We've Got Style

The girls have been developing their own sense of style over the last few months.  It's especially interesting to see how different Kaelia is with the same clothes that Taelyn used to wear as they get passed down to her little sister.  Where Taelyn was always obsessed with pink and dresses, Kaelia fixates on anything from the wardrobe that is blue, shorts, and mix-matched colors.  Kaelia favorite outfit is her blue running shorts with her blue rain boots and any pink or multi-colored shirt to go with it.  She has certainly mastered the style of boots and shorts.  For her school attire, however, Kaelia has also found a way to bring out her style with a school uniform.  She started off by boycotting her white socks and wearing pink socks.  That has now evolved to sometimes wearing mismatched socks.  She has also transformed her plain grey long-sleeve shirts and black tights that she wears under her uniform to the brightest patterned clothes that she owns.  We finally drew the line this week, though, when she put her pajamas on under her uniform!

Taelyn, on the other hand, has been much more focused on her hair and accessories as of late.  She makes, collects, and recieved various bracelets from her friends at school, and she likes to wear all of these at once.  She often wears 5-6 bracelets on each arm - all of which are multi-colored and home-made.  She also likes to "do her hair" in front of the mirror before we go anywhere.  This usually consists of wetting it down, adding a little mouse, and putting on a headband.  To top off the look, she also likes to wear a ring and necklace.

Taelyn - 6 Years Old

Taelyn is six years old today, and it quite often feels like she is six going on sixteen!  She is becoming more and more interesting in the latest electronic toys and games and has an ever-increasing vocabulary.  Her absolute favorite toy is her Ferby who she cares for by feeding it each day, giving it a shower, playing games with it, and decorating its room (all a part of the app on the iPad that goes with the Ferby).  Taelyn also has really gotten into Minecraft lately and likes to create and name dogs in her own special world to care for.  So far, she has gone through a couple of different dogs named Pink and Taelyn - when one dies, she makes a tombstone and then creates a new dog with the same name.  Another app that Taelyn likes is Video Star where she gets together with Kaelia to make music videos.  Here is a sample of some of her work!

Speaking of music, Taelyn's favorite singer is currently Taylor Swift because Taylor sounds sort of like Taelyn.  She especially likes the song, "Shake it Off" and chose that for her Smilebox slideshow song at the bottom of this post.

Taelyn is also a very creative thinker.  She loves science and coming up with new innovative ideas.  She will sometimes set up her own laboratory in her bathroom and mix together different household products to see what will happen.  She will first come up with a prediction and then test it to see if it is true.  Taelyn is also continuing new ideas for her inventor's notebook and says that she hopes she will be in a book some day like other great inventors.  Some of her latest inventions are the Freezerwave (like a microwave but it cools down food that is too hot) and the Double Toothbrush (a toothbrush with bristles on the top and bottom so you can brush all of your teeth at once).

In school, Taelyn has been progressing with her reading, writing, and math.  She has moved up from a level 1 to a 7 since the start of the school year with her reading homework and uses strategies to help her with words that she doesn't know.  She can also count past 100 and understands the patterns of 100, 200, 300, etc.  She has been learning how to count by 2's, 5's, and 10's.

Taelyn has a great group of friends at school as well.  She plays mostly with five other girls in her class while her closest friends are Dana (from Australia), Lana (from Sudan), and Gaby (from South Africa).

Taelyn is now 44 lbs. and 45 inches tall.

This photo slideshow made with Smilebox

Taelyn's 6th Birthday Party

We celebrated Taelyn's 6th birthday yesterday with a little party with her closest friends.  This is actually the first school-friends party we have had, and Taelyn came ready and willing to make it a great party.  At the start of January, she told me that she wanted to have a My Little Pony themed birthday party and had some great ideas to go with it.  She started talking about all of the ponies different personalities and how she wanted to do an activity related to each pony.  So we designed various stations for her friends to attend and a Pony Passport to stamp after each station.  Here is what Taelyn came up with.

Station 1 - Rarity's Dress to Impress:
The guests get dressed up in fancy clothes because Rarity like the latest fashion.

Station 2 - Twilight Sparkle's Read to Succeed
I read a pony story to the group, and they end by coloring some pony pictures.

Station 3 - Rainbow Dash and Applejack's Apple Dash
Two teams compete against each other by carrying an apple on a spoon in a relay format to see who can reach the finish line first.

Station 4 - Fluttershy's Animal Lover
Three teams search around the backyard for various items that belong to a pet dog in a scavenger hunt.

Station 5 - Pinkie Pie's Party Time
Everyone sings happy birthday and enjoys some cake.

