Charlotte's 4th birthday

I can't believe our 'baby' is 4! Charlotte and I were talking the other day about how she can get dressed, pack her bags, brush her hair etc without my help. I said, "You don't need me anymore." To which she replied, "Yes I do mummy. I need you to cook my dinner!". So brutally honest.

For Charlotte's birthday, we started the weekend with a visit to Dreamworld. Cousin Gracie also came along and the girls had a great time. They would often walk around holding hands. It was so cute!

Gracie and Charlotte say hello to Kenny Koala.

Phil and Kate - the trusted tour guides.

I lost count of how many times the girls rode the tea cups. A big hit!

No hands!

Liv looks on and thinks, "If only I was bigger!"

Riding the vintage cars

Such dare devils.

The next day, cousins Gracie, Emma and Molly came over to help Charlotte further celebrate her birthday with a birthday cake.

The cake. Had to cut off Barbie's legs but Charlotte didn't realise so it was all good. It was actually the easiest cake so far that I have had to make.

Liv seemed to really enjoy the cake.

It is never to cold to swim, even though we are in Autumn. Charlotte, Emma and Molly take off to the other side, while Gracie is a little more reserved.

And Liv watches on ... again.

The next day, Charlotte's friends Maja and Sean came over to celebrate her birthday. And yes, that is a bought cake (which I promised I would never do, but I have a good excuse).

And if all that is not enough, I then made 36 cupcakes for day care (minus three which we ate that night!)

Thanks goodness birthdays are only once a year.

Our girls

Liv is now the age where every day she is challenging boundaries and is eager to explore everything around her. She loves being outside playing with the dogs and picking up bugs, sticks, flowers ... anything.

I can't believe I am preparing to celebrate Charlotte's fourth birthday. She is such a loving and thoughtful girl and makes us laugh every day.

Playtime

This weekend, Charlotte decided she wanted to find some ladybirds from the garden and keep them as pets. She wanted to keep them for "100 days" but we compromised on a couple of hours.

With her "babies"

Keeping a watchful eye over her kids.

Charlotte and I mowed the lawn. We were quite proud of ourselves.

Liv has figured out how to undo the latch on the chicken run. We could be in for some trouble soon.

Charlotte is getting quite adventurous with what she wants to do and has no problems getting dirty and muddy.

Beautiful Liv loves to pick flowers.

The TV cabinet in the playroom is also their hiding spot.

Charlotte's favourite thing to do is painting and, of course, Liv wants to get in on the action.

Straight from the swimming pool and onto the slide.

Our little fish

Olivia started swimming lessons a few months ago. She also loves watching her sister's swimming lessons. She has spent alot of time in our pool over summer and I think her confidence outstrips her ability.

Trying on her sister's goggles.

Waiting for her lesson to begin.

Summer fun

Summer has been so much fun with the girls.
We are all settling really well into our busy routines.

Charlotte has been asking me for about six months to do ballet. So, this week, she started at a class which does ballet, tap, jazz and acrobatics. She was so excited and Phil and I could not stop laughing (in a nice way). She tried so hard and was very attentive.

Liv has really come along. She started walking about 3 weeks ago and now there is no stopping her. The whole family went for a bike ride the other day. Liv hitched a ride on the back of Phil's bike.

Both the girls are fruit bats. And with it being summer, they absolutely love their stone fruit. They each easily eat a whole mango (expensive taste). Here is Liv tucking into a nectarine. She leaves nothing behind.

What ever happened to the good old days of swimming in the local creek. This place is about 100m from our house and is so beautiful. Charlotte has been swimming here a couple of times now. And Ned loves it too.

Favourite food? Sushi, believe it or not. Any chance Charlotte gets, she opts for sushi, seaweed and all.

More bike riding.

So Liv at her one year old check up was 95th percentile for length (no surprises there), 5oth percentile for weight (big surprise there - would have thought much higher) and 75th percentile for head.

If you can't find Liv, chances are she is playing with C's doll house.

Christmas 2011

Liv and her cousin Taylor

Charlotte is quite a good swimmer now and you don't need to hop in the pool with her (especially when her cousins are in the pool too). Christmas afternoon was beautiful lazing by the pool.

Liv absolutely loves her Poppy.

Liv tries out one of her new toys. She is a real groover at the moment and anytime she hears a song she likes, she starts to wriggle her hips.

Charlotte opens one of her presents from her cousins Madeleine and Claire. A big thank you to them for sending presents all the way from Boston. Pinkalicious is a hit!

Liv also loves her present from Claire and Madeleine. Thank you!

We were able to stop opening presents for a while to read one of Charlotte's new fairy books. Everything at the moment is princesses, fairies and mermaids.

"Is there another one for me?" asks Liv.

Liv was a slow present opener.

Charlotte, not so much.

Deciding which one to open next.

Santa stopped long enough to drink some milk and eat some cake. We also left out two carrots for the reindeers and Santa gave me 1.5 carats. Good deal!