Our 4 Year Old Beauty

On May 13, our little angel turned 4!  Boy, was she excited.  She has been asking "Is the next holiday my birthday, May thirteenth?!" since before Christmas.  We would have to list through all the holidays that were coming before her birthday.  She couldn't wait for her birthday and party to come!

Well, my beautiful girl.  I can't begin to tell you how you amaze us every day.  First of all, it's amazing how the time has passed.  It feel like yesterday we were anxiously awaiting your arrival, and I was sitting outside on our deck at our old house and decided to start writing. It feels like last week that I saw your sweet face for the first time, and you taught me how to be a mommy.  We learned to breastfeed together, you taught me what selflessness is.  You taught me about friendship and about the people in my life who are important (hint: it turns out, the important ones care as much about YOU as they do about me! ;)).  You taught me how to be stronger than I thought  I could be, more patient than I thought I could be, braver than I thought I could be.  It has been such an adventure that Daddy and I have been on together...and the best years have been the ones since you arrived.

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Reilly Belle, you are a friendly, bubbly, sunshiney soul.  You want to meet everyone and be their friend.  You look at everyone as a potential friend, and have no fear in new situations.  New things are only exciting to you, and your spirit amazes me.  You love a new adventure, and you are so excited to be in a room full of new faces - just like your Daddy!  We are in awe of how outgoing and full of love you have been since birth.  You want to hug everyone you meet. 

This year you started preschool!  We have been so proud of you this year, starting school like such a big girl.  You started asking to go to school last summer, so we obliged! You are so excited to learn everything.  Reilly, your mind amazes us. School is your favorite, you love the days when you get to go, you love the teachers, and adore your "big helpers". You can count to 100 and read any number.  (You favorite game is when we drive to Mima and Papa's, and you read the "green sign numbers" - We are at exit 68!  We are on Route 84!)  You started making up math problems in your head.  You just started looking at your fingers and holding up four fingers on one hand, and four fingers on the other hand, and saying "Four and four makes eight!".  I can't even tell you how many times this past year that my jaw just drops in awe of you, and you beautiful mind!  The other day in the car you started asking me what "one hundred twos makes?", and before I could answer you said, "I know! Two hundred!" And then you proceeded to tell me how to get 300, 400, 500.  You also love love reading.  We can't spell around you anymore, because you started guessing what we are spelling.  And you are right!  You can write all of your letters, and you love spelling words with Mommy.  I hope you always love learning as much as you do.

You have so much patience with challenges.  You never ever have given up on something and said, "Ugh, this is too hard."  You stay with a puzzle, writing activity, game, or difficult task patiently and quietly until you figure it out. 

You have become such a little actress!  This is trait that has definitely blossomed in the past year.  You love putting on plays inside, and playing pretend outside (usually queen, princess, magical powers, etc.).  Your Ariel rock is usually the base of all the pretend. :)  You make the most hysterical facial expressions that we have ever seen, and seem to just love acting.  It's so fun to watch you get so excited, and wonder if this will be an activity that you will always love!

You love playing with your sister and brother, and I often think what a gift they have by having you as their older sister.  You are happiest when they are around (and playing the games you tell them to play, as the natural leader!)  You LOVE making people laugh.  Especially your siblings.  If you find something that makes them laugh, you get so excited and will always remember to do it.

You speak like you are about 8 years old.  You phrases kill me on a daily basis. Just this week you used the following phrases, appropriately:
"I'm just livin' the dream, ya know?"
"You're awkward."
"I'm ready when you are, Mom."
"Let's just do the thing, Mom." (This is a Daddy phrase)

You say things like "It's a pleasure to meet you." But there is one word - just one - that I am hanging on to that you still say in your baby way.  It's washcloth.  For some reason, you still say "Woff-tob".  And I am obsessed with it.  I will cry when you learn to say washcloth.  It's the cutest thing ever.

You LOVE doing special "big girl" things alone with Mommy or Daddy.  You love being my sous chef, and cook or bake with me.  You are very good too!  You can chop vegetables (correctly!) with your special knives, crack eggs into a bowl, and stir ingredients without spilling.  You impress me with you kitchen skills!

You love going on trips with Daddy to "The Depot" or helping him outside.  You girls follow him around like little ducklings while he rakes, shovels, and does all his wood working. Riding in the wheel barrow is a favorite of yours. :)

Your third year will be known as The Year of the Dress Up.  You put on a dress-up dress EVERY SINGLE DAY.  It is just normal that you either wake up and put one right on (Are we going anywhere today mom? is your first question of the day, because you know if the answer is "no" that you can put a dress up dress on!), or you change right after school.  Your favorites this year were your Cinderella dress, your Sofia dress, your wedding dress, and your Belle dress.  You just got a new Rapunzel wedding dress for your birthday, and that is your current favorite.  You love your pink gloves to your elbows, and your black Christmas shoes (pictured above).  You are very specific how you like your hair done each day, which crack me up. (A little up, down with a headband, like Wendy Darling, like Dorothy were your requests this year).  You LOVE long hair and that your hair grew so much this year.

You lost your first tooth this year!  You took a spill, and luckily the tooth was the only injury.  At first you were a little scared, but you quickly switched over to proud.  We went out for ice cream to celebrate, and the Tooth Fairy came and brought you one whole dollar ("rich"), a note on tooth-shaped paper, and pixie dust!  You are still talking about it, and showing off your tooth-space. :)

Starting recently, you napped every day.  Starting about a month ago, you nap about every other day.  You only nap when you seem very tired, and you go in willingly.  When you skip your nap we have rest time, and usually do something special together like cook, bake, or something very grown up while the babies nap. :)

Some of your favorite:
Toys:  Rapunzel snuggly, any and all dolls (Specifically Rapunzel barbies, Frozen barbies, and all princess barbies really. You make families out of them), you love your new Amber doll, all puzzles, bubbles, your little princess dolls, your kitty cat snuggly. There are definitely more, but that's what I can think of right now.  "Dolls" (Barbies) are your number one right now for sure.  You want to do their hair, play with their crowns, put on their shoes, and make them sisters and mommies. A big treat is bringing them to bed or nap.

Activities:  You love cooking and baking with Mommy, putting on plays, going anywhere with Daddy, driving in Daddy's car and listening to his CDs and having his "white minties".  You love going to the park and going on the swings and slides.  You love running, picking flowers, and playing pretend with princesses. You love watching Sofia, Jake, Peppa Pig, Mickey Mouse, and all princess movies. You also love the Wee-Sing videos.  You love doing hair (yours, mine, Reagan's, your dolls) and you are so good at it!  You taught yourself how to braid after I showed you how once. You love when Mima and Papa visit, and getting their "prizes".

Foods: Everything?  Your favorite is pasta, that was your request this year for your birthday dinner - spaghetti specifically.  You LOVE yogurt. You love all fruits, pear, bananas, apples, strawberries, watermelon...okay so all fruits. Haha. You love avocados, eggies, quinoa, and love all your veggies too. Gum is your favorite treat right now, or ice cream, or anything with whipped cream on it.

I think this is my longest post in the history of posts.  I want to paint a picture of 4 year old you so I will always remember.  I just love you in the moon.  I love the little lady you are becoming.  You are my sweet girl.  You tell us that God talks to you all the time, and you can hear him.  I love that you speak to him when you have a problem.  Reilly girl, you keep Daddy and I laughing every day.  You are such a bright little spirit in our family.  We love watching you grow, and we wish you keep you at this age all at once.

 1 month

 1 Year (Hi, Declan!)

 2 Years

 3 years.

Happy Birthday, my sweet girl.