One Sad Happy Birthday

Robyn is 10 now!! She hit double digits last week. It is not a friend party year, but I didn't have anything special in mind from mom and dad, so instead of a bigger gift, she took two friends to Color Me Mine. (What am I saying? That is a bigger gift. Fun, but not cheap.)

Temekula and Lexi had a great time. Lexi painted her lips so she could leave a 'kiss' on her mug.

They all did a great job and had fun.

Three Amigos.

And then, like a bomb, illness dropped from the sky and landed squarely on Robyn. The next morning she woke up at 3 am with a fever. She snuggled in bed with me until it was time to get up, but she clearly wasn't going anywhere. She spent most of the day like this.

Poor thing. I had even left her a birthday message and some balloons, but I think they were received with a lackluster glance.

At one point, we roused her enough to open gifts. It was a pretty somber affair. I think one of her favorite things was the fluffy seahorse from Grandma Dargan.

She snuggled with that thing for the next three days, which meant it got a good wash later in the week. I told her the story of the Velveteen Rabbit, but she didn't seem that worried. (I guess she doesn't believe that I would burn her toys.)

She was very polite and thanked all her sisters in turn as they gave her cards and gifts.

But you could tell she was barely managing the whole business.

The next day was when she mentioned her throat. I think she had mentioned it before in passing, but it didn't seem a big concern. But when she told me that her throat was really hurting, in less than an hour we had a positive strep test in hand. I was actually grateful she had strep. So many times we go in only to find out it is some virus that the kids just have to endure. With strep came antibiotics and a happy Robyn again just a day later. (Still tired, but much happier.)

Robyn didn't want cake and she couldn't have eaten it on her birthday anyway. So I didn't get around to making her 'birthday danish' until almost a week later when I knew she was good and healed. It was nice to have the well Robyn back.

And we could all feel good about eating something she blew all over.

The candles were really skiwampus because the danish was still hot so the candles were melting from the bottom up. It was fun watching Robyn trying to blow them all out in one go.

She is such a good kid. I'm so glad she is part of our family. She is smart and sensitive. She showed me her journal recently and I was amazed to see how detailed it was with pictures and cute notes on the sides. She is very observant and funny. She always seems to have a quirky remark ready at the right moment. (And possibly at the wrong moment too.) Out of the kids, she might be the most like me. (Not sure if that is a good thing. She definitely has a bit of my sarcasm in her.) But I will take her as she is. She is a keeper.