Happy Birthday, Anneliese!

Anneliese is 8 today! I secretly want to keep her home from school and take the day off work and snuggle and watch movies (read: birthday videos) and hang out with her all day, and I even offered her the option to play hooky, but she wants to go to school and see her friends and have a class birthday breakfast or whatever, so LE SIGH woe is me etc. I will just be here, distracted from client stuff, feeling my mommy feelings and watching the clock.

Tonight we have a pool party planned at an indoor parks and rec place with a slide, and all her fall pool party birthday dreams will come true. (She eyeballs her siblings' summer birthdays wistfully, and they do the same for her school-year birthday. The grass is always greener, munchkins. Get used to it.)

I have a german chocolate cake waiting, and will put something colorful on top (?) before the day is out. Coconuts and chocolate and nuts for my girl, with a rainbow and a grin.

The world has delighted Anneliese for another year, and she has delighted us too. Some fun moments from this year:


(If you can't see the video embedded above, click this link to watch on YouTube.)

And the memory lane videos:
seventh year
sixth
fifth
fourth
third
second
first

Every time I stop and remember how excited I was to meet Anneliese, to have a daughter, my daughter, I am amazed anew at how she's exactly as wonderful as we hoped, and more wonderful all the time. Our lives are better because we get to love her, and the world is better because she's in it.

Happy birthday, dear Anneliese. We love you so much!