Cate the Great Turns 14!

And like that, we have a fourteen year old in the house! Cate was so much fun to celebrate this year. I think she felt bummed her birthday landed smack in the middle of a four day weekend, and she wouldn’t see any of her friends. I was so grateful for friends who reached out and wished her a happy birthday. The night before, John took the kids boating while Cate and I stayed home and watched Gilmore Girls while I peeled and cut up peaches to freeze. She is simply a delight to hang out with.

Her meals:

Breakfast: Blueberry Crumble and Orange Julius

Lunch: In n Out Cheeseburger

Dinner: Homemade Mac and Cheese, Potstickers, and Cesar Salad

Cake: Better than Anything Cake

Cate claims In n Out is “her” place. It is her number one choice given the chance, and often on the way home from softball tournaments and track invitationals we will stop there as a treat. 

Cate has learned the art of “M.A.S.H.” (A randomized fortune telling game where you figure out who some will marry, where they will live, their salary, etc.) She is often putting her brothers through the ringer playing with her, they are her eager participants.

Activities: sleeping in, karaoke, running a mile with her dad, driving stick in her dad’s old truck. Basically dad came in for the win today. They had a great time together.

For her birthday her grandma Brassell took her shopping for school clothes, Grandma and Grandpa Partridge got her a dress she’s been wanting, and a back massager. Her friend Colton brought her the Defense Against Dark Arts Lego set. She also got a pitching net to practice for fast pitch season, self-care products, the Divination lego book set, and a fast pitch ball for practice pitches.

Where would our family be without Cate? She is the leader, protector, comedian, advocate, helper, trail-blazer, listener, mediator, librarian, basketball teammate, peacemaker, builder and so many other things. I love our drives home from XC practice where I get to hear about her day. She is a comfort and a friend to me, and gives sound advice. I love how hard she works and appreciate the growth she reaps from her efforts. She has a gift of confidence, and she carries herself with grace. She is a delight to laugh with and a pleasure to dissect deep topics with. Simply put: what a blessing to have daughter who is also a best friend. 

We love you Cate!!!

 

 

Caity, the TWELVE year old

My sweet firstborn and only daughter turned twelve September 3rd. I feel like Caity's birthday is a double celebration for me personally, because it represents a major transition for me into motherhood. September 3, 2008 I looked into the most perfect, heavenly face I'd ever seen and felt such instant love and desire to protect her and give her all of me. Motherhood has been a journey, and what a blessing to have Caity on it every step of the way. 

I put some streamers up in Caity's bed, but I love that she created her own little throne! She bundled cozy and dove into her favorite Anne Shirley book.

Here's her table. Everyone got swedish fish and a cookies and cream candy bar.

Here she is reading her birthday cards.

For breakfast she had monkey bread and a "good" smoothie (meaning nothing green!) We sang her Happy Birthday as she blew out her breakfast candles.

She played board games with her brothers all morning, and enjoyed them being her servants for her special day.

For lunch she requested homemade mac and cheese, cucumbers, and ruffles chips.

We surprised Caity and took her to get her ears pierced! She was so excited and it was so fun shopping for new ear rings together. I loved sneaking away with just her and me and hanging out for a little bit.

When dad got home, we had lasagna, garlic bread, and salad. Then we blew out candles on her "Better than Anything Cake," and we went around the table sharing what we loved about Caity.

Brothers.

For her birthday she got homemade headbands and a statue from my parents, some money from John's parents, the Harry Potter train set, the Land of Stories series, pierced ears, and a camelbak for hiking, a planner from Karlie, roses from her dad, a book from Claire, and a gift card from Neenee.

She was pretty excited and surprised about the Lego set!

Then we watched Wizards of Waverly place and had a dance party, then called it day!

(Taking a picture of her earrings for family!)

This was a growing up birthday, I always said when she was twelve she could start wearing mascara, shave, and wear earrings and weirdly she is here and it is happening and on one end it all seems so natural, and on the other it's so heartbreaking that time goes by so so quickly. Since this is the year she would turn twelve she got to start into the youth program at our church and that has been a a fun transition for us.

Dear Caity,

I just love you. I have so much fun spending time together and sharing interests with you. I love that we have a lot of the same favorite books and movies. I love when we look over the boys' heads and can read each other's minds. I'm grateful you enable my chocolate chip cookie addiction and how you appreciate being home as much as I do. It is a beautiful thing to share life with a daughter, and I feel God's love through you. You are bright, kind, wise, beautiful, and thoughtful. You are an advocate, a nurturer, a competitor, and an observer. Your talents amaze me, and even more your desire to use your talents to serve others. When I am with you, I feel happy.

I am so proud of you, sweet daughter.

Mom

 

Caity's SURPRISE Birthday

Caity had never had an official birthday party where she invited friends. I kind felt like it was a right of passage and I had to do something about it before she got too old for the whole themed birthday concept. (People tell me that happens, not something I know personally, but I recognize it is a possibility.)

 I thought, why not make it a surprise while we were at it?? 

Best idea ever. 

I planned it the week before school started so she could have a chance to connect with her friends one last time before school set in and things got crazy.

