Alexa's 14th, LaBoum, The Melting Pot - Oh My!

I was so looking forward to a relaxing, quiet, let's hibernate like the bears January and February. Did I get that, NO! I mean what is this deal with having to provide birthday parties, party dresses, tennis lessons, and pantyhose for your teenager? Was that written in the orders you got when you went home from the hospital or in our case in the adoption documents? What happened to my nap time, weekends watching old movies - having money! All those are distant memories now...

Alexa's birthday was the 8th. It finally ended yesterday, the 19th. On her birthday she made me make her breakfast - breakfast! I never make her breakfast, unless it's for dinner! All right, I was a good mom and made her french toast for breakfast. Then came dinner - Olive Garden, here we come. It's Alexa's favorite (until she finds the most expensive restaurant in Buffalo that she can't live without). Then the day with south. I made the horrific mistake of buying Alexa gray tall Uggs on that web site that looks just like the real thing but is not... As soon as she opened the box, Alexa looked at them for less than a minute (I do not exaggerate here) and broke out in tears that the Uggs were not real! Meltdown followed. Long story short, we owe her REAL Uggs. I may have to take out a second morgtage...

Then it was time for Alexa's first fancy dance, LaBoum! This dance required a few important things and was missing a few important things. Requirement #1: A fancy party dress:

I have to admit, going dress buying was fun. Alexa looks good in almost everything she tries on. She's a size 1 - ONE! I've never been a size one in my life! I've been one size fits all, but never a size 1.

Requirement #2: Sparkly Shoes! these puppies cost almost as much as the dress! Must be strappy, must have bling and must have heels, CHECK!

Requiremnt #3: Have a BFF to go with! Alexa went dress shopping with her friend Grace and they went together to the dance and met up with their friends there. Don't they look so grown up!

Now for the the things that are NOT required for your first fancy dance- BOYS! It was my understanding (although information was very limited in coming) that boys and girls do not go together, don't dance together (with very, very few exceptions) and they have very little contact. Her father is thanking is lucky stars...

Since we've now started the dress, dance, possibly boy thing, can't we drop the birthday extravaganza thing? How many years more do I have to come up with birthday ideas? I'm voting for "I'm done!" But, not this year... Alexa looked at a variety of options and finally decided she wanted - The Melting Pot restaurant. We had never been there, but it looked expensive. As always, Alexa had done her homework and had the web site memorized. It turned out we could have her core group (plus mom and dad) and have a very nice time for what I probably would have spent for Alexa's usual birthday bash.

From left to right: Sarina, Laura, Grace Brenda, Alexa, Melissa, Haley and Frannie.

As the steam rises the girls get ready for the cheese fondue. they had apple pieces, veggie pieces and bread pieces to dip.



For desert Alexa had three types of chocolate. Mom and Dad had the Ying/Yang choice, dark and white chocolate in a ying yang pattern - sooooo good!



These were the dipping pieces, banana, strawberries, marshmallows, rice krispie treats, brownies, pound cake and cheesecake! The girls had a really good time and it was a new experience for several of them.

Another birthday year for Alexa is over. It's snowing outside as I type so maybe there is a chance for a little hibernating nap yet.

Yikes! It's been a month...

It's been a month since I blogged! As Sarah Palin would say, "WTF!" - That is my only and LAST reference, quote, mention and thought from Ms. Palin (not that she has an intelligent thought in her head that's worth repeating).

ANYWAY...It's been a busy kind of a month. Big doings at the store - Sharon is out in the land of fruits and nuts - and SUN - stuck at CHA, yeah, right... So I've been helping hold down the fort at the store. It's been keeping me pretty busy. I've also got two card classes I'm teaching at the store that took me forever to finalize because I'm so nervous and insecure in my card making abilities. Good news is that they are going well, at least the first one. We'll see about the next.

Alexa's birthday party has been finalized and while we thought about inviting Prince William and his fiancee, Alexa decided that may be just a little too much... She is having a small, select group for dinner at the Melting Pot. Mom's happy - no dishes, no cleaning, no clean-up and her father and I get to eat too since we're footing the bill! I'm still trying to remember what I got for my 14th birthday. I think socks...

Snow. We finally got some sizable snow but not as much as we expected and certainly not as much as my downstate family has been barraged with this winter. We have a very nice neighbor who goes up and down several houses on either side of his house AND across the street (us) up and down several house with his snow blower to do our sidewalks. Thank heaven for retirees!

The good news is that the trees are almost down. One is completely down the other is devoid of all decorations, which are boxed up but the tree itself is still sitting in the center of the living room, along with all the packed up boxes of decorations. Super Bowl Sunday is this week so it will probably take me until then to get DH to help get everything back in the basement where it's stored.

Lastly, I get to do one of the time honored joys of motherhood with a teen aged daughter - dress shopping for her first fancy dance. La Boum, it's called. This is the 8th grade winter dance. Mind you, boys go with boys, girls go with girls and I've got no clue as to why this means she has to get a fancy dress. She has no intention of dancing ESPECIALLY with a BOY! I'm liking her friend Brenda. Brenda isn't even going - she refuses to wear a dress...

Oh well, pictures to follow...