Taylor:  "Are you a baby or a big girl?"

Penny:  "I a Baby!"

Please stay a baby forever, your mischievousness will get you in trouble 

one day, but combined with your sweet innocence, it's adorable.

The other day Lydia was in the tub when Penny got out of bed.  Lydia turned to Ruby and said, "it's a good thing I am taking a bath, my private parts stink bad."  Penny, never one to be left out said, "mah praht pahts sink, ......... bad!"  This is one little girl who wants to do everything big sister does.

   

Lydia has surprised all of us with her bike riding skills.  For awhile she was terrified to have her training wheels off and one day she asked if she could ride the neighbor boy's bike which did not have training wheels.  She got on and after Ruby held the seat for about 50 feet, she let go and Lydia was off and going alone.  She never looked back.  Since that day she has spent almost every waking hour riding her bike.  She tries to copy all of the tricks the neighbor kids do and has personalized them by naming each one.

She can ride one-handed, standing up, standing on her bar, side saddle, in the dirt and grass, in the "butterfly" position, and nutbar down ... not sure what that means.  She is also obsessed with riding up to "Bluffstreet" (Bluffview Townhomes) and back.  Way to go Lydia.

We had a great time at the air show this year.  Thanks to the Rasmussen's for the free tickets.  The company was as enjoyable as the show.  Lydia enjoyed sitting in the cockpit of a huge cargo plane, and Penny enjoyed eating chicken strips that turned out to be fried batter with a frozen chicken breast inside ... whoops!  Overall it was a neat experience.

Penny is quite the character.  Today Ruby was on the computer and Penny was in the bathroom with door closed.  Ruby could hear Penny singing, over and over, "Happy Buttday ..... tyoo."  She opened the door to find out what Penny was doing and gave Penny quite a surprise!  We've been asking her to sing the birthday song all day since then.

Lydia has decided she is going to run a 5k this summer in Beaver at the 24th of July celebration.  She worked hard doing chores to earn new running shoes and clothes.  To date, her furthest run has been 2 miles!  Way to go Lydia.  Of course, Penny, not wanting to be outdone by Lydia has to have her own running shoes, or "wunnin soos" as she calls them.  The night these pictures were taken, Lydia ran around the block 8 times at about 0.2 miles/lap.  Penny made it around the first 3 on her own little legs and then opted for the stroller to finish out the last 5 laps.  Funny thing though, on the first lap she actually ran faster than Lydia!

The day Ruby bought Lydia's new running shoes, Lydia was at school and Penny was with Ruby.  Penny threw a fit about having to go to nap when they got home from the store because she was frantic that she didn't have her own running shoes and wasn't ready to give up Lydia's.  One thing is for sure, if Lydia can do it ... so can Penny, at least that's what Penny thinks.

So lucky to have these beautiful girls.  One of their favorite things to do is have Daddy throw them on the bed.  They love to have fun and they are pretty funny to.  Here are a couple of the things they have said recently.

Lydia to Dinner Guests:  "Everything my Mom makes is gross, everything we buy is good."

Penny crying hysterically in the back seat of the car keeps pointing to the seat next to here and yelling "FUNKY, FUNKY!" over and over.  Finally Ruby asked, do you want me to sit by you?  Penny stopped crying immediately and said "Yeah!"

Lydia to Ruby after applying hand sanitizer with a label displaying reindeer:  "This hand sanitizer smells so good, like reindeer breath."  Ruby said, "it actually smells like candy apples."  Lydia replied (pointing at the label), "no, reindeer breath."

Penny always wants to be included in the conversation.  When she doesn't know what you are talking about, she simply takes the last word of the sentence she heard and says, "I want __(last word)__."  Lydia told Grandpa that kindergarten was a German word and Penny replied, "I want German!"

You girls make us laugh every day!

Both of our girls turned five in February ... at least that's what they said.  Lydia really did turn five and Penny wasn't going to be outdone.  When you asked her, "how old are you," her response would be "I'm one ... I want five!"  It was pretty hysterical.  With so many family members close by, we chose to have a family party and allowed each girl to choose one friend.  Lydia chose doughnuts with white frosting and sprinkles in lieu of a cake and Penny couldn't care less as long as she got to wear her "a-sea-suit."  After opening presents and eating doughnuts, the kids couldn't wait to swim and they rushed to the pool.  It seemed that we chose the busiest pool day of the year but the kids didn't care a bit.  They had a ball wearing their new "doggles" as Penny calls them.

In the last couple of weeks since their birthdays, Lydia has learned to ride her bike without training wheels and Penny has started talking non-stop, although sometimes the things she says are pretty cryptic.  We love you girls and can't imagine life without your beautiful faces and funny little personalities.