With summer officially over, I thought I would do a visual compilation of what we’ve been up to.

This summer we had several play dates with a girl named Riley, who is two years older than Polina.  Polina has been the happy recipient of Riley’s hand-me-downs, including a dress a la Princess Elsa that Polina didn’t want to take off.

 

Polina has grown more comfortable being in front of and behind the camera.

 

She completed her first full year of preschool.

 

Polina adopted the behavior of some of the boys in her preschool.

 

I realized I need to take Polina to the trampoline park at least once a month to save my bed.

 

We finished renovating the first of three bedrooms in our house.

 

For the second year in a row, Polina refused to take off her dress at the swimming pool.  Fortunately, I didn’t buy a bathing suit because we got one from Riley. : )

 

 

I noticed some quirks about our house.

 

Polina entertained herself in the mirror.

 

Polina turned 4 years old in August.

 

 

Despite the pile of work to do in our home, we took a Sunday off to celebrate Polina’s birthday.

 

 

We began prepping the house for exterior paint.  Pete is smoothing out the wood siding of the new roof that went up two years ago.  It was rough, not like the smooth siding below it.

 

Polina likes pulling a shirt over her head and asking me to take a picture.  I particularly like this one.

 

Pete bought Polina an over sized Winnie the Pooh last year.  (All in the name of love.)  Now it’s being used against him.

 

After pressure washing and priming the siding, we’re ready for paint.

 

I took Polina to the Evergreen State Fair for the first time.  She wanted to go on the roller coaster, but I am scared of them, even the kiddie one.  Needless to say, Polina loved it, while I closed my eyes and hung on for dear life.

 

Polina fell in love going to the library.  She always greets her friends.

 

Peter finally got his wish of having a family movie night, except it wasn’t with The Wizard of Oz.  Polina sat in another room because she was afraid of the tin man on the cover.  We settled for her choice- Tom and Jerry.

 

We painted 4/6 sides of our house while the weather is still good.  Finding the right color was an ordeal.  After comparing many hues of green, we chose Valspar’s La Fonda Territory Green, but chose to go with Sherwin Williams exterior paint.  The first paint store couldn’t match it properly.  It was stressful.  I tried another SW store and they nailed it.  In the end, Pete thanked me for fighting for the right match.

There were many trials and errors.  Peter tested the final hues on a model house.

So that’s it folks.