Genetics

As a lover of all things science, genetics is just plain cool to me. And with four kids I get to see just how strong genes can be. For example I can roll my tongue, Jon cannot. Ben can, but Katie and Will cannot. (Jury is still out on who Camryn takes after in that genetic driven talent, she's a little young to ask to roll her tongue. She will be happy to stick it out AT you though).

Camryn is the only one with Jon's eye color. Not really brown, but not green either. And I wouldn't call them hazel. They are kind of a mix of all three. I love them. Plus Camryn is just plain cute. (I am totally objective when it comes to my kids' looks). Oddly enough, none of the kids carry my eye color. Not that I know what it is. Every time I ask someone I get a different answer. Are they blue? Or green? Hazel? As Kate says "Your eyes change color all the time mom. Kinda like the sky." I'll take that. My eyes are the color of the sky. (Note to self, watch out for Katie sweet talking her way out of trouble as she gets older. Like tomorrow.)

Both Ben and Will have chocolate brown eyes. That melt my heart. Almost everyone in my family growing up has blue eyes, so to me blue isn't really special. It's big brown eyes that get me every time.

My girls have the least in common when it comes to coloring, but look at those 'cheese' smiles. Pretty darn close don't ya think?

Will and Camryn look the most alike to me. This picture makes it look like their hair is the same color too but it really isn't. (Camera colors can be thrown off in sunlight, well any light really). Camryn's hair is much darker than Will's. Interesting observation: Will has the darkest skin of all four kids.

Ben and Camryn have the same hair color. You can see those same light caramel brown highlights in Ben if you look close. They also have the same skin tone. I would put these two as the closest when it comes to coloring.

Kate and Will also have the SAME exact hair color. Yet, Katie is the fairest of all four (although still pretty brown skinned) and is the only one with blue eyes. Beautiful blue eyes at that. When she was a baby they almost glowed they were so blue. People were constantly commenting on them. Kate also had beautiful golden locks when she was little, even curlier than Camryn's. Those curls never came back after her first haircut at 2 1/2.

It can be really interesting and fun for an analytical person like myself to watch my kids grown and change and compare all their genetic similarities and differences. In more ways than not they are all alike and so very different at the same time. One thing will never change though. They each hold title to the same amount of my heart.