Vivian is Six!

Despite our annual protestation that she needs to stop getting older, Vivian is turning six today!  She's had a busy few months since Kindergarten has started, with some big changes.  She's sounding out words and getting close to reading.  She's constantly spelling things, writing things, and asking us to spell things so that she can write them.  She's made some new friends at Kindergarten and is having an all around good time.  Her teacher at our P/T conference the other day confirmed that she is doing well academically, and socially, too.  Our big girl!

As usual, below is the year in pictures.  Previous years can be found by clicking on the links:  2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008.

December 2012

January 2013

February 2013

March 2013

April 2013

May 2013

June 2013

July 2013

August 2013

September 2013

October 2013 

November 2013 (yes, I know Halloween is in October, but it's only a few hours from November and was the best picture I had)

Halloween 2013

After last year's longest Halloween, this year came the shortest one.  Since we were gone the week before, we missed most of the parties and the girls ended up wearing their costumes just on the actual day of Halloween.  That was good for two reasons:  (1) I didn't finish them until 1am the night before and (2) they were a bit flimsy this year and by the time they got taken off, being worn all day and the evening rain had most definitely taken their toll on them. 

Annelee had a party at preschool that we didn't get to see (they trick or treat the offices in the building), but Howe has a parade outside of school, led by the Kindergarten class, so both Will and I walked over and watched Vivian's class, before going back home to continue working.

In the evening, I started out with the girls first, and once Rowan and Joel were ready, I went inside to hand out candy and Will went with Joel and the girls.  The rain and wind made it miserable.  Mostly for the parents and Annelee, who couldn't handle an umbrella AND the candy bucket.  Will was smart enough to "lose" Rowan, Vivian and Joel, take Annelee home and then go out to "find" them again.

Afterward, we started to dig into the loot, before the girls crashed in bed.

I was going to say this was the first year Annelee really got into Halloween, but according to the old posts (thank goodness I have a blog to jog my memory), that was last year already. 

Here are the previous years:  2012, 2011, 2010, 2009

Vivian and some of her KG buddies leading the parade

We already loved Vivian's teacher, Mrs Munson, before the parade, but this costume (the teapot from Beauty and the Beast) just totally sealed the deal.  She is awesome!

The cute Rowan-mosnter

Will's minion pumpkin was a big hit with kids and parents alike

Purple bat girl, ready for action!

Pink bat girl, looking pretty!

Are you done with the pictures yet?

They kept saying "Cheese" when I took pictures of the capes - just cracked me up!

Greenville, SC

After Summersville, we made our way down to Greenville, SC.  We spent some time with Will's relatives, Norma & Henry and Brenda, went to the Children's Museum and explored Downtown Greenville, especially Main Street and Falls Park, before attending the wedding festivities (which will be another post). 

The falls that give Falls Park its name

We bumped into the Campbells and meandered around with them

Family Photo

More pics of us and the Campbells

Will was kind enough to scare the heron into flight so I could take a photo.  I don't think the photographer that arrived at the "scene" a few seconds later was so thrilled with us ... whoops!

Susan and Dan ran off with our kids (thank you!), so we went for a coffee, just the two of us.  And took a photo to prove it.

The hotel lobby from the top floor.  The picture was taken from the glass elevator.  Probably the coolest hotel lobby I've seen

Yes, another hotel lobby picture.  Did I mention I thought it was cool?  :-)

Summersville Lake, WV

Our week-long "Rachel and Brad are getting married and we are going to the wedding" trip started with a couple of nights in a lovely cabin near Summersville Lake in WV.  The leaves were in near-peak color, and even though the weather wasn't totally what we had hoped for, we did have a wonderful time, and even managed to get in a little hike in the sunshine.  Annelee liked it so much that she asked almost every time we got in the car during the remainder of the trip "Are we going back to our cabin now?".

The playground was in full view (and within earshot) of the playground, so the girls could roam over there while the parents sat in front of the cabin sipping a glass of wine.   We enjoyed the jacuzzi hot tub, Will made yummy food, and I took a picture or two.  We will definitely have to come back some other time to explore WV a little more.

Even though we were just near a lake, not the sea, the retreat sported its very own lighthouse

Hot tub fun

I took about a bazillion road pictures while we were driving around and exploring

The two queens of the WV hills!

One of the three overviews that we visited on our short hike

Proof that we all went together (and that my camera has a self-timer function ;-)  )

Hiking back up from the last overlook

Vivian and her beloved hiking sticks

Scenic view

More road pictures from inside the car

Lake Summersville ... it gets drained every year to provide for white-water rafting, which is why the water-level is so low

Our cabin

Vivian and her teddy bears ... are we finally out of the silly-posed-smile phase?

I then took about 20 pictures of Annelee to get a nice one of her, but she is clearly still very firmly entrenched in the silly phase ...

New River Gorge Bridge - you can walk underneath the top road - definitely something to put on my bucket list!

I love how the mist swirls around the bridge

The road to the bottom of the lake to get another view of the bridge

The bridge viewed from near the bottom

More scenery

Finger Painting

Today is the first of a handful of days where there is no Kindergarten for one reason or another.  We had big plans for today, to ride the T and see the fountain and the duck.

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't having any of it, and rain was forecast for the day.  So, instead, Rowan came over to play, and we did some finger painting.

I love how the three girls started off daintily drawing with their fingers, and then finally started delving into hand prints and mixing some of the colors.

Carefully, one fingerprint at a time, apply paint to paper

Colorful self-portrait

Drawing the rainbow

Vivian often has red hair in her self-portraits at the moment

Rowan refused to look AND smile.  I caught a smile anyways.

Hand-painting is much more fun!

Ready for hand front-, back- and side-prints

Rowan's picture

Vivian's picture

Annelee's picture