Here she is with her new desk that she got for her birthday. She loves to have her "own" space where she can organize her things and put everything. She loves playing "office" and is always asking for old receipts. Sometimes she keeps a little too much stuff, but she does have her own space (one of the perks of being the only girl).
Here is William posing with Kaitlyn by her desk. Although I don't have a picture of it, William is Kaitlyn's wrestling partner. They get pretty rambunctious, and occasionally even hurt each other, but Kaitlyn loves her little brother!
For her birthday, we went out to the movies and to dinner. (Not a "friend" party year!) We went and saw "Monsters vs. Aliens" in 3D and the kids loved it. After the movie, we met some of the family at Mimi's Cafe. What a fun night!
Here is Kaitlyn with Grandpa and Grandma Anderson.
Here is Kaitlyn and Zach with Grandpa and Grandma Lightman.
Here's a shot of the rest of the family.
Here is Kaitlyn getting ready to blow out the candle on her slice of cake.
I end up collecting a lot of different shots of each kid throughout the year that don't necessarily make up their own blog. So I've decided to talk a little bit more about each of my kids and put together all of the extra stuff I have on each of them, in one post. And what better time to do it, than on their birthday! Kaitlyn has the first birthday of the year, as far as my kids go, and she'll be the first one I can do this for.
The first shots are of her playing baseball. She started playing when she was just four (she turned five during the season) and has continually been moving up every year. The first year (2007) she played "Bubba Ball" with a bigger ball and the coach sucked up close and always pitched. Since there were no strike outs, if the coach pitched a lot of balls and the player was still struggling, they would get out a tee. The next year (2008) she played with a regular sized ball and the coach pitched the whole time again. This time after so many strikes (I think it was 4 instead of 3) the players could get out. This year (2009) she played with a kid on the other team pitching and after 4 balls the coach would come in and finish it off. There was an umpire though, and the kids could still strike out. In 2007 and this year, she was the only girl on her team. I was a little worried (because she's so young) and I was considering keeping her back in coach-pitch, but we decided to move her up. She stepped up to the challenge and she really worked hard and did a great job this year.
The first shots are of her playing baseball. She started playing when she was just four (she turned five during the season) and has continually been moving up every year. The first year (2007) she played "Bubba Ball" with a bigger ball and the coach sucked up close and always pitched. Since there were no strike outs, if the coach pitched a lot of balls and the player was still struggling, they would get out a tee. The next year (2008) she played with a regular sized ball and the coach pitched the whole time again. This time after so many strikes (I think it was 4 instead of 3) the players could get out. This year (2009) she played with a kid on the other team pitching and after 4 balls the coach would come in and finish it off. There was an umpire though, and the kids could still strike out. In 2007 and this year, she was the only girl on her team. I was a little worried (because she's so young) and I was considering keeping her back in coach-pitch, but we decided to move her up. She stepped up to the challenge and she really worked hard and did a great job this year.
Kaitlyn hitting the ball:
Kaitlyn running the bases:
One of the main reasons we moved Kaitlyn up is that we knew who her coach would be if we did. Lanny is our neighbor and his son had to be up in the kid-pitch league and we really wanted him for a coach. He did a great job with the kids and we're glad we made that decision. Ryan was also able to help coach. We lucked out with having most of her games on his days off and he was able to help a lot.
We had a fun party at the park after the season was over. The kids were able to play in the water and run around. I was a good time!
Kaitlyn and Lanny at the baseball party:
Kaitlyn's baseball team and the coaches:
Here is a picture of Kaitlyn with one of her best friends. Although Kaitlyn and Zach are getting old enough to have their disagreeable moments (it seems like the older they get, the more there are), they still love to play and hang out together. Sometimes, for the sake of the game they are playing, they will even dress alike:
Kaitlyn is going to love this picture when she gets older! I guess that's what you get when you mess around with mom's camera!
For a long time (2/05 - 9/09) I babysat a girl almost every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning. Her name is Danielle and she moved on to Jr. High this year. She and Kaitlyn had some good times and here they are at the park:
The last thing I have that Kaitlyn did is get her ears pierced. She started asking a while ago and while I came from a family (ok, my mom was a very firm believer that we needed to be 12) that didn't do it until we were older, Ryan and I decided that seven would be old enough. So on June 17th, a couple of weeks after school got out, Kaitlyn and I were able to head down to the mall. I have to admit that I was looking forward to this outing myself. I don't get down to the mall very often and Kaitlyn was nice enough to let me do a little shopping for myself. Then it was off to Clair's and "The Event."
This is Kaitlyn getting her ears marked.
They gave us the option of having two people do the piercing so it happens all at once. This worked really well and we didn't have to worry about her backing out after only one hole!
Well, she's still smiling after all is said and done! She did say that it hurt, but she was a trooper and got through it! Good job Kaitlyn!
That's it for now on Kaitlyn. She is such a wonderful daughter and a big help.I love you, Kaitlyn!
