Vanessa turns 4

Wow, 4 years old seems like more than a year older than 3, somehow... Vanessa is getting to be just such a little lady. We had the opportunity to spend her birthday with so many of our family and friends.

The week before Vanessa's birthday, we were so lucky to have my sister Hannah come stay with us. She helped get our house more organized and helped the girls (and ME!) have a blast in the process. Hannah and I played Nancy Drew computer games at night and organized and traveled around during the day -- to the pool, park, and zoo!

The girls have never before had their nails painted, so Hannah brought fingernail polish. She also brought all kinds of dress-up clothes and accessories. Elizabeth's favorite things were the shiny red shoes!

Vanessa also got in on the dress-up fun. She liked the pink puff-ball shoes best. I guess my girls like shoes! Thanks to Hannah for providing so much great stuff.

Hannah also brought a bunch of sombreros and other hats. Elizabeth tried out a cowgirl hat with her cowgirl boots. She looks pretty rootin' tootin' to me.

Grandma K, Grandpa K, Vanessa, and Elizabeth all don't seem to mind being a little goofy and trying on some rather large hats!

Hannah was still around on Friday when the craziness started -- Vanessa's birthday party! This was Vanessa's first party with several of her friends over. You can kind of see Vanessa, showing how excited she is to be the birthday girl and getting to see her friends.

Paige, Susan, and Vanessa got the castle first.

Elizabeth, Tess, and Kai got it next. I think in this picture, Elizabeth is reminding Paige that she already had a turn... She can have another turn, Elizabeth!

Well, Elizabeth was really good about sharing her kitchen stuff with (from left to right), Paige, Grace, and Susan. After the party, she told me she did a good job sharing, and to her credit, she did!

Craft time! We had glow-in-the-dark stars, glitter glue, and sparkly outer-space foam shapes. James prepared the food and the crafts -- and he was home from work and taking pictures of the party. Hmm... there must have been something I was doing at the party... I guess I couldn't have asked for a more helpful husband.

Here's another craft-table picture.

Then on to cupcakes! We are "limiting food coloring" in our diets at the moment, but you would never know from looking at how colorful the sprinkles were that we were putting on our cupcakes! Oh well, birthdays are days for exceptions to certain rules...

Rules like not licking knives...

(Here's another look at those blue cupcakes. VERY blue.)

Or rules like cleaning your child's face before taking a picture!

Then on to opening presents! She got all really, really great ones.

And she also really enjoyed opening the cards, too!

On our last full day with Hannah, we did some bowling followed by a visit to Aunt Heather's and Uncle Terry's house. I didn't get any pictures of Aunt Heather and Uncle Terry's house this time, for some reason, but we all did have a great time. Anyway, I did get some pictures of the girls' first bowling experience (in a real bowling alley, that is).

Thank goodness for bumper lanes. Not only did they artificially inflate my own score (what fun!) but they also allowed almost every ball rolled to actually knock over some pins. (I say almost every ball, because there were a few times when the ball was rolled so slowly that it stopped before making it to the pins.)

I think this one might juuusssst make it.

We also had a party for Vanessa actually on her birthday (whereas the little kids' birthday party was a few days before). Here is my attempt at a cake for her. It was decorated, of course, at the very last minute, after the guests had arrived (thank goodness the guests were James's parents, and quite understanding!)

Well, Vanessa seemed pleased with it in any case. She blew out the candles, no problem!

The birthday party! The girls were so happy to see their Nana and Grandpa.

Vanessa wanted the number 4, of course, especially because it was purple. Elizabeth, on the other hand, insisted on having the frosting writing of Vanessa's name!

Vanessa used her fork, and you can see how Elizabeth ate her cake...
Cake was followed by ice cream, which seems to be one of the primary reasons for having a birthday, in Vanessa's mind.


Where was Daddy? Well, he got to see Vanessa on the morning of her birthday, but then he had to go away on a business trip. BUT, the cool thing is, he got to see our nieces in Texas and this was especially cool because it was actually very close to Katelyn's 16th birthday.

We were also very excited to get a visit from Uncle Brian and to-be-very-soon-Aunt Joanna. They are so busy preparing for their wedding this Saturday, but they were able to come by and just play with us! James and I and Grandpa spent the whole weekend blowing cellulose fiber insulation into the attic and cleaning up afterwards, so the girls were especially starved for attention. Then to get all those hugs from Brian and Joanna -- ah, heaven.

