Bryn Mawr Babes

In 1995, never would I have thought that the annoying freshman girl down the hall would some day become like a sister to me. Never could I have hoped that her husband and mine would get along so well. Never, in a million years, would I have though that, some day, her girls would be like cousins to mine.

But all of the above came to be. Thank you Bryn Mawr College!

And this weekend we were all under one roof...for the first time since everyone became mobile. Four parents. Four girls ages 5 and under. Two dogs, both of which are completely crazy.

It was a little nuts...but boy oh boy was it fun!

We re-celebrated Lily's fifth birthday...and we got a jump start on celebrating the twins' first birthday (remember when they were born? Need a trip down memory lane? Click HERE or HERE!). We ate cake (and drank mojitos). We went to the park. We raged at the last day of Cox Farms' famous fall festival (and pumpkin smash). We slept. Very well.

Hard to believe how far we've come since those early days in college.

Higgins Family -- welcome to the "South!"

Twin A, Abby...

Twin B, Beth...

Twin Power -- munching on Anna's toys

Anna guarding a few legos...sharing was sometimes hard this weekend.

Celebrating 5 plus 1 (plus 1...they are twins after all)...

Happy (almost) birthday Abby and Beth!

Beth caught on to cake VERY quickly...

Abby, not so much...

Anna didn't let the fact that she had no birthday to celebrate stop her from diving head first in to the chocolate cupcake.

At Cox Farms...

Torturing babies with "sun in the eyes" shots. Lots of them.

Anna, Abby, Lily, Beth...

How many tries to get all 6 looking at the camera? 1...

2...

3...OK, so the third time wasn't the charm.

My oh my how time does fly...

Today my baby -- my first baby -- turns 5. I remember that day back in 2004 like it was yesterday.





My water broke while I was at book club, late on November 1st. Noah was NOWHERE to be found...

The ones...

Driving to GW University Hospital at 11:00 p.m...it was surreal. My speedy labor. My fantastic doctor. My beautiful baby...who didn't look so beautiful to me. At first. It took me a bit to bond with her. But when I fell for her, oh how hard I fell.

The twos....which were not nearly as terrible as the threes (only to then be outdone by the fours...)

Election day. Bush vs. Kerry. Uugh how much I wanted to vote. And I WOULD have voted but for the fact that I went in to labor 4 weeks early.

The threes...sort of a blur thanks to a strong dose of pregnancy hormones.

Amazingly that was five years ago. FIVE. For the first time, I look at Lily and see a child. A little kid. My baby is long gone. My toddler has disappeared too. I look at her face and see a big kid. Five seems so old.

The fours, where independence kicked in in full force (and where dressing herself started to become a trend)

Five was a big year for me. I went off to kindergarten. I learned to ski. I became a big sister; my brother was born when I was five. Five is the first year that I have very, very solid memories from. I can't wait to discover what real memories from the coming year Lily will remember 30 years from now.

Five.

My baby is five...

Five...and that story has just begun...

Her fifth year was welcomed with much fan fare thanks to her partners in crime at school, the totally adorable Tulip Class!

Fright Night, the Finale

Although it rained tonight... and although we had more than our fair share of meltdowns tonight... we did make it out. With our cousins. And the girls did have a blast.



Biggest surprise of the evening: Anna. She was a machine. She VERY quickly caught on to the concept, and boy did she keep up with Lily and big cousin, Camilla. Her basket of treats might have outweighed the older girls' by the time we got back from Trick 'or Treating. I don't know if it was the costume, or those big blue eyes, or the totally adorable "ta too" (her version of thank you) that followed every deposit of sugar into her basket. Somehow, though, Anna scored the most treats tonight. And even though her ghost weighed a ton (esp. in proportion to her body), she wouldn't let us carry it. And she insisted on walking. An entrepreneur in the making!

