For their birthday celebration at preschool, it’s customary for the kids to bring in their own cake mix and help mix and bake a cake for the entire class at school. Samantha and Amelia couldn’t wait for their big day and were ecstatic to help bake their cake during class. Normally, I pick them up at recess right before lunch, but on their birthday celebration day, they stayed for lunch for the first time so they could celebrate with their classes and enjoy their brownie cake. The twins also helped write a “History of Samantha/Amelia” with photos which their teachers read to the class on their special day. I love that their preschool teachers take the time to make each kid feel special on his or her big day– the girls were beaming when I picked them up! Their preschool refers to it as a “Celebration of Life,” and it truly is; although, I’m sure the only thing the kids care about is the cake.

Miss Holly snapped some pictures for me of Samantha’s class being silly:

The History of Samantha, as written by Samantha and Mommy:

Samantha was born on March 11, 2013 in Irvine, California. She was born first and her twin, Amelia, was born two minutes later. Samantha was very loud when she was born and screamed for a long time! Samantha loved to be held and swaddled in her blankies and had to wear diapers and couldn’t talk or walk. She drank bottles and slept most of the time.

Samantha started to eat fruits and vegetables and sit up when she was six months old, and started crawling  when she was 8 months old.

By the time Samantha was one year old, she learned to walk, and could say “mama,” “dada,” “baba,” and “dog.” She loved to go on walks, sing Pat a Cake, swing and go down the slide.

At two years old, Samantha was sleeping in a big girl bed, learned to use the potty, learned to ride a scooter and was talking all the time. She loved to go to the beach, play at the park, visit Grammy’s house in Utah, and play with dolls.

At three years old, Samantha became a big sister when her little sister, Meredith, was born. She was a great helper with Meredith helping feed, dress and play with Meredith. Samantha started preschool for the first time and learned her letters, numbers, and had fun doing art projects. She loved to swim, go to Legoland, and build tall towers with magnatiles.

And now Samantha is four years old! She can get dressed and button her clothes all by herself! She helps Mommy at home with Meredith and by putting the dishes in the dishwasher and cleaning her room. Her favorite colors are pink and purple and her favorite movie is Frozen. She loves gymnastics and dance class, the beach, loves to do crafts and swim, and her favorite place is the cabin in the mountains in Utah. Her best friend is Amelia and she loves to play with mommy, daddy, Amelia, Meredith and her dog, Bandit.

Sammy’s pictures she passed around class:

   Amelia’s favorite part was the singing candle Miss Becky gave her.

The History of Amelia, as written by Amelia and Mommy:

Amelia was born on March 11, 2013 in Irvine, California. Amelia was born two minutes after her twin, Samantha. Amelia was quiet when she was born and only cried a little bit. She loved to be held and swaddled in her blankies and had to wear diapers and couldn’t talk or walk. She drank bottles and slept most of the time.

Amelia started to eat fruits and vegetables and sit up when she was six months old, and started crawling  when she was 8 months old.

By the time Amelia was one year old, she learned to walk, and could say “mama,” “dada,” “baba,” and “dog.” She loved to go on walks, sing Pat a Cake, swing and go down the slide.

At two years old, Amelia was sleeping in a big girl bed, learned to use the potty, learned to ride a scooter and was talking all the time. She loved to go to the beach, play at the park, visit Grammy’s house in Utah, and play with dolls.

At three years old, Amelia became a big sister when her little sister, Meredith, was born. She was a great helper with Meredith helping feed, dress and play with Meredith. Amelia started preschool for the first time and learned her letters, numbers, and had fun doing art projects. She loved to swim, go to the zoo, go to the beach and take care of her dolls.

And now Amelia is four years old! She can get dressed and button her clothes all by herself! She helps Mommy at home with Meredith and by putting the dishes in the dishwasher and cleaning her room. Her favorite colors are pink and red and her favorite movie is The Little Mermaid. She loves gymnastics and dance class, the beach, swimming, riding her bike and scooter, baking cookies, and loves to do crafts. When she grows up, Amelia wants to be a veterinarian or a princess. Her best friend is Samantha and she loves to play with mommy, daddy, Samantha, Meredith and her dog, Bandit.

Amelia’s photos for sharing time:

Samantha and Amelia are four! Almost… their preschool birthday celebration was a few days before their actual birthday over the weekend.

The girls didn’t have preschool on Friday before their birthday, so we played at the park with Maliyah and Allie and celebrated with princess cupcakes I made, but should have outsourced since making five different batches of buttercream in different colors for the dresses took forever. All the big girls burned off their cupcake-induced energy playing tag/pretending Meredith was a monster and running away from her.

Amelia’s favorite princess is… you guessed it! I don’t think she’s ever even seen all of A Little Mermaid, but she still claims it’s her favorite movie? She’s obsessed with mermaids in general.

Samantha and Elsa are best buds.

Friday afternoon it was birthday celebration #3 with our neighborhood friends. It ended up being hot that day, so we busted out some water balloons leftover from last summer and invited everyone to the park for a water balloon fight and cupcakes.

The kids have never really gotten into the whole “fight” thing. They mostly squished and stomped on the balloons instead of trying to throw them at one another.

Meredith thought it was all very exciting!

Cupcake time before the princess dresses melted in the sun!

Addison and Camdyn obliged the birthday girls with a round of their favorite game– Duck Duck Goose.

We were totally surprised when Jenny arrived in style with a Barbie Jeep she gifted to the twins! Talk about an awesome birthday present! Thanks, Jenny and Katie!

Cruisin’ with my besties.

So terrified to fast-forward 12 years when these girls will be driving for real! Stay off the roads!

They may have gone off roading and killed all the plants at the park, but eventually they got the hang of it.

Hop in, girls! Let’s cruise to the beach!

Friday night it was time for birthday celebration #4, in case you’re counting, where we had dinner and even more cupcakes with Natalie, the Nguyens and the Erpeldings. Meredith toddled all over the play structure trying to keep up with the big kids and everyone was either running around if they were kids, or chasing kids if they were adults, that we didn’t even notice it was getting dark and hadn’t even had dessert yet. We lit the girls’ candles in the dark and they enjoyed yet another birthday song before digging into their treats.

Todd and Owen brought along a science demonstration for our entertainment… the classic mentos in soda trick.

Mesmerized by the soda fountain.

So much excitement and it wasn’t even their real birthday yet! Although I missed putting together an official party this year, it was relaxing and fun to hang out with our friends and have a casual celebration instead. We may have to do this again next year!

Lots of love,