Sarah Beth's Fourth Birthday

Don't you wish you could get away with dressing like a four year old?

Today is Sarah Beth's fourth birthday. She is still a sweet, sweet girl and a wonderful big sister...as long as her siblings leave her things alone! She loves to help me, and when I ask her to get me something for Rachel, she says, "I will!" and runs to do it. As you can see from the picture above, she still loves to help me cook. I look forward to the time when she can really help, but right now I just enjoy the time with her in the kitchen.

Last year, we started giving new responsibilities and taking away privileges. It worked well so we are continuing this year.

• No more nursery at church. Our new church has a nursery for children up to the age of four. After that, children are expected to sit in the sanctuary.
• I refuse to cut up Sarah Beth's muffins anymore. (She likes to eat them with a fork!)
• Making the bed. It's time that I disciplined myself to discipline her to make her bed every morning.
• Four year olds get to help fold clothes!
• There are other chores, I'm sure, that will be added to make her an even more productive member of our family.
• Sarah Beth is potty trained during the day; I cannot remember the last time she had an accident. However, she still wears Pull-ups at night, and we are going to try going diaper-free. If it is a complete disaster, we'll put the Pull-ups back on. It's not that big of a deal.

We're planning a very simple party with just our immediate family and my father. (My mother is out of town.) We have a couple of fun things planned today, though, and I hope to get some good pictures and share them with you later.

Rachel also turns four months old today. I think that's pretty neat: Sarah Beth turning four years old and Rachel turning four months old.