Parties Parties Parties

There have been a lot of parties and nights out since my last post.  I will start back on the first of April since I just realized I left off Quiz night.  On April 1st the school held a quiz night at a bar in town following by the Sixes Band and dancing.  We had a great time with our friends even though we came in seventh place.  I hit the back of my head on a shelf behind my chair which has taken over a week to not be sore.  I didn't let it slow me down though.  We danced the night away and didn't get home until after midnight.  It was a good night.  The next week Sofia was invited to her friend Francesca's house for Francesca's birthday.  I figured I would just take Ali with me to do something fun since she hadn't been invited to the party.  When we arrived to drop off Sofia Franscesca's mother and grandmother (I assume it was her grandmother) wouldn't let Ali come with me and insisted she stay for the party.  They both had a really fun time and when I picked them up they didn't want to leave.  Sofia was given her party bag and Ali a balloon and then to my surprise I was handed a plate of warm freshly made Korean food.  I was a great goodie bag for the adults!  Sofia was sad the next day to find out that we had eaten all the noodles since she really likes them as well.   

On to the next party that was for me on Friday morning!  I had no idea but my friends had organized a party for me as a surprise.  They completely pulled it off as I didn't expect anything.  Our friend Kerry (she moved away in December) was in town from the UK and we were all getting together to have coffee with her so you can imagine my shock when I walked in and was told it was all for me.  I totally thought they were joking with me but they weren't.  I have some great friends here and I'm really glad they did not let me leave Prague without a leaving party.  They made an amazing picture for me as well as giving me a voucher to a shop in Prague.  The picture is a picture of me from the Half Marathon that they uploaded to a website called moonpig where they inserted the picture on to a spoof magazine cover called "Running Today" and it has items on it like "Mary Luce's top running songs" and Win a years training with Mary Luce".  They put it in a nice frame and all signed the matting.  It was really a group effort as well since you can only send the moonpig items to UK addresses so they all worked together to gather the photo, upload it, write the content, frame it, fly it from the UK and sign it.  Definitely made me feel well loved by my friends.  Today I went and spent my voucher at Artel and got a beautiful glass bowl.

Friday afternoon Sofia and I joined our friends Daisy and Bella for birthday/leaving party at the bowling place near us.  It was pure mayhem but the kids all had a lot of fun.  I even bowled a few times since I would stand in for kids who were too busy playing on the trampoline or slide.  Ali did not join us for the party becuase she went to her friend Cianna's house for her first sleepover.  I was a little nervouse for her but she was nothing but excited.  She had a fantastic time and Cianna's mom sent me a couple pictures which just really showed how happy Ali was.  She was absolutely beaming in the pictures.   

After bringing Sofia home from the party and getting her settled in with Iva, our babysitter, Jason and I went out to dinner with friends to our favorite Italian place.  We had debated if we would go there again on Friday as the last time or not.  We hadn't decided but at the end of our meal the owners invited us back for next week on the house.  That made our decision for us! So our final meal in Prague will be with our Italian home away from home.

After getting home late on Friday night I had to get up and bring the kids to the Easter Egg Hunt put on by their school.  The hunt is in the local woods and actually requires quite a bit of walking through the woods and not just on paths.  Jason had to work (which he has had to work on the Easter egg hunt for the past three years!) so I was on my own with the kids.  Ali came to the hunt with Cianna so I ended up sending Sofia in to the woods with her friend Matilda while I waited for Ali so in the end I only had one child to watch out for during the hunt.  We met up at the end and had a picnic with friends before the girls and I headed into town to buy Czech hand painted Easter eggs.  While we were in town we also stopped and bought a Czech glass fish and Czech glass dolphin for the kids.  This is our time to buy all the things we haven't bought in the last four and a half years!  It was a busy day.  Even though the the day was over the night was just beginning.....On to the next party...

Saturday night was the leaving party for my good friends The Speirs and The Waddells.  The Speirs are heading back to the UK and the Waddells are heading up to Poland.  I don't get to see Kim (Waddell) to often but Beanie is my best friend here and we spend a lot of time together.  Our families get on well together and have had great time on Holiday together.  We are sad to part ways but rest assured while this was a leaving party it is definitely NOT a good-bye!  The party was a lot of fun and Jason managed to get out of work on the earlier side (10:30pm-ish) to join in the fun.  We stayed until the end and hopped in a cab and got home around 3:30AM.  We left Sunday morning open so that we could just relax a bit and not have to do anything while we were so tired but Sunday afternoon brought on the next party!

Sunday afternoon we dropped Ali off at her friend, Max's birthday party.  The party was at a rock wall climbing place.  I got Ali into her climbing shoes and then headed off with Jason and Sofia to the mall so Sofia could use her gift certificate to the toy store that she had gotten for her birthday.  After much internal debate Sofia ended up choosing a stuffed animal, 2 mood rings, a pet shop and some balloons.  We headed back to pick up Ali from her party.  She apparently did amazing at climbing.  I'm not really surprised since she has such amazing upper body strength.  For such a little person she is very strong.  This is the picture of the card that Ali made for Max all by herself.

It has been VERY busy and this week isn't slowing down either.  Today I brought Watson to the vet to get his pet passport.  Tomorrow I am bringing cake etc into Ali's class for her leaving party and then we are going to a friends for dinner.  Thursday I have to drive to the basket lady to pick up the baskets I ordered then be back by two for Sofia's parent/teacher conference followed by the leaving party in Sofia's class.  Friday is the end of term assembly where they say goodbye to all the kids that are leaving.  So, we will be busy busy busy right up until we get on the plane on Saturday morning.  Time is flying by!