BELLE CABINETS

Before

After

Isabel's 4th Birthday

So Frank and I aren't big birthday people. I don't know what Frank's deal is, since I didn't grow up with him (and thank goodness for that - I've heard about those tight shorts and Hawaiian shirts and great taste in high school girls, too) but when I was a kid, it was all "your birth day was the day your mother was in the most pain so it should be a celebration of HER, not YOU." (And you thought that as the only child I was the little princess, didn't you?) Hear that, Isabel? And you, too, Annabel little miss won't turn her head down in the right direction even though the doctor tried and tried to turn you and it was so painful I wanted to die.

But whatever. Out baby girl still got her strawberry bunny cake and a few presents and was all happy, happy, happy because it's really about setting the expectations low. Every Saturday morning Frank takes Isabel to get bagels and then to Starbucks for my Americana where he gives her a little plastic stirring straw and it's like he gives her a new puppy each time or something. She will hold on to that red straw all morning long. It's like a little treat! It's great! It's red! It's so straight! Sounds kind of sad, doesn't it but see? LOW EXPECTATIONS.

Here are pictures of Isabel blowing out her candles and our two little cream puffs.

Can you tell who's who?

Isabel loves to write letters and lately, her writing is actually starting to make a little sense. She especially likes to write in her special writing outfit: a pink tutu over her purple pajamas.

Look! Look what mommy did to my hair! So there I was, just sitting in the bathroom this morning watching her brush her teeth and pretty much minding my own business when all of a sudden what does she do? She whips out a pair of little scissors (the kind you use to trim your nails) and she starts cutting away! And the amazing thing is, she did it WITHOUT THE AID OF A BOWL! And with a toothbrush in her mouth! And yes, that's my sister in the background with a bib around her neck. It's a long story...