There she is!  My beautiful 10-year-old birthday girl with her dazzling cowgirl hat tiara!  I can't believe she is 10 already!  Where did the time go?

So, in honor of 10 years of R, I'd like to post 10 facts about her!

1.  She has a special stuffed tiger named Niles (after the character on Fraiser) that she got when she was 10 months old.   She received Niles as a present from Papa D's cousin after they got back from a road trip, and she still sleeps with him to this day.  He is old and thread-bare and very well loved.  He is too fragile to leave the house anymore.

2.  When she was a baby she used to call milk "mong-ay".  She would stand at the refrigerator door and cry for "mong-ay, mong-ay, mong-ay" over and over.  We still tease her about "da mong-ay"!

3.  When she was 5 she still had a hard time differentiating between blue and purple.  I took her to the eye doctor we found out that she has an astigmatism that changes the shape of her eye and makes it difficult to distinguish certain colors in certain light.  With her glasses she can see 100% better.

4.  She has one foot that is a half size bigger than the other.  That makes finding shoes incredibly difficult.

5.  She is the most caring child I have ever had the privilege of knowing.  She donates all of her money to church or Heifer International, she is growing her hair to donate to Locks of Love and she makes up posters to "Save the Polar Bears".  She is such a good humanitarian.  (A wanted me to add that R is also a great big sister who helps her when she gets hurt.)

6.  She wants to be a hairdresser when she grows up.  She wants to have a small salon in the back of her house (like our hairdresser) so that she can work part-time, but still be home to homeschool her kids.

7.  She is a creative free spirit and loves using her imagination.  She wholeheartedly believes in things like fairies and wizards.  She is expecting a letter from Hogwarts next year when she turns 11.  (Still don't know how I am going to handle that one..)

8.  Despite my best efforts, she is now interested in things like Hannah Montana and High School Musical.  Her interests are very diverse, however, and she never lets someone else discourage her from something that she wants to to like or do.  She is a leader of the pack, not a follower.

9.  She has her own sense of style and flair.  (Hence the hat in the above picture)  She likes to design her own hairstyles and outfits and luuuuvvvs to shop.

10.  She is very creative and enjoys putting on musical shows and dramatic performances for us all.  She can sing and dance very well.  She'd love to see her name in lights one day!

Well, there you go.  10 fabulous facts about my fabulous girl! 

Happy Birthday Ry-fry!