Surprises and recovery

Once again I have fallen behind in my blogging, but I have a good excuse... the last few weeks have been filled with getting ready for my Dad's surprise 60th birthday bash which finally occurred on Friday night. And what a blast we had!! He was totally surprised, as I was sure he would be and we had a great time spending a fun evening with all of our favorite friends and family. Thankfully we hired a photographer to capture the night so we will be able to relive it any time we want.

We got to spend the day before the party with Brian and Beth which thrilled Michaela to no end. They got to see the Y where she takes swim lessons, her school, her classroom, her teacher... everything important to her and she seemed to burst with happiness. They even watched her play in the first soccer game of the season on Saturday morning. Since they left, Michaela has been a bit out of sorts (not helped by a few late nights and lots of excitement) and ended up crying Saturday night and Sunday morning because she missed them. I tried to cheer her up by reminding her that we will see them again in just a few weeks for Michael and Jaime's wedding on June 2nd, but that did not seem to shake the ache in her heart.

Check out Brian and Beth's blog for pictures of the party as they have much more technologically advanced ways of displaying multiple pictures. I think the party was a great success and hope my dad felt the loving arms of his family and friends around him that night.

So now we are off of the high of the party and back to our normal routines... M started her second round of swim lessons and moved up to the Ray class today. She did awesome! No floating devices at this level and there was much more emphasis on technique. They did a few races from one side of the pool to the other and she won every time. (She's a competitive little bugger!) Soccer also started, as I mentioned before, and she had a good game- a few breakaway runs and close shots. She had a great cheering section there, with JuJu and Uncle Dick, Michael and Jaime, Gammie and PopPop, and us all rooting for her.

Jenna seems to take it all in stride... the party was pretty tough for her, with all the people talking to her, lots of noise and loud music, but she has recovered, too. I am proud to report that she had her first ever down-on-the-floor temper tantrum at the mall last week and I was thrilled... it is the only developmental task that she has not been 6 months late!!! She is very almost two and fights for her independence every day... except when she wants to nurse. I have to start planning her birthday party soon- our next big event!