Happy, Happy, Happy Birthdays!

It is that time of the year again when birthdays are upon us. With Alan and Sheila arriving just in time, we started off the long weekend with Sheila's birthday...by celebrating at an Irish pub in a strip mall in Waukee (which was neither really Irish or a pub). Not Sheila's chosen location, but it was a fundraiser for Team Iowa and the 2010 Transplant Games. Thank you Sheila for going along with it.

For Cheryl's birthday the next day, Cheryl and Sheila drove to Coralville to attend a Team Iowa meeting (is this a theme?) while Alan and I accompanied Molly to her friend Mikayla's 5th birthday party in Boone (Mikayla and her family were part of our travel group to China). We were all able to reconvene that evening for a nice dinner out at Christopher's in Beaverdale.

Sunday was our day of rest. Thank you Bill and Phyllis.

Capping the long weekend off, Monday was Molly's birthday. Having had her ice skating birthday party on March 5th, this has felt like a month long birthday for Molly (do they make an Advent-like calendar for your birth month?).

First thing Monday morning we all met at Molly's classroom for her birthday celebration. With all the kids sitting in a circle,

Molly had to first introduce her guests and than describe the pictures from each year of her life.

She than selected one classmate to be her 'sun' and while holding a small globe she walked around her sun while the class counted off each year of her life. And then everyone gets the cupcakes we brought in. Sugar that early in the morning must have made for an interesting day.

Sheila and Cheryl were than able to enjoy the rest of their birthday present at the Spa at West Glen.

That evening, Molly's dearest friend Sophie and her Mom, Judy joined us all for more play and dinner. After a marathon session of opening presents we declared the birthday weekend officially over. Huzzah!