Abuela appreciating her birthday collage

Casa Lennon’s abuela, sometimes know called Juana Antónia Lennon Gutierrez Magro Ibañez Alonso Palacios Barona Ruano García, delighted everyone by turning 70 years young. Much of the family converged on Las Tapas in Old Town Alexandria in what unexpectedly turned out to be a surprise party. More a function of the Lennon clan’s well communicated inability to communicate well.

That said, it was really fun. People came from Florida, North Carolina, New York, and even Maryland to take part. The primary “gift” abuela always wants is the time spent with her family – namely the grandkids. That is what she wants more than anything else. That said, Michael coordinated a gathering of lifetime photos and stories to put together for abuela. I highly recommend viewing the awesome collage that was the product of that effort.

ASIDE: We had the good fortune of being at the Spanish restaurant while Spain was beating Paraguay in the World Cup. (In case you hadn’t heard, SPAIN WON!!!! VIVA ESPANA!!! )

One last thing, we’d like to thank our niece Chloe for snapping so many candid photos.

Pictures from the Celebration

Here is the photo album gallery.

Here you can view it as a slideshow.

The post is taking longer and longer each time. This time, it is Michele doing the post. I broke the pictures out into four different groups: Friends, Family, Around the House, and Around Town.

Here are a few quick items since the last posting about a month ago:

We are really happy and enjoying spending time with our precious, happy girl. She has been sick a termendous amount (ear infections, pink eye, stomach bug ….) and we are fortunate to have jobs that let us be flexible about how we get our hours. Since Sophia started Jan 12th, she has only been to daycare all five days in a week twice! I think she missed more school than she went in March.

Sophia just moved into the next class at Primrose. I think she is in love with the teacher, Mrs. Lopez. She is from Columbia and speaks Spanish to Sophia. When I used to get her, she was ready to go and held onto me for dear life. Today, her first full day in the new class, she kept pushing me away to get down and play and move around. She also ate and slept really well there. It made me really happy that she enjoys where she spends so much time.

With how much Sophia was sick, her 9-month check up revealed what we guessed … she weighed less than she did at her 6-month check up. She went from the 75% in weight to the 25% in weight. Luckily, she’s already gained a few pounds since then and is well on her way again. The leeks, potatoes, carrots, and peas puree is one of her favorites along with yogurt, apple sauce and the always popular Cheerios.

Even though we don’t get out as much as we used to, I realized when looking at the pictures that we get around alot still. Two weekends again we spent some time with Layna from KY, Maryjo read Sophia her bedtime stories and put her to bed, and we visited the Floyds, the Tanners, and the Turners. By Sunday though, we skipped out on a BBQ b/c Sophia napped the entire time of the BBQ.

For Easter weekend, we took a trip to DC to visit Dave’s family and celebrate Grandpa Peter and Great Aunt Eileen (the twins) turning 70. Mike and Renee spent alot of time organizing and Elizabeth flew in from Spain. Sophia had a blast getting to know her family better.

Tonight Sophia moved from the infant tub to the real tub (pictures in the slide show). Luckily, I had no items on the Town Council agenda, so I got to play with Sophia instead. Other updates include her almost walking on her own (she now holds just one of my hands), three more teeth are coming in (that will make five), and she now knows Ma-Ma and Pa-Pa. I LOVE hearing her blabber Ma ma ma ma. She is happy and doesn’t really whine … her nickname with many is the “amazing baby”. We truly adore her.

Without out any more blabber from ma ma, here are the links to the pictures. I’m going to leave the posting of the videos to Daddy Dave.

Click here to see Pictures of Sophia–Friends if your Flash isn’t working.

Several pictures (about 30)–only the die hards will sit through this .