(I see Angry Birds when I look at this!)

As they get older and the achievements are more out of the hygiene realm, watching them grow, learn and become who they are meant to become is nothing less than miraculous.  I have found that every morning they come out of their rooms one step closer to adulthood and it makes me want a pause button in some ways and an applause button in other ways.

Where did Meg, long-legs Meg, get her confidence?  Both Hubby and I didn’t have great self-confidence growing up, yet she is strong, solid and humble in her self.  I’ve had teachers and other adults tell me how kind she is and how she isn’t a braggart in her accomplishments.

Mita. My dear Mita has blossomed into a young woman (seriously, have you seen her?!). She is quiet and works so hard. She is reading up a storm and is a straight A student. Straight A’s for a child who four years ago knew no English!   Her room is her castle and she loves to clean it and take pride in her appearance. The outfits she puts together dazzle and are stunning. How does she make sweats look glamorous?!  Her heart. Her heart has had more sorrow than many have had in a lifetime, and yet she is healing.  She gives me spontaneous hugs and I love yous. She calls me Mommy sometimes.  I love to just stare at her. She doesn’t like that so much though!

Enu. Enu is the child who is teaching me patience and perseverance.   She is growing by leaps and bound physically and emotionally.  She is finding herself slowly, but it is happening. She is great with young kids and as of right now she is helping me watch my niece. She will be a great babysitter in just a few years. Her smile is contagious, and she really is quite funny.  It will be great to watch her harness her energy in the years to come.

Elle.  Elle is my elfin fairy for sure.  She is now seven and  I look at what Meg was like at seven and they are so different yet alike.  Elle is becoming very funny, almost a dry sense of humor in some ways. Her comebacks make Hubby and I look at each other and smile. She can take care of herself  just fine in a pack of four sisters!  She still plays with toys, which makes me sooooo  happy.  For Christmas she got an iPod and a Lalaloopsy doll and she will walk around playing with both at the same time.  She still cuddles which makes me think she will always be a cuddler! Yeah!  My baby reads. My. Baby. Reads.

Watching my girls grow is truly a pure delight.  I am overwhelmed with how fast everything is going. Meg is talking about college (of course she has always talked about college, but now I picture it happening!).  Hubby and I find ourselves talking about a third car for the girls to share.

I know that talking about your kids growing up is a well-worn topic. I’ve heard for years how it goes by quickly.  It makes me ache that this is so true but at the same time I love, love, love watching them learn, grow and burst into the world.  If I have anything to do with how wonderful these children are it is my greatest honor in life.  My work is done, everything else is a bonus.

Pretzels From Space!

We celebrated Elle’s seventh birthday yesterday.  It is so amazing to think that seven years ago I was laying in room 207, the same room I delivered Meg,  and was listening to ocean waves.  It was such a nice, peaceful delivery.

Today, a school day, she awoke to a cinnamon roll in bed, a birthday T-shirt and cookies for her class.  We also had a family dinner complete with Light Saber hot dogs and Star Wars pretzels.  A Star Wars volcano and Yoda pie were gobbled up and then we all went and watched the birthday girl perform in her school Christmas play.

A busy day that was amazingly fun.  A couple of quotes from Elle:

“I don’t want this day to end.”

“I don’t have anything else I want now!”

She is amazing.

She is SEVEN!

So once all the decorations were up (the kids did an awesome job by the way, it is great to have kids who are old enough to actually help with things!) we sat down and I read the letters.  They were simple questions like:

What was your favorite song in 2010?

What was your favorite movie in 2010?

What do you remember most about 2010:

What do you hope happens in 2011?

It turns out that none of the girls’ predictions came true, Elle doesn’t have long hair and Mita didn’t get to go to Washington State.  We did make it to Chuck E. Cheese as Elle had hoped for and Meg did get to perform more in 2011 between her choir and being in Children’s Letters to God.  Enu did not get to spend the night for a week at her friends house, but she did  start doing her hair better!

A nice moment for us. I think this year I will add a few more question and have Hubby and I do one to.  I am going to add this to our Advent activities (Oh yeah, haven’t started planning those yet either.)

I wonder if I will forget next year?  Maybe I should go back and see if I blogged about my idea?  Echinacea anyone?

(Elle with my nephew in their school costumes.)

This year Meg was…well I don’t know what her costume was, but she was cute. Purple and black with a funky hat. Very twelvish! It was all about the candy for her.