Here is Elizabeth's 2 and 1/4 year-old picture with her Dee-Dee doll. She also seemed to remember that her bunny belongs in these photos sometimes (although I can't remember him making an appearance since she was a very tiny baby). Elizabeth has recently dubbed this bunny Knuffle Bunny, after the bunny in the Mo Willems book.

Here's Vanessa in her 4-year-old pic with her Miss Dee doll. Vanessa was 40 inches tall, 37 pounds, and really brave at her 4-year appointment at the pediatrician's. She got a vision test, a hearing test, and six vaccines I think. She really does seem so grown up. She reads fluently, and usually in her head, and she writes or types a lot of thoughts every day. She can count to 100, and does (frequently when stalling on something, but what the hey). She can read the beginning piano lesson book we bought for her, so she'll practice lessons from it entirely on her own. She knows how to pump her legs on the swing, she can get dressed without sitting or holding onto anything for balance, she is getting pretty good on her strider bike, and she can get from one side of the pool to the other with flotation (although she still isn't too comfortable getting her face wet). I'm also really proud of how she can actually talk to people she has just met now, without being overly shy. Go Vanessa! You have officially left toddler-hood and you are now a big girl!

And here are the girls together!

August

So, you might wonder what we've been spending the summer doing, apart from hanging out with friends and going to the pool. Well, when we're inside, we:



...rip apart Styrofoam packaging just for the fun and mess of it...

...make goofy faces...

...play Little Red Riding Hood, or Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, or Billy Goats Gruff

...read a lot. This is what my girls do for rest, since I can't seem to convince them to nap (and if they do nap, then they can't go to sleep at a reasonable hour at night). I find them like this most days when I check on them while I'm making dinner, although sometimes they prefer to read by themselves. If you haven't noticed already, I seem to have left my flash off for this last set of pictures (ah well, the next set should look better).

Well, Vanessa DID get to go on a very exciting adventure with her daddy and Nana. Her very first professional sports game -- a Redskins preseason game! They only stayed for the first half and James says that the crowd was very family-oriented that evening.

Here are Vanessa and Daddy in their Redskins jerseys.

I know my husband better than to really believe this, but when I look at this picture, I like to imagine that a really important moment is happening on the field, and Vanessa is watching it unfold on the big TV nearby, while James is busy smiling for the camera.

This is a picture of the field from the seats that James has this year. A good perspective for watching touchdowns, I'd say.

These next few pics are from Joanna and Uncle Brian's birthday party. When Elizabeth wasn't racing around in circles, she paused to get some kisses from her Nana.

The biggest attraction at the party was the hammock. It's like a swing, but BIGGER!

Elizabeth plays hide-and-seek behind a tree.

The girls and me have a little break.

Vanessa and Elizabeth and the birthday boy.

We've had some time to hang out with family lately. Molly and Fred came up to visit us for a couple of days, and we also got to visit Uncle Zak at his home for the first time. I forgot to bring my camera to Uncle Zak's place though, so I have a really good excuse for going back and visiting sometime again soon! As always, the girls just love all the attention they get from family, and I love to see my family too!

Grandma also came by to visit, and brought toys!! Thanks also to Heather, who helped pick out a lot of stuff to keep my girls busy while I bring them along with me two days a week while I tutor. We had a fabulous time with Grandma and the girls already have plans of games to play with her when they see her next.

Lately, Vanessa has been picking up quite a bit from sneaking some peaks over my shoulder when I am tutoring the subject of reading. She's found some of the extra homework sheets I printed out, and has been doing them! This has required her to practice writing smaller, and with lowercase letters. She has learned a lot of the phonograms that I have been working on -- for example, she told me today that sometimes an "a" sounds like the "a" in "cat," and sometimes it sounds like the "ah" in "ball." I'm not sure if listening to my tutoring is the reason, or if having the privelege of using her daddy's old iPhone for writing notes on is the reason, but for whatever reason, Vanessa has REALLY wanted to type lately, and also write on paper. She asks a lot about how to spell words, and figures out or remembers some spellings herself (or in some cases, she is helped out by the iPhone's auto-complete feature). Here is something she wrote today on James's old iPhone:

