Our Personal Circus

Clearly our girls are keeping us busy with their crazy personalities and growing list of activities.  I am  determined to catch up and post some picture updates of our spring and summer here in MN, so hopefully more to come in the next few days/weeks. For now, quick updates about these sweet sisters.

Harper:

• she is looking older and older every day and mommy can't believe that she turned four last month (birthday post to come! I am determined to catch up).
* I am already sad that she seems to no longer be a little kid. She still has her melting moments, but more and more a "big kid" is starting to show through.

• she seems to be growing out of her adorable "Harper-isms" and we are actually sad to see them go. (She recently told us she likes "My Little Ponies", instead of "Lila Ponies" and we were both taken aback.) We are holding on to her pronunciation of "Let's" as "yets" and "knife" as "ife" for as long as possible.

• she is our performer. She loves to dance, sing, perform show tunes, tell her teachers (and other moms) her life story, etc.
* she will talk to anyone (especially moms or older kids) and tell them her life story, or narrate everything she is doing at the park.

• she loves to read and continues to have a library worth of books in her bed at night

• she decided she wanted to grow her bangs out (on her own) and suddenly she seems to have reached her teens

• she definitely has the sass of a teenager and she keeps her parents on our toes 

• she remains very cuddly and loves to snuggle in for a show at bedtime 

• she just finished 3 year old preschool and will move on to Golden Years Montessori next year. She went to a "camp" there four two weeks this summer and is already very excited for school to start. She has been asking us to help her write things and "dot" words for her to trace.

• she is an incredible big sister and is always including and loving on her little shadow. She loves to play with her (although she is starting to express her frustration when Finley "won't do what she wants" while playing). They can often be found "playing Frozen" in the playroom, reading to each other or chasing each other around the house. They are truly best buddies.

Finley:

• this little girl has more personality than anyone her size ever had before

• she continues to be very happy, but she expresses her happiness or sadness or just a strong "no", very loudly

• she LOVES her sister. "Harper" is her first word every morning and her last "night night" every evening. She melts down anytime we have to leave her sister and insists on several goodbye kisses before we can leave preschool drop off.

• she loves music and dance and is already belting out parts of "tomorrow" from Annie and "Let it go" from frozen

• her vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds over the last few months and she is really coming into her own. It seems to has started speaking in sentences (albeit, short ones) over night. When we ask her if she is doing something, she often answers with "no, I not" and she can often be found expressing her curiosity "Where daddy is?"

• she is funny and she knows it (her little grin cane melt even the coldest of moods)

• our short little pudgy girl is getting a bit taller. She still loves to eat but she seems to be stretching.

• she loves to read. She can sit in a pile of books for half an hour and read to herself (a real feat, because she does not  sit still easily)

• she loves her sister's friends and wants to keep up with the big kids. She lights up at the sight of them and loves to call out "Gigi!" and her version of "Savannah", which sounds like banana)
* she loves the water (and has no fear). She marches right through the spraying water of the kids area and whips down the slides like the big kids. (And mommy loves the way she says "fwimmin")
* She loves to kiss everything (the phone when talking to her grandparents, her sister, neighborhood dogs, lobsters through the tank at the grocery store and even one time ants at the park).