Bella turns 10!

April 29, 2010

Some birthdays come and go with a blink of an eye and some seem to last forever. Well, Bella's birthday this year was one of those that seemed to never end. The festivities just kept on happening.
Of course the birthday had to start out with an whole oven pancake and presents. 

Since it's a school day with lots of other activities going on, the birthday is kind of put on hold until the weekend, when real celebration can begin.  No birthday cake tonight, so we settled on a birthday root beer float! (With promises of a cake this weekend).

Usually our practice for birthdays is you can either pick a "big gift" or a party.  This year Bella put on her negotiating hat and said, "what if I have a small party and get 1/2 of a big gift?"  She negotiated this for a few weeks and we finally agreed upon the fact that she could invite a few friends to a party, and receive 1/2 of a "big gift" (she decided she wanted an itouch, so we would pay a portion and she would pay a portion).  I never realized Bella was such a consistent, unrelenting negotiator (I'm going to need to remember this in the future).

THE PARTY!  So Bella decided she would like a theme party, so after a variety of options were suggested, she settled on inviting a select group of friends for a 50s party.

Mom even got sucked into the theme!

Shay, Bella, Jamie and Alexa

We went to Gunthar Toody's (a 50s diner) for dinner that included lots of greasy yummy food and of course ice cream sundays and shakes.  The servers are all so cute at this place.  They sang and danced with Bella and her party and all had a great time.  We certainly rolled out of that place.

After dinner we headed for a little 50s bowling action.  We certainly got our share of stares, but had a great time.

After Bowling, we headed back home for the sleepover.  More cake and ice cream and fun to be had all night.

The next night after the party it was time to take Bella out for "date night" with mom and dad.  She selected Outback Steakhouse (ohh thank you bella - this is one of my favorite places of all time to eat).  She enjoyed the "thunder from down under" dessert (YUM) and we called it a successful birthday!
Happy Birthday to Bella.