Jonas masters the A at 26 months.

Of course, those who saw us in Florida know how his A's... mutated... the more he drew them.

Heck yeah! Breakfast cupcakes!

That can only mean one thing...

You are looking at a FOUR YEAR OLD.

Madam opens her presents (check out that look of joy! "It's the MULAN costume that I WANTED but you WOULDN'T BUY ME! Hee hee.)

And tries a few of them out.

Did everyone else know that you can basically buy anything you want with the Disney Princesses on it?  Seriously? Umbrellas, towels - you name it.

Here we have the winners in the "Coolest Birthday Presents" contest.

Her "daughters".  She loves them so.

So  I let her dress up in her new costume and pose for 78 pictures with them.

Only 78? Are you sure that's enough, Mom?

So thanks Aunty Suz, Uncle Matt, Grandma, and Grandpa Vic.  Good thing she has a queen sized bed.

Time for the birthday glamour shots.

Four.

Not three.

Not a toddler.

Certainly not a fat baby.

Like the costume's not fancy enough - she rocks the extra accessories.

Finally, exactly the right outfit to wear the "red shinys" with.

Behold, my four year old.  What a ride it's been.

This is what the costume supposedly looks like...

This is what it actually looks like.  Hmm.  Kind of... transparent.

Oh whatever, Mom.  I look great in this.

Also in this one.

Cupcakes, princess dolls, new costumes...

Could we make it my birthday EVERY day?

I'm just sayin -

 - a girl could get used to this!

Applebee's for birthday dinner!  Does it get any better?

Sure it does! When 15 waiters all crowd around and sing Happy Birthday.  Notice the deer in the headlights look.  Never would I have pegged her as the kid that freaks out when waiters sing.

Ooh!  Cute!  Has the Twink been drawing again?

Oh my.  A cute little prodigy.  Such talent!  Such chubs! So adorable!

Hmmm.  Crowd of three-foot princesses...

wonky pink cake....

Must be party time!

Wonky, nothin! More like AWESOME!

After a long day of cake and make-overs, one just needs to cuddle up with a few life-sized princesses to recharge.  (Please note, not only is she surrounded by princess, but her head is on a pillow that has a picture of a tiara on it.  Nothing is done halfway in this house.)

After taking that picture of the Twink, we checked in on Trouble.  Found him sleeping with his hands up like this - maybe he's conducting an orchestra in his sleep?

Impromptu photo shoot on the stairs.

It's important to always have your camera, just in case they look extra cute.

Like here. 

Good thing I had my camera with me, huh?

It would have been a great tragedy to miss this one.

When you start to realize that that white noise you're hearing isn't coming from outside, but is the sound of water running in the bathroom...

always be sure to grab your camera as you jog down the hall.  (Can you see how wet he is?  The bathroom was soaked.  I particularly like that drop on the lens.)

Violet takes over bedtime stories duty.

And reads Goodnight Moon to her brother before bed.  So. Freaking. Cute.

Whoa!

That's a lot of pink!

Germany was unexpectedly frigid.  We had a friend to borrow a coat from for Madam, poor Jonas had to make due with layers, layers, layers.

Six days later and we're lounging around in short sleeves. (Seriously lounging - check the pose.)

Awww.  It's Bridget.

The Big Goodbye Visit. What visit would be complete without the picnic on the golf course?

Of course, when hanging with your best friend for the last time, you hold hands.

You hold hands everywhere.

No, she didn't learn her lesson last time.  Yes, she got soaked.

Soaked. 

Attempting to dig a hole to China. I have a better picture of this, but I'm experiencing technical difficulties and just can NOT get it to show up here.  So you'll just have to imagine this same shot, but with the two of them looking up and smiling, ok?  Thanks.

Love this girl.

Love the bright blue sky, the messy hair, the screamy face, everything.

Bridget needed a birthday present.

I felt that matching sundresses was the obvious choice.

When we got to Target, they had exactly two dresses in size 4.

I thought for a minute we'd have a problem,

but Bridget wanted pink, Violet wanted yellow, and all was right with the world.

True love.

Whoa, Bridge - you're going to pop her head off!

There we go.  This is the one that goes in the BFF frame.

We concluded this visit with some hysterical amateur jump roping.

Don't let this picture fool you - they were both hopeless.  Cute, though.  Bye bye Bridget.  We miss you tons.

Easter Sunday!

Oh put those calendars away.  We were flying on Easter Sunday - the bunny very kindly agreed to make a later stop at Aunty Suz's house just for us.

Now we're going to have 47 pictures of the egg hunt.

You really should click on every single one.

They had soooo much fun.

It's a game?  Like hide and seek?

But with eggs?

And the eggs have... CANDY in them?

HOLY COW!

We should do this EVERY DAY!

Seriously. Click this picture. The facial expressions on this kid...

... priceless.

Hey!

We have a clear violation of the "no grazing while hunting" rule here!

I guess she needed the energy to go on.

Yeah, Mom.  All this egg hunting is exhausting! I needed a little sugar boost!

What?  Sugar?  Where's the sugar?

INSIDE?

Why didn't anybody tell me?

Hey - that's not candy.  That's a car.

Hmph.

Yeah.

It's possible the boy child has on pink bunny ears.

It's also possible that he has chalk whiskers, and all of this is being documented so it can haunt him for life.

The surprise here?  It wasn't me out on the patio drawing on him and taking the pictures.  So Jonas?  Be sure to mention to your therapist  that it was Dad who did these humiliating things to you, ok?  (We'll just try to forget all about the pictures I took of you in your sister's heels, Mmmkay?)