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A couple of months ago, Jen got an email from her friend Kelly proposing something a bit crazy. Her daughters Keira (Molly's age) and Maya (Leah's age), who have been friends with our girls since they were infants, both have birthdays within a few weeks of one another. Kelly's brother works at the Philadelphia School of Circus Arts. Kelly wanted to see if people would come to a birthday party there.

This sounded crazy to drive to Philly for a kid's birthday party, but the circus school sounded like a lot of fun. Also, there was talk of staying the night and going to the Please Touch Museum the next day, which has been on our to-do list for some time. So, we said we'd love to join in the fun.

When we arrived at the circus school, they split the participants up into adults and kids. Jen participated, but I stuck to the role of photographer. Then it was time for the warm-up. Here the kids warm up the spring in their legs.

Molly and Leah are getting stretched out.

Balance is an important skill for tight-rope walking and other circus arts. The 4 and 5 year olds started off working on balancing on things much more narrow than a normal balance beam (such as this 2x6 on end).

Molly’s group started out on the silks. I think she’s having fun already.

Jen’s group of adults started on the trapeze. Getting your legs onto the bar in order to hang upside down is tough.

Sitting up onto the bar isn’t easy either.

Pretty soon after getting started, Molly was hanging around upside down.

Look, Ma… no hands.

After the groups switched locations, it was Jen’s turn to try her hand at the silks. The adults did fewer upside-down hanging from your arms tricks, and instead kept their feet under them.

Nice pose, Jen.

Leah’s group moved to the trapeze. She had an easier time getting her legs onto the bar than the adults. Must be all that gymnastics she does.

Looks like she’s on the swingset at the playground.

This picture needs no explanation. Jen and Kelly’s faces say it all.

I don’t think this pose is actually relaxing, but it looks like it is.

Climbing is another important skill. They showed the kids proper technique, but Molly mostly just pulled herself up with her arms alone.

I never quite understood this activity the little ones did, but they seemed to enjoy it.

Jen paid more attention to proper climbing technique than Molly.

I’m beginning to think Molly prefers being upside down to right-side up.

Here’s the gym we were in, complete with lots of things hanging from the ceiling.

After the fun, it was time for a little lunch, or dinner. What do you call it when you eat at 3:00? Let’s go with linner. Molly was happy to get to sit next to one of the birthday girls.

These birthday girls are having a good time.

After eating, a couple of our instructors put on a show for us. I got video of the first, Christine, having some fun up on the silks.

The second performance was performed by Jackie flying through the air on the hoop. She used Disney princess music (The Glow), which the girls loved.

All the kids and a couple of the instructors after a fun party.

After the party and some dinner out at the Trolley Car Diner, we stopped at Miles Park in Whitemarsh to have some playground fun before heading back to the hotel. For some reason, the kids loved this seesaw. They would have stayed on it the entire time if we had let them.

I don't think we'll make a habit of road trips for birthday parties, but this was a lot of fun.

I participated in Kids Clothes Week Challenge this week. The goal is to spend at least one hour per day for seven days working on kids clothes. I spent many more hours than that which resulted in a dress for both girls.

After seeing me make several Maggie Mae dresses as gifts, Leah requested one for herself. Leah still will not wear sleeveless dresses, so she loves the cap sleeves and, of course, the pockets!

All Chad's photography is finally paying off as Leah is becoming a natural model, giving him lots of fun poses to photograph.

Molly's ready for warm weather in her Seashore dress. She is our little string bean so the slender style of this dress is a perfect fit.

Both girls love having dresses with pockets. They never put items in them, but love to stick their hands in to flare their dresses out.

Molly was given some money for her birthday. After watching Mary Poppins, she decided to buy her and her sister kites. She got herself a Hello Kitty one, and her sister a Cinderella one. Our yard has almost no trees, so it’s a great place to fly a kite.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t very windy on the first kite outing. That didn’t stop Leah, though. She had no trouble keeping her kite up while running as fast as she could around the yard.

Molly did lots of math at the toy store to figure out what she could afford with her birthday money. After picking out the kites, she still had a little money left. She wandered around for a long time trying to find something to use the last few dollars on. In the end, she chose to buy this extra-large lollipop which came with a stuffed giraffe wrapped around it. She was very excited to eat it after dinner.

