Bella's 18th Birthday

I had fun creating this little collage to post on Facebook for Bella’s 18th birthday. 

She had a basketball game that evening. Here she is at 6:52pm, the exact moment she became an adult! 

Her game went into overtime and it was up in Indy, so it was almost 10pm by the time we got home. She also had a head cold and wasn’t feeling the greatest. So, we saved all the celebrating for the weekend. But she did want to open up her big gift. The majority of the Benetti side of the family along with Andy and me pooled our money together to buy her a MacBook Air! She knew she’d be getting this and was really wanting to open up that gift and start setting it up that night. 

The next evening, she opened the rest of her gifts from other family members. 

Andy made her this ice cream cake. After I took this photo, I realized it looked like an “81” on the cake, so we turned it and tried again. 

My mom and Mary came down on Bella’s birthday. They watched the game in Indy, celebrated with us on Friday night, and were able to attend another afternoon ball game on Saturday before heading back up to WI. Having them there made the weekend even more special. 

Later that evening, we took Bella out to dinner at Buca di Beppo. At the end of our meal, the server brought out this huge brownie sundae. We all shared it and there was still some left over. 

The main thing Bella wanted to do this year for her birthday was see the Winterlights at Newfields. This was located on the grounds of an art museum in Indianapolis. Instead of driving through the lights displays like most of the ones we’ve been to over the years, this was a walking experience. It was so magical. 

We walked through the Lilly House all decorated for Christmas. The Lilly family used to live here, but it is now part of the museum. It’s such a beautiful house. 

I guess I got more video than photos from this experience. 

As we walked through the lights and listened to the music, I almost felt like we were at Disney World. 

Mary ordered the kids a box of snacks from Scandinavia. We had a little tasting one evening. 

The dill potato chips were a hit and I really liked the pink gummies that tasted a little like Sour Patch Kids. There was also a chocolate covered jelly fruit stick that was not a favorite. 

And I decided not to add the photo of Graydon spitting gingerbread toffee into the trash. (I think he would have gotten mad at me). I actually kind of liked it. Especially during this time of year!