I thought an ice-cream sundae bar would be a blast, and just kind of went from there.

And Ice-Cream Party it was!

 I will really happy with how it all turned out. I love a good theme, you know.

Here is what was in the goody bags:

(For the record the fan looks like a cupcake, but is actually an ice-cream cone.) I was really proud of those prize bags! It was all stuff I knew Caity (and therefore girls her age) would love. My favorite was the ice-cream lip gloss. So cute.

SURPRISE!! I really have to hand to the girls, NO ONE spilled the beans. There were 12 girls at the party, it was crazy and so much fun.  I got these confetti poppers at the dollar store, and boy, did they deliver. It took days to get it all cleaned up.

The girls were doing confetti angels, confetti fights, and made designs in the ground. It took a couple minutes for Caity to process this was a birthday party for her. Ha ha. She just thought it was a church activity at our house! When it all clicked she had the biggest smile on her face. She ran up to me when all the other girls were busy, and said "Mom. Thank you! Seriously, I mean, thanks." My heart basically burst in that moment because all the stress preparing produced the result I was hoping for: Caity felt loved.

Party Games:

1. One member on the team held an orange cone, the other two team members had water balloons, the girls had to see how many "scoops" they could catch in the "ice-cream cones."
2. We did a cherry walk. (Much like an egg walk) to see how many cherries a team could get on their sundae.
3. The girls split up into pairs. One girl laid on the ground with a cone in their mouth trying to catch marshmallows the other team member dropped from a chair
4. Pin the cherry on the ice-cream sundae (self explanatory.) 

Note to self: twelve eight to ten year old girls eating bowls of ice cream and candy may lead to some pretty crazy memories. There was a lot of energy. I maybe made everyone eat a banana to balance out some of the sugar!

It was so fun to have a celebration for our Caity-girl. We had so much fun playing and eating ice-cream sundaes. It probably took Caity a week to process it actually happened, ha ha. Birthdays are seriously the best.

Caity turns TEN!!

I can't believe Caity is seriously ten! 

A long time ago, she showed me these little stuffed animals and told which she would give each brother, so everyone got one at their place on her birthday! They were so nurturing playing with their little animals.

This girl is ready to start fourth grade. Caity his a self-proclaimed reading addict (I have to concur, she has a problem...but I kind of love it, so I'm a bit of an enabler here.) She carries books with her everywhere and often is found immersed in a book when she is supposed to be cleaning her room/setting the table/getting ready for the day/etc. She has just crossed over into an older grouping of books and I'm seriously in heaven. The list toppers this year are: Harry Potter (1-4 for now.) Percy Jackson Series, and A Series of Unfortunate Events and Holes. I think my favorite is that she will finish a book, immediately smile and flip back to the beginning to start it again. I love that about her.

Caity is determined and focused. She has grown so much in soccer and watching her handle the ball against her opponents makes my heart swell with pride. Any little lesson I give her on the piano is mastered and she pushes the envelope further. It isn't uncommon for her to come home from church, pull out the primary book and spend all week mastering a song she learned at church. Then at Family Night, she will have us all sing along, I admire that because accompanying makes me incredibly nervous. 

Caity is just fun. I love when we get to hang out. I laugh a lot when we're together. It is just enjoyable. I appreciate her insights she shares. We think similarly, so it is fun to dive into certain subjects and bounce ideas off each other. Though is still a healthy mom/daughter relationship, there are moments where I feel a kindred mutual friendship, and I really cherish that.

The food Caity's requested for her birthday:

Breakfast: homemade donuts and strawberry milkshakes

Lunch: Homemade Mac and Cheese

Dinner: Tacos

Cake: Better than Anything Cake

Gifts:

The one missing book to Unfortunate Events, a couple lego sets, a water bottle, and sharpie markers.

Activities: She played with her friend Kaylynn who is moving to Ireland. While Johnny and the boys were at his football practice, her and watched the first Unfortunate Events episode on Netflix.

Caity Elizabeth is NINE

A month after we moved to Hillsboro, Caity turned nine!! 

Memories I want to jot down about the day:

 It was the Sunday before school started.

Because it was fast Sunday, and she wasn't going to eat breakfast, the whole family went to IHOP Saturday night, where Caity chose strawberry crepes (her favorite.)

She told me she was too grown up for themes now, but still wanted it to feel like a birthday.

She got a new, bright birthday dress to wear to church.

For lunch, she chose homemade Mac & Cheese, mummy hot dogs, juice, and a treat.

She loved getting phone calls from everyone.

For dinner she had homemade chicken noodle soup and homemade rolls. 

Her cake was "Better than Anything" cake.

Her main gift was a sewing machine! (She has used it like crazy since then.)

Our new friends, the Osbornes, stopped by and stayed to play for a while, which was fun. 

Dear Caity:
You are my lifeline among a house of boys. So many times you see a need before anyone realizes it and you get to work right away. I'm so grateful for your empathetic, resilient, fun spirit. The older you get, the more of a close friend you are becoming. I love talking with you, laughing with you and learning with you. Thank you for being such a leader in our family. We love you around here!!

Love,
Mom