Weekend Wrap-Up: A 9th Birthday

This weekend my little tiny Tink turned 9. Her last year of "single digits!"

Was it nine years ago that I was welcoming this little peanut into the world? 

She has her big kid teeth now, the kind that don't yet fit her face. Her hair has grown from bald to her signature "bob." Her eyes are still gigantic and soulful. Her smile still lights up a room. 

Originally, my surgery was scheduled for this past Friday, so I had not made any birthday plans for Tink other than having her best friend sleep over. Those two partners in crime are so low maintenance and well-behaved that I knew I could handle it.  But, my surgery was delayed until THIS Friday so I scrambled to see if I could put something together for her. Something low key and small. "Let's just invite only the number of kids that can fit in our minivan," I instructed. She rattled off some names, I shot off some emails and low and behold... it came together seamlessly. 

Sometimes shooting from the hip works out. 

She and her girlfriends did a little bowling, ate some greasy bowling alley food and then headed to the YoGo Factory where they filled their cups with soft serve and piled on the toppings. The end.

That is my kind of birthday celebration - easy, simple, fun. After our little outing, we returned home to commence the "sleep over portion" of the birthday. Tink and her Bestie camped out in our family room, watched a movie and woke up together on Tink's actual birthday which was a huge thrill for her.

The day of her actual birthday it poured an icy rain all day long without reprieve. The ice actually resulted in several multi-vehicle pile-ups on the major roadways around the Philadelphia area and unfortunately there were several fatalities. We stayed put, lounging in our pjs until evening swimming. Then we headed over to my in laws for a little dinner and birthday cake to celebrate two birthdays - Tink's and her grandfather's, born the same day!

We concluded the evening with the "jelly bean challenge" which my 14 year old niece introduced us to. There are two to three identical jelly beans in each box. One is a yummy flavor, but one is a gross one. Canned dog food, barf, rotten egg and skunk spray topped the list of disgusting beans.  My niece asked who was brave enough to do the challenge with her and the birthday girl was all in!

She lucked out every time while my poor niece got stuck with every nastiness one could taste. Rella took her chances in hopes of getting the Chocolate Pudding but ended up with canned dog food.

"Yeah, it's dog food," she said chewing.
"Do you want to spit it out?" we asked, handing her a napkin.
"Nah," she answered. "It's actually not that bad."

I tried one and got moldy cheese. Tasted like a gorgonzola jelly bean which wasn't great but at least it wasn't puke flavored which, from what I hear, tastes exactly like puke which is... well... no comment.

That ended our thrilling evening. The glamorous life we lead over here! Monday the girls had off for MLK day. I had a doctor's appointment so Tink and I made her school cupcakes first thing in the morning. She had selected "Butterscotch Cupcakes with Salted Carmel Icing" from a cook book she took out of the school library. The icing had to be cooked over the stovetop... that was a first for me. Did I mention I wasn't really good in the kitchen? Well, this kid had me elbow deep in scratch cupcakes and cooked icing... but we did it!

Dr. Fab and I went to my "pre-op" appointment and I learned about all the fantastic things that will be going on Friday to include multiple needles in the boob, radioactive materials injected into my body followed by a mammogram, then a wire being stuck into my boob to mark the spot for surgery ... and THEN I get put under for the actual operation.  Sounds super fun. 

But THEN I get to wake up, go home and put it all behind me! Good riddance.

Dr. Fabulous grabbed the three girls from his Mom and I drove to Maryland to bring CB back home. Except for missing CB, it was a pretty awesome weekend.

And a pretty awesome birthday celebration for a pretty awesome kid.