Advanced Vocabulary

Taelyn has been using much bigger vocabulary and phrases lately.  Here are some of our favorites.

Apparently
Eventually
Speaking of ...
Prekitchen (prediction)
Seriously
That's impressive
Compliment

Kaelia, on the other hand, is frequently coming up with her own phrases as she tries to figure out what is an expression and what is not.  Here is what she has come up with lately.

Ins and Ans (her version of "ins and outs" for when I asked her what was in her purse)
You're so inception! (we're not really sure what this means)
When I was in another world ... (world means country)

School Photos

We just got the girls' school photos in.  I had to take a picture of the original photos, so the quality isn't great, but here is the idea of what our kiddos look like during the year of Pre-K and Kindergarten!

Happy Birthday, Meeka!

Today was Meeka's honorary 3rd birthday because she was actually born on Leap Day.  The girls insisted on having a small party for her, so we let them organize a special evening when they got home from school.  When we picked the girls up, Taelyn even told me that she has been so excited all day for Meeka's birthday.

The party ended up including a party hat for the birthday dog along with presents and Meeka's best friend, Molly - the next door neighbor's dog.  Meeka got some bones and dog treats for her gifts and shared them with Molly, although she was hesitant to do so.

At bedtime, the girls each chose a book to read to Meeka that they knew she would like.  Taelyn brought home a book from school about a dog's birthday to read out loud, and Kaelia read a book about cats because Meeka likes to chase them.  It was very sweet!

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