Rinny the Pooh turns 4

 Corinne is one of the cutest people on Earth.

Exhibit A.- The face.

I love this face. I love it when she makes her eye brows dance, when she gets sassy and she narrows her big, beautiful eyes at me, and I love those adorable cheeks. Her smile and laugh can light up a room, and now that we're leaving Toddlerville behind and she's officially a big kid, it's nice to hear that laugh replace the whining. The challenges we've had when she was 2 and 3 are becoming a distant memory and I'm sure they will be replaced with new challenges, but I can see a definite change in her. And I love this face more and more each day.



 Exhibit B. - The attitude. (Please notice my favorite part of this video in the last 5 seconds of the song, when she closes her eyes in a diva-like manner)

I looked back on the blog post I wrote when Corinne turned 1 and then 2. All along we've been saying how she is a fiery little spit-fire, a ball of sassyness, and that hasn't wavered one bit. She is stubborn as a goat, but I'm seeing it work in her favor now that she's growing up a bit. She uses her will to get what she wants, but also to excel at things like gymnastics, art and everything else. She's afraid of nothing (except a room full of adults). She's a smart little cookie and that will of hers is going to take her places. I'd bet money on it.

But she's also my luv bug. I've been enjoying our time together so much. We snuggle. She tells me jokes about starting a gym for dogs, and then laughs hysterically. (A laugh I wish i could bottle up.) She LOVES to sing, dance and jump around. And it's fun to sit back and watch her play with all of her dolls and listen to all of the conversations she has with them. And this kid loves her sister and family so much. Despite her  exterior at times, she's extremely sensitive and is still learning how to deal with the abundance of feelings inside her. But she does everything with conviction and when she loves you, she LOVES you.

(The picture of her coloring the Monster High purse is from her party. She sat for an hour, coloring that purse. It was perfect when she was done. Meticulous, much?)

And Exhibit C.- Her sweet spirit.

This little stinker was destined to be mine. There's no doubt about it. I can just imagine her in Heaven before she was born, looking down and picking Wes and I to be her parents. We are so lucky she picked us. Her sweet spirit brings so much to our life and our home.

Here are some pictures from her birthday party. She requested that only a hand full of grown ups attend. It was a little awkward telling people, "Hey, your kid's invited to Corinne's party, but you're not." But I think everyone understood, and she had a fantastic time. I was so relieved! No tears! She loved the bouncy house with the slide (Thanks, Grandpa the Great!) She loved the party games, and she really enjoyed opening presents. She loved her baby doll from Nana, her sparkly dress from Grandma that she wore the next day, and a rainbow leotard from mom and dad that she's been begging for. But more than anything, she was elated to have her little friends around. They all had a blast and were perfect angels! I don't think it could have gone any better. Corinne's BFF from preschool, Madelyn, came too. Corinne was in heaven!

Grandpa came out the day before and treated her to a trip to Toys R Us. She picked out 2 Monster High girls, and kept saying, "I'm SO lucky!!!" It was pretty cute.

I hope 4 is the best year yet for this kiddo.

And because I didn't blog at all over the winter break, let it be known that we had a great time on vacation.



Taylor made me Nutella on bread and Teddy Grahams one morning. Breakfast in bed. Such a sweet girl.



We went to the zoo too, and even spent an afternoon at Aunt Sue's first grade class. I taught an ASL lesson, and Taylor and Corinne did art with the class.