Family Nights

Yesterday was Barbara Ann's birthday. She was excited to celebrate her 16th birthday with her family gathered round at the Olive Garden. My little baby was just excited to explore and run around a new place than anything else. Killy and I really splurged and got BBA a Teen Facial at Sensia Studio for her special gift. I myself have never had a facial, but I understand they are wonderful.
She was very happy with all her gifts (especially with the S&M heels her mom innocently bought for her from the birthday wish list). Killy and I habitually refuse to indulge some of her more ridiculous requests by never even looking at her wish list. She has come to expect this from us, thankfully, and seems to genuinely like what we have given her after much thought.
I was so scared that dinner would be a chaotic experience and that somehow Killy and I would be stuck paying an extra 30.00 from someone skipping out early or "forgetting" to include gratuity in their share. But happily, the staff accomodated our needs by separating our bill. Also, thankfully, we were NOT embarassed by anyone complaining about the service, loudly and frequently while demanding meticulous attention the whole time. This is such a normal part of these outings that I have learned to make myself scarce most of the time by following Killito around on his little excursions.
All in all, BBAs birthday was one of the more tolerable celebrations yet. Although I still came home exhausted from smiling and not pointing out that gifts from Mexico were brought to every girl in the family but me. Hmmm, I guess I'm still considered an outsider. Somehow, this is a great relief to me.