Someone is 4!!!

This past weekend was jam-packed with activity and celebration for our little Bella. To start with the biggest surprise....Grandma decided at the last minute that she wanted to fly in and surprise us for Bella's birthday! We were just playing in the backyard when the doorbell rang- and Grandma was standing at the doorstep! Isabella didn't miss a beat- "Oh hi Grandma! It's my birthday tomorrow!" But I was pretty shocked for a few minutes as I tried to figure out how she tricked me :-) Thanks mom for such a great surprise! We loved it!
In the morning we let her open Grandmas presents first, then she got to choose her breakfast of choice.. Dunkin' Donuts of course. We then spent the afternoon at Amazing Jakes where Bella rode all the rides (at least twice) and we got to enjoy sharing the day with Isabella's godparents Matt and Heather (and of course sweet baby Allie too). The birthday girl got to also pick her birthday dinner- so we capped off the night at Peter Piper Pizza and then (finally) headed home. At home, Bella opened all her presents from mom and dad, and then got to play with a few before calling it a night and heading to bed.
But the celebration wasn't over yet! The next day we had a little summer pool party at our house, and we also had a little celebration for Bella as well. More presents, more cake and more fun of course :-) John and I tried to get her a Barbie pinata, but we soon realized that all the toddler pinatas were operated by strings that you had to pull to open the trap door and release the candy! No hitting required! Whatever happened to the good old fashioned pinatas that you whack until it breaks open and dumps out candy?! We let her and Ty take a whack it it anyways :-)
Once the presents were opened and we sang to her with another cake, the kids were tucked in and the adults all jumped in the pool for a massive game of volleyball. Sadly, my team lost the tournament 1-2. But no worries- I'm sure there will be a re-match in the future. Toasting marshmallows by the fire pit was a nice way to cap off the evening with friends. Thanks you guys for such a fun night, and also for making Bella feel very special!
We love you Isabella! Hope you had a fabulous birthday! For more pictures of Bella's birthday, see our Picasa web album here : http://picasaweb.google.com/Bri.and.John/BellaS4thBirthday#

**Also a big thanks to Big Dave and Aunt Heidi for having us over for dinner and swimming last night :-)

...stay tuned to see Bella's 4 year old pictures soon! **