Happy Birthday, Katie!

Today is Katie's 12th birthday. She's our eighth grandchild and third granddaughter; and she lives in Virginia on the outskirts of Washington DC with her mom and dad and three brothers. Right now her dad is in Afghanistan. Last night I conducted a phone interview with Katie. Here's how it went (as always, the pictures may or may not have anything to do with the questions they're attached to):

Are you excited to be turning 12? Yes Why? Ummm, well I'm younger but taller than all of my friends but now I'll be the same age as all of my friends - just taller.

Do you have any special plans for your birthday? Well, I have a dentist appointment tomorrow but it's not really special - just a routine dental appointment and since I have volleyball practice tomorrow, we went out to eat today.

Where'd you go? Five guys! Was it fun? Yeah. What was the most fun? Getting Mello Yello because I never get Mello Yello since it's rare in the VA area and it's my favorite soda. Did you have a cheeseburger? Yes, and I ate it all but I got really full afterwards.

Are there any special wishes or gifts that you're hoping to get? Since we went out to eat, we did presents today also and I got what I really, really wanted - a cell phone.

What was the best thing about being 11? I don't know - just having double ones in my age. But nothing else was very special about it.

And what do you think will be the best thing about being 12? Umm, going into seventh grade because that's when I start middle school. Will you be going to the same school as David then? Yeah, I guess it will embarrass him a little bit. I hope so anyway.

Any special plans or events that you're looking forward to in the coming year? Yes, my dad's coming home in February.

Do you like school? I like Social Studies, Reading and Writing; but my Math and Science Teacher is really boring so I don't like that very much.

How are your grades? They're good. All A's.

You're in volleyball now? Yes, I love it. How do like having your mom for a coach? I like it because I'm new to the team and she's always there so I won't feel all alone before I make friends. But sometimes she's gets kind of embarrassing like when she makes us do push ups or tuck jumps.

What's your favorite sport? Probably volleyball. And your second favorite? Soccer.

What's your favorite pastime? Playing outside is fun and hanging out with my friend Maria. I do that a lot.

If you had to decide right now what you'll be when you grow up, what would it be? Probably a teacher.

How do you like being the only girl AND having three brothers? It has it's ups and downs. Downs like I live with the boys so I'm kind of the odd one out but the up is that I always have someone to play outside with. And you could say they make me a littler tougher.

How do you like being part of such a large extended family? It's really cool. Whenever we talk about where we're going for Christmas I get to say we're going to Indiana where I have like twenty cousins.

I know your dad has been in Afghanistan for almost ten months now? What's the hardest thing about that? For me it's him not being here and him not being completely safe over there. We all worry about him a lot.

What chores and responsibilities do you have around the house. My brothers and I share them. We usually take care of the trash and we work on the lawn together and sometimes we'll do a deep cleaning where we clean the entire house really, really well.

What's your favorite holiday? Probably Christmas because it's just a joyful season and I get to see all the decorations and hear all the Christmas music.

What else would you tell us about yourself? I think you got everything.

Do you play any instruments? I play the violin and sometimes I enjoy it. (She also plays the Zachary toy guitar, the Guitar Rock guitar, and the air guitar.)

Do you like animals? Yes. My favorites are dolphins and then dogs.

Also, I get my braces off around this time next year and I'm look forward to it. I just wish it were sooner .

After talking with her mom I also found out that she and her mom went clothes shopping for her birthday and one of the outfits she tried on made her look so old that her mom cried and Katie laughed.

And, she's doing very well in volleyball. She's among the top three even though she's a year younger than everybody else on the team.

She loves to cook and made her own cupcakes for her birthday complete with icing and sprinkles and then creatively arranged them in the letters KT.

And she's very helpful with Zachary which I knew because of how much she helped me when I was out there to babysit for a couple of days this summer.

She's also close with her younger brother Matthew, even though sometimes they pretend that's not true.

And no, of course I didn't have to edit rabbit ears from this picture. You mean you think that just because you can see Matthew standing next to her?

And she knows the value of a dollar. Here she is after we were handed free tickets for the Metro last summer saving us lots of money!

And she's sweet, loving, smart, cheerful, fun-loving, and helpful in every way. Happy Birthday, Katie! We love you very much and hope this is your best birthday yet!