Birthday Extravaganza

Today marks the end of Isabella's "Birthday Week Extravaganza",... and thank goodness, because I'm totally drained.

The festivities began on Tuesday with dinner at El Porton, our favorite Mexican restaurant which she picked, where she was surprised when all the waiters serenaded her with Happy Birthday in both English and Spanish. They put a sombrero on her and actually, she wasn't quite sure what to do with herself. Afterwards we went home and met up with her cousins to enjoy some yummy Baskin Robbins Chocolate Chip Ice Cream/Chocolate cake and presents.
On Saturday we had her birthday party at The Little Gym. To tell you the truth I was a bit worried about how they would be able to entertain a group of 14 children ranging from 1 year to 11 years old, but somehow they did, and they did it beautifully. The kids had a blast and they were all so good! They ran and they jumped as long as they could. And just when they were about to pass out from pure exhaustion, we served them cupcakes with lots of sugary icing to get them nice and wired before it was time to go home. Isabella specifically requested a "Pablo" (better known as The Backyardigans) theme for her birthday party so we ordered some Backyardigans balloons, played a Backyardigans CD throughout the party and served Backyardigans cupcakes ~ she was quite pleased.
Today, we closed the birthday extravaganza with our first ever visit to Build-A-Bear. Isabella absolutely loved it; she thoroughly enjoyed every single step of the process. She picked a white and pink bear, who she named Ally, and dressed her with a very preppy pink and white golf outfit (which included a sleeveless argyle collared shirt, skort, and visor), pink and white socks, pink sketchers sneakers, and roller skates. I've been wanting to take her there for a long time, and I'm so glad we did; it really was so much fun!
After it was all said and done and paid for (YIKES!), she decided the best way to end this week-long affair was to have the mother of meltdowns. It was as if she was thinking: "What? No fireworks? Don't worry, I'll take care of the Grand Finale." And that she did ~ she threw a fit of epic proportions. Good times!

Anyway, I'm glad to report that all is under control. We're all still alive and well and getting ready for Scott's birthday week which starts this coming weekend. Oy vey!