The Daniels: 4 years old!

I still can't believe that my babies are 4! What a crazy, fun, and challenging 4 years it has been!

Carson and Avery's bday was on a Sunday this year. It was a busy day, we had Cade's baby dedication at church and their birthday party that afternoon. They woke up to their doorway's decorated.

And got to have birthday donuts for breakfast!

The day before their birthday, I took Avery to the nail salon for her first mani/pedi. She loved it!!

Such a big girl!

At her 4 year visit, Avery weighed 35.5 lbs (50%) and was 40 in tall (50%). She is such a girly girl. She loves playing with makeup and nail polish, and playing dress up!

She is such a little mother too. She loves playing babies, probably more than anything else.

She also loves mothering Cade. She wants to dress him, feed him and she would carry him around if she could (and believe me she's tried). She is going to make a great mommy one day!

I've been writing down some of the cute things she's been saying these past few months. She substitutes the letter "b" at the beginning of several words. Like "buh-set" instead of "upset" and "buh-noying" instead of "annoying" and "buh-sgusting" instead of "disgusting." It always makes me smile. She calls Cade's drool "slumber" (she's trying to say slobber) and calls honey mustard "honey munstard." She has picked up the phrase "cray-cray" from her mimi of all people. And she is a little "cray-cray" at times. And loud. And emotional. And sweet. And affectionate. She loves to snuggle and give hugs and kisses. She will be sitting next to me and will lean over and kiss my arm or my cheek, it's the sweetest. She is such a leader, and enjoys learning (LOTS of questions). She loves crafts, drawing, coloring, and puzzles.

Carson is as wild and energetic as ever! He has taken a HUGE interest in hunting, the deer lease and guns. Anything and everything is a gun....a piece of trash, his fork and spoon, a hammer, a shoe... and the list goes on and on. There have been many time outs associated with gun play. Boys!!

Carson is really into building and creating things. He loves to go outside and build "traps" out of whatever he can find. Papa's "junk pile" is the best for trap building. He's really quite creative and inventive. I'm really impressed with some of the stuff he comes up with. Here is one of the traps he built.

At his 4 year visit, Carson weighed 40 lbs (75%) and was 42 in(75%). He got a couple of shots, and didn't even cry! I was shocked! Brave boy! Carson loves dressing up like pirates, spiderman and fire fighters! He's also taken an interest in legos lately.

And though he is very rough and tumble most of the time, he is still my sweet baby boy. Carson is a lover of animals, the best door holder I know, and a worrier like is mama. Shortly after Cade was born, Carson was very concerned about Cade crying. He told me one night while I was tucking him in bed, "you can go down stairs now mommy, I don't want Cade to wake up and cry." And once when we left Cade at my moms to run an errand, he said, "Well, I sure hope Cade doesn't cry when we're gone." He also worries a lot about Avery. If we are walking and Avery isn't keeping up, he will make everyone stop so that she can catch up with us. I started backing out of the driveway one day before Avery was all the way buckled in her carseat and Carson started crying (quite hysterically) saying that he didn't want Avery to go to jail. He really is a good brother to her (most of the time). Anytime he gets something when Avery's not there, he always asks for, "one for my sister." He still can't say his "th" sound, which I think is just the cutest! He heard me telling Cade one day that he had thunder thighs, and then started calling Cade's legs "funder-fighs." He told me that he has to be very careful not to touch the buffalo (muffler) when he rides on Papa's mower. Ha! He calls his shin guards from soccer "kindergartens." I guess that does kinda sound similar. And one of his favorites things to eat is a hang-a-ber (hamburger). Carson is a big time daddy's boy, but will still give mommy snuggles every now and then. He loves to say our dinner prayer and his night time prayer, and insists on doing it himself. He says the sweetest prayers. I just love the sweet innocence of children talking to God!! Sweet boy!

These two together can be the best of friends or the worst of enemies. Just depending on the day. I am finally starting to see the "instant playmate" thing that so many people say when I tell them I have twins. But, believe me, they do still fight, and argue. The arguing and name calling wear. me. out!!! But when they aren't fighting, they really do entertain each other very nicely. They come up with some very creative games to play. They love playing house together. Carson is usually the daddy and Avery is the baby. He feeds her and babies her, and she loves it because Avery still loves to pretend like she's a baby.