Kaitlyn at 7

My adorable little girl! Every parent says the same thing at every child's birthday - she's getting so big and growing up way too fast! But it's true. I love seeing her independence and how she revels in learning new things (lots and lots of learning going on right now - she loves school and the reading in particular is moving along by leaps and bounds).

Our precious, tiny little girl (4 pounds 12 ounces! 18 inches) is now 3'10" tall and a whopping 42 pounds (yeah that puts her at the 5th percentile for her age - still tiny!).

Fun loving and happy, this girl gets excited about so many things in life. She's a constant reminder to me to take joy in the "little things."

Affectionate and loving, she is constantly doing nice things for everyone. Her favorite thing is to make pictures and write notes and deliver them to friends and family. And right this minute she's snuggled as close as she can to me on the couch (making it very hard to keep typing, I might add).

Such a sweet, special girl. We're so lucky to have her in our lives. We love you Kate!

Kaitlyn's Birthday

Kaitlyn is 7 - and what a birthday it was. Actually it was more like a birthday week! Her birthday fell during their fall break at school so we split up the parties. Kaitlyn has a friend in her class, Bailey, that has a birthday the day before Kate so they made a plan with their teacher to celebrate them both together on Tuesday. Kaitlyn was so excited to share her birthday with her friend.

So we sent cupcakes to school. And Kaitlyn happily got a birthday crown and a candy necklace and wore them as much as she could that day and the next.

Then it was party time. Oh what a room full of incredibly hyper girls! It was chaotic but you could tell they were all having a great time. The theme in case you can't tell, was Hello Kitty.

And I had to include this photo of Tyler. I had made them all hairbows (what is a Hello Kitty party without her signature bow right?) and cute pink totes to collect their pinata prizes in. Tyler of course had to have one too and when they all tried on their bows, he did as well. Kaitlyn and Bailey - the birthday girls. Kaitlyn made very sure that Bailey got plenty of recognition for her birthday as well. Kaitlyn got first turn for everything, Bailey got second. And we had to light the candle and sing happy birthday to each seperately.

Finals hugs. Kaitlyn really does have a great set of friends.

Wednesday was a fun day at school. They were having some sort of health/exercise day and spent the whole time at the rec center playing games and swimming. Then she got to go shopping with Grandma Jackson to pick out her own gift.

Thursday was the "real" birthday. I decorated her door while she was sleeping and she got to open all her presents first thing in the morning (but made sure to save one to open later at the cake and ice cream party). Her main request was to play with her friend Aaliyah all day, which is something she hadn't had a chance to do much since school started. So all 4 kids went back and forth and had all kinds of fun. Dinner, as requested by Kate, was won tons and yakisoba noodle stir fry.

Both Kaitlyn and Tyler were very excited for the party with "the grown-ups" and so hyper they could hardly contain themselves. So when I found myself with a little extra time before dinner and the cake, I decided to get in a quick birthday photo session at the park. Kaitlyn doesn't always cooperate when I'm wanting really cute posed shots, but this time she was into it and we got some great ones.

Then it was time for cake and presents!

And I had to include this last shot of Wyatt working on her nails because it was the one disaster of the whole birthday week. He gave Kaitlyn some nail polish and nail pens and in trying to get the black pen to work Kaitlyn ended up with it ALL OVER her hands and her brand new (Hello Kitty) shirt. So I spent a decent chunk of the party running damage control and trying to get the worst of it out of the shirt. The good news is that only the cuffs of the shirt ended up with permanent damage, and the pen seems to work just fine. Kaitlyn and Tyler both ended the night with nails covered in spider webs, stripes, and polka dots.

Riding Horses

10/3/10 Beautiful Day out with the family. Loved the photos and the experience.