"Hi! Welcome in. Are we here for a party?" the girl behind the counter asks them as they walk through the front door, shedding winter coats and hats.

"It's our birthday!" Tess and Kate cheer at the same time.

"Oh that is so cool!" the girl smiles, typing on her computer. "Are you two 'Tess and Kate'?" she asks, checking their reservation.

"She's Kate. I'm Tess," the first-grader introduces. "I'm older, but Kate's taller."

"Good to know. If you two want to follow me, we can go pick out some birthday swag. And mom and dad? Ms. Bethany will help you finish checking in," the girl, whose name tag reads 'Angela', says, pointing to the other girl behind the counter.

Doug and Carol are already in the party room when the twins dash in, drawstring backpacks in their hands.

"Momma! Daddy! Look what we got!"

"Look! Look!" the girls shout at the same time, holding out their bags, Tess with purple and Kate with a green one.

"Wow! What did you get?" Carol asks, happily watching as both girls empty their bags. They both held the same things, but different colors: a t-shirt, water bottle, and a lanyard. "That's pretty cool," Carol are just finishing stuffing everything back in and handing the bags to their mom to be stowed in a corner when they friends start to arrive; the party has begun.

Twenty minutes later when all the kids arrive, Angela lest them into the room with five giant inflatables set up. The kids dash off in a hundred different directions, screaming and yelling for friends to follow. There is a regular bounce house, an obstacle course, a giant slide, a boxing ring complete with giant boxing gloves, and a round inflatable with an unstable platform in the middle that the kids can try and stand on and jump off of. The room was already loud without people in it, but with twenty-two kids running around and their parents and younger siblings that had tagged along, the sound inside had multiplied by a factor of one hundred.

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"Stop jumping, Colby!" Kate calls out to the boy in her class as her little sister climbs into the bouncer. "Stop Jumping, Colby!" she shouts when he doesn't stop the first time. With his movement, Addy stumbles and falls onto her side. Kate, angry that the boy made her sister fall, rushing to him and pushes him. Hard.

"Hey!" he shouts pushing back. "That's not nice!"

"You should have stopped!" Kate shouts. "Addy is little! You have to be careful!"

"I didn't see her!"

"I told you to stop!"

"Hey! What's going on here?" Colby's mom asks, noticing her son and one of the birthday girls fighting.

"Mommy! Kate's being mean!"

"No, I'm not! I told him to stop jumping cause Addy is here and he didn't listen to me!"

"I didn't hear her!"

"You probably didn't," the mom says. "But you have to be careful. Colby Jack, look at me. You have to be careful with the baby in there with you, okay?"

"Okay," the boy pouts.

"Okay," the mom replies, walking away.

"Let's play tag," Colby suggests.

"Okay. Not it!" Kate shouts, dashing out, her friend not far behind, the little sister completely forgotten.

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"Daddy! Come down the slide with us!" His twins call out to him, and with the laughing encouragement of the other adults, Doug Ross slips off his shoes and climbs the ladder to the top of the slide.

It definitely looked shorter from the ground.

"I'm not so sure about this, guys," Doug said quietly to his girls, suddenly nervous.

"Don't be scared, Daddy! It's really fun!" Kate encourages.

"Yeah! If Emmy can do it, you can too," Tess says, talking about the younger sister of one of her classmates.

"Okay," Doug says, sitting on the edge between them. "Ready?" he crags their hands. "One, two, three," and with shrieks, and flying hair, they slide down, crashing in a pile at the bottom. The girls stand up with giggles and wide smiles. But Doug is slow to roll over, groaning the whole time.

"Wasn't it fun, Daddy?" Kate asks

"Wanna go again?" asks Tess.

"Maybe later," Doug says, standing.

"Okay, the girls reply together, running off to play with their friends again.

"Oh, I can't do that anymore," Doug groans, going back to the adults, taking a long swig of his drink.

"Not a young buck anymore, huh, Doug?" Nathan Roberts asks. He and Doug have been friends for many years, and their teasing sarcastic humor is what their friendship is built on.

"I guess not," Doug shrugs. Carol chuckles, wrapping an arm around his waist.

"Maybe you can't do that, but there is still lots of things you can do," she whispers only loud enough for him to hear.

"Damn right," He replies, raising his glass in a toast that no one else sees.

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It was the race of a century. Sister versus sister. No holds bar. Winner take all. Well, winner take the other's Game Boy game collection for keeps.

They stood at the entrance of the obstacle course, waiting for their dad to say go.

