4-3-11 Happy Birthday Kaitlyn

There once was a young girl named Kate.

Who turned eleven on this date.

Smiley she is mighty,

And yes somewhat flighty,

But we really do think she is great!

Yep, our Kate is eleven now. Hard to believe but true. I still remember like yesterday how excited we were for her to arrive. After Jacob was born, I had had a miscarriage; it was my first one and we were pretty upset by it. Of course we were thankful for our four healthy children and would have been ungrateful to complain, but the loss of a baby is emotionally traumatic plus naturally we wondered if we would ever have any more children. Five more children and two more miscarriages later, we know better, but back then we didn’t know. That first miscarriage really shook us up and woke us up to God’s view of the value of a child; we did some intense Bible study on it, and we’ve never thought of children the same since. Anyway. When we were expecting Kate…oh, how much we anticipated her birth. The four older kids were thrilled with their new baby sister, and she was by far our easiest baby. Someone loaned me a copy of Babywise, which I read and loved because it explained so much about babies’ needs and make-up; I wished I had had it for our other babies, although they seemed to survive fine without it. Kate was a very content baby, which meant she was very predictable and happy, unlike some of our other babies. Back then I also read a book about infant potty training, and I gave it a try when Kate was four months old. It worked pretty well, as I changed no messy diapers after about eight months (who wouldn’t like that?!), and she was out of daytime diapers by the time she was 18 months old. I wouldn’t say she was completely trained, though, because she wasn’t telling me and I still had to take her or we would have accidents. But it was fun at the time and I enjoyed doing it although I’ve never done it with any of the rest of the kids due to various other circumstances. Well, so Kate was our model baby and grew into our model toddler – she was a sparkle child, dancing through life with smiles and chatter for everyone, generally happy and content for the most part. We never noticed teething distress, she was a good sleeper, and even when she was sick she just wasn’t very fussy. We’ve since learned that it’s NOT because we used Babywise – that was just how she was made. Some babies are naturally Babywise babies and some aren’t, and we’ve had both. So Kate grew up, charming most everyone she met, and especially her older siblings doted on her. She’s our chatterbox who was wearing too-long pajamas as a little tyke; they covered her feet and she didn’t like that at all. “My peet pall off,” she said, and oh how we laughed. Kate has always been a helper; as soon as she was old enough she was wanting to sweep, empty the dishwasher, fold laundry, and so on. Of course some of that enthusiasm has waned over the years, as other activities have gained priority in her life, but she still loves to pitch in and do a good job on whatever it is she is to be doing. I must be real and add that her energy for outside jobs is about ten times her energy for inside jobs – she’d rather scoop manure for an hour than empty the dishwasher for five minutes. We’ve had some wonderful character training opportunities with that, as she tends to get easily distracted from her mundane boring inside jobs, which makes them last three times as long as they should. See, she’s hoping Mom will take pity on her or get impatient and do them herself, and alas, sometimes that happens. But really that’s not good for Kate, so Mom doesn’t give in very often, and Kate is learning that when she buckles down and focuses on her detested jobs, she can wipe them out fast and then she can move on to the fun stuff, like hauling manure and chasing rats. That’s a good lesson for all of us, as the detested jobs have to be done too, no matter what!!  Every morning, Kate is responsible for picking up her clothes and making her bed (as all the kids are), and after Tori makes and serves breakfast, Kate is our k.p. captain. The other kids clear their dishes from the table, but Kaitlyn loads the dishwasher, puts leftovers away, sweeps/spotscrubs the floor if it’s needed, empties the trash if it’s needed, and wipes off the tables and counters. Sometimes I will help her as it can be a pretty big job, but more often than not I am doing other tasks and she does a fine solo job (usually, that is. Sometimes she forgets things and gets a call-back, but that happens less and less as she is getting older).  Kate’s afternoon chores consist of helping Jacob feed gluten to the cattle across the road and feeding and watering the brown chickens, dog, and cats. Inside, she puts away the high dishes from the dishwasher and gets down dishes so Jewel can set the table. Then she puts laundry away for Tori and makes ice if we need it. Kate takes turns with Tori making bread, she makes supper solo on Wednesdays and with Jacob on Fridays, and would make cookies or bars for us every day if I would let her. She often will help Jacob on his job list from Dad AFTER she is properly finished with her inside jobs for me. I say properly, because sometimes Kate races through her inside jobs so fast that they don’t really get done at all, and she gets to do them again…and sometimes a third time! She’s learning that short cuts usually aren’t. But as careless as she can be with her inside jobs, Kate isn’t that way with her schoolwork at all. She does best when she gets up early and digs in to her assignments when the house is quiet and littles are still sleeping; with an end in sight, she works hard and carefully until she’s done.  She would say otherwise, but she doesn’t really mind school, and overall it’s pretty easy for her. In her spare time, Kate loves to read. Horse stories are probably at the top of her list, but she also likes any of the Childhood of Famous Americans Series, as well as anything else she can get her hands on. Being a fast reader, she can whip through a lot of books in a short time. Not that she spends all her time reading, oh no. She also enjoys Chess with a sibling or on the computer, and she’s always up for a game of Speed or Dutch Blitz.  When it’s nice out she can be found on her bike, on the trampoline, or involved in anything else that’s going on, work or play. Work and play, Kate does it heartily, that’s for sure, with an abundance of smiles, laughter, and chatter. I don’t know what we’d do without her. Even though she prefers to be outside working, she’s learning that inside work isn’t all that bad either. Kate, we are sure glad you’re part of our wagon train…you’re a lot of fun and we love you bucketloads!!!!

From sparkly sweet baby…

 

…to beautiful young lady…

…in eleven short years!!

Happy Birthday, Kaitlyn!

Today was a first for Kate, I think – over 80 degrees on her birthday. It was also very windy but no one seemed to mind. We were loving it!!!!

Proof!! that we have the greatest teenage boys in the world!!!! See those smiles?! And aren’t their aprons cute?!!! No matter what “they” may say…life with teenagers is too much FUN!!!

“Pane, pane!”

And isn’t he just too cute??!!!

Soccer weather!!

Spectators.

Dean & Amy stopped by and stayed for a little while, which was fun for all. Joshua and Jackson were both two in January…precious little farmers!

Anne just turned seven, and Sarah will be seven next month. They had a good time together.

It was a fun evening with a lot of tired kids by bedtime (parents too).

And that’s it!