Amanda turns 10

10 years old... I can't believe Amanda is in the double digits now. Praying for a nice day, we decided to have the big party out at our cottage (the weather gods were listening and we had a beautiful, sunny day!) If it were up to Amanda, it would have been a whole weekend affair - did I mention that she started planning it 9 months ago?

We succumbed to getting a giant bouncy castle - Dean luckily plays hockey with a guy who could get us a deal. She had a long list of other things on her wish, list, but we thought we'd call it a day with the 2-story castle that took up half the back yard. A can of pledge made the slide super slippery we were told – by the end of the day, the entire inside of the castle had been "pledged"! The kids enjoyed the tree fort as well – Dean's nephews have been building it for years – when they had to wait for their turn to bounce. Many freezies, water bottles and prize hunts later, we had 16 exhausted 10 year olds.

Last step - birthday cake. We always make our cake because of Amanda's allergies (celiac), so a doll cake held centre stage. Amanda wanted a "Rocker Girl" theme and she did most of the decorating herself. Everyone loved it and couldn't tell it was gluten free.

The pick-up time finally came and mommy could finally sit down and have a cold beverage... and a few bounces on the castle...