Blondie

I am a crafty person. I love to create things, step back and look proudly at them and pat myself on the back and tell myself how great that item turned out. Sometimes I think myself untalented so I need to do this once in a while to make myself feel like I'm accomplishing something. On one of my daughter's friend's blogs I saw a picture of a maternity shirt that said "I'm crafty. I make children." Exactly my feelings! My greatest creations (and I'll admit I've had lots of help) have been my children. Mark and I have often talked about how we kind of feel, sometimes, like our children are our science fair projects, and we are now at the stage where you are arriving at school, walking proudly into the classroom carrying said project with an immense sense of accomplishment. Allison is one of those projects and I am immensely proud of her. She started out as a colicky baby with a heart defect and required extra attention in those first two years. But almost as if she's been apologizing since then for taking up some extra time, she has been one of the easiest children to raise. In a family with 3 redheaded girls and two dark haired boys, our Blondie sometimes got overlooked by outsiders. Some people didn't realize she was part of our family. She's so quiet, they'd say. Umm, no, you just have to get to know her. She's funny, smart, quick to help anyone, shies away from conflict, huggy, always wants to do what is right, and is a wonderful mother to her own little blonde bombshell. She made up the word "stonks" when she was two years old. As in, "I have stonks in my nose, will you blow it for me?" A fitting word, I think. And the beginning of her own creativity. Happy Birthday, Allison. You will always be our little Blondie.