Tess tucks her loose hair behind her ears, while Kate pulls up her leggings. They look at each other for a second but quickly look away.

"You're going down, Tess," Kate says.

"I am not! You are!" Tess replies, angry that her sister thinks she's going to win.

"You girls ready?" Doug interrupts.

"Ready," Kate nods, setting her face.

"Say 'go', Daddy," Tess says.

"Alright. Ready. Set. Go!"

The twins dash into the course, Tess taking the lead as Kate trips. All the kids cheer for who they want to win.

As the race continues, all anyone else can hear is the sister yelling and screaming, and the jumper rocking with their movements. But when a shadowed figure appears at the top on the final slide down, their cheering gets louder, and Doug and Carol hold their breaths, bracing themselves for the eventual meltdown that will happen with whoever loses.

"Tess wins!" her best friend, Anna, cheers and she slides down, Kate a close second.

"Yeah!" Tess cheers, throwing her hands in the air.

"Good job, Tess," her sister congratulates, holding out a hand. Tess slaps her five, smiling.

"Thanks," she says. "And you can still borrow your games if you want."

"Bet I can win them back!" Kate says, mischievously.

"No, you can't!" her twin says.

"Yes, I can! Ready? Go!" Kate shouts, diving back into the jumper.

"No fair! I wasn't ready!" Tess argues, following her twin.

"Oh this is not going to end well," Carol says, shaking her head. She goes back to the adult table and waits for the tears.

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At six years old, Tess and Kate Ross are growing into their individual selves every day. Sure, they still have similarities, that are more than just their appearance. And that only makes the differences stand out more.

Kate is loud and outgoing, easily makes friends. She's snappy and sarcastic, like her mom, and knows how to roll her eyes like no one business (a trait her parents struggle to keep in check). She is athletic, and competitive, like her dad, but such a good sport; always making sure the other team is okay and not sad if they lost. She is still the taller of the two, and one of the tallest in her class at school.

Tess, on the other hand, is quiet and reserved. She is shy and has difficulty making friends, but once she has them, they are her person. She is silly and sweet and still little. She has a giant personality that is hard to crack into but once someone does, it lights up any room Tess is in. She has a giant smile that always reaches her eyes, and she laughs so easily. Tess loves dance and art and music; she even had a small roll in a community theater's production of 'Into The Woods' this past spring.

The two are competitive with each other. They both know exactly which buttons to push to get the other angry. But they also know how best to apologize and show their love to each other. As much as they fight, which is a lot, they also get along together so well. In a way that can only be described as a 'Twin Thing'.

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"Open mine first!"

"No, Mine!"

"No, me first! You promised, Kate!"

Voices overlapped as the group of six and seven-year-olds crowded around their friends, waiting anxiously for them to open their presents.

"I promised," Kate says, looking up at her mom. "I have to open Gabbie's first."

"Well then go ahead, Bean," Carol says, waving her daughter forward.

Kate tears out the tissues from the gift bag and pulls out the box of a brand new Bratz doll. "Whoa! Cool!" Kate cheers. "Thank you, Gabbie!"

You're welcome, the little girl says, smiling so happy that her friend liked her present.

"Okay, my turn!" Tess stars, grabbing a gift from her pile.

"That's mine!" Jacob, a little Hispanic boy with black hair and dark brown eyes, pipes up.

"Thank you!" Tess calls as she rips open the wrapping paper. "It's a Tamagotchi! Mommy! Momma! Look! It's a Tamagotchi!" Tess says, holding up the toy.

"I see! That's cool, Tess."

"Thank you, Jacob!" Tess replies.

"You're welcome. I got Kate one too," he reveals.

The trend continues, with each twin opening a present until there are none left; the floor of the party room covered in bags and tissue paper and wrapping paper.

And just like that, the party is over. Kids collect their coats and shows, parents collect their kids. Kate and Tess say goodbye to their friends, giving hugs to a select few. With the help of their party host, Angela, Carol handles cleanup of their room, while Doug loads up the mountain of presents into the car.

"Ready to go?" Doug asks, coming back inside, scooping Addison into his arms

"Yeah, I think so," Carol answers, zipping up her coat. "Come on, girls, let's get home. Thank you," Carol says one last time to Angela, who had been such a big help.

"Of course. Hope to see you guys again soon! Happy birthday, Kate and Tess."

"Thank you!" The twins call, following their dad out to the car.

And when Angela goes back into the room to finish cleaning up, she finds a single pink sneaker forgotten in a corner.