Vanessa's 4th Birthday

Vanessa had a fabulous day yesterday!!  She woke up to pink streamers on the girl's room door.  The first time I saw her she was wearing her "birthday suit" - ha!  I brought her a new swimsuit to wear for the first day of swimming lessons.  It was slightly big so I sewed the straps a little tighter and now it fits perfect.
She jumped around most of the day and was so excited to be four.
She chose to eat Oatmeal Squares for breakfast.  Her fav!

I started making hashbrowns and eggs and the rest of the family ate that, but Vanessa had no interest and was perfectly happy with her cereal. :)

Violet and Calvin said something like, "We're so glad you're four now! Now you can build cool lego things like we do!"

Another BIG perk to turning FOUR! is getting to eat two gummy vitamins every day instead of one.  She's been anticipating this moment for a long time.

The we scooted all the kids off to swimming lessons at UNI.  They got settled in their classes and Vanessa only seemed a little hesitant to join her class.  She just told me she didn't want Andrew.  He was her instructor LAST YEAR.  She remembered the class and her instructor and just wanted someone different.  Well, she got what she wanted.  A very nice instructor named Meredith (who happened to teach Violet in level 2 two years ago) was Vanessa's teacher this year.  She joined 4 other little girls and really seemed to enjoy herself.

What else does Vanessa LOVE?  Frozen, of course!  After checking out the garden on the way home and noting all the little seedling plants popping up and watching a house being built across the street, we ate lunch at home and the kids all watched a matinee performance of Frozen.  

Eli napped and I took advantage of the time to make and decorate Vanessa's cake.  We played outside for awhile.  I pushed Vanessa in the swing for a long time, her favorite activity!  Dave tackled a project he's been wanting to do for awhile - sand down some doors in the house so they shut more smoothly.  I prepared chicken for grilling, and cleaned up the house a little for company.  Rachel came over to help decorate at 5:30 and Mama Row showed up at 6.  Vanessa smiled and posed for photos (that's rare) and loved opening up all her presents.  Rachel got her some mints, gum, and a pink dress.  Mama Row gave her a clip-on flashlight, Dave and I got her some little frozen figurines to play with (Elsa, Anna, and Olaf), Grandma Jo&Grandpa Jon mailed a sparkly bunny necklace (they said one more package is coming), and Grandma Martha mailed a package that had some Frozen tableware - plate, bowl and cup.  So fun!  She loved hearing us sing Happy Birthday, blowing out the big tall candles one by one, and eating PINK CAKE.