Mita wanted to be a bumble bee. I was thrilled that she wanted to dress up. She has never really embraced Halloween and the two previous years she didn’t wear her costume at the last-minute. This year she wore her costume, but put on a sweatshirt the whole time so I never saw the whole suit and of course she didn’t let me take a picture :(

Enu wore the same costume as she did last year, Tiana. She looked beautiful, but this year is definitely the last year for that costume! It was snug to say the least.  On our second round of Trick or Treating she went as a golfer.  Girls change their minds a lot it seems.

Enu as a golfer

  My baby is almost seven. This year for Halloween she dressed up as Rapunzel. She loved dressing up and her outfit was completed by a Gecko and a frying pan as well as a smaller Gecko and small frying plan. If you have seen Tangled, you will  understand the frying pan thing.  She is still excited about the costume.  How many years will I have left with her excitement? How long will it take for her to say M &M’s correctly?

Ella as Rapunzel

As I write this the girls are trading their loot. Heavy negotiations going on. It brings back memories of my brother Josh and I when we were little.  The fun part was trading and pulling one over on him!   Of course in about a week I will combine all of the candy into one pile to save space, but they seem to have forgotten that fact right now.

I wonder about next year. Will I have only two costumes to plan for?  I guess there is always the grandchildren in 20 years!

For those of you with older kids who may not have heard of Dinosaur Train, well, it’s big.  I would call it the Rollie-Poli-Olie of today. Meg was a big Rollie fan (a decade ago EEEK!).  In this animated cartoon a family of dinosaurs ride a train each episode to a new place in time.  The Jim Henson Company is the creator of the series, so you know that it is full of fun, color and learning.

In The Spooky Scavenger Hunt  (Published by Grosset & Dunlap), the conductor takes the kids (all dinosaurs) on a scavenger hunt and they learn to use their senses of sight, hearing, smell as well as touching on nocturnal animals.  The pages are colorful, though not to bright – the darkness helps with the spooky theme.  Of course the book is not to spooky to read to the little ones and is aimed at ages 4-8.

Elle (my 6.5 year old) enjoyed reading the book along with me. She does watch the show when her older sissies surrender the TV!  We will be reading the book the next few weeks before Halloween and then passing it on to the nephews I’m sure.  That’s what I love about books: They last for a long time and are never out of date for the most part!

Elle and Friend

Also coming up on PBS:  Sid the Science Kid – Spooky Science Special on October 17, 25, 30 and 31st

Dinosaur Train: Haunted roundhouse/Big Pond Pumpkin Patch on October 20, 24, 30 and 31st.

Here are links to patterns for Dinosaur Train or a Sid Halloween costumes!

Okay, giveaway details!  A copy of The Spooky Scavenger Hunt will be sent to you if you are the winner (US addresses only please.) .

Mandatory Entry:  Leave a comment to the following question:  Do you think that dinosaurs trick or treated? Explain your answer….seriously, just leave me a comment!

Extra Entries:

Follow PBS Kids on Twitter and leave me a comment that you did so with your Twitter handle.

Like PBS Kids on Facebook and leave me a comment that you did so.

Like FourAgainstTwo on Facebook and leave a comment that you did so.

The winner will be drawn via Random.org on October 19th at noon. I cannot guarantee that you will get it by Halloween, but there is a good chance!

(Disclosure:  I received a free copy  of above mentioned book ($3.99 US) from Three Sixty Marketing and Communications and the opportunity to give one copy away.  I was given no other compensation and my thoughts are my own.)

I have often said that God knew what He was doing when he gave me girls. Boys scare me a bit. I’m not sure how I would have parented one, or more than one. I know that I would have learned on the job of course, but I still believe that with my anxiety that girls fit me better.  I am amazed when I watch my nephews or my friends’ boys play.  They play so different than girls.  More movement, less talking, less drama and a lot more rough play!  My one regret with not having a boy is not being able to have some really cool birthday parties. I would have loved to have had a Pirate Birthday party with a treasure map activity.

My youngest Elle has allowed me to glimpse into the land of boys.  She is my Star Wars fan.  Thanks to her I can go into the boys section in search of Darth Vader shirts and R2D2 pajamas.  I also find twigs, dirt, rocks and bugs in her pants pockets when I do the laundry. She will wear the same undies for endless days as well as socks if I don’t watch her.  All of these things are things that I have heard are “boyish”.

Elle is also a pack-rat-slob. I feel bad about this attribute as she got it from me and I got it from my dad. It’s a family gene.  The other day I was gutting her room getting rid of the millions of items she has tucked away and I found this:

6 Pieces of gum...right beside the Disney fairy!

Chewed bubble gum. Saved for later.  Yucky, but funny. Very funny. Just don’t tell her I told her so.