I realized I never did blog about Ryleigh's birthday party. Since her birthday fell in the chaos of my boards and Halloween, we waited until the following weekend to have a party for her. We kept it low key and just had family over, even though I know she is dying to have a party with friends from school and dance - maybe next year. We had family photos taken at DC Ranch in Scottsdale in the morning, and then my family came over for dinner and desert after Ryleigh's nap.
Waiting for everyone to arrive. She's got her Bitty Baby all dressed up in Bitty's new clothes from GiGi. Ryleigh likes the new style options :)
Sweet Daddy Cupcakes - YUM!!! This also served as a cupcake taste testing for Chris and Kristin.
Present time! Tinker Bell Secret of the Wings.
The Fisher Price Disney Princess Castle. We kept telling her it was too young for her and she already had the Little People Castle, but she insisted she HAD to have THIS one. And she loves it!!
Whenever we look for games for her LeapPad she helps me find the games that are for her age range. Here she's showing us that it's for "4" year olds!
LeapPad Explorer Tangled and Tinker Bell games from Uncle Cory.
Rapunzel and Tiana for her new Princess Castle!
I know it's blurry, but her face in this picture cracks me up!
To go along with the Princess Castle, you HAVE to have a carriage to deliver you to the ball. This is Ariel's carriage. Every time we'd see this in the store she'd stop and check it out mesmerized.
More princesses - Prince Charming and Cinderlla.
Ah my crazy kid!! We were giving her a hard time saying it was probably boy toys (because she'd caught on to the shape of the box by this time and was convinced it was more princesses). So she's proving us wrong :)
Chutes and Ladders - more games to play!
Cinderella's Lego Castle from Kristin and Chris. Can you tell she LOVES princesses?
Time to open and play with toys!! Chris and Kristin showed Ryleigh how to follow the directions and make the Lego Castle.
Check out all those princes and princesses ready to go to the ball! Just waiting for one of the castles to finish construction.
Chris worked on the Little People Castle.
Look at the fury of castle building. Who will win?
Lego Castle Completed! Complete with Lego Cinderella and Prince Charming.
And all the little people princes and princesses got to dance and sing at the ball!
Time for cake! "Happy Birthday to you!"
Can't believe my little girl is 4! She is quite the spit fire these days - full of opinions, and very feisty But she's also a very loving, caring, and a well behaved little girl (when she wants to be). She got moved into the 4 year old classroom at her school in August, and as of yesterday (12/11/12) she got moved into the 5 year old Pre-K class. She's working on writing her letters and numbers. She can write her full first and last name, and she's working on her middle name. She loves to color and draw. She is a little fish in the swimming pool, but has finished swim lessons until next Spring. She started dance again this fall, and after trying multiple classes to find the best fit for her, I thought we found one where she wouldn't be completely bored. The studio owner recognized that Ryleigh wants to be challenged, and asked if she'd like to try the Pee Wee Company Ballet class. The class is taught by Claire's mom. Claire was her friend from dance last year. The Pee Wee level is for girls ages 5-7 years old. The class is very structured and strict - pink tights, black leotards, no skirts, hair pulled back off the face and all the company girls must wear dance belts. No misbehaving or messing around is tolerated. Ryleigh tried the class and loved it! She kept up fairly well for being 1-3 years younger than the rest of the girls in the class. And she thrives in the stricter environment. She also takes a combo (ballet/tap) class that is taught by the same teacher for 3-5 year olds to allow her to continue to grow in tap. At her 4 year well check, she weighed 32 pounds (13th percentile), and was 38" tall (42nd percentile). Her hearing and vision passed with flying colors (so now we know she's just ignoring us half the time!). My baby is no longer a baby. In fact she's is super excited to be a big sister in a few months :)
