Linnea

I am a few days late, but last Friday was Linnea's 14th birthday.

Linnea is our organizational wizard. If I have a closet that drives me to distraction, I call Linnea. She is also ruthless at following schedules and chore charts...if it is dinner time and she is serving...you better be there on time or you starve. It does not matter to her if you were late because you were reading under the covers or if you were saving a goat's life. Yes, we still have lots of work to do in the area of flexibility and patience with her, but I honestly have to say that there are days when she is what keeps the farm running in some semblance of order.

She is also our most freckled child--in fact one long time friend who hadn't seen her in a while asked who she was, sure that she was a neighbor child.

She is a history fanatic (as most of us are, here at Swede Farm) but Linnea is absolutely devoted to the Civil War and can share the most arcane facts. She is absolutely absorbed by the idea of re-enacting and had her birthday not fallen on one of the busiest days of our work week, her day would have likely been spent at the living history farm about 30 minutes from our home.

She is also, as the picture shows, another horse person. Grace's birthday gift to Linnea was to let her ride Grace's horse, Cowboy. This is huge. Grace has been working with and training Cowboy since his birth and only recently started riding him herself. I am not sure that Linnea recognized the sacrifice and relinquishment of control that this took on Grace's part!

Linnea's birthday at the end of February kicks off birthday season at our place. With the exception of Noah, every birthday falls within a 23 week period. This means that once Linnea has her birthday, that we will have a birthday about once every 2-3 weeks--sometimes more than one a day. This gives a perfect opportunity for me to introduce everyone in the household as their birthday hits.

Don't worry--we won't expect you to remember all the birthdays--not even all the names!