The time that I don't want to forget

I can count on more than one hand the amount of times this year that I've said I love this time in our lives.  Our girls are a little "older", the baby stuff - naps, feeding, diapers, tantrums are long gone (mostly), and we have been able to enjoy so much quality family time. Case in point, we drove for hours on our first big family vacation (see previous post) without any complaining from the kids.  They kept themselves entertained for endless hours in the car.  During our trip to D.C., we walked for almost 6 hours straight.  Hubby later google mapped it and our little girls walked close to 10 miles that night.  No strollers....  I won't say they didn't complain about this one.  They did get tired, but they still did it. 

One of my favorite things about "this time" is their personalities.  It's a time when their little personalities are mostly developed into who they are deep inside and have not yet been changed by friends, media, etc.  They are in their purest form and I love it.  The other night at dinner, I stopped and just watched my girls in all of their glory.  So happy, so proud to have this unbelievable family.  I just stared at them while they ate their dinner, acted silly, and just looked plain cute!  Then I looked over at Tom.....and he was doing the same thing.  We just watched them and didn't say a word.  "This is perfect"....is what I'm pretty sure we were both thinking.

Rino is and has always been our happy, smiling girl. She is caring and empathetic even when developmentally, most kids are not able to show concern for others, she does (and has for a while). I love her positivity.  It is contagious.  I hope she always has this attitude.  Yesterday, after a long night of tossing and turning and hardly any sleep, I was getting ready to take her to school.  She busts into a song. "I'm walking on sunshine."  How could that not make you smile.  Seriously, sometimes I think she truly walks on sunshine.  What a life!

See how much they love eachother??

Up until 3 1/2, Tealie has always been feisty.  She knows what she wants and will go get it.  She is outgoing, and imaginative.  She can play for hours with all of her stuffed animals having hilarious conversations with each other.  Did I mention she is HILARIOUS???  She always wants to know if she if funny.  It's obviously part of her untouched personality.  But in the last month or so, she also has developed an empathy that cannot be taught.  She came downstairs after watching a Tigger movie.  She was crying and could not be consoled.  I thought she was hurt until she finally told me that Piglet was being mean to Tigger.  She doesn't want anyone to hurt.  Even cartoon characters.  She has been known to tell me when she is sad by saying, "You hurt my FEELING".  Just the one feeling.  :)  And one more thing, she LOVES school.  She goes three days a week (which this momma thinks is a lot) and she is still upset when she can't go.

My FAVORITE thing about this time is the closeness of these sisters.  I used to wish I had them just a little closer together so that they could be closer but so far, it doesn't seem to matter.  They LOVE each other and have a constant playmate.  My hope is that they will continue to stay this close and always have a best friend in each other.  Sisters are such a blessing. :)