Kaelyn's Birthday at School

This is the first time that Kaelyn has been at school on her birthday.  Last year her birthday was over the weekend and when she was still in pre-school, we were in Orlando for her birthday.  She realized a few weeks before her birthday that she would be at school on her birthday and she was quite excited.  She asked me WAY in advance about bringing cupcakes in for her class.

She wanted Hello Kitty cupcakes.  I went to the school over her lunch break and took her McDonald's and ate with her.  She was so happy.  She went on and on about it and just today I heard her talking again about me bringing her lunch on her birthday and eating with her. 

Two of her classmates were not in the classroom for the picture for some reason.  This is seven of the nine kids in her class.

Ross and Kaelyn

Kaelyn with her teacher, Ms. Diane.

Ms. Wendy (one of the aides) and Kay.

Ms. Tracey (classroom aide) and Kay.

Opening a few presents at home that night.

John was putting a new Hello Kitty watch on her wrist.

A book from Granma and Grandpa about Emerson the Elephant.  It came with and elephant "pal" and soccer ball.

I looked up while Kay was opening presents and saw Buster on the couch covered by elephant pals.

:-)

Happy Birthday Kaelyn!

Today is Kaelyn's seventh birthday and I have to say, the past seven years seem to have gone more quickly than any other "seven years" of my life.  I could go on and on about everything Kaelyn means to me but I feel like words couldn't adequately describe my feelings even if I did try.  So I'm just going to keep my emotions to myself and go in my bedroom and cry tonight after I look at all these pictures and realize that Kaelyn has grown/is growing up way too fast.  :-)

I really can't remember if I have done a post like this every year for Kaelyn's birthday or if I have chosen the same pictures to post every year, etc.  Hopefully not!

2005

Kaelyn Marie

Her official hospital picture.

A first of many, many family pictures.

Ready to go home from the hospital.

 Kaelyn was no bigger than the placemats on our table.  I remember one of the first days we had her home.  We layed her on the cloth placemat on the kitchen table when we went to give her a bottle and she was no bigger than the placemat.  :-)

2006

Kaelyn's first birthday.

She wasn't quite walking yet and she didn't talk either (but she sure was a cutie).

We had ordered her a Winnie the Pooh birthday cake and we had a Pooh and friends party.  When Kevin ran to Publix to pick up the cake on the Saturday morning of the party, they gave him a cake with a whole swimming pool scene on it.  The person taking the order had written down "pooh cake" and the person making the cake thought it said "pool cake".  The worker at the bakery told Kevin they thought it was a little bit strange to have a pool party cake for a first birthday!  When Kevin came home and told me, I was almost in a panic.  After all, this was the first time I had ever planned a birthday party.  The people in the bakery assured him that they would take care of it and they came through for us and had the correct cake ready within just a couple hours!  :-)

2007

For Kaelyn's second birthday, we didn't really do a party.  I was going through one of my "I'm paranoid of what people think of me" phases in my life (now a seemingly permanent phase) and didn't feel like I could pull off an acceptable party.

A nap together after Kaelyn had opened her presents.

I LOVE this picture!

2008

For Kaelyn's third birthday, we went to a park and had a cookout.  She loves looking at the pictures of this particular party and has asked several times if she could have another birthday party at this park.

This year's party was Mickey Mouse clubhouse themed.

2009

Before Kaelyn's fourth birthday party, we put her in her Cinderella outfit to get some pictures of her before people came for the party.  She looks so sweet and like the perfect princess in this picture.

This year was [minorly] princess themed as she loved ALL things princess at this point in her life.  She loved the princesses that came on top of the cake and every single birthday cake that anyone had for the next year or so had to have the princesses on top of it.

2010

Kaelyn's fifth birthday "party" was the most special thing that we have ever done for a birthday.  We were in Orlando for the week.  We had reservations for a princess character dinner for the evening that we were at Epcot.  Since it was for her birthday, they brought out an individual birthday cake in a little princess treasure chest.  Belle, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Ariel all came around to our table and visited with us while we ate in a castle back in the Norway pavilion at Epcot.

