Happy Birthday to Olivia!

It was Olivia's birthday this month--8 years old!!  

This was an "off" year for having a friend party, so Adam and I took her out for her own birthday dinner date on Friday night, Adam took her kayaking on the Brandywine River on Saturday afternoon (unfortunately no photos), and for her birthday night on Sunday, I made the requested spaghetti and meatballs dinner with red velvet cake. Then following dinner, Max and Saul performed a little puppet show for her. I think that she had a good birthday weekend.

I shouldn't be, but I'm having a bit of a hard time coming up with exactly the right words to describe just exactly how fantastic Olivia is.  I admit that I'm still a little shocked by who she has become, but I think that I was pretty scarred by the crazy emotional outbursts and excessive tantrums that she had during her toddler (and then some) years--and that I worried were a permanent part of her personality.  But now, she has turned out to be a really sweet, creative, self-motivated, disciplined, and thorough little person, with quite a steel-trap for a mind (and some very large ears!).  I can't get too much past her any more, but I can pretty much always count on her to be the family peacemaker, the first to be watching out for Saul, to be Isabel's best friend, to laugh the loudest at Max's jokes, the most eager to help, the first to forgive, and the one who wants to give the longest hugs.  In all of the millions and millions of forms that I have to fill out at the beginning of the school year, every time her teacher asked me for a description of her personality, her attitude toward learning and school, all my answers pretty much boiled down to "She loves school!  She's engaged in learning!  She's a kind friend, most importantly, we think that Olivia is absolutely delightful!"    More than anything, I'm so glad that I didn't give her away when she was five years old.....because I was ready to.

We love you, Olivia!

P.S.  Adam did document the trip down the Brandywine