August 8, 2012 - First Day of School

Today was the first day of school, can you believe it?  The girls were ready to go back!  They had a good first day.  Kaylyn is now in the 5th grade having many teachers (Mrs. Meyers for Homeroom and Science, Mrs. Rogers for Language Arts & Reading, Mrs. Watson for History, Mrs. Sharp for Bible, Mrs. Campbell for Math, and of course all her specials like P.E., Spanish, Computer, Library, Art, and Music).  Ashlyn is now in the 3rd grade having Mrs. Lightle for everything except for Science she has Mrs. Velie and then all her specials.  Kaylyn got home and had contracts to fill out and a personal poster to create.  We got on Creative Memories and did a 12x12 page print for that and are having it printed at Kinko's (which takes 4 hours to print, so she won't get it until tomorrow).  Ashlyn had to go on edline and see what picture her teacher posted.  For one of Kaylyn's classes, I had to write about Kaylyn in a million words or less.  It was cute!  I'll post the words I wrote below.

Kaylyn Barton

            Kaylyn was our successful frozen embryo pregnancy.  She was definitely a miracle from God!  We have adored her since the day she made it into this world, which was three weeks early might we add.  She started out as a toddler not knowing how to express her feelings and not talking by the age of two.  We took her to be tested for speech, and instead came out with occupational therapy so that she could learn to control her emotions.  They claimed she had tactile dysfunction.  She did some sensory integration and group therapy along with the occupational therapy and it helped some.  The true changes started happening closer to the end of the three year old program at CCA.

She didn’t seem to like anyone that wasn’t her mommy, daddy, or grandmothers.  She feared most people, especially men.  It took her awhile to talk to you and warm up to you, sometimes even months, but once she did, boy, did she love you!  Pre-K became a little easier and by the time she started Kindergarten she was a completely different child.  She warmed up to most people immediately and started to become a social butterfly.  She still had some difficulties with controlling her emotions, but they were shorter lived.  Even to this day, she’s still our emotional little-big girl, but she can be so loving and caring to others.

She goes through phases of liking certain things, and it’s a little obsessive.  When she was younger, it was Princess Ariel and Princess Jasmine.  Then it was big cats (cheetahs mostly).  She used to tell everyone that she was so fast because she had cheetah blood.  That was about two years and then it moved on to Siberian Huskies, which also lasted two years.  She is now moving towards American Girl Dolls, so for her birthday she got another American Girl doll and lots of accessories for the ones she already had and herself.  That was the most happy I’ve seen her at any of her birthday parties opening presents.  It was sweet!

This November will be three years since we travelled to China to bring her sister, Ashlyn, home.  She was so excited to be getting a sister.  Now that it has been almost three years, they definitely act like sisters.  Ashlyn, the younger one, antagonizes Kaylyn and in return, Kaylyn is mean to Ashlyn.  But, when they play nice together, it’s very sweet.

Our family enjoys taking vacations.  Kaylyn has been on six Disney cruises, been to Beaches in Boscobel (Jamaica), China, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia.  She has also stayed many weeks at multiple Disney resorts.  We believe that these vacations make great childhood memories, and we hope to continue them for as long as we can.

We have one dog and one cat.  The dog, Scout, is coming up on 13 years old and the cat, Gabby, just turned 9.  Kaylyn loves the animals and in fact, she loves all animals.  She actually wants to be a zoo keeper when she grows up.  We tell her that she can be whatever she wants as long as she goes to college.  She’s done zoo camp at least eight times and it never gets old to her.

Kaylyn is very smart and has made all A’s throughout her academics, with the exception of one B.  She got her first B last year and wasn’t as devastated as I expected her to be, which was good.  She won first place in the science fair in 3^rd grade and she won 2^nd place in the school spelling bee last year, while in 4^th grade.  But, when she got second place in the school science fair in 4^th grade, she wouldn’t stop crying and being angry because she didn’t get 1st.  She is so strong willed and will tell you what she believes even if it goes against what you say.  Like at zoo camp, the instructors were teaching on dinosaurs and how they lived millions of years ago.  Kaylyn had to correct the instructor and explain to her that the earth has only been around for a little more than 6,000 years if you believe in the Bible.

Kaylyn enjoys playing many different sports, including swimming, volleyball, and basketball.  She has also played baseball and soccer, but doesn’t enjoy these ones as much.  She has been on the CCA swim team and basketball team for the last two years, and volleyball this past year.  She’s pretty athletic, and because she is so strong willed, she gets upset easily when she doesn’t place first in a swim meet, or misses a ball in volleyball.  We are working with her on this, but it is difficult.

We love this little girl so much, and we only pray that she will grow up and be the woman that God wants her to be, while making Him look good the whole way!