Eight!

[nwhiker]

My baby, my little last, my little Nutella, is eight.

How did that happen?

She's so cute. And funny. And sweet. And stubborn. And OMG, self-centered! Heh.

She's tiny. And strong. And very very loving.

She makes our lives so much better, so much happier. I can't imagine a family in which she wasn't there... I mean... she's the extrovert to our introverts, the shopping lover to our 'ugh, the mall?', the 'can I play with my friends?' to our 'friends?'. She's the pop-music to our metal (though Perry has been listening to... old Michael Jackson recently. WTF's with that?), the morning lark to our 'morning? NO!'. She's the dancer to our more steady plodding, a lover of cameras to our camera shy. She's fashion conscious to our 'whatever is on top of the pile' and artistic to our 'never progressed beyond stick figures' ability. She's pink and sparkles to our plain black and a the optimist to our more cynical outlook.

And yet. She's -despite dyslexia- a reader like the other two kids and me. She's a hiker, and as she told me yesterday, she dreams while she hikes, like I do. I'll admit that she's a junkfood hound, but one with an adventurous palate. She's an excellent road tripper, and, in all seriousness, a happy camper. She's stubborn and opinionated. She's a video game junkie like her siblings, and she's getting to be a biker.

How could our family be complete without her?

So, Happy Birthday, my sweet Linnealove. I'm so happy you're part of our family, and I marvel at the combination of genetics, environment, and luck that brought you to us!