FIVE!!

I can't remember the last time I had such a LONG hiatus from blogging! With our crazy schedules from the end-of-school season, wrapping up a big project with my job, starting a new role in PTA, and just LIFE...I have been so overwhelmed trying to keep it all together.

Proof that it's been busy around here these last few months. She was OUT!

Back in the spring, I had written/started several blog posts in draft mode, and then our laptop died and kept me from finishing things up. So now I'm going back and trying to get everything published, but just wanted to add that little disclaimer to explain why the wording in the posts seems a little off (writing a post in April and not publishing until July, ha)!

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It's still birthday season in the Courtright household. Next up is a BIG birthday milestone for the baby of this family. Kaitlynn is turning FIVE!!

We first celebrated her special day by taking donuts to her pre-K class. They enjoyed the yummy treats during snacktime together, and Kaitlynn was VERY excited to wear her Disney Frozen birthday shirt.

Posing in her birthday outfit.

Sweet 5-year-old!

That's a big box of donuts for our big 5-year-old!

Since Kaitlynn has a summer birthday, we've had trouble over the years getting a good celebration scheduled for her because her friends are often traveling during the busy summer months. This year, we decided to bump up her birthday party to a weekend in May in hopes that more friends could attend. But then I made the mistake of scheduling it for the busy Memorial Day weekend, so we still had many friends that missed her celebration. But Kaitlynn never knew the difference because she had a wonderful time at her big 5th birthday party!

The party was held at our favorite gymnastics facility, Westwood Gymnastics. They do such a great job with fun gym activities for the kids, including trampolines, foam pits, the big parachute, and enjoying the big play structure (a.k.a. The Mountain). Kaitlynn and her friends had such a great time!

All smiles at her birthday party, and yes, wearing the same birthday outfit! That's her Disney Frozen cookie cake in the background.

Here's the birthday table set up and you can see the awesome gym in the background.

On the rope swing.

The birthday girl in the middle surrounded by her sweet friends.

Time to sing to the birthday girl!

Back home, she loved opening her presents!

Another birthday gift and typical expressive reaction.

Since Kaitlynn's birthday party was held a full month before her actual birthday, we still had some fun birthday surprises in store for her when the big day -- June 14 -- finally arrived. She had a few gifts to open and also got to choose her favorite spot for a birthday lunch.

Jeff's special birthday gift to Kaitlynn: her very own fishing pole for the lake behind our house.

She is now at the age where she is receiving cash from grandparents. "My first money!" she exclaimed!

Have I mentioned Kaitlynn is expressive? Love her reactions!

One final birthday cake -- this time to celebrate Kaitlynn's birthday, Kevin's birthday, and Father's Day all in one.

 

Birthday hug from her Sweet Daddy at her favorite restaurant, All Star Grill.

At 5 years old, Kaitlynn is still quite the girly-girl. She is constantly singing, twirling, wearing princess dresses and jewelry, and into all things pink and sparkly.

She LOVES getting her nails and toes done!

She was beyond delighted when I let her wear her ballet costume out to lunch one day.

Because I spent many hours working from home this past spring, Kaitlynn has become quite independent while she plays with her toys and entertains herself.

I love this shot of Kaitlynn playing by herself in her play room.

Kaitlynn still LOVES riding her bike. She has decided that she wants to be a bike-rider to Kindergarten when school resumes in August. I'm a little nervous about that after she had quite the bike crash with another biker last spring, but hopefully she's better with her brakes these days.

Kaitlynn and Anais riding their bikes at the park.

One thing that Kaitlynn has gotten into lately is singing. Lots and lots of singing! Everywhere we go, she is singing various songs from the radio or movies she watches. Her singing is not quite on key, and it has now evolved into a falsetto, vibrato type of musical sing-song with everything she does. She'll be playing with her dolls and will suddenly break into song, having her dolls sing their conversations to each other in voices we don't even recognize. It is hilarious to me! I caught this exchange on video one day while she was playing Doc McStuffins. It's kind of lengthy but I figured the grandparents might get a kick out of it!





Kaitlynn has made incredible strides in her academics this past year. She learned so much in pre-K, and she continues to attend a weekly reading/writing class that helps her with those skills as well. She does great in a classroom setting, but she is just so stubborn when I try to work with her on that stuff. She will whine and fuss and put up a big fight, unless it's HER idea and then she's happy to do her homework. Recently she was completely a workbook page where she had to count the items and write the number that she counted. She had answered the question incorrectly -- the answer was 10 but she had written 6. I pointed the incorrect answer out to her and told her to recount it. She counted the 10 items (which was correct) but still INSISTED that the correct answer was 6 and wouldn't stop arguing about it. Oh my, am I going to have my work cut out with this girl!

Kaitlynn practiced her writing by addressing her birthday invitations.