Celebrations

It seems that our family partied a bit this summer.  We celebrated a birthday, or a half birthday, every month from May to September.  I'm partied out!

LBean turned 7 in May.  She asked for a camping birthday (she's saving her tooth fairy money to buy an RV).  I attempted to make a "campfire" birthday cake with Twix, gummy bears as the logs and hot embers, and a fruit roll-up for the flame.  I don't know how impressed she was with it.

This was our attempt at a family picture.  Jamie was already back in China and my mom took the picture.  It's almost complete!

I love, love the pictures of  Jamie's grandparents talking to Jamie on FaceTime. Technology is an amazing thing!

"Camping Cousins"

This girl ate more than her weight in hotdogs this summer.  It's one of her favorite words (and foods).

Jamie's grandparents with a few of their great-grandchildren!

Happy Birthday to my 7-year-old!

As we were planning LBean's birthday, EBean started asking about her birthday.  I assured her that when December rolled around we would also have a party for her.  What she was really asking was if she could have her Grandmas at her birthday party just like her big sister.  Well, that was enough to break this mama's heart.  EBean's cousin graciously agreed to share her June birthday party with EBean and so we planned a 1/2 birthday! And, it literally was 6 months until her birthday.

This girl girl is getting a hang of all these parties.

Two birthday girls!

It's a 1/2 cake for a 1/2 birthday for a 4 1/2-year-old!  EBean requested a chocolate cake and we piled on as much as we could.

You really can order anything online,
even a 1/2 candle.

She's not a fan of being sung to.

Watch out, this girl is serious!

The last birthday we celebrated in the US, was ChinaBean's 2nd birthday.  We feasted on popcorn, peanuts and pizza, some of ChinaBean's favorite foods!

This girl is ready to party!

Uncle Mike knows how to party too!

I love all my crazy girls, even when they stick out their tongues.  

ChinaBean had a few "helpers" opening her presents.  

ChinaBean's favorite birthday card came from Uncle Matt.  It burped the Happy Birthday Song. She's played the card so much that the battery has run out.

Happy birthday to our miracle!

"Popcorn" cupcakes.

The end of August brought us ChinaBean's actual birth date, so we celebrated, again.  ChinaBean is giggling, but it's hard to tell in the picture.

We celebrated ChinaBean's birthday with a family  that has a special place in their hearts for  ChinaBean.  They saw her through her first surgery and have loved our little girl for a long time.

ChinaBean was so excited to get some new Signing Time videos.  She literally threw her hands up in the air!

Whew, last birthday of the season, Jamie turned 30-something-ish at the beginning of September.  It's a good thing that Caterpillar makes a full range of machines, because I will be systematically going through each machine for Jamie's birthday cakes.

I have an expat confession to make...the cake was cute, but it didn't taste so great.  The cake mix was one I had brought back from the US a while back (ahem).  I can get cake mixes here, but they are expensive, so if I have room, I'll bring enough mixes back for birthdays.  I knew the mix had expired, but I also knew it wasn't "bad" just that the leavening was probably old.  Sure enough, the cake didn't rise like it should have, and even my girls noticed the cake was flat.  I cut the cake in half, doubled it up, and slathered on a lot of chocolate.  We ate it, because it's imported cake mix that crossed the ocean, and as an expat we don't waste precious things like that.  (Even if it's yuck!)

No more parties until December.  Maybe by then I'll be ready for another one! (And maybe a cake mix that hasn't expired.)