Of course, a lollipop this big causes lots of silliness, including pretending it’s a musical instrument.

Yes, she ate the entire thing (minus a lick or two for her sister). Now it’s time for a bath.

The big field trip for the year in Leah's preschool class is the trip to the zoo. You may remember that I chaperoned this very trip three years ago when Molly went on it. Leah decided that I needed a repeat performance, so I got to chaperone the trip for Leah's class.

Before boarding the bus, while the parents were preparing, Ms. Lorrie led the kids in some of their morning routine. When Leah noticed that Ms. Lorrie was just picking people (rather than going by daily assignments), Leah crept close to her. When Luca finished with the calendar, Leah jumped up and told Ms. Lorrie she wanted to be the meteorologist for the day.

One of the highlights of the trip was getting to ride a school bus for the first time.

Sam joined Leah and me to form our little group for the trip. I really like chaperoning preschool trips, as the adult/child ratio is so low. It makes keeping track of the kids easy.

When we arrived at the zoo, we were surprised to find it almost empty. I guess the snow and cold from the previous couple days scared everyone away. Our bus was the only bus there (when I went with Molly, there were at least a dozen) and there were very few other visitors.

There were perfect head-size openings in the fence to view the rhinos through.

Sam’s happy with the rhinos, but Leah is confused about something.

Some smiling lions. Well, maybe they're not all smiling, but Leah certainly is.

If the giraffe is being standoffish, a friendly wave can help them feel at ease.

The giraffe walked over to the front of the giraffe house near us, and used the metal beam across the front of it to scratch its head.

The other giraffes were inside the giraffe house, and apparently they were doing some very shocking things.

The kids figured out the best way to view the elephants - leaning over the railing.

Lots of preschoolers, all lined up.

It’s sometimes hard to get a picture with kids and animals in the same frame. Note the elephant off to the left, getting a drink of water.

We got to see the first public feeding of the new lion cubs. We actually arrived to see it, waited for a few minutes, then left and came back as the zookeepers were having some difficulties getting them out to eat.

Watching lions with Ms. Carol.

The lions brought out the serious side of Leah.

Sam was willing to get a little closer to this bearded dragon than Leah was.

We sat down and ate lunch on the path next to the chimpanzees. Under normal crowds, this would not have been possible. However, since we had the place largely to ourselves, we could eat wherever we liked.

Back at the front of the zoo, ready to head back to the bus. Just have to pose for a quick picture next to the lion statue.

We had a great time. Leah said her favorite animal was the giraffe, especially the tall female one named Angel. I'm sure we'll be back to visit her again before too long.

Per Molly’s request, we went to Red Robin (one of the only places around that still sings for birthdays) for her family birthday dinner with the Sellers side. Molly made this birthday hat for herself to make sure the staff there knew it was her birthday.

Leah had fun playing with Aunt Caroline much of the evening.

As they always do, Aunt EA and Uncle Scott entertained with a singing card. Unfortunately, Red Robin is too loud to hear it, but we’ve heard it many times since we got home.

It was a monster-themed evening, including some Monsters University toys like Art here.

Molly also got both the new Monsters University as well as the original Monsters, Inc.

Our real reason for being there was of course the singing and sundae for a birthday girl.

You can even relive the magic in this video of the singing.

Sunday was Molly's actual birthday, so we opened some presents in the morning before church, including a couple of jump ropes.

Leah gave Molly a couple of hula hoops. While Molly can spin these crazy fast, when Chad and I gave it a go, hilarity ensued. I laughed so hard my sides hurt!

Molly also opened the present from Aunt ‘Chelle’s family while video conferencing with them. We did this for Emmie's birthday, and the kids really love seeing each other's reaction to the gifts.

G’Mom and Grampa came in town to celebrate Molly’s birthday, and they arrived with some fancy My Little Pony puzzles in hand.

Leah had no trouble with the puzzle, except that her hair was constantly in her face. Of course, she still refused a clip or headband to solve the problem.

Molly had a half day of school on Friday, so she requested to spend the free afternoon painting pottery. G’Mom did a nice job supervising.

This was Leah’s first ever figurine to paint. She very patiently waited for each of the three coats to dry of several different colors. And Grampa was very patient with helping a 4-year-old paint.

