Olivia, you're 8!

 

Livvy Jo, 

Today, you are eight years old. We've had a lot of adventures this year and I have loved creating amazing memories with you.

We all enjoyed our ski season last winter. You advanced to the blue group and I would bet you'd make the black group this winter. You're such a great skier; you leave me in your (snow) dust, and you love the steep, fast hills, while I prefer the slower ones.

In March, we were given tickets to Monster Jam, so we spent a weekend in Detroit - our first time visiting there. The show was really neat and we also enjoyed seeing a few things around the city.

Later that month, we went to Florida for spring break. We stayed in the Keys and also spent a little time visiting school friends in Naples. It was so fun seeing friends on vacation. We took a day trip to Dry Tortugas National Park, which was really neat. We snorkeled and explored the fort. We didn't love the ferry ride back, but thankfully none of us got sick.

We also spent a little time in Everglades National Park.

Poolside service was your favorite thing.

In the spring, we had a total solar eclipse. We weren't in the area of totality, but we still had some eclipse glasses and were able to see it partially.

Last summer, you played t-ball and loved it! We practice a bit without the tee at home and you're really good at hitting. I can't wait to see you play coach pitch this summer.

While the boys were at summer camp, you did bike camp with Norte. I was really proud of your attitude and effort that week. You don't have a lot of stamina for riding, but you did up to 6 miles in one day, which I thought was pretty awesome. And it was REALLY hot that week.

In July, we took a road trip and spent two weeks in Tennessee, dividing our time between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Chattanooga, and Nashville. I loved all the cool hikes and views in GSMNP. You enjoyed forging your knife in Pigeon Forge.

These waterfall stairs in Chattanooga were so fun, and you asked to play in them again before we left town. So nice on such hot days!

I finally cleaned out the basement bedroom and Leland moved down there, so now each of you kids has your own bedroom. It's so nice that you now have your own space.

You're just so cute.

For Halloween, you wanted to be a robber, so I teamed up and went as a police officer. You were very excited for your money bag to hold your candy.

This fall, we did something brand new for us. We stayed at a horse ranch that's about an hour or so away and spent the weekend. We all really enjoyed riding and decided to go back next year. 

We went to Chicago for their Christmas Lights parade the weekend before Thanksgiving. The boys and I had been to Chicago before, but you hadn't. We did the parade, visited the Christmas Market, ice skated the ribbon in Maggie Daley Park, saw The Bean, and went to a Bull's game. We packed a lot in, and we walked A LOT. 

These days, you're still really into arts and crafts. You have some really great friends at school, and for your birthday, we invited a few of them over to paint Nutcrackers and make friendship bracelets. 

You recently started gymnastics and you LOVE it. We're still trying to figure out how to keep up with it with everything else (skiing and basketball) coming up. Your next session may have to wait until skiing and basketball are done.

You're one of the silliest, strangest people I know, but you're also incredibly smart and caring toward your friends. You're kicking butt in school. At home, you're mostly kicking MY butt (girl, you can argue like nobody's business).

I'm excited to see all the adventures the next year has in store. I think it's going to be a great one, and I'm here for all the memories we have yet to make.

I love you.