Easter dresses

We went to the Arboretum (yet again). This time it was with the goal of taking pictures of the girls in the Easter Dresses that Nana gave them. It is nearly impossible to get photos of the two of them together, both looking, both smiling.





They insisted on bringing their stuffed animals and having them in some pictures.
We were there with friends and handsome Hampton joined in with the pictures.

Arboretum with school friends

Caroline has a really sweet class at school, full of girls. We met up with some of them at the arboretum to play and take photos in the pumpkin patch.

Caroline and Avery

Caroline with "other Caroline"

Sisterly Love

Creative play time

Katherine and Caroline have so much fun together and play so creatively.

The other night they decided to pretend to go to Hawaii. Uncle Justin and Aunt Leah live in Hawaii so that is where they wanted to go (I want to go too!)
They put on their raincoats, hats, sunglasses and packed their bags and strollers.
They traveled around the house to the "airplane" which was the couch and chairs set up in the den. We all traveled over the ocean. They went to Katherine's room to swim and then back to the den for a luau.
This fun activity of pretending to go to Hawaii kept all four of us entertained for at least half an hour.

The girls also love to play with all of their stuffed animals and blankets. They make beds for them all over the house. Beware the mom who accidentally walks over a bed and wrinkles it.
I just noticed that in the photo above Caroline is actually doing her sign for "I love you" to her Pooh.
I love that the girls are so creative and also so nurturing.
This was the largest bed of all. I think that every baby and doll blanket in the house was used and each bear and doll had their own spot.

Katherine has also really gotten into making tents. She wants to use her blankets and not larger sheets so it is a little limiting. She will work forever on getting them to stay up and then Caroline will knock it down either on purpose or on accident. It causes a lot of drama at our house.
She love to snuggle with her bear in her tent. She even made a bed for me but it was not under the tent. I am too tall and mess them up trying to get in.

Sisterly Love

Katherine and Caroline are having so much fun together. They have always liked each other and enjoyed being together but it seems that recently they have just started to play so well together. They are currently 18 months and almost 4. Honestly I thought it would be about another year before they would really play this well. Almost daily they will spend 30-60 minutes in Katherine's room playing without me being there. It is so fun to sit back in the office and watch/listen to them on the video monitor.

Caroline absolutely adores Katherine and does everything that Katherine does. Sometimes this is really funny like when they were both looking at me upside down through their legs.

It means Caroline is learning to do things like use a camera.

She follows Katherine's lead and love to dance, play dress up, baby doll and in their kitchen. She has a vocabulary full of words that Katherine did not even know about at 18 months like, "tutu", "wand" and "be ba boo" (Bibity, Bobity, Boo).

Most of the time, if they are both at home and awake, they are together. It is so fun to see them becoming best friends.

We are also learning the challenges of having a sibling as well. Until a few months ago if I heard Caroline screaming, I assumed that Katherine had taken something away from her and Katherine was the one who had committed the crime. I no longer can assume that. Caroline is sneaky and mischievous at times. She will go up to Katherine and take something she is playing with and run as fast as she can.

We are working through sharing and playing together. It is hard for Katherine because Caroline will sometimes mess up what she has. She is having to learn patience. When I can get them to work together though, it is so sweet. I love how Katherine loves to read to Caroline.

Yesterday Caroline decided to climb into an empty box. Katherine then climbed in with her which she did not like. So, I grabbed another empty box so they would each have one. Wouldn't you know, Caroline climbed in with Katherine. They just love to be together.

And at the end of the day. They have played hard and are tired. I love how they both fell asleep in the car last night on the way home from Nana's. The funny thing is that Katherine fell asleep after we pulled into the garage while I was taking in their bag and unlocking the door.

Silly girls

I wanted to take pictures before church with the girls in their pretty Christmas dresses. They had other ideas that involved accessories (a common occurrence at our house).

Matchy Matchy

One thing I enjoy about having 2 girls is that I can match their clothes from time to time. Most of their clothes are bought at consignment sales so really the only new clothes are the ones that match. This outfit was bought when Katherine was about 14 months. I bought a 2T for Katherine and a 12month for her cousin Sophia to wear the next Easter when they were just turning 1 and 2. Well, the problem with buying things ahead is that kids' growth is unpredictable and by the time spring rolled around, Sophia had caught up to Katherine and they were both wearing a 2T. So, I gave the smaller dress to a friend. This year I realized that Miss Petite Katherine could still wear hers so I borrowed the smaller one back for Caroline. They wore these dresses to church this week. it is probably the fanciest outfit they have right now. I had to go outside to take pictures before church.