Snow White was her favorite princess at this point and she got to show Snow White her little dwarf toys.  Snow White even chose one of the dwarfs to hold for one of the pictures.  Kaelyn has her favorite dwarf, Dopey.

It was late by the time we were finished but she was so happy.  Every time we walk by the place where they have the character dinner, Kaelyn says, "Do you remember when we had my birthday there when I was turning five?"

2011

When it came time for Kaelyn's birthday last year, she DESPERATELY wanted a Phineas and Ferb birthday party.  I wasn't sure I was going to do an acutal party but she had gone to a school friend's birthday party and was so excited about the idea of a party that I didn't have the heart to not do something.  I found the Phineas and Ferb party stuff online and she had her Phineas and Ferb party complete with a GIGANTIC Phineas helium balloon.

As I went through old "May photos" from each year of her life, it was really a walk down memory lane for me as I saw all the pictures from those times.  While I seriously do feel like I could cry as I see how fast time is flying by, I also feel so proud of who she is and who she is becoming even though she is still young.  I love all the things that make her who she is and I am reminded to cherish every current "phase" she's in and even current obssessions.  As I look through the pictures and remember how at times we have thought we would go crazy over her favorite things and watching certain movies/shows over and over again, each "obssession" or favorite has come and gone quickly when I actually think back on it.  This year it is Hello Kitty and it will very likely be something else next year, not that I'm anxious for next year.  The very thought of her being eight is distressing.  :-)

So happy birthday Kay-Kay.  I love you so much!!!

Flowers, Flowers, Flowers!

Two weekends ago, we went up to Epcot for the Flower and Garden Festival.  It had just started when I was there with my family in March but Kevin hadn't gotten a chance to go this year yet.  As usual, the flower the flowers are just BEAUTIFUL and the topiaries are great!

The designs around some of the water this year are butterflies.

When we were in the butterfly house back in March, it was cool but now there are even more butterflies since they always have a bunch chrysalises in different stages of becoming butterflies.

There were so many different kinds that you could see this time and they were everywhere it seemed.

Kaelyn showing Ellie and Garmin a butterfly. 

(She really doesn't pose for all these things with her pals.  They are just such a part of her life.  She almost always has a couple of them with her whenever she's doing anything.)

The theme of the butterly house this year was Bambi.

And Flower the skunk even had a butterfly resting on his eye when we went by the topiaries.

A beautiful picture!

Kaelyn decided she would like to have her face painted this time.  That was VERY surprising considering she can hardly stand the feeling of stuff on her skin.  If we don't get the soap rinsed off her quickly when she's in the bathtub, it drives her crazy.

She decided on a simple butterfly on her forehead.

Starting to look prettier.

She was so very proud of it and didn't seem to be bothered by having it on her.

She thought it was a great idea to duck down by the flowers so she could pretend that she was a butterfly sitting on the flowers.

I was wondering if anyone would say anything if they saw me in the flower beds cutting some roses to take with me.

:-)  They were just SOOO pretty!

The pictures above and below were taken back in the Canada pavilion.  It always looks pretty in "Canada" and some of these flowers and the landscaping is like this all the time.  I've always thought that Epcot is a particularly pretty park.

Soccer hat from one of the stores in the UK pavilion.  We didn't buy it; she was just modeling it for us.  :-)

One of the things we did that we have never taken the time to do before was watch a Chinese acrobat show back in the China pavilion.  We caught the ending of part of one one time but this was actually a different show with different stunts and it was AMAZING!

We were sitting right up front on the ground as close as people were allowed to sit.  Kaelyn kept on saying, "Oh my goodness!  I could never do that!!!"  :-)

The other acrobats also did cool stuff but the tricks they did were harder to catch on camera.

The strength that this kind of thing takes is unbelievable.  You can see the look of extreme concentration on this guy's face.

This was part of the grand finale.

It was a beautiful day to be at Epcot.  So if any of you ever want to come on down, the Flower & Garden Festival is the perfect time to visit Epcot and we would be happy to take you!  :-)