The Big 3 + 0

My wife's 30th birthday is today... which makes her exactly 10 times older than our niece, Isabella. If you hadn't heard, they share a birthday, 27 years apart. This is the one and only day in history that Kristen will be exactly 10 times older than Bella... pretty cool!

My baby Bella is 3 which is a great age! She is so impressionable, yet she is learning so much on her own. She is already so smart and way more advanced than other kids her age. I am very proud of her and love her very much. She is this little fire-engine red-head with round cheeks and the cutest little expressions... If she smiles at you with her little chicklets - forget about it! Her big girl birthday party is Strawberry Shortcake themed this year. On a side note, I must say that I admire Strawberry Shortcake's tenacity as an icon for little girls for so many years - you have officially made it if kids are playing with you today whose parents were playing with you 25 years ago, which my sister Jackie was. Anyway, back to Bella Marie and her big girl birthday... It should be as big a blast as the first two, if not moreso since she has such a big personality in her little body. Kristen and I unfortunately won't be able to be there this year. With us living away now after Kristen spending so many birthdays away from home and this being Kristen's big 3-0, we just need to let her enjoy one with her family for a change. Plus we always had planned to visit the following weekend because Kristen thought she was having a big birthday party of her own this weekend.

So let's talk about that for a minute. We planned this party for last weekend, which was a huge success... Kristen was surprised and there were a lot of people there from all different aspects of Kristen's life! We kept telling her it would be the following weekend (her actual birthday weekend), so she was very unsuspecting the whole time. It wasn't very easy though because we told her we wanted to keep everything secret from her so it would be more fun for her... you know since we "weren't" trying to surprise her... heh heh. Well as you can imagine she got very nosy about things and was starting to get frustrated when people asked her what she was doing and she thought we weren't telling anyone where the party was! It was comical but weighed on the nerves of me and Jaime, her sister who helped me plan the big bash!

So we got to the bar and the "surprise" was somewhat anti-climactic because the bar was packed and we didn't technically have our own space reserved, so the noise level and the scattered-ness of our guests made it tough for one of those big hooplas you see in the movies.... she was still surprised though, so it was all good. Personally, it was good to see all of the people that showed up as some of them we hadn't seen in a while... even my own sister made it up from StL, so that was cool too, a gesture that Kristen appreciated very much having been in the same shoes (figuratively). We had appetizers, cakes, and plenty of drinks! I had a blast and I know Kristen did too... that sort of thing can be a little overwhelming since everyone is there for you, so you have to make sure you go around and talk to everyone personally, kind of like a wedding... but she always had a drink in her hand and a smile on her face - especially when she got her diamond earrings she's been asking about for a few years!

Happy birthday to two of my favorite ladies. I love you guys and hope you both have a wonderful birthday that starts with the number 3!!