Double Digits

No, not the weather here. Let's not get crazy.

Her:

She's ten. And let me tell you, there's something about your youngest hitting those double digits to really make you realize how quickly your life is whizzing along. And also that you really need to stop referring to your muffin top as "baby weight."

It hasn't been the easiest year for Bug. Of all of us, she was the most affected by our renovation project. She's always been a child of routine, who needs her sleep, and who thrives on predictability. Living with workmen tromping to and fro, nail guns and generators thundering away, walls being torn down around her, and just general chaos for four months brought out a new anxiety in Bug. She worried more and cried more, and as consumed as I was with the renovation, it took until we were done with the construction and settling back into a normal life to realize that Well, DUH, maybe this whole process has been hard on her. I'm intuitive like that.

Bug really threw herself into her party planning. She chose "Chocolate" as her theme and devoted a notebook to planning her guest list, cake, games, and pretty much any detail ever ?associated with a child's party. Cake? Giant cookie decorated with candy. Movie? Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Breakfast? pancakes with chocolate chip and whipped cream smiley-faces. Treat Bags? Hershey kiss lip balm, cookie cutters & sprinkles, mini boxes of chocolates, and packets of hot chocolate.

She decorated the cake/cookie herself. The best thing about it is that with its adornments of Skittles, Junior Mints, Rollos, and Swedish fish, I had no desire to sample it. And me passing on birthday cake is a minor miracle.

Bug and her four best buds. Since their parents don't know about my blog, I blacked out their faces. (Any resemblance to "Girls Gone Wild" is mostly coincidental).

Actually, it was one of the easiest slumber parties we've ever hosted. They hauled out the boxes of dress-up clothes early on and spent 80% of the party wandering around in my old heels, dance recital costumes, and elaborate hats playing some completely engrossing, highly bastardized version of "Mother May I." I actually had to call them up from the family room to eat cake and again for the movie.

Bear and I engineered a "Name That Candy Bar!" contest. The girls were given a small slice of ten different candy bars and using taste, touch, and smell had to write down the name of each one ( or half credit if they were able to accurately describe the candy but didn't know its name). Most were fairly common (Milky Way, Twix, Snickers), but I threw them a few curve balls just in the interests of self-amusement (Mint Aero - a Canadian candy, an 80% dark chocolate Ghiradelli bar, and Cadbury's Caramello bar).

Tip!: most ten-year-olds don't like 80% dark chocolate. At all. In fact, Bug was the only one who did. The other four took one bite, gagged, and tried to scrape it off their tongues with a napkin. Entertainment value galore.

Happy Birthday, Bug!