Not only is she a wonderful nanny — brimming with knowledge from special ed classes and a terrific spirit — she’s super creative. So it was hard to figure out how to celebrate Courtney, who celebrates her 22nd birthday today.

An afternoon with Sophie isn’t a bad start (though for the record I did offer her the day off!) but since I was furiously making sugar skulls last night for the girls’ classes to decorate (more on that later — it went well in Sophie’s classroom this morning, beyond expectations for sure) I figured I’d do one up to look like Courtney, who, as my mother puts it, is so beautiful it’s hard to stop looking at her. (The sugar skull hardly does her justice, as you might have guessed.)

But as Sophie — who has come up with her own version of the cookie song, “C Is For Courtney!” — can ascribe, Courtney’s just as beautiful on the inside.

Happy Birthday to a very special member of our extended family. I’m crying at my desk, thinking about what we’ll do when you graduate next year.