I have to take just a moment and write a little about my Bella and her personality as it develops. I have this fear that if I don't write everything down, I might forget the little nuances that make each of my children their own person. This picture captures the essence of Bella at the moment, as she thinks she is a rock star. I'm not kidding. We went to see Playhouse Disney Live last weekend with the kids, and this is the outfit she put herself in that morning, complete with sunglasses. As we are leaving, she looks at me, all deadpan, and says, "Mom, would you please ask people not to stare at me because I know I look like a rock star." The otherday, as we are walking into Target, she asks me if I had some concerns that some of the patrons might mistake her for a rock star. I asked her if she thought she was too young to be considered a rockstar, and she informed me that she was almost as old as Hannah Montana and if she did not take her sunglasses off she was sure she would be mistaken for a rockstar.
In addition to dressing the part at every opportunity (and changing 10 times a day), Bella also likes to act the part. Whenever there is music on TV or in the car, she is singing at the top of her lungs. I dread the day that she realizes that she has her mother's voice and is completely tone-deaf. That is not to say that she doesn't realize that her mother cannot sing - she will tell me - as gently as possible - that "you really don't have that nice a voice." Or, she'll say, "Mom, you just like to pretend you can sing, you know that you don't sound very good in real life, right?" Of course (and this will come as no shock to most of you), that just leads me to sing all the louder.
In addition to being a rockstar Bella is also a fabulous sister to her brother and sister. Although she is becoming extremely frustrated with sharing a room with Brighton, there are times when she is very helpful and loving to her baby sister as well. Bella is very fond of telling anyone who talks to Brighton that "she has the cutest baby sister in the world," and, she really means it. She is fiercely protective of her sister and her brother, and would "punch anyone in the nose" who crossed them (that "punch them in the nose" thing is a Gavinism). She loves her family and often talks to us about what "our family" will do or what "our family has done" or how "my family" is the most special thing in the world. To hear such things is music to my ears.
Anyway, that's my bit on Bella. I did NOT want to forgot her fear of being mistaken for a rockstar, and that was the impetus for my blog entry today. Now the rest of you will come to understand my unique and EXTREMELY self-confident little bug as well.
These are all my girls' night girlfriends. We are missing Julie, another member of the fold. Anyway, we try to get together for dinner a few times a month and talk about kids, husbands, and whatever else moves us. They are a fantastic group of friends and even better wives and mothers. From left to right: Heather, Amy, Katie, me, Kim and Liz. In the top picture, you can see my husband peeking his head up behind Kim - what a goofball!
Hard to believe that the "30-60 Club" can get their sexy on like this, but we can do anything after a few martinis! Heather totally has the "Posh" look going. 
