Today you are eight years old.
I love it. And it simultaneously kills me.
Maybe I've said this every year, maybe I haven't; either way, I can barely believe I have been your mom for EIGHT WHOLE YEARS. There have been some very long days, and these years have been very short. That saying is not a lie. I haven't loved every single minute of these years, but I have loved YOU every single minute of them.
You are an absolute gift to our family and we could not feel more blessed to have you in it. You continue to be kind, happy, easy going, friendly, welcoming, curious and fun. You are always up for an adventure. In fact, I couldn't possibly plan enough adventures to appease you. You always want to be going, doing, seeing. You are an absolute extrovert, and I can say in 100% confidence that you got that from me. Right now, since you need me for all of your adventures, it's sometimes (ok, a lot of the time) exhausting, but I really do love it. I am certain your sense of adventure and love of people will take you some amazing places in your life, and I can't wait to witness that.
You love reading and can often be found a long time after your light should have been out, cuddled in bed reading away. You aren't picky and often surprise me with your choices - Archie comics, magazines, Geronimo Stilton, old Westerns, Little House on The Prairie - you are enthralled with them all. You are also always willing to sit down and read to Jace or Winnie or Henry or Frankie, or really anyone that asks. You don't mind waiting however long it takes for me to get the other kids to bed at night because it means you get more time to read. I absolutely love this.
You love climbing your tree and giving tree climbing classes to the other kids. You like swinging and biking and looking for cool forest treasures. There are always pieces of bark, rocks, sticks, moss or dirty leaves in your pockets, on your bedroom floor, in the side pocket of the car door, in your backpack.... ok, its always everywhere. Its dirty and makes me crazy. But it brings you joy, so I suppose I should lay off of you, right? Maybe just start cleaning it up better and I will allow it! haha. Anything that you can use your imagination for, you are interested in. You are handy to have around in cases such as, when we are camping and don't have a clothes line - you rig up something using sticks and some vine you find on the forest floor. Thats a skill, taking what you have and making it work for you. That one you got from your dad I guess, because it definitely wasn't me.
(this was your paddle for the paddle board you guys made out of drift wood)
You are legitimately the best big sister ever. I mean, those kids do not know how good they have it. You share every single thing you have/get, you let them go first, sit where they want (even if you were there first), play with anything they want (even if you had it first), help them when they need it, help them when they dont want it and aren't being nice, make sure they are safe, entertain them.... the list goes on and on. Dad and I are lucky you are such a helpful, kind big sister, there are not enough words to explain how much help it is for us and we are so appreciative of it.
You did so well at school last year, we are so proud of the friend you are and how well you do in class. You practice hard at the work that is sent home (spelling words) and your tests show that. You have seriously messy printing!!! I am always telling you to slow down and write neater, but you would just rather not. Maybe this will be the year that you figure that out, maybe not. :)
You recently started loving fried eggs and raisin english muffins. Your favourite food is still chicken pot pie and request it on a weekly basis. Also still obsessed with sushi. You claim to like sparking water but you make a hilarious face at every sip and get through maybe 4 sips before you are done. We keep telling you its ok not to like it, but for some reason you just really want to. You don't care for milk or yogurt or bananas, but you love banana bread. You eat everything we give you, even if you don't like it! Thanks for that!
You don't exactly have a favourite song right now, but one of your favourite things to do is listen to a playlist on Spotify called "Chilling on a dirt road" .... You like to get dads old cell phone and a pair of ear buds and sit somewhere quiet and listen to it. You know all the songs and are always singing. Your favourite artist is definitely Luke Bryan so we listen to him a lot.
Tonight at bed time, you saw me get a bit weepy while tucking you in and telling you all the reasons I love being your mom. You just truly, truly, truly make us so happy. We are figuring out together how to navigate this having an older kid and some days it's harder than others, but I think we are doing a pretty good job, all of us together.
Thanks for being so darn awesome. We love you. Really, really love you.
Happy 8th birthday, Missy moo.
Love, Mom and Dad.
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