Holly Ann Turns Eight...

I was going to begin this post with something along the lines of "well what can I say about Holly?"...but really it would be so much easier to list the things we couldn't say about this eclectic girl of ours. I will start by pointing out just how beautiful she is, not just on the outside but on the inside too. She is one of the kindest, most considerate (I'm sure most of you have seen her love notes over on Instagram!!), loving child I know. Her heart and her emotions are huge and she loves strongly and freely...and yes, sometimes those huge emotions swing in the other direction and can lead to huge, fiery outbursts...but on the whole they are rare and die down just as quickly as they flare up. She is liberal with her affections and adores hugging and kissing and receiving the same in return...I used to call her my cat as you could almost hear her purr if you stroked her hair.

And to balance out all those emotions and lovey-dovey aspects this girl is the funniest, most theatrical, hilarious of daredevils. No tree is too big, no puddle too deep...she has us in stitches with her jokes and impersonations, mesmerised with her stories and theatre productions, wincing at her singing performances and grimacing at her toilet humour (which always seems to wait for dinnertime to appear). This girl of mine sees the world as one big adventure filled with people for her to love, and that is exactly what I love most about her.

She adores reading too, devouring whole books in a day. So much so that her school are fast running out of books for her to read and we find that a trip to the bookstore is one of her favourite things to do. It's a usual part of my daily routine to dig around behind the headboard of her bed to dig out all the books she has secretly been reading past bedtime...but we don't speak of it as she never stays awake too late and well, I know that feeling of being unable to put down a book all too well...

Some days this girl has the patience of a saint, sitting reading to her youngest brother...or teaching letters to her sister....keeping them entertained with magic tricks and puppet shows when she knows I am busy. Sitting quietly, frowning in concentration over her knitting and embroidery projects, weighing out ingredients to bake cakes in the kitchen....

And other days she has little patience for anything, giving up easily with huge, dramatic sighs and groans.

Her requests for her birthday were simple...some magic tricks and an electronic science kit, banana cake with Nutella, a dinner of her favourites: sausage and egg, and on the weekend a trip to Dad's cinema with her bestest friend, no doubt so they can eat popcorn and giggle at anything and everything in the dark....oh how I remember being eight! And all I hope for my girl is that she too will one day remember being eight and that it will be a time filled with beautiful memories and that wonderfully heady feeling of the world being an open book, the only limit being her huge imagination. Happy 8th birthday Holly Ann, we love you so!