4 years

Yesterday my twins turned four. Someone wrote about the struggles around the fourth birthday and we have plenty of those too, but the last few days also made me realize how much they have grown:
The day before their birthday we had a fun time preparing together and DD and DS were a real help - we went shopping and they helped choose some decorations, we baked two cakes without making a huge mess of the kitchen and the children each decorated one cake on their own, we swept the outdoors areas so we could sit outside with their guests and they even help tidy the garden after the last thunderstorm bringing load after load of twigs to the compost heap with their little wheelbarrow. It was a busy day and I was totally exhausted at the end of it but not so long ago accomplishing so much together with chat and laughter in just one would have been unthinkable.

We had a great day, we seem to be finding the right birthday rituals and the children remembered a lot of things from last year and looked forward to them. That part was a lot more important than the gifts, DS had asked for a dinosaur book and DD for a colouring book - of course they got those and a few surprise gifts, but I am happy that being together as a family the focus of the day. In the afternoon their godparents and their favourite cousins and granddad came, we had a huge tea party and then all the children ran around the garden and played. The children took such pride in being the hosts for the family, making sure everyone had enough cake and organizing games for the kids (not that their 8-13 year old cousins need organizing but they are great kids and went along with the plans of the birthday girl and boy very happily).

The evening before their birthday and yesterday night when they were asleep and after we had cleaned up from the party I gave way to all the memories, so many sweet moments, so many lessons learnt in parenting and life. Everyday life is often so demanding that I forget to be thankful for all that is good.

 

What an awesome post!
Happy Birthday to your twins!