Kaylee's 11th Birthday

Our 11 year old

Our blessings

Dinner at Sauce

Basketball gear

Swim party

Fondue party

Mom and Kaylee

Slumber party

We just finished Kaylee's birthday week extravaganza. She has officially been well celebrated. The festivities began a week ago when we went out for italian food at Sauce with Daddy before he headed to Iowa to start his new job. We came home and ate rhubarb crisp and let her open a couple gifts. We finished the night off with a Hallmark movie.

The festivities continued when she and I baked side-by-side the night before her birthday preparing her treats. She made her brownie, chocolate chip cookie and reese's peanut butter cup treats to take to  school, while I made her chocolate chip banana bread cake with peanut butter frosting for our family celebration. The next day, we Facetimed Daddy at 5:30 AM his time, so he could watch her open her presents. She had a fun day at school, as one of her friends decorated her locker, making her feel extra special. At home, we celebrated farther with her favorite penne pasta dish and a game of Life.

Daddy came back from Iowa late on Friday night. Yeah! The festivities ended on Sunday, more than a week after they originally began, with a friend birthday party. She had five friends come: Lauren Swiggum, Hannah Spohn, Katie Shane, Amelia Grupp, and Emily Willet. The girls went swimming at The Centre pool and sang the night away doing karaoke. We ate fettucine alfredo with broccoli and chicken for dinner and had chocolate peanut butter fondue for dessert. Can you see a theme here? This girl LOVES pasta and dessert! The girls thought the fondue was super fun. The night ended with a movie and slumber party. As mentioned previously, she was well celebrated!

A few facts about Kaylee:

• She is a super sweet girl! She has a kind, generous heart. She is very mature for her age and is a good friend to those around her. She loves life and has developed a good sense of humor. She loves to laugh and brightens up a room when she enters it.
• School- She loves school! She gets excited about classroom projects. Her favorite subjects are literacy and history. She loves to read, especially about World War II. She has been working on the Left Behind for Kids Series. She also just read the first two books in the Maze Runner series. 
• Sports- She loves sports! She plays volleyball, basketball and soccer. She likes them all equally and is becoming quite the aggressive athlete. She just finished soccer and volleyball season. Basketball just began this past week. She will be practicing twice a week working on fundamentals. The season ends right before Christmas with two tournaments. Back in Iowa she gets to play on her school team and will play Upward Basketball at church.
• Percussion- She just began taking percussion lessons  at school this Fall. She is currently learning to play the xylophone and the drums. The verdict is still out, as to her interest level, but songs are beginning to become recognizable. 
• Friends- She has a really nice group of friends, which makes moving to Iowa difficult for her. Her closest friends are: Amelia Grupp, Hannah Spohn, Katie Shane, Lauren Swiggum and Emily Willet. We are trying to get her lots of friend time in before we move. Thankfully she also has some friends back in Iowa, who she is looking forward to reconnecting with. 
• Games- She loves to play board games, especially Life and Monopoly. 
• Movies- She still enjoys watching Hallmark movies with me and Super Hero movies with Daddy.
• Adventures in Odyssey- This girl continues to be addicted to Odyssey. She has now listened to the entire Odyssey library via her online membership and is still listening. Now Kianna is getting hooked...

We love our Kiki Bear. Happy Birthday sweet girl!!!!