Vanessa*s birth day is august 31st
And there is IcE cream and so every=

Body can come to my birthday

Be cause it is so beautiful

That I want my friends to come

And it is so exciting and that is that

And I love ice cream

Vanessa has also recently learned how to count to 100, although she still makes mistakes sometimes while doing so. Not to be outdone, Elizabeth has learned how to count to 12, and has been working on writing and typing her first name. Elizabeth has been reading more and more sight words, so that I am beginning to wonder if she has started to acquire a sounding-out capability. She has such a good memory for stories that it's hard to tell when she is reading or just remembering. Elizabeth's favorite activities seem to be singing, dancing, and pretending. If she ends up loving musical theater as much as her daddy and I do, I wouldn't be surprised! Both girls also really love to run. I took them for a short jog with me today and they loved it!

colorado

We had a great trip to Colorado for a Kaylor family reunion. We were there for just about a week. We started the trip out on our own for the first day, and visited the Denver zoo.



The girls check out a mongoose and porcupine exhibit (Elizabeth is in the background).

Vanessa's favorite animal we saw were the polar bears. This polar bear had just been in the water, showing off a very nice back float. Elizabeth liked the lions best, and wanted to see them twice!

The next day was a day for meeting up with family. Elizabeth and Vanessa were so excited to see their cousins Bryn and Jadyn.

Vanessa still sometimes expresses her affection through squishing... Good thing Jadyn is so patient with little ones!

I had so many pics from so many places (thanks especially to my uncle's brother Rick), that I didn't manage to get them entirely in order. Oh well. This series of pictures is from the low ropes course at the Estes Park YMCA, about half-way through our time in CO. Vanessa was a little slow to warm up to all of the folks in my family that she didn't know yet, but by the end of our time at the ropes course, she allowed uncles and second cousins to help her over this six foot wall (the objective was to get everyone in our party over it). Here, her uncle Jake is helping Vanessa get down as my cousin Brett looks on.

One of the activities involved walking on a wire, supported by a partner and monitored by spotters. The wires that the two partners are balancing on get further and further apart as the partners progress along them. Here Jadyn and my cousins' cousin Megan are getting pretty far along the wires!

Bryn was kind enough to partner with Vanessa when Vanessa got up the courage to try out the wires for herself.

Vanessa even tried out the rope swing that was part of the most difficult of the challenges on the ropes course that day. Also in this picture are my cousin-in-law Mark, my brother Zak, and my Dad. Low ropes courses seem to be all about people supporting each other -- I had my hands kind of full so I felt like I was even more grateful for the support of all of my family there. Vanessa also thrived in all that support!

Here is the rock-climbing wall from the day before the low ropes course. James is climbing up on the left side while Jadyn is scaling the right.

Here my cousins Mark, Sean, Nick, Danielle, and Brett, interspersed with my Dad, my Aunt Teri, and Jadyn and Bryn all harnessed and waiting for their turns on the climbing wall.

Me. :)

I certainly wouldn't have been able to go up a climbing wall without several sets of hands to watch Elizabeth and Vanessa. Here Elizabeth is basking in the attention of ladies from three generations (from left to right), Oma Phyllis, Grandma K, and Hannah.

Four cousins on a rock. Because they have such great rocks for climbing in Colorado! This one overlooked a river with a few small waterfalls.

One of our last activities in Colorado was going up a cable car to the top of one of the mountains in Estes Park. Here are Jake and Bryn on the cable car ride.

Not only were there fabulous views from the top of the mountain, but they also had a large population of very tame chipmunks which were accustomed to getting fed peanuts by the tourists. This was a very great joy for Bryn, Vanessa, and Elizabeth. (Jadyn was off having fun riding a horse on this day!)

Here are Vanessa and Daddy waving from one of the rocks where we fed chipmunks. Elizabeth is busy looking for chipmunks among the lower rocks.

Here is Elizabeth feeding one of the chipmunks. If you look closely you will see that this chipmunk, like most of the others we saw, already has his cheeks crammed full of peanuts!

We had a blast in Colorado. James and I also flew to Chicago last weekend to see Paul's wedding. What a treat to have a trip just traveling by ourselves, and with adult friends to celebrate with! For now, we are quite content to be back home for a while, and finished with our big trips for the summer.