AMK's 7th birthday party, JTK's walking, Wii!
The birthday weekend is OVER and the house is quiet at last. Dirty, but quiet. Alisha & Jacob enjoyed the company of both sets of grandparents this weekend (yes, my dad surprised us on Friday).

Alisha’s party was Saturday afternoon and I wasn’t sure how many kids would show up, being summer vacation and all. However, seven friends from school came (plus 2 siblings) so Alisha was thrilled! The weather was hot and sunny, perfect for playing outdoors, so we inflated the pool and slip ‘n slide and had parents in charge of filling up the water balloons. I turned on Alisha’s bubble machine and handed out water guns while the kids ran around and had a grand ol’ time. Sanjay manned the grill and cooked up hot dogs, hamburgers and chicken.


Even Jacob joined in the outdoor fun (for about 15 minutes)!


For her birthday cake, Alisha picked Barbie Ballerina. 
 

I thought was perfect because of all the dancing she did this year. Alisha got tons of presents, everything she could have hoped for and MORE: Barbie dolls, Littlest Pet Shop toys, books, costume jewelry and arts and craft projects. However, we waited until all of her friends left before she opened our present, a Wii! Alisha had been asking for one for months (you know, since “everyone else has one”), but we kept ignoring her requests. Finally we figured, why not? At least it’s something we all can enjoy. It took Alisha all of 10 seconds to set up her Mii and start bowling! She’s an expert Wii-er from all the times she’s played on Jim & Tami’s Wii. Speaking of Jim & Tami, they started her game collection with “Boogie, Superstar”, a dancing and singing game, and “Cranium Kabooki”, a brain teaser game.

Alisha with Josefina (her American Girl doll)


Unfortunately for Alisha, she left all of her fabulous presents on Sunday to go to Tampa with her grandparents. It’s just for a week though, we’ll be picking her up next weekend. And I suppose absence makes the heart grow fonder :) As for Jacob, he’s too much work for his grandparents so I get to spend even more quality time with him while Alisha is gone. Yay, I tell you. YAY. *me pulling out my hair*

Wish someone would leave the easy kid with me and take the other one for once!!! I can’t even watch TV in peace! Jacob is either stepping on the DVD player (which changes the input to DVD), turning the TV power switch off and on, playing with the remotes, or (this is the best) flipping off the power on the surge protector so I have to flip it back on and watch the cable box boot up all over again. Joy, I tell you. I suppose one way to solve this would be to get a TV console with glass doors, so all the equipment and wires would be out of our face. However, we’ve got a long list of things to buy, and right now a console doesn’t fall under the category of immediate need (of course, this could change depending on Jacob!).

In the meantime, I’ll continue to bang my head against this chair.

Speaking of Jacob, we celebrated his first birthday on Saturday evening with a mini cake that Sanjay bought for him. 


Jacob gets his very own 1st birthday cake! Yum...

Granted, his first birthday is 2 weeks away, but what the heck, might as well do it while all the grandparents are in the same place! Alisha was adamant that she didn't want to share her birthday with him this year, but I think starting next year we'll be celebrating the June birthdays together.  

And in BIG news, as of today Jacob is officially walking! I mean, he’s been taking steps here and there since he turned 11 months, but these past few days he’s been walking more and more. Today he went from the back couches to practically the TV! Unfortunately, every time I go to grab the camera he’s back on the floor.

Alisha’s final swimming lesson was on Saturday morning.

Hooray, Alisha can swim!

She’s still got a lot to learn, in terms of refining her stroke, but at least she’s not afraid of the water, and she can do some of the basic moves. I am so proud of her. I am hoping to register her for summer group lessons, but if that doesn’t pan out (due to our out of town schedule) then I’ll see about re-enrolling her for private lessons in the fall.