Four Years Old

September 30, 2007... Amazingly, another year has passed and Ally and Ty celebrated their fourth birthdays last weekend. This will probably end up reading a lot like last year's birthday post, but it is really crazy that four years could have passed by so quickly. It's been an awesome ride so far, and despite the occasional stress points, Lauren and I really have enjoyed every minute. This birthday was a wonderful reminder of many things... how much fun it is to watch them develop from infants to kids who can think and speak and express their individuality, to how lucky and blessed we are to have two such perfectly healthy kids (evidenced in many ways, but particularly on the grow board!) and to what a wonderful supporting cast we have with friends and family. As usual, the generosity and thoughtfulness of our circle was overwhelming.

We kept the celebration to immediate family this year, and it really was a nice day. This was the first year that the kids have woken up in the morning with a real sense of what day it was (I'm REALLY looking forward to Christmas this year) and the excitement was really cool to see. The big gifts this year were new beds/bedding and two new bikes. Probably both well overdue, as they'd really outgrown the predecessors in each category. Pretty much all the gifts were done by 9am, and we spent the rest of the day playing outside (Mom and Dad had a race) and trekking the Stowe Bike Path on the new rides.

Ally helped us to pick out a very cute (and very *little girl*) bedding set:

And Tyler chose a very cool (and very *little boy*) Tractor Bed setup:
So, another year passed, several more inches grown and an increasingly happy family. Thanks to everyone who remembered Ally and Ty's big day with cards, gifts and phone calls -- it was really special to hear from everyone. We look forward to seeing everyone soon!