Kaylee is 11!

On February 24th Kaylee turned 11. She's not entirely happy with the age of 11. According to her, nothing of significance happens in the year of the 11 year old. She can't babysit for another year. She can't volunteer at the animal shelter for another year. People at church talk about how awesome our youth are, and she doesn't feel like she's included because she won't be 12 for another year. I keep trying to come up with reasons why 11 should be great, but she'll have none of it. I keep telling her that she should enjoy being 11 (you're only 11 once), but she'll have none of it. Oh well, it may be one of those years where she looks back one day and thinks, "Huh, that wasn't such a bad year". At least I hope that is the case. 

In keeping with a simpler birthday party theme, Kaylee decided to have a party just like Ainsley's. It was between that or taking a friend out to dinner and then going to see the Hobbit at the dollar theater. Ultimately she decided on the party because we weren't entirely sure if the Hobbit was going to be at the cheapo theater yet.

We planned for her party to be held the weekend before her birthday. The night before, I woke up at 2:30 am feeling like death. I figured it was another case of the flu until other unmentionable things started happening. Let's just say I was really sick. Turns out I had a bad case of salmonella. I'm still not sure how I got it, but it totally grosses me out. We had to postpone the party. Kaylee was super unhappy until she realized how utterly sick I was. Then her compassionate side kicked in. We promised to reschedule, and we promised to make her birthday as special as possible.

On the day of her birthday I was still really sick but was at least able to get out of bed in short increments. Not long enough to produce any spectacular birthday food though. And really who would want someone with a nasty case of salmonella making their food? Chris took the day off so he could finish up all the birthday arrangements. A friend from our ward brought dinner for Chris and the kids that night (I was not eating), and I promised Kaylee I would make her birthday dinner as soon as I was better. She wanted bean and cheese burritos with a little bit of chicken. This now happens to be one of the whole family's favorite dinners (I recently found an awesome refried bean recipe), so Kaylee will be getting a repeat birthday dinner often. She really wanted chocolate cream pie, so we found a bakery that made chocolate cream pies. She loves Slytherin, so Chris bought Slytherin colored balloons and put up Slytherin colored streamers. She was a happy girl (until she decided 11 is a terrible age). That evening I sat on the floor away from everyone else taking pictures. I'm glad I was at least able to watch the festivities. I never did taste that chocolate cream pie, but I heard it was delicious.

The weekend after Kaylee's birthday we were supposed to go to Houston. My cousin's new baby was being blessed, and we'd planned to drive to Houston Saturday and stay Sunday for the blessing. I realized Wednesday or Thursday that we weren't going to be able to go. The kids had been battling what I think was another case of the flu (just more mild than last time), and I had zero energy from not eating all week. Chris decided that since we were going to be home we should reschedule Kaylee's birthday party for Saturday evening. He said he'd run the party if I was still sick. I would just quarantine myself to our room. We had the party, I was able to help, I took a few blurry pictures (I don't know what the deal is with my picture taking lately) and Kaylee and her friends had a fun time.

After the party Chris and I were tired. The next day Chris started feeling a bit yucky. By Monday he'd keeled over. Poor guy. He'd been taking care of all of us the entire week and had finally caught something. Fortunately it wasn't too bad, and he was back at work on Wednesday. We've had so much sickness already this year. I've spent two weeks total in bed since the end of January, which is unheard of for me. Moms can't spend two weeks in bed! Thankfully I have the best husband who has taken over at home when I've been incapacitated. And the best kids who were able to help take care of themselves when they and I were sick with the Flu back in January.

One last thing I want to mention is how Kaylee chose to spend her birthday present money this year. We always have a birthday budget and let the kids decide how they want it spent. They can divvy it up for a party and presents. Kaylee really didn't have a large wish list this year and wasn't going to be spending much on her party, so she decided that she wanted half of what was left after the party to be given to her in cash. She took the cash and bought food and toys for the animals at our local shelter. Shopping for pet supplies gave her a healthy understanding of how expensive owning a pet can be. Her money didn't go quite as far as she'd hoped, but she was still able to purchase quite a bit.

This past weekend we took her donations to the shelter. While there, we walked a couple of dogs and played with a cat. Last night I had almost convinced myself that we should get the cat (she was so sweet). I went to their web page so I could show her picture to Chris. She wasn't there anymore. She'd been adopted.

Even though Kaylee doesn't like the age of 11, I do. Next year will be Young Women and growing up. I'm happy to hold on to my Primary aged girl for one more year. Happy birthday Kaylee! We love you so much!