Bella has had this trip to Myrtle Beach on her calendar since the beginning of July. She confused this trip with the one at the end of the month to her grandparent’s home on a lake in Indiana. She thinks she is going to the beach with her grandpa and grandma.

On our way, we stopped at The Hub Restaurant for lunch. Bella was starving and so were we. I wanted a local place to get away from fast food and boy was this home cooking. This little hole in the wall was like a cafeteria that had baked spaghetti and fried chicken and country veggies. They were so nice and friendly there. We were halfway finished with our meal before we realized we had no cash an it didn’t look like the were equipped to take credit cards. We finished in peace when I finally asked before I headed out to an ATM.

Bella was wearing a cute yellow Sundress with her matching hat and everyone had to come and say hello. One elderly lady came over and said that they were all admiring how lovely she was. Bella just ate it up and proceeded to watch the lady leave. We were right next to the window so she waived bye to her again to which the lady responded with a wave and blowing her kisses. Bella had to reciprocate and then sat back down completely satisfied and said ’she had a really long neck’. I’m not sure where that came from but it was cute.

It’s been forever since I’ve blogged about Bella. It’s pretty hard to wrap my brain around the fact that she’s three already.

Today Bella had her first bike ride. She’s gone bike riding with us before but today was the first time she’s ridden her own bike – OK, trike. We rode on a fairly flat greenway and covered about a mile – not much on a bike but just trying pedaling that distance on a single speed ride with six inch tires! Needless to say, she had a really good nap after that.

Bella’s birthday is June 1 but due to a bunch of family weddings that took us out of town around that time we celebrated it with friends on June 12th this year.

On the first we had a little private thing with a special dinner and some presents from the family that we opened. Bella picked salmon as what she wanted for dinner so Momma made a nice bed of rice with spinach and Daddy grilled the fish – it was yummy. And then we had a birthday cupcake with a candle to blow out.

On the twelfth, we held a party at Bounce-U. This place was really cool – they have two large rooms with a bunch of inflatables in them to bounce on and a place to have a party. There are other places similar where your kids run around and bounce but what makes Bounce-U different is that the only people in there bouncing with you are the ones you invited to your party; so it’s like you rented the place for yourself. You spend 40 minutes in one room, 40 minutes in the second room, and then 40 minutes in the party room where you eat pizza/cake/whatever. It was a little pricey but the tradeoff was not having to worry about making the house spotless or wondering if anybody was going to break something or get hurt (we had 24 kids plus accompanying adults) – we showed up, had fun, and left – it was awesome! Oh yeah, Bella really had a lot of fun too

We have an antique music stand with some old hardcover book on it that we basically use as a decoration.  One evening out of the blue Bella walks up to it, starts flipping the pages, gesturing in the air, says a mish-mash of phrases from her bedtime stories – is generally pretending she is reading from this book to some unseen audience.

So I ask her, “what are you doing, baby”?

“I’m the Preacher.”

It’s nice to know she is paying attention in church, even if it usually doesn’t seem like it.

On March 12th, Paul and I took Bella to her very first ballet. I call it her first of many, while Paul calls it her 1 of 1:). Yes, he did go with us and we all had a fabulous time. I saw it advertised and thought it would be a special thing to do even though it was no special occasion but we did wind up celebrating our 14th wedding anniversary all together since it was an expensive venture. Once I had the tickets purchased, I began 2 days before the event to prep Bella for the evening. In trying to help her grasp time (and patience), we began talking about going to see Cinderella dance like the Angelina Ballerina we see on TV. I called ahead to a restaurant that was across the street from the theatre and told them our plans. While it was an upscale restaurant, it was small and quiet and everyone was more than happy to help make this evening special for Bella.

I picked up Bella from school early that day and we went home to freshen up and get into our doll dresses. I wore a long burgundy evening gown and Bella wore her lovely black velvet with red satin dress. I pulled our hair back just alike and I even made her a mini pashmina out of a long skinny black scarf I had so it matched mine. Dad came home and dressed in his sharp blue suit  - Boy we were a sight.

We parked downtown and made our way to the restaurant. It was a lovely evening so the walk was pleasant and enjoyable. As we walked around the front windows of the restaurant, Ratcliffe on the Greens, the maitre’de opened the door for us and announced ‘You must be Bella Lee-your table awaits’. Her face lit up light I’d never seen it before. From that moment on, she was a perfect little lady and extremely social and interactive with all the staff. She danced in the restaurant between courses and enjoyed all the food-she really enjoyed that they gave her the small cylindrical glass of water and an identical one like it with milk with small straws to go with it. She enjoyed the fresh bread, spreading the butter by herself with her own knife. She delighted in the lamb I shared with her and the grilled veggies I halfed with her. She was alright with Paul’s fish but preferred my lamb and the veggies. She won over everyone in the restaurant with her dancing and would recite her evening agenda to anyone that would listen (I’m going to dance with Cinderella’ she would say and finish her story with a hop, skip and twirl to the next table).

We finished dinner with delightful desserts and made our way to the theatre. Still a warm evening, we spend some time out front with the mirrored koala artwork in the front of the museum. It was about 15 feet high so Bella was not the only child enthralled with the image. We made our way to our seats right about curtain time.

Bella watched intently for a few minutes but then wanted to go up front on stage and ‘dance with Cinderella’. She asked about 10 times after that but enjoyed the show by asking about every detail and danced in the aisle a few times to make up for our constant ‘no’. She danced all thru the place during intermission and everyone simply adored her. She got really tired towards 9PM so when the curtains closed on the 2nd act, we left our seats for good. We bought her a small ballerina souvenir that could hold a bracelet or two and made our way to the exit. When Bella figured out we were leaving, that’s when the meltdown happened. I handed her to Paul, prepared the stuff and umbrella (since a downpour had begun) and we made our way out the doors. Within a few minutes, Bella had calmed down and begun to enjoy the downtown scenery again. We made it back to the car and almost home before Bella finally quit talking about the dancing and all the stuff she saw in the lighted streets of downtown before she fell to sleep. The night began with our own little Cinderella and we ended it with our very own little Sleeping Beauty. Even Paul said he had a good time!

FYI-When we pulled into the driveway today, she asked if could go see Cinderella dance again. Her little face was so eager to go again. I wonder which parts she still remembers. That night, her favorite part was seeing Cinderella dance solo in her white dress-my favorite part too (other than seeing my baby dance around all night on cloud nine with her Mama and Daddy).

Bella is always expecting to read a book before she naps or goes to bed at night. We’ve done this since she was first born so now she’s picking up on the little things we do while we read. A few months ago, she began to lick her index finger to help her turn pages-cute. She also began taking the book after we finished and told us she’d read it next although all she would do is look at the pictures and never say a word-I call that ’stalling’.

Now is the best time though. She lets you read the book to her and if it’s a simple book and you start the lines of the book, she will finish the sentences for you. On more complex books, she’ll tell you a story based on what she sees in the pictures on each page. Some of it matches to the story and some of it is just cute hearing from her perspective of the pictures. My favorite part when she reads is that she turns to what she feels is the first page and begins ‘Once in a time…’-LOVE IT!!!! Sometimes, I act like I can’t hear her reading just so she can say that phrase over and over again.
That reminds me, she still sings Jingle Bells now and then even though Christmas is long gone. My favorite lyrics are her version: ‘Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way. Oh what fungus to ride. In a horse open sleigh, Hey!’
And last but not least, the way she can say ‘Palamino’ and ’shire’ and even ’stallion’ when reading about horses but she still lights up when she sees a great big ‘hittopotamus’. She’s the best!