While G’Mom and Grampa assisted the girls, I took the opportunity to paint a piece of my own.

On Saturday, Molly showed off her reading skills for G’Mom with a Junie B. Jones book.

Then, it was game time. I don’t think Leah appreciated G’Mom skipping her in this game of Uno.

Molly’s excited about playing a wild card.

Leah played one hand on her own, but then she decided to help Grampa.

Hooray! Molly wins!

Dinner can be an amusing time in our house, especially when there are exciting birthday events looming. Here's a peek into a couple of those dinners.

I’m not sure why Molly seems to be pretending to have a chin injury with her napkin.

When you’re making a silly face, it’s easy to miss that you’re using the wrong end of your fork.

Magic utensils, no hands necessary.

This is not the way she’s supposed to eat ice cream.

Ice cream causes silly faces in Leah. As does everything else.

We've had lots of fun around here lately. First up - International Night at Molly's school. The whole family went and had lots of fun tasting different foods, checking out toys from different countries, and watching performances from different cultures.

Molly has now lost all four of her lateral incisors in the last two months. None of their replacements have shown any signs of coming in yet, so she’s got some nice gaps in her mouth.

Friday was Wacky Hair Day at Molly’s school, and Molly was excited to join in the fun. Jen found an idea to use pipe cleaners to turn up the fun, and added them in to Molly’s pigtails. I was surprised that they stayed in all day.

Our girls often take way too long to eat dinner. So, we’ve instituted a system where we have a dinner timer. If they beat the timer, they get a sticker on a chart. After collecting five stickers, they get to pick a place to go out for dessert. Our first dessert excursion was to my favorite gelato place - Cafe Di Roma.

The girls liked combining Leah’s birthday cake gelato with Molly’s raspberry gelato. From Leah’s face, it looks surprisingly good.

We made the trek down to Montgomery County to the home of the Kentobeans for a gathering with a bunch of friends. The Dunbars, our friends who moved away to Texas a couple years ago, were in town to visit. The party was lots of fun, but I forgot my camera. The girls got these party gifts, which they love. So, I photographed them after we got home.

Molly’s mad scientist and Leah’s robot look evil to me when seen up close.

Thanks to the Kentons for hosting such a fun gathering (and supplying such wonderful parting gifts). It was great to see the Dunbars (and everyone else).

After so much snow and such extreme cold, this past weekend was incredibly nice with temperatures approaching 60. So we broke out the bikes and scooters and headed over to the blacktop at Molly’s school.

It was so warm that it melted the snow and ice, except for the stuff piled up on the side. It felt funny to be playing outside in the warmth on a blacktop surrounded by large walls of snow.

Leah was given this little bike by her friend Matilda last Fall, but didn’t get a chance to ride it before the cold. She wanted a little help at first since she had never really ridden a bike before, and Jen was happy to oblige.

Eventually Leah was doing it mostly herself with Jen fading into the background.

Leah in silhouette and shadow. I love her pose here. Makes her seem so much older than four.

She's a hopscotch champion. Leah may have a couple years before she’s in elementary school, but she’s already ready for recess. Please excuse the missed focus; she was moving very quickly.

Molly found a bit of chalk and drew a little, then gave it to Leah. Leah was more into it and stayed focused on drawing for some time.

Leah’s drawing a sun here with her tiny remnant of chalk in her little fingers.

Leah decided a fun game was to try to run into me with her bike. I had to snap this quickly before fleeing her attack.

By the end, Leah was getting around on her bike pretty well.

After an hour or so on the blacktop, we moved to the playground. Molly’s love for monkeys has turned her into a master of the monkey bars. Note that proper swinging technique includes sticking out your tongue at all times, even if your hair is in your face.

Slides are fun, whether they be twisty...

or straight.

While these pictures may look like Leah is posing for me, she is actually trying to avoid my camera. She would run by, briefly glance at me to taunt me, then disappear down the slide. Fortunately, I’m pretty quick and managed to catch her taunt a few times.

This time, Molly decided to help me by capturing Leah before she could run away from the camera.

We very much enjoyed our day of fun in the sun.

Of course, after our weekend of warmth, we've already had snow on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Just 2 or 3 inches between the two days, but still a dramatic turn from our warm weekend.