Our Nine Year Old

New shirt

Kaylee with her loot.

Playing her new game Creationary.

It is hard to believe that our little girl is now 9 years old. Kaylee is a very sweet girl. She is very smart and does great in school. Her favorite subjects are art and history. She still enjoys drama and wants to be an actress when she grows up. The school play this Fall is a musical, so she didn't try out for it. She instead tried out for a part in our church's Christmas Program and her school's Christmas Program. She was given lead roles in both. We look forward to seeing her perform this next month. 

Kaylee is a good friend. She tries to be a friend to those without friends and even to those that aren't so nice. She has a good heart. We are proud of her. Third grade has brought a bit more drama with it. Her closest friends are Ella Marlatt, Olivia Durbin, and Katie Shane. 

We have noticed that with age comes a bit more sassiness. She doesn't play with her brother and sister quite as much as she used to, although they still have moments when they are the best of friends. I'm hoping those moments become more frequent again. Regardless, we are very proud of her and the young lady she is becoming. 

Some things that Kaylee enjoys are:

• Crafts -She is currently into duck tape crafts and making rubber band bracelets. 
• Games- Her favorite games are Clue, Battleship, Ticket to Ride, and Creationary. She also enjoys playing her DS and the Wii when we allow. She also loves hide-n-seek and tag.
• Favorite Shows: Full House, Arthur, Star Wars and Super Hero cartoons, Thundermans, and watching Hallmark movies with her mom.
• Sports- She is currently playing volleyball and really enjoying it. She just started to work on overhand serves and has gotten a few over the net. She also enjoys basketball, soccer and swimming (recreation only). 
• Bible Quizzing- Kaylee LOVES bible quizzing and is really good at it. It is fun to see her learning more about God's word and enjoying it.
• Adventures in Odyssey- Kaylee really enjoys listening to her Odyssey CDs.
• Mysteries- Kaylee doesn't enjoy reading quite as much as she used to, but when she does read she enjoys a good Nancy Drew mystery or An American Girl book. 
• Favorite Foods- She is a pasta girl through and through. She loves penne pasta, fettucini alfredo, macaroni and cheese, spaghetti and meat balls, tortellini, and lasagna. She also enjoys cream cheese and green olive sandwiches, black olives, cucumbers, peanut butter and bananas, and basically anything sweet as long as it isn't a sucker and doesn't have caramel in it.

Kaylee's gifts included: lots of clothes (she is growing a ton), a yo-yo, an Odyssey CD, a new volleyball, a "Nancy Drew" movie, a tiny shark, lots of duck tape, rubber bands, the game "Creationary", and a crystal making kit. We spent the night eating her favorite pasta dish and playing her new game Creationary. It is similar to pictionary but instead of drawing you build things with legos while people try to guess what you built. It is pretty fun. We had a nice evening together as a family and celebrating our little 9 year old. We love you Kaylee!!!

Kaylee's Friend Party

Mystery Scavenger Hunt

New shark

Duck Tape Time

Duck Tape Crafts

Olivia, Ella, Kaylee and Katie

Trace with his new duck tape hat Daddy made him.

Movie time with glow bracelets

Kaylee invited her three closest friends over for a detective themed sleepover in honor of her 9th birthday. The night began with a mystery themed scavenger hunt planned by Trevor. He created 20 clues that took the kids both inside and outside of the house. The kids LOVED it and it kept them busy for an entire hour!!! The final prize was a stash of duck tape...

Kaylee just recently discovered duck tape and was eager to have some of her own. Each child was given two rolls of duck tape for our craft time. The two activities I had planned were making roses on the end of their pens and picture frames out of duck tape. However, they were having so much fun and their creative juices were flowing that they continued crafting random items out of duck tape such as purses, baskets, and Trevor made a super cool spiderman hat for Trace. We actually had to stop craft time in order to eat dessert. They were having so much fun that time was getting away from us.

Kaylee chose tortellini alfredo with broccoli and grilled chicken as her main dish served with a fruit salad. This girl LOVES her pasta. The dessert she chose was made in a muffin tin and has a chocolate chip cookie on the bottom, a reese's peanut butter cup in the middle, and a brown on the top. It is super yummy and was last year's choice as well.

Following dessert, we watched the movie, "Nancy Drew" in honor of our detective theme. The girls thought the movie was a bit scary, but managed to make it through the whole thing. I think they were all relieved not to be sleeping alone. Kaylee and her friends giggled the night away, but did manage get a good nights sleep in the end. Trace and Kianna had their own sleepover since they were a little scared too.

The next morning, the girls played "Clue" and then played outside for awhile before parents arrived. I think Kaylee had a smile on her face the entire time. She loved just having a few girls over and they all got along so well and had a blast. Kaylee came away with a new board game called "Creationary", which she is anxious to play; an entire bag full of duck tape and some rubber bands to make bracelets; a crystal making science kits; and last but not least a red tailed shark. The last gift was from Kianna who was thrilled to get this for her sister. Kaylee loved it and he was quickly added to the fish tank to join the glo-fish.

Bible Quizzing

The girls started bible quizzing at our church this Fall. It is for kids in 1st-6th grade and we are studying the book of Genesis. There are 13 kids total from our church and I am one of their coaches. We had our first quiz meet today over 7 weeks worth of information. The kids competed against about 110 kids from other churches in the area. The girls did a great job! Kaylee quizzed at the highest level, which is the blue level. Typically that is for kids in 4-6th grade. She came away with a super star medal for scoring a perfect 60 points. Awesome job Kaylee!!!

Kianna quizzed at the red level, which is typically for kids in 1st-3rd grade. She came away with a silver medal and was thrilled. She did a great job remembering all seven verses she had memorized and came away with the biggest prize for that category. Our team did a great job. We had 1 super star, 3 gold medals, 4 silver medals and 3 crystal ribbon winners. I am so proud of my girls and our team as a whole. They have put in a lot of hard work over the past weeks.