Happy Birthday Katelyn : )

Katelyn Dodd rocked into our world on September 19, 1992

She was a petite little angel...

She loved Disney World from the earliest age and yes...was a big fan of

 Disney movies as witnessed here with her choice of Halloween costume!

Although the youngest in the family she was not one to be left out of anything...so she took up dance at an early age, a good thing as we pretty much lived at Tonie's Dance Studio!

 

Ten was such a magical age...still a little girl (and I was still able to get her to wear her hair in a bob)...she was in fourth grade with one of her favorite teachers, Mrs. Street...it was a year of Florida history, St. Augustine, Space Bubble...dance classes, soccer...lots of fun!

Along with her friends she cheered on her school team...the Holy Nativity Lightning Bolts...or was it the Eagles...or was it the Tigers??? 
That's her flying high

Following that tradition...Kate cheered her first two years of high school...

Go Dolphins!

Kate's friends threw her a surprise Sweet 16 Birthday Party...she was happily surprised! These were the kids that she grew up with at HNES...high schoolers now, they still enjoy time together...Pterodactyl anyone?

Kate LOVES to travel (just like me)...here she is goofing around before a tour of the USS Missouri in Hawaii!

Most people would describe Katelyn as smart!!  True as that may be she is also one to try anything...at least once.  In Hawaii she took surfing lessons along with her sisters and after several successful rides she enjoyed the company of the instructor's dog while Chelsea and Nicole tried to "hang ten!"

We went to Vermont over Christmas break a couple of years ago.  Kate loved picking out her winter ensembles to wear out and about in the truly frosty air.  While there we enjoyed sledding, cross country skiing (did I say enjoy...ha ha), downhill skiing, and a lovely ride through the countryside in a one horse open sleigh!  She was a trooper, although not a particular fan of freezing cold weather...but she loved hot chocolate and a book by the roaring fire!

Last summer Katelyn went to a Leadership Summit at Columbia University in NYC so we took Chelsea's bf Ali with us for her first visit to the big Apple...this is Katelyn's absolute favorite place to go in the world!!  Here we are in Rockefeller Center...home of the largest Anthropologie store we have ever seen (and you thought I was going to say something about Top of The Rock or NBC Studios...didn't you)!  On another NYC visit Rich took Katelyn on a tour of the financial district...nothing like a good fiscally conservative talk while in the shopping mecca of the country!!

As the baby of the family, Kate had yet to visit Europe...but we remedied that this past summer with a cruise around the Mediterranean Sea!  She got her "feet wet" for world travel..."OH NO" says her dad!!!  In Rome she and Chelsea were accosted by parasol salesmen...they have such fair skin you know.  They wanted nothing to do with the umbrella...but honestly her dad couldn't enjoy the sites until they had one in their hand!

Katelyn loves being with the "sibs" whether it's in snowy Vermont or dressing up at a tea shop! She does have a not-so-serious-side...

This past year Katelyn has become an aunt!  She and Claire Elizabeth are big buddies and for the record Claire is Katelyn all over again!!! Just look at the first picture of this blog!

Katelyn and Chelsea have been closer than sisters forever...they tend to like the same music, movies, and clothes (hence the many disputes about wearing something without asking)...Chelsea is in hot pursuit of Katelyn coming to Auburn next year and the two of them making some new memories together...Kate has her eye on another school...so time will tell!

Happy 18th Birthday  Katelyn!

I Love You!

It's Thursday...But the Weekend's Coming!

We have a busy weekend coming up starting with a road trip to Auburn bright and early Saturday morning.  We are soooo excited to be going up to see Chlesea and we're going to the Auburn/Clemson game that night. Of course we have to figure out the wardrobe because it is Blue Out (or something like that) at the game on Saturday night and my ORANGE ruffled blouse might cause some to think I am cheering on Clemson which would be a mistake of huge proportions!  So,  while out perusing around for something blue for myself and Rich (cause yeah... he has an ORANGE shirt too) I ran across this really cute dress.  It is a classic Ralph Lauren...on sale...a no brainer, right?  Later when I told Kate, she did that "denim dress? Say-it-isn't-so" look!  Meanwhile she and Chelsea (who is up to her eyeballs this week with an Organic Chem test and an Anatomy test) will pull out all of those cute little Deja Vu mostly blue game day dresses and try to figure out which ones they should wear!!  Well I like my dress and it will look really good with my cowboy boots...which I might wear.

I did find Rich a mostly blue shirt

Totally an aside...but I also found some Alabama stuff for David and Nicole!

Okay, so back to the weekend...on Sunday Kate and I will head up to Birmingham to celebrate her 18th birthday at the Apple Store buying a laptop!

Can you believe this little "pumpkin" is 18!!  Check back on her birthday (19th)...I will be blogging about her and there will be lots of pictures : )

So after the birthday shopping at the Apple Store we will go to dinner and then back to Nicole's. Thank goodness Kate will be wrapped up with that new Mac cause that means I get Claire pretty much to myself!!  On Monday Katelyn and I will head up to Samford University for a day of touring and meetings...Monday night Chelsea will come to town and the kids will go to see Kings of Leon in Concert...another evening with Claire to myself!!

Tuesday we will all head back to where we belong...Chelsea to Auburn and Kate and I to Panama City!  Makes me tired thinking about it...but I can't wait!!