I blinked...

...and my sweet baby girl grew up!

Time flies way too quickly. I swear it was just last week that I was holding a sweet, freshly born baby girl in my arms and looking into her huge eyes as she took in the new sights of the world. She was so alert and bright-eyed. She was the only one of my four that I got to hold right after she was born, and that is such a sweet memory for me. I couldn't stop looking at her... it was instant love. We did have a little scare a couple of days later when the Dr. heard a murmer. Turns out she had a hole between the ventricles of her heart. We were so lucky, and learned that it was fairly small and that they would just watch it. I think it was her 4th birthday check-up when Dr. Johnson said he couldn't hear the murmur anymore. Hooray! The hole had finally closed on it's own. Kaitlyn has been such a joy. We always say she is a true Stafford (and all true Stafford's probably know what that means.) She is a joke-playing, teasing, silly girl that makes us laugh constantly! She loves to steal food off of others' plates (thanks Daddy!) She is the one that always gets her chores and homework done early, saying "Mom. What would you like me to do for chores today?" I appreciate her help, and her sense of humor. She is a complete joy, and we love her with all our hearts.

Starting with our kids' 10th birthday, we let them pick an "activity" and invite 1 or 2 friends... instead of having a big, crazy party with a million kids. Kaitlyn took us up on that offer last year for her 9th birthday and we went ice skating. Of course, we all remember what happened (Eryn broke her arm). So what does Kaitlyn choose this year? JUMP ON IT! I must say, I did have a small fear that someone would get hurt, but all was well. Everyone had a great time, and there were absolutly no injuries. Whew! The kids had a blast jumping around. Kaitlyn even let Eryn bring one friend (Eryn said she'd pay, so Kaitlyn said, "fine.") The boys had their cousin, Justice, to play with, and my twin nephews had eachother. Everyone had fun.

The only bad part of doing the activity, is when they have to choose which friends to invite. It was a really hard decision, but Kaitlyn decided to bring Elizabeth and Tamsin along.

After Jump-on-it, we came home for dessert and gift opening.

When I asked Kaitlyn what she wanted for her birthday "dessert" she said, "I want to have something that Grandma can eat." My mom has celiacs disease, so she can't have anything with wheat in it. We went to the Good Earth and bought a couple of Gluten free brownie mixes (which are Kaitlyn's fave anyway) so that Grandma could have some too! Kaitlyn is always very sweet and thoughtful.

Kaitlyn wanted Kentucky Fried Chicken for dinner, so we loaded up our little family and went out to eat. You know you've done something wrong, however, when you leave KFC and your kids say "That was the best restaurant ever!" Poor deprived children. Shows you how much we eat out. It was fun and pretty yummy, though. :) Then we came home and Aunt Christina and Tim, and Jodie, Corey and Harlie came for MORE dessert and MORE presents. Since Kaitlyn's birthday was on Sunday, and we had to do the majority of the celebrating on Saturday, Kaitlyn called it her "pre-birthday." She said she had the best pre-birthday ever!


Happy Birthday Sweet KK. We love you so much!