Taelyn was so excited for this party, and it was a lovely day.  She had six friends come over and attend all of the stations together.  After cake, Taelyn opened her presents, played some more with her friends, and then said goodbye.  I was most impressed with her hostess abilities to make everyone feel welcome and special.  As guests arrived, she greeted each one, handed them a Pony Passport, and explained their tasks for the day.  While opening presents, she devoted time to each individual person and gift and gave a big hug to each person after opening the gift.  As guests left, she also made sure to give each person a goody bag and thank them for coming. She was the perfect hostess and the happiest birthday girl!

Free slideshow design generated with Smilebox

Kaelia's Big Ride

Kaelia finally made the decision to ride a big kid bike today!  We were shopping at a toy store for her sister's upcoming birthday present, and she kept fixating on the bikes.  So once we got home, Justin and I encouraged her to try riding Taelyn's bike.  We have been suggesting this for quite some time because we know she is ready.  She zooms around our complex on her balance bike with ease, but she has not been willing to ever try a bike with pedals.  We knew, however, that once she gave it a try, she wouldn't have a problem.  This was exactly right.  Justin held on to the back of her seat to get her balanced at first and then let her go.  Kaelia did great and loved the experience!  Right away, she asked if she could try it over the speed bumps on our street.  She's still a little ways off of riding completely on her own, but today was a great start.  We are so proud of Kaelia!

Kaelia's First Attempt at Bike Riding

An Asian Vacation

Our school had another week off this week, and we took advantage of the time to go on another vacation.  It has been quite a long time since we have been to Asia, so we decided to take a trip to India and Sri Lanka.

In India, we visited a friend that we knew in South Africa who now teaches at an international school in New Delhi.  We were only there for a weekend but had a great experience.  Our friend, Faze, took us to Old Delhi were we got a tour of the town by bicycle rickshaw.  There we saw crowded streets, cows in the city roads, and the infamous cables and wires clumped together across buildings.  The most memorable part of the tour was a stop at a local building where people sell chilli peppers.  Just walking in to the bottom floor of the building, we started coughing and tearing up at the powerful smell.  Once we walked up to the third floor, we finally saw the chillies - huge bags full of them.  This was also a wake-up call in to local poverty and culture.  There were very small stalls, one after another, that each contained a small platform with a blanket on top for a bed and many bags of chillies next to it.  This is where sellers of the chillies sleep and live.  It also happened to be Saturday - bathing day - where the people were able to wash up for the week.  Taelyn was surprised to see how they would bathe right in front of us.

The next day, we took a day trip to see the Taj Mahol.  We have seen numerous pictures of the palace, but the pictures do not give it justice!  The Taj was enormous and impressive.  Our guide pointed out all of the symmetry, and as we stood in various points on the property, we could look left and right to see exact mirrors images.  This was true of the palace, the guest buildings, the front entranceway, and the gardens.  It was amazing.  The girls also had a great time as mini celebrities.  We bought them Indian dresses the day before on our rickshaw tour, and they were eager to wear the dresses at the Taj. As they walked along, people came over every five minutes, asking to take pictures with the girls.  Then when they posed for pictures in front of the palace, they had a little paparazzi ready to take the pictures as well.  They didn't seem to notice too much, and Taelyn was really excited to take a picture where it looks like she is touching the top of the Taj Mahol.

The next stop on our journey was to Sri Lanka where we spent four nights at a beach resort with some friends from school.  They have three daughters, so our girls were more than happy to play together. We stayed in small cabanas made out of palm leaf weaving on the walls and thatched roofs.  Our bathroom actually outside the back of the cabana in a private, walled off palm leaf woven area, and the water for our shower ran through a piece of bamboo.

While on the beach, we got to see local fisherman bring in a huge round of fish 2-3 times per day by casting out a large net with boats and then pulling in the nets by hand.  The girls loved to be around when during the final stages of the process so they could see all of the fish get dragged in.  They got to pick up several fish on the beach, but we also had to be careful not to step on any of the mini swordfish.  They were only about 3-4 inches long but very pointy.

The biggest highlight of our time in Sri Lanka was a boat excursion to go dolphin watching.  The experiences was absolutely amazing.  After about 10 minutes to driving out at sea, we came across tons of dolphins.  They would literally swim past by the hundreds, leaping out of the water within feet from the boat, and occasionally jumping up to do a flip.  All five girls were ecstatic with the adventure, and the adults were not any less impressed.

Other fun activities included salsa lessons for the adults and palm leaf weaving for the kids.  There were also lots of places for the kids to explore - including a wooded area off the side of our cabanas and the many crooks and crannies of the resort where cats and kittens roamed.  During the rest of the time at the beach, we spent quality time swimming in the ocean and pool, playing in the sand, and just hanging out.  It was a great combination of adventure and relaxation.

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