Not so little, little girl

I haven't written in so long... after returning from Hawaii we jumped right back into our busy routine. Kylee seems to have the most going on in her life right now- so I'm going take some time to blog about my biggest little girl. She goes to school full days now, and even takes the bus home after school.
It's a whole 45 second bus ride because we live so close to school- but she loves it because she feels independent. She has definitely started to spread her wings a lot sooner than I ever imagined. I get filled with so much emotion watching her morph into this person that I'm absolutely proud of, yet a teeny bit scared of as she acts way too old for her short 5 years of life. She's a great friend to her classmates, teammates, and cousins, loves to participate in all activities, and has quite the social life coming from two parents who are... how shall I say this... homebodies. Wes and I learned in Hawaii that we are not cool- we kinda already knew that- but we've moved into the "not cool parents" category in our daughters eyes. She even flat out refused a shopping and ice cream trip with her mom and dad and bro and sister because she didn't want to possibly miss out on a second of potential pool time with the cousins. The conversation went like this,
Mom:"Kylee, we are leaving Hawaii tomorrow, if you want to buy souvenuirs with all the money you saved for Hawaii, you have to come with us now."
Kylee: "No thanks."
M: "No, thanks? So you don't want anything to remember this trip by? Your cousins have already bought all their treats, and they will have great things to remind them of this wonderful place. And now it's you and Owen's turn. You really don't want to go SHOPPING?"
K: "Nope."
M: "Ky, we'll be able to hang by the pool when we get back, just like we do every afternoon. You aren't missing out on anything."
K: "I still don't want to go."
Dad: "Were getting ice cream while were out."
K: "I don't want to go with you guys."
M & D: "Wow. Unbelievable."

Luckily, we are still in charge, and threw her in the car with us- but still, are we THAT awful that ice cream isn't even fun with us anymore? Lately, she has really been into her basketball- which, one might think, is great! But, while she does like basketball, she LOVES the fact that we are meeting with friends at night to play. We catch her checking out what everyone is wearing and all that when she should be going for the ball... so Owen and I stand up and cheer for her and occassionally yell "Kylee, get your head in the game!" She gets soooo embarassed by us and shoots us this awful "stop that" face. I can't believe we are so uncool.

I know it was bound to happen eventually, we might as well start getting used to it! I know I've totally got my work cut out for me with TWO potential drama queens in the house... but the good still outweighs the bad. When I am in Kylee's classroom, I am so proud of her. She is learning so much, and is really a great student. I feel great knowing she is out there in the world and she is being helpful and obedient in the classroom . And, yes, she is SO into fashion and music and dancing all hip-hop style when she gets home, but it's what makes her happy and it's all in good fun. She's got a sweet heart, and it's hilarious as she gets her basketball gear on and says, with a fierce game face, "who are we fighting tonight?"
FIERCE GAME-ON FACE
And once we are there watching the game, Wes always says it looks as if they are in a field of daisy's the way she skips up and down the court rather than aggressively battling up and back.
KYLEE'S ACTUAL SMILEY GAME-ON FACE
It's so cute and funny to watch!

As I've said before, she's also a wonderful sister. Wes and I watched from the top bleachers as she and Owen hung out on their own amongst their cool peers at the gym last night. All the school age girls loved Owen , they lifted him up and babied him when he fell down. Kylee gave him the biggest hugs and showed all the grown ups nearby Owen's owies. It was too cute! And at home, Kylee is amazing with Madison. She not only volunteers to change diapers, but feels it's her job to keep that baby happy. Madi constantly smiles and giggles at Kylee's goofiness, and coos the sweetest little sounds to big sis. I can tell these girls are gonna have some great sisterly talks in the future!


Kylee is growing up, I'm accepting it slowly, and am especially teary-eyed as I write that she already has her first loose tooth! I remember when she got her first teeth not so many years ago... and it's hard to believe she's on her way to those cute, tooth-less, grade school pictures very, very soon!