She's 4

 All year she has been talking about her "Snow White Birthday" but at the last minute? She changed her mind.

And also at the last minute? I whipped up this fancy Barbie cake so her dreams could come true!

 No worries. It was easier than you think.
Can you believe she's 4?
Yesterday on the way to school, she tells me, "MOM! I just read a WORDS! S-T-O-P! STOP!"

And the other day, she tells me,"When the tooth fairy comes and gets my tooth and leaves me money under my pillow? I'm gonna SAVE that money and buy a giraffe. WRITE THAT DOWN MOM!"
Indeed I will, Madee.

She greeted every guest at her party with a smile and a "Thank you for my gift!" as she ran away with them to the present area.

I love her.

I love everything ABSOLUTELY everything about her.

How could I not?

 Here is a fun link to the first month of her life.
She was SUCH a beautiful baby.
She is such a beautiful girl.

She has to stop anybody and everybody and ask them their business, their name, and whatnot.
She is beyond charming.
She is still mine.
For now.

When she asks me to take her to school, i rush through getting ready for work and do my best to make it happen. I love to drop her off with her friends. They all hug each other and tell each other how much they missed each other and then they have their own world.

A world where I can see how she is less mine. How she will be less mine the more I share her, the more she shares herself. And she does. She loves to share.

 She is the love in my heart.
The laughter in my soul.
And goodness knows she can test my metal.

But it is easy for me to remember how much I always wanted her.
Since I was a child, playing with baby dolls.
As I grew, thinking of how my children my be.
When I met her father, and knew she was going to be real.
The first time I held her.
Every time since.
The way she feels all curled up in my middle when I spoon her.
The way she throws her head back when she laughs.
The things she tells me.
The things she reminds me off.
She is so many things.

 And today she is 4. Beautiful, wonderful, adorable 4.
We love you baby.
Like a firecracker.

Christmas is Happening, People!

But here is a synopsis of other things that have happened right here, and I just haven't told you about it all yet.

Trick or Treating:

The girls got to do the rounds with their best friends.
There was a lot of giggling, running and candy eating involved.
Now they want to do this ALL THE TIME.


My favorite Halloween picture. That's my own parked car - do not be afraid, she was never in harm's way.

I told them to stay at the door with their treats bags extended until someone shut the door on them. Madee clearly took me seriously.

We went to the ZOO!
The Sanford zoo is tiny.
But there are a lot of keepers holding animals to pet along the way.

And lots of other random fun things to do.


Sophia's growly face.


Madee's "RAWR".

Listening to keepers talk about macaws.


The littlest feeding some yak looking things.


The cuteness we truck around town most of the time.

The races. Madee is clearly a rocket.


Girls do lunch!

And then there is ballet.
Madee loves ballet class.
And talking about ballet.
She works really hard at it.



The littles want to go to ballet class too.
But they have a good time raising a stink in the waiting area.


And we had our first horse ride.
They LOVED it.
Clearly.


And as always my little helpers are at the ready to help with any muffin making I might have going on.

Even if Eden's idea of helping is helping herself to spoonfuls of muffin mix.

We hope you guys have great holidays and we can't wait to share our holiday pictures with you!
Merry Christmas!
The Dervs

Punkins. Smashing.

Everybody has their favorite poses for pictures.
I like to call ours "album cover".
And everybody strikes a "Beastie Boy" pose.
Word.

I love their faces.
And Madee's band-aid.

Nice hat.

Here's a late look at the pumpkin patch pictures from before Halloween.
We found a nice patch of uglies in New Smyrna.


I am pretty sure they go for like $10 per wart.
So we browsed around for a while taking pictures.

Rearranged a few.
Wondered what they tasted like.


And then settled on some pie pumpkins that we actually ended up making soup out of last week.
They were amazing.

On accounts.

Last Days of Summer

Here are some pictures from one of our last summer beach days.
Not that it isn't 72 degrees today.
But the ocean water is definitely colder now, so we aren't so bathing suit-y when we play on the beach lately.

Beach fun fact: bikes are better on the beach. During low tide you can ride for miles, even if you are a little guy with a little bike.

And THAT makes for even more beach fun.
Madee loves to paint toenails. Here is the job she did on her sister. I should have taken an "after beach" picture because when the sand rubbed the paint off the skin it looked like it was done by a pro!


My angel. (mostly)
All growed up and jumping and surfing.

These two are the cutest two, and they are making their impression as beach locals.
I love them.


Dontcha just want to kiss her cheek?
I can't keep my lips off them!

.
My new favorite picture of the Littlest Van Derven.

Our lighthouse. which I will showcase in greater detail next week!


A random add on of a bike day. Yeah I totally roll with Little and the O in my trailer. Madee has a tagalong hooked up to Dad's bike. so we basically roll around oozing cute family vibes.


Have I told you about my new job(s)?
Not that I have time to right now, but I do have to go attend to that for a bit.
Have a great weekend, buy local, and love your babies til they claw their way out of your grasp.

Christmas is Coming

And I haven't even started doing anything with our advent calendar yet.
Bah.
Must get on that today.

Anyway, here are the kids doing some painting.
They are quite little artists and love nothing more than cutting, coloring, and general masterpiece making. In fact, at school they can pretty much paint whenever they want to.
Just one more reason I love Inspirations Learning Center.

I have a lot of catching up to do on life. I have been pretty busy throwing myself into a new job that I am excited to talk more about, but it's gonna have to be later, because it's Wednesday and the kids are home from school, and they really want to go do stuff.

So don't wait any longer! Go see my little artistes!