Our little girl is 5!!!!

Trevor surprised Kaylee with her first flower bouquet. She was really excited!

The Barbie Rapunzel cake topper I made for Kaylee's cake.

Five years ago, I lay in a hospital bed excited to have just given birth to my first child, not knowing what to expect. It has been so fun watching Kaylee grow and mature since then. Kaylee is such a sweet little girl with a great personality. She loves to laugh and be silly. She loves being tickled by Daddy. She loves to play games with her favorites currently being: Sorry, Blokus, Candy Land, and the Wii Go Diego Go game. She also enjoys playing hide-n-seek, even if it means hiding right in front of you or hiding in the same places over and over. Kaylee also enjoys playing with Barbies, Polly Pockets, baby dolls, watching movies ("Annie", "Mary Poppins", "Sleeping Beauty", Veggie Tales, and "Barbie Rapunzel" are her current favorites), reading books, and playing on the computer.

Kaylee loves to do crafts and loves to write words with her favorites being: Mom, Dad, Kaylee Cook, Kianna, Trace, dog, cat, and God. She absolutely loves to draw and color pictures. She is becoming quite the artist these days. I love it when she draws pictures of our family. The people are getting more and more realistic. She told me the other day, "Mommy, I didn't know how to draw you holding Trace so I just put him in your belly." Upon a close examination of her picture of me, there I saw little Trace right inside my belly. I thought that was pretty clever.

Kaylee is a very social little girl. She loves playing with her friends, of which she has many. She makes friends very easily. It isn't unusual for Kaylee to make a new friend when we go someplace. For example when we go to the park, she usually is running around with a new friend within the first few minutes. Kaylee is a very sweet little girl with a big heart. She is wonderful to Kianna and Trace. She loves them both dearly and is an excellent big sister. Her and Kianna play so nicely together (most of the time). They seem to make up new games all the time. I catch them reenacting scenes from "Little House on the Prairie" and "Annie". They are both really creative! Kaylee enjoys helping me keep an eye on Trace and keeping him away from all the "no no's". She also loves to help me in the kitchen whether it be baking, making toast, or making a sandwich. She has several chores which include: making her bed everyday, clearing her plate from the table, taking care of the glass recycling, and picking up her toys. She loves to help! She does a great job with most of them, although the latter one continues to be the biggest struggle for both she and her sister.

Kaylee is a smart little girl. We have recently found that she is very goal oriented. At preschool her teacher set 5 individual goals for her (and everyone in her class). Kaylee's goals include: learning to count by 10's, learning her address, learning her phone number, learning how to write/spell her middle name, and learning how to write #'s 1-10 correctly (she gets them backwards sometimes). Without much help from us, she has quickly achieved the first 3 goals and is well on her way to achieving the 4th goal. She is highly motivated to learn, which we are hoping continues. She is doing an awesome job with her reading lessons too. She has completed 55 out of 100 lessons in her book, "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons". Yesterday, she actually asked me if we could do a reading lesson instead of me telling her she needed to do a lesson. That was HUGE, as in the past we have had some whining associated with doing her lessons! The stories she currently reads during her lessons consist of about 10 sentences. After she finishes reading the story, she is asked several questions to make sure she comprehends what she is reading. It is pretty exciting watching her learn to read and seeing her interest grow. We are very proud of our little girl and the young lady she is becoming. We love you Kaylee!!!!

ADDENDUM: Lest you be fooled into thinking she is perfect, here are a few of her current struggles. Kaylee is currently dealing with being a bit sassy and talking back with attitude. This is relatively new for her, as is her comment, in regards to being caught doing something naughty, "I do it all the time when you aren't looking Mom". I appreciate her honesty, but am striving to teach her that even if I'm not looking, God is and He wants her to honor and obey her parents regardless. It is proving to be a tough lesson to teach. She is also struggling with selfishness, wanting things just her way. I'm sure this will be around for awhile, as I still struggle with my own selfishness and I'm much older than 5!

I have heard that with girls there is drama. I think the drama is just beginning. Even between Kaylee and Kianna there are hurt feelings over so and so "said they don't want to be my friend" or "she said she isn't my best friend anymore" or "she said she doesn't want to play with me anymore". This is also beginning between their friends. Kaylee recently came home from school sad because one of her friends told her she wasn't invited to her birthday party because she didn't have a cat and only people with cats were invited. The next day the issue was resolved and all was well. Oh my goodness, she is only 5, is this the drama we have to look forward to???