Bowling for Tay's Birthday

When Taylor's birthday was coming up, we asked her what she wanted to do, and she said, "go bowling with Ty". :-)

We met up one Saturday night with the VandeGuchte family, and the kids had so much fun!

Camryn's Outfits

This girl... and her outfit choices and constant clothing changes during the day, required its own blog post.

Here are some snapshots of her...many of them are from the same day!

(This was her chosen outfit for church one Sunday...in the middle of winter ;))

All pink!

Dressed up to watch TV 

 (Valentine's Day - pink from head to toe!)

Cinderella!

This was the third outfit for Cam this day! 

And some day she might be mad at me for posting this...but there are some nights where she will put out her clothes for the next day, and she will coordinate everything from her underwear to her bow and clips. ;)

Gotta love little Cam-Cam's love of clothes! :)

February Round Up!

Besides Taylor turning SIX, here are some snapshots from February....

Cam was looking all sorts of cute wearing my hat out to dinner one night

Taylor cruised through some more sight word lists...and learned what an apostrophe is (she thought it looked like a piece of macaroni and cheese first ;-))

I got sick one Friday, and fell asleep on the couch in the evening while Ryan took the girls out to a Hamilton basketball game. Uncle Chris and cousin Annie were there, too :-)

Reading books with Grandpa

A Sunday Instagram picture....Camryn all dressed for church, and Taylor wrapping up the night by reading Elephant and Piggie to me and Camryn

Another snow day! This snow day came after two days of teaching and two nights of parent-teacher conferences until LATE...so it was such a blessing to have a day off because I didn't get to see Tay and Cam much earlier in the week.
Snow day selfie!

Big Apple Bagel for breakfast....just because we kinda love it :-)

Camryn had a couple sick days...with a cough that would just not leave her alone.
Falling alseep in the car after not being able to nap because of her cough

Couch snuggles

And as relaxed as possible watching Cinderella

Valentine's Day breakfast!

Playing Guess Who before bedtime

I had a two-hour delay, which meant a more relaxed morning and breakfast with these two :)

And to wrap it up...Cam's first attempt at a selfie. She's got a little practicing to do. ;-)

S-i-x!!

It takes two hands now for Taylor to tell someone her age! She has grown and learned so much this year as she entered the world of Kindergarten! Taylor knows what she wants. She can be incredibly determined. She can also be so thoughtful and insightful as a six year old. We love every part of her.

Breakfast with our now SIX year old!

This was the Instagram picture that I posted on her birthday....love some of these pictures from her this last year....

And one to look at how much life has changed since she was born!

As a six year old, I thought I would let Taylor answer some of these questions in her own words :)

Favorite color: blue
Favorite movie: Inside Out
Favorite TV show: Miles from Tomorrow Land
Favorite part about school: music
Favorite teacher: Mrs. Meyering
Who is your best friend: Ty
What are some of the names of your friends at school: Peyton (she misses Peyton who moved to another school a couple months ago), Mason, Ellery, Jim
Favorite dinner: macaroni and cheese
Favorite snack: Cheez Its
Favorite cereal: Honey Nut Cheerios
Favorite place to go visit: Mem's Lake house
Favorite thing to do outside: sledding
Would you rather play inside or outside: both
Favorite toy: Rarity's Boutique
Favorite place to go out to eat: Mem's
Favorite animal: owls and cats
Favorite thing to do in the summer: ride my bike
Favorite holiday: Christmas
Anything else you really like: play on the ipad, Tony is my favorite stuffed animal, white blankie

And because I usually include 'dislikes' in my post, here are some answers of things she doesn't care for ;)

What food do you not like? broccoli, salad, peanut butter
Is there anything you are scared of? monsters and blood
What is something that makes you feel frustrated? Camryn being mean
Is there anything else you really don't like? nothing


And...
What do you want to do when you grow up? be a teacher :-)

Sitting at her big girl desk that we gave her for her birthday. Makes her look so much more grown up some how...

Here are six things we LOVE about Taylor Leigh as a six year old :-)

1. She is a READER! She can read simple books to us now. She is picking up on sight words more quickly as the year goes on. She tries to read what things say in lots of places. She is reading at a level 8 midway through Kindergarten, and the end of the year goal is a level 4 - so proud of her!!

2. She is a good BIG SISTER. She will help Camryn if we ask her to, she will engage in lots of fun imaginative scenarios with Cam, and it is fun to watch them play the roles of "Anna" and "Elsa" from the movie Frozen as they listen to their book on tape. Now, don't get me wrong, these two can fight like crazy as well, but they always come back to being best buddies.

3. She has gone through the transition from Toddlerville - where we have taken her since she was a baby - to a new school like a champ! She has done so well from the very first day of school. There have only been a handful of times that she has ever said something about not wanting to go (usually after a snow day, because snow days are pretty fun :-)). She has made new friends, adapted to new routines, and is having a fabulous Kindergarten year with her teacher Mrs. Meyering.

4. She is becoming independent in little ways that is fun to watch! She can get her own food from the fridge now (I know, seems funny, but there is something about each stage of independence that I just embrace because it makes my life a little easier ;-)). She puts her own clothes on (well...most of the time) - this took a while to happen. Just waiting for her to be able to buckle her own seat belt. The bucket seat still makes this hard to do....but it will be a happy day when both kids can get themselves in and out of the car independently! ;)

5. She is a good FRIEND. When we had her parent teacher conference, the students wrote their three favorite friends in class on their little conference sheet. Her teacher's name told us that Taylor's name was written by over half of the class. I hope that she continues to be that good friend as she goes through school!

6. Simply that she is Taylor. She has her own personality, fears, favorites, likes, dislikes...love everything that makes her who she is, because she is a pretty fantastic kid to raise.

Happy Happy 6th Birthday, Taylor Leigh!!

TAYLOR TURNS SIX!

Six?!  Big kid!

This year, Taylor wanted an "Inside Out" birthday party - one of her FAVORITE movies.
Lots of family, lots of pictures, she had lots of fun!

Blowing up balloons the night before...

Ready for the party! We spent the afternoon coloring lots of Inside Out pictures to decorate the fireplace. :)

All dressed up - LOVE that they both dressed themselves, very telling of their personalities!

 (Noted to add....Taylor was acting funny for the first hour of her party, and was being funny about wanting her slippers on in this picture. We later found out before bed, that she had a good size sliver in her foot, and she was scared to tell us and was trying to hide it. Poor kid was bothered by it the whole evening!)

Just waiting for all the family to arrive.... pre-party crew ;)

Food Time

Presents!

Cake :-)

And a little toy play time after all the fun! 

Taylor had a lot of fun with these Legos...

It was a great way to celebrate our soon-to-be 6-year-old!! Happy Birthday, Taylor!