Boo Boo Chicken

If you don't have Mickey Mouse Clubhouse fans around, you won't understand the reference. But if your kids are anything like mine, Mickey and pals are a regular feature on the boob tube. I've got to admit that I haven't seen the "boo boo chicken" episode, but it's a phrase that Lily started uttering almost as soon as she could talk.

Amazingly as we were packing up the house pre-move, I found Lily's first Halloween costume. The dress was from Paris, a gift from our aunt extraordinaire, Lois Anne. And while it worked perfectly for Halloween, it's actually just a great dress. Period!

Since Anna's a tad bit smaller than Lily, I was hopeful that the dress would still fit; Lily was just shy of a year at Halloween and Anna's just north of 18 months. And, bingo, it fit perfectly! Of course, after making this discovery I promptly lost the dress amid boxes. I have NO idea which box. I fear that I may not even find it in time for next year's Halloween. So two nights ago I broke down an ordered a costume for Anna. Overnight shipping was more expensive than the actual get-up....serves me right for losing that darn dress during the move!

In the end, it all worked out. The new costume arrived in time for Anna's school's Halloween party tonight. Boo boo chicken saved the day!




(Crazy cute costumed babies to boot... Anna's goth look was the work of a cookie...given to her by her, ahem, father.)

Boo...um...Achoo!

Although Halloween is quickly approaching, the scariest thing in our house of late has been H1N1. Anna is most likely the culprit, although in the land of germs it's always a guess. One thing is for sure, Lily bore the brunt of it. High fever. Vomiting. Coughing...coughing...and more coughing. The nose. The works. I'm knocking on wood -- ANY wood that I can find -- that Noah and I don't fall prey. It's a nasty flu, and neither one of us has the "luxury" of getting hit. Perhaps if I held my breath, that might help too. The increasingly sore throat I have, though, is causing my optimism to dim. Boo hoo.

Lily's return to school happened to coincide with the annual Halloween parade. As much fun as it was... And as cute as all the kiddies were... I was amazed by the number of children absent. They're probably all sitting in the waiting room at our pediatrician's office. Our beloved doctors have been beyond inundated by sick children and worried parents.

Lily was torn this year but finally decided to be "Mulan." I talked in her to a pretty legit kimono as a costume...while I love Disney movies, I'm not a big fan of their costumes.

Normally a class of 20...H1N1 GO AWAY!

Boo!

A little preview today of coming Halloween attractions. Since Lily has become part Devil of late, she apparently felt the need to dress in spooky-inspired attire today. And, of course, she needed her "mini-me" to follow suit.








More later on the devilish behavior (which everyone tells me is completely age appropriate but LORD-O-ME please let this phase pass quickly!!). Since our house isn't going to pack itself..and since Noah's pile of boxes is growing at a much faster rate than mine...I'm just going to give you some pictures of my "little monsters." For now. Boo!!

Monkey Mania

Dear Internet --

I am so, so sorry that I've seemingly abandoned you. You're not alone. Apparently Lily was feeling a little dissed too. See, between my new job, finding a rental house, packing up our current house, and trying to finalize new house plans, I have apparently let a few things slip.

A few friends have emailed their complaints. "The blog it static!" they say. Since I'm the queen complainer when others don't update their blogs regularly, my tail has been between my legs.

Lily has been even less subtle. In no uncertain terms she told me that I would be driving her to school today (I normally take Anna). And then when we got there, she dragged her feet and whimpered about not wanting me to leave.

In other words, she broke my heart.

So I decided that we'd have a mother-daughter-dinner-date tonight. And just to really stick it to me, she close a little Mexican restaurant close to our house. The restaurant that she knows I'm totally sick of...but that she totally loves.

She did treat me to a little monkey bar performance when I picked her up at school. Thanks to the handy blackberry video camera, I was able to capture it to share with you too. Yes, kill two birds with one stone...have some much needed one on one time with my elder daughter AND get a little blog fodder to boot.

So enjoy my little money. I did tonight. Truly.