birthday recap

Here are the pictures from Rebecca's birthday celebrations.

On Memorial Day (the day before her birthday) we headed up to see our nephew march in the parade in my husband's hometown, and then visit his side of the family for a little while. 

Before the parade

During the parade (she read that whole book while waiting for the parade to start....)--these little popper things (on her nose) were passed out during the parade.  For some reason they decided to put them on their noses.

Rachel and Rebecca's cousin, Ashley, who watched most of the parade with us, took good care of Rebecca.

After visiting with family, we surprised the girls by heading to the Great Wolf Lodge, instead of Grandma's house, which is where they thought we were going.  They were thrilled!

Last time we were there Rachel saw other people playing this scavenger hunt type thing called "MagiQuest" where you point a wand at a bunch of stuff and look for clues and so forth.  She wanted to play it in the worst way, but it was super expensive.  This time we bought a Groupon for our room, which included a credit on our account, which we allowed Rachel to use to play MagiQuest.  She loved it, though she became very obsessed about it (as she does about most things she's excited about....she talks about little else while she's in the midst of the obsession).  She's still talking about it and reading the clue book, over a week later.

 

 

After story time that night, Rebecca wanted to meet the character.  Rachel didn't.

We took pictures the next morning while waiting for the pool to open.

Rebecca did a lot of this....longing for the pool and asking, "Is it open NOW????"  That's what happens when little girls wake up at 6:00 AM and pools don't open until 9:00. 

The next day was Rebecca's birthday. We swam for awhile, then left after lunch to head to Grandma's house to celebrate the birthday girl.

(new flip flops....)

 (both girls got new sleeping bags from Daddy so they can go camping....)

I didn't get many pictures of her opening presents.

After the festivities, Grandpa took both girls for rides on the tractor.   I don't know who thought of it, but once one of them did it, they both had to do it....  I'm sure Grandpa loved it!

It was a fun celebration for our big four year old.

asian festival

A couple of weeks ago we decided to try something new (to us) and visit the Asian Festival here in town.  They kept talking about it on the news, and Rachel loves that kind of stuff (anything having to do with a party, festival, fair, whatever...if it's a celebration, Rachel's in love!) so we tried it.  It was a gorgeous day and we enjoyed walking around and looking at everything.

We've had a rather big decision come up this spring, and have decided to send Rachel to a different school next year.  I won't go into all of the specifics right now, but she's both really excited and very nervous about it.  But the reason I write about that here is that we found out that in third grade they study Japan.  So she was excited to go to the Asian festival and learn more about Japan before she's even at the school. 

Both girls enjoyed dressing up in Asian garb (Something involving dress up?  My girls are IN!)

They had a special kids area with different activities they enjoyed.

There were dancing and martial arts demonstrations, and this crazy game, which was a cross between volleyball, soccer, and martial arts. 

It was a fun day.

fun to be four

She's in a big girl bed!  I kept from crying as I took down the crib/toddler bed, but it didn't escape my thoughts that this was the end of a season, and not one I am quite ready to leave.  But she was so excited, it was hard to be sad for long!  One of these days she'll get a new (bigger) room, too, but it'll take awhile to get our act together and get it painted and ready, so in the meantime she's still in the nursery.

She got a gift card for her birthday from Granny and Papa, and had a great time spending it over the weekend.  Some of the things she chose were this super hero cape/mask and the Sofia shoes to match the Sofia dress she's wearing.  She wanted to wear it all at once, so she called herself Super Sofia!

One of these days we'll download pictures from her birthday, but in the meantime here's a not so good picture of when we first got to The Great Wolf Lodge to surprise them for Rebecca's birthday.

Waking up at the Great Wolf Lodge on her birthday, surrounded by balloons.

Her Hello Kitty cake.  

four!

How did this happen?  Yesterday you looked like this,

And today.....this???

Today you are four, Rebecca.  How can my baby girl be four already?  Such a big girl!

You are a joy, Rebecca Joy, and make us laugh every day with the hilarious things you say.  You love the movie Frozen, singing, giving and getting hugs, super heroes, being silly every chance you can get, riding your bike, swinging, dressing up, and doing whatever your sister is doing.  You are enjoying learning your lower case letters, now that you know the upper case letters, and sounding out a few words here and there.  You can write an R and are so proud of yourself every time you do.  We are working on other letters, too, but R is the one you're most excited about.

When asked what you want to be when you grow up you usually answer a rock star or a dentist or an astronaut.  You also tell me almost every day that you want to be a mom someday.

You dislike eggs, corn, sitting down for any length of time, and taking naps (even though you fall asleep in the car if you don't get one, so you still need them!).  

Rachel doesn't even remember a time when you weren't a part of our family, and though I do remember, I don't want to imagine what our family would be like without you!  You are our comic relief, and we just love and enjoy you so much!  

We are surprising you for your birthday with a trip to The Great Wolf Lodge, and then we're having your "Hello Kitty" party at Grandma and Grandpa's house (you've been talking about having a Hello Kitty party since the day after you turned three,  I think!).  We know you will have a great time!

We love you, sweet girl, and can't believe how fast you're growing up.

Happy 4th birthday!

the coronation

Yesterday Rebecca graduated from Tuesday School, the little preschool she went to this year.  Except she couldn't remember what it was called and kept saying it was her coronation!  My daughter, the queen!!

This is when she was filing in and saw us...

Up on the stage with the rest of the graduates

Getting her diploma

With her teachers

Afterwards with her sister