before that the girls are obsessed with blood? In any case, I think he got a little kick out of the rapt audience): Showing their Texas cousins one of their favorite haunts, Gilroy Gardens. (It was a girl-power kind of a day): Taking cupcakes to preschool and giggling as the whole class sang Happy Birthday: Avoiding napping/sleeping like the plague, which made for some hilarious droopiness during dinner time: Getting their first big-girl bicycles from Ma and Pa and "helping" TubaDad and Pa race to see who could assemble his the fastest: Trying to both get outside in the excitement and getting stuck in the doorway (Ro has on black tennis shoes and Ree has on purple ones): Waking up on the morning of the 6th for Ree's family party and coming downstairs to a decorated princess land, complete with mini princess cakes and Belle and Aurora costumes from Wela and BobBob. (You'd think we'd have cute pics of them in these princess costumes, but Ro and Ree wouldn't take off those dang angel PJs. I think they wore them for two straight days. Oh well, at least they're cute, I love that they say "angel" on the front and have wings on the back): Finding a hot-pink Ford Mustang in the garage from TubaDad and I. (They've already mastered squealing the wheels, flipping it into reverse, and doing donuts, as seen in this video. Whooee...) Asking a hundred times a day why my toe is purple. (I broke another toe, and every time I do this, which is pretty often, I hear my brother's voice saying "damn monkey toes, they snap like twigs!"): Getting one last hug from Ma and Pa before they hopped on the plane: And then breakfasting on some to-die-for peanut butter and jelly cupcakes that Auntie Lon made for them: Yep, we packed every possible ounce of birthday bash into the last few days. Happy birthday little sweeties. Now good lord I need a nap.