better than expected

The last few days have been filled with pleasant surprises, where things turned out better than we expected. As someone who anticipates the worst...this was fantastic.

John's neck surgery went well! He's in far better shape than we thought he would be, and is at home recuperating while I rock the Florence Nightingale role (working at home all week! Woo!). The surgery was nerve-wracking because it was on his neck and, while necessary, not of the You! Must! Do! This! Now! ilk...so we're happy to know that we made the right decision.

E turned six years old! Since the big day was situated between vacation and John's surgery, we weren't able to have a "proper" birthday party. Sure, we celebrated at the beach with a party...

...and then she had a day long celebration on her actual birthday, including flowers, a balloon and muffins for breakfast; Popsicles for her class at school for snack; and a family celebration at home with Nonna, Pop-pop, Grandmom *AND* Cousin H that night...

But, at no point were goody bags handed out. Which, according to E, is what makes a birthday party a birthday party.

But, perhaps E's easy going attitude was due to the fact that she finally got an American Girl doll. We ended up getting her the Just Like Me doll, that was true to its name.

I think she was excited...

Which, in turn, brought us to our other big surprise. We were worried how A would handle E getting an American Girl doll first. Last year, she was a bit upset about E getting such cool stuff. So much so that she had to be physically restrained by Uncle Dave so that she wouldn't run off with it.

This year, she was super-psyched for E and totally zen with the thought that she would be getting her own doll next month. It was amazing and so cute. So much so, that John and I (big softies that we are), let her open a birthday present very early.

The names are a bit of a moving target. E's was originally named Lacey...then she switched to Hailey Jessica...and last night she changed to Kaylee. A named hers Jessica, but has since taken to calling her Jessie. I'll keep you posted on what they change them to tonight.