Put a brick on her head!

Thirteen years ago I gave birth to a tiny little baby girl.  She's grown a bit since then and is becoming a wonderful young woman.  She's smart, creative, affectionate and playful.  She sticks her tongue out at her Dad daily, has adorable dimples that she tries unsuccessfully to hide when she's pretending to be mad and a stronger sense of who she is than most girls twice her age. 

• We went on vacation last year and the first souvenir she bought for herself was a stuffed version of the rabbit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail - it has giant teeth and a red, bloody looking mouth.  She LOVES it!
• She loves video games like Castlevania and Lego Battles.
• Last year for her birthday she asked for a field guide to rocks and minerals.
• She wanted to learn to speak Draconic (the language of the dragons), so she printed a bunch of word lists and such, then made her own "class."  She's getting pretty good at it and is now teaching two of her brothers how to speak it, too.  
• She likes origami and has taught me to make a few things.
• She recently informed me that she'd like to learn French, too, because she likes the way it sounds.
• Her two favorite movies are Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Noises Off!  At least twice a day she works a quote from one of them into a conversation.
• She makes crazy good baking powder biscuits.
• She refuses to cook tomato soup while The Boy makes grilled cheese sandwiches because a few years ago he accidentally bumped her, sloshing hot soup all over her.  The burns weren't bad and there's no scarring, but she won't tempt fate again.
• She's often my crafty partner in crime, helping me figure out how to make my ideas into reality - she's logical where I'm not.
• She buys most of her clothes from the boys' department because she thinks the ones in the girls' department are too revealing or have stupid sayings on them that she doesn't agree with (things like "90% angel, 10% devil" or "I'm the princess.  Spoil me.")
• She has a Lego stash that rivals most small stores.
• When she's got free time she can often be found in the driveway building some sort of rock maze or preserve for her vast menagerie of plastic animal figurines or making extremely detailed animals out of play dough (usually that she's made herself).
• When she's reading, which is pretty often, she prefers non-fiction.  She reads field guides and coffee table books like novels - the more information, the better!
• Her current career choices are veterinarian, marine biologist or wildlife photographer.
• The day we brought her home from the hospital (she was so little!), Bryant made us a special dinner.  That same meal has been her birthday dinner of choice every single year. 

Happy birthday, Scooter!  We love you!