Happy Birthday Kaitlyn!

Our little girl is one year older! It was a decade ago that she was born. At the time, we were in Pullman. Beside the fact that it was Christmas Break and no one was in town, the Cougs had made it to a play-off game and were in the Rose Bowl. This was a HUGE event! My doctor told me that the entire office was going to the Rose Bowl, so it would not be a good idea to go into labor...Ha! Well, so you know what I did.....I, of course, went into labor. Kaitlyn came very quickly. The nurses had to call a doctor I had never met to come and deliver. The doctor barely made it! She didn't even have time to put scrubs on...and she was covered in cat hair! Yuck!!!...I will never forget that. Even though Kaitlyn was born on January 4, 1998, she was the New Year's Baby in Pullman. She won lots of prizes and had an article in the newspaper. My nurse told me that there was this lady who had come in to the hospital on January 2nd in labor and was still in labor when I arrived. She was sure that she was going to have the New Year's baby and then I came in and stole it right from under her...so sorry. But boy was I glad that my labor was not as torturous as hers. In my memory, it seems like just yesterday that we were cradling our new baby girl in our arms and giving her a name....now she is 10!

This year, Kaitlyn wanted to have a "movie theme" party. We sent out invitations that looked like a ticket stub detailing the info. on our feature presentation "Ella Enchanted". We set up the kitchen like a snack stand. We had hot dogs roasting, popcorn, pop, chips, cookies, and a assortment of candy....sorry moms. To make it even more real, Kaitlyn was insistent that everyone have money to spend for the food. I made 'Holland Movie Bucks' for all the girls to spend. They each got 4 Holland Bucks to spend on whatever they desired...it was so much fun watching them decide what they wanted. Kaitlyn had eight friends over and they were all so good. They had fun talking, playing Bingo, opening presents, eating, talking some more, eating some more, and watching the movie. It was a great party!...and so easy to plan which is the big plus! Here are just of few of the highlights!

The girls all loved the hot dog roaster! (Thanks April!)

Kaitlyn loved her movie tickets and Holland Bucks!

Notice Chris and I are dressed as the movie attendents...Kaitlyn got a kick out of it.

I've never been good at crowd control!

Keeping them quiet for a moment while they played Bingo

It's movie time.

What an adorable group of girls!

We are so thankful that Kailtyn has such good, wholesome friends. All of these girls are a testament of what good parenting brings. Thanks everyone for help making a memorable evening with our forever little girl! We love you Kaitlyn !!!