A Few Four Year Facts

Final facts about the new four-year old in the house ...

Quinn had her annual eye exam this morning and her eyes are as perfect as can be. Dr. P was delighted with how healthy her eyes looked. We love healthy eyes! Then we headed to her annual well check this afternoon (we are livin' the dream today ...). She is doing well all around and was thrilled that no shots were required.

She weighed 33 lbs 9 oz (39%) and is 39" tall (35%). She's growing great and is right on target to where she should be. Her weight/height differential is adding to our existing theory (based on her recent eating habits) that she is prepping for a major growth spurt!

Last, but not least, I asked her the standard birthday questions. Here are the answers for age 4:

Favorite color: Orange

Favorite friend: Emma 

Favorite show: Elena of Avalor

Favorite book: Goose Goofs Off 

Favorite food: Grilled cheese and tomato soup

Favorite thing to do: Jump on the trampoline

Quinn Turns Four

This morning, the newly four-year-old carefully chose her birthday outfit. A knit dress that Grandma made. With a multi-colored flower tunic and neon polka dot shorts under it. And bright blue socks. It was an ensemble that her dad could only describe as "quite an outfit." Then, as I wrestled her brother into a clean diaper (I had shown her the cupcakes we would have after dinner tonight. He thought we should eat them at 7:03 am. I did not. I agreed to disagree. He simply disagreed. Loudly ...), she gleefully ran into their room and asked if she could wear mismatched shoes. She was so happy - so why not. One sandal and one tennis shoe later, the birthday outfit was complete.

And that, in a nutshell, is Quinn. An outfit that would look ridiculous on anyone else just simply works on her. She is bright, bold, sassy, quirky, and uniquely herself. She shines with her own style and is simply going to do things her way.

When you floor the pontoon

Quinn remains our child of paradox. She flies around the trampoline with no fear, bouncing off the netting constantly. Yet when she jumps off the dock, the water is typically no deeper than her knees. I can't shake her off my leg at gymnastics class (to the point where we withdrew her from class), but when we went to the fair on Friday, she marched across the midway, tickets in hand, to the ride she wanted - not caring a bit where I was. She is an old soul with an incredible vocabulary, but she still gets us up at night several times a week (last night was to tell me she loved me. I'm less receptive to being loved at 3am than at other times of the day ...).

Orange frosting

Quinn is our cautious thrillseeker. She happily shifts the boat to full throttle, but only when she knows Dad is right there to help her out. She'll tell it to you like it is. Or she will simply stonewall you. She has an incredible stoic [stubborn] stare that has been known to make her dad's forehead vein throb a time or two. And she has the most amazing, purely joyful smile!

She navigates life with her baby doll at her side, gently and lovingly caring for "baby Quinn" (or whatever the name of the day is). We discuss life as she sits on the counter, helping me cook. Buggy whispers to her stories of preschool after they are tucked into bed and think I can't hear them.

It is truly an honor to watch her grow up, finding her style, her independence, and her sense of self.

Official day of birth photo

Faces of Summer

I have a whole bunch of pictures that don't fit nicely in any one or two topics. So ... new theme: random photos of cute kids!

They have really built a sweet (though contentious at times) relationship
this summer. Complete with late night whispers about going to school.

If this isn't pure sibling joy, I don't know what is.
He drove (shudder). She shifted it between forward and reverse
to keep him from running into stuff. It was ridiculous and hilarious.

Wheelbarrow rides. SOOOOO much better
than wheelbarrow races.

Is it really a party without blue frosting?!?!

Straight up DIVA

Playing kickball with the big boys
and having the time of his life!

Watching the Opening Ceremony of the Rio Olympics.
Olympic spirit is magic, you guys. It brought
peace and camaraderie to these warring entities.

Bouncing Away from the To Do List

The cousins came last weekend and the Vs were more than happy to show Nate, Ben, and Uncle Kyle the ins and outs - or ups and downs - of the trampoline. The gang spent all morning on Saturday jumping with their cousins (and Auntie Tracey had her camera ... photo credit to her on all of these!). Then we went to a birthday party. With a bounce house. And they spent four more hours jumping. Sometimes, you pay for fun the next day ...

On Sunday, they jumped in the trampoline after another birthday party. On Monday, I was out with friends, so dad took them outside to ... jump in the trampoline. Tuesday was National Night Out and our neighborhood had our annual block party. At one point, we looked around and realized that the adults were having the party in the road. But all the neighborhood children were partying in our backyard! Likely at least a few were on the trampoline.

Thursday night, we were going to go school shopping. But ... trampoline. And then our buddy Jack came over and needed to jump too. We tabled the shopping for the night and focused on bouncing Jack around.

Today was beautiful out. Instead of doing responsible things like getting groceries or going school shopping, Mike popped up the pool and filled the water table. The gang alternated between the two water areas. And the trampoline. Of course. Even Mike and I got in on the pool fun. Although I didn't get in on the fun to quite the depth that Mike did!

If there is a question on why we aren't getting anything responsible done these day ... don't bug us. We're probably on the trampoline.

The Art of Birthday-ing

I just wrapped up a two week long birthday celebration with a girls' night out courtesy of my college roommates. I partied it up this year as I turned ... well ... I haven't decided how old I'm going to be yet ...

Birthday proper found me bringing my favorite cake (that Q helped me bake) to work. I got really busy with meetings and ended up eating a piece of cake for lunch. Which I followed up with a popcorn chaser (because popcorn Friday). Then we had pizza for dinner. And on Saturday, my dad got an ice cream cake for us to celebrate. We'll go ahead and say this is not The Year of Kale.

On Saturday, my parents, sister, Fiona, and I went to Beauty and the Beast at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre (Mike says our group was "four beauties and a beast"). It was Fiona's second play with us and she was super excited. Until she decided that it might be scary. I spent the first 20 minutes of the play trying to extract her face from my armpit. But once she stopped being ridiculous and watched the play, she loved it. Our sensitive girl feels all the feels. At the end of the first act, she exclaimed loudly, "He's [the Beast] not scary, he's sad!" And then when Gaston and the Beast fought near the end, the tears were rolling down her face. Quickly replaced by wonder when the Beast transformed. Auntie was exhausted just watching Bugs!

The most memorable part of the day was when the play ended and we walked to the door. There was a torrential downpour outside - and a very very long line of cars to drive up to the door for pick up. So I grabbed Bugs, ignored the dissension from Grandma and Auntie, and started running to the car. You guys, we were SO wet! It was so funny and totally worth the downpour dash.

Then this last week, Mom made another trip down and she, Em, and I went to Maks and Val On Tour ... which makes sense to anyone who watches Dancing with the Stars. Against all odds (and rush hour traffic), we pulled into the parking garage at the same time! We had enough time for a lovely dinner together and then took the short walk to the State Theater. It was so much fun - with such great company. I thought Em was going to die when they pulled someone from the audience to dance with Maks and that person got a double Chmerkovskiy kiss. I'm pretty sure I could do at least seven of the moves they did on stage - so I'm basically on deck as a back up dancer!

It's August 1 and Quinn has informed me that it is now her birthday month! The birthday crown has officially been passed.