Opal turns 4

Oh my goodness, where did the last four years go? And Opal is only one year from being 5 and somehow 5 seems like she will not be little anymore. We have had a resurgence of enjoyment in Opal because she is growing too quickly. However, she is a lovely four year old now. Tonight in the car we passed a restaurant and I said, "I've never been there before." And John says, "You aren't missing anything. It's nothing." and Opal says, "Yeah, all they have is canned stew."

Hilarious.

And we pulled up in front of one of our friend's houses a few weeks ago and we were waiting for them to come out and get in their car and Opal and I are looking at their house. She says, "Mama, they really need to clean their gutters out, don't they."
And they really needed to clean their gutters.

And around the time of my birthday when my mom was visiting, we were all coming into the house and John and I were pestering each other. It started playful and then we were really starting to get annoyed. And Opal said to us, "Now children, just go away."

She has entered this realm of consciousness where she knows everything that is going on. There is no longer hiding little side conversations. She hears it and she gets it. And she makes jokes about it. For that, John is very proud.

Opal helping to bake her birthday cake.

We had a little family dinner on Opal's birthday. Here she is with her cousin Will at the kids' table.

Our neighbor from our last neighborhood, Virginia, joined us for supper. Caroline, Papa, and Uncle Bill.

Here she is standing in front of her presents. I love this picture.

John made Opal a sandbox for her birthday in our backyard. Here she is just after we put the sand in it. She played for over an hour, far into dusk on her fourth birthday.