Katie Jane

Hold on during the next few posts while I back up and try to remember a few very important things that happened in our family this month...or maybe last month. I'm pretty sure that I wasn't in a coma at all this past month, but it sure seems like I let time slip away without remembering what I did. Does that have anything to do with age? Insanity? Or just life?

One very important milestone that happened in our home is that Katie Jane turned 12. What a magical age, huh? Maybe only that turning 12 means that you're no longer a little girl, but a young lady. Other than that...there's nothing "magical" about it, it's pretty much all dreadful.

I'm hoping beyond all hope that I am proved wrong.

I wish so much that I was an awesome party giving mom. That I would actually think further than one day in advance on how to make my childrens' birthdays fun and exciting. Will had all these fun ideas and wanted to make Katie Jane's day special. He was throwing around the 'surprise party' idea, which made all the other kids jealous because THEY had never had a surprise party...let alone a 'party' with anyone other than family. Again...not an awesome party giving mom. I think of the mess more than the fun. I know, there's medication for that. So when I came home from the gym, I came home to this:

Katie Jane loved it. Will had taken a left over piece of bead-board and some cans of spray paint (don't you have left over pieces of bead board and spray paint at your houses?) and made her this awesome sign. Will always seems to do things in a big way. An inexpensive big way, which is the best way most of the time.

Katie Jane has always been Will's "sweetest thing". (a la the U2 song)

sooo warped picture of Katie Jane's birth-day with me, Jay and Will!

He was so excited for Katie Jane to be born that he wore really nice clothes to the hospital the day she was born...not quite church nice, but button up shirt and slacks nice because he wanted to look good for his new little girl. I know that she doesn't remember that, but when I tell her the story of her birth...that part is one of the most special.

One day long before Katie Jane was born or possibly even thought of, Will saw a little girl, up on tip toe, reaching to get the mail out of a mailbox. That sight made him look forward to being a daddy of a little girl some day. So this is one of Will's favorite pictures of Katie Jane. I'm sure Katie Jane got the mail for grandma and grumpa more than I know...I just hope that all of it made it into their house.

Katie Jane was such a happy baby girl. I don't remember her being pouty or mean, but when she got mad...

she got mad. I confess, she has my temper. Nothing would console her if she was upset. Did I confess that she was stubborn like me too? Well, she was that too. I remember there were many times when I could not imagine making it through another day with two little kids...but we did. Of course. And I know that I don't have any traumatic memories, and I'm pretty sure Katie Jane doesn't either, but we have a lot of great pictures of Katie Jane screaming. Thank goodness pictures only have you use your imagination of what the scream sounds like instead of the actual noise of the scream. Boy do my kids have lungs! This picture just happened to be taken at the Salt Lake Temple grounds...what a great, peaceful, quiet place to have a child screaming at the top of her lungs because she doesn't want to share the colored marshmallows with her older brother. Or it might have been that I wanted two wild children to sit still and look perfect in front of the beautiful flowers while I took their picture.

Oh brother.


So from my HUGE, I-was-so-done-with-being-pregnant belly (you moms know when you hit that point):

to a beautiful, composed, smart, kind, responsible, talented, funny, teaser of a young woman. Katie Jane is wise and mature beyond her young 12 years. She sees the big picture and I am so thankful that our Heavenly Father gave her to me and Will to raise. I think she's teaching me -- at least -- more than I've been able to teacher her. Even though it's scary for me to have my kids getting older because of all the 'stuff' that comes with growing up, I am so excited to be her mother in these tween/teen years. At this age, your arms are more full of them for the hugs.

Katie Jane got her surprise party, too. Our wonderful families supported her in this milestone of a birthday. Will and I took her to dinner at the restaurant of her choice...the Training Table...and then home to a house FULL. Thank goodness for Allie and her texting abilities. She kept me up to date on the status of the party without Katie Jane knowing about it.

Katie Jane was a literal blur as she and Will sailed past me so that Katie could examine her new bike. I basically had to forget about taking any pictures because there was no way for me to make it from one end of the room to the other without stepping on someones fingers, toes, hair or a balloon, or even a dog. If you think your house is big enough for family gatherings, especially in one room, invite 15 adults and about 20 kids and then think again. Maybe you should add an additional 1,000 square feet to accommodate them all.


And to initiate Katie Jane into the "young woman" baking club, she decided to make sugar cookies on her own the next day. She wasn't aware that 'sugar cookies' are meant to be rolled out and cut with cookie cutters. She followed the recipe -- with a few mistakes involving baking soda...a little too much -- and then tried to compensate for the stiffness of the dough (which is how it's supposed to be) by adding water. Then the dough got a little to thin, so she added a little more sugar -- hey, they're sugar cookies -- and then some chocolate chips. Then she used an ice cream scoop size scoop to place them on the cookie sheet to bake.

What came out was an extremely large cookie mass on the cookie sheet. Sugar cookies with chocolate chips, a little extra sugar and a little extra baking soda. Yum.

Now she knows. And we ate them anyway. Large chunks at a time.

I love you Katie Jane