Adelie's Birthday

Adelie had big plans for her 7th birthday.  She was going to have a combined family party with Briggs.  She was going to bring treats to school.  She was so excited for me to take a half day off work so I could eat lunch with her at school and spend time with her after early dismissal from school.  She was going to take the train and have a girl's day at the American Girl Doll store in Chicago.  And then coronavirus hit...and all that went out the window.  Did coronavirus ruin Adelie's birthday plans?  Absolutely!  But did it ruin her birthday?  Not in the slightest.

We decorated the house, got out the party hats, and Adelie woke to some yummy monkey bread for breakfast.

Adelie was showered with attention all day long.  She got texts and phone calls from friends and family, video texts from several of her friends from school, and video chats with aunts, cousins, grandparents, and even her teacher.  She had a friend and grandparents drop off gifts for her to open.

And there was even a special visit from Aunt Jill and her cousins...all while maintaining the appropriate social distance, of course.

After her dinner of choice (a Family Feast from Michael's) and some birthday cupcakes, Adelie got to open a few more presents from us.

Staley made Adelie a whole bunch of coupons for things like playing Barbies for 10 minutes, picking the movie for movie night, a lullaby before bed, talking for an extra 5 minutes before going to sleep,...  Adelie LOVED them and has been taking advantage of many of her special choices already.

Briggs made Adelie a card, a picture, and an airplane out of paper.

And then Adelie got a new bike and a new bike helmet to cap off her special day.   It may not have been the birthday that we had planned, but Adelie had a day full of attention and love.  What more could a girl want??