Party in the SouthLAnd
We spent our daughter's first birthday weekend with my hubby's family, and it was a whirlwind trip of celebrating, visiting with friends & relatives, and of course, eating!
Being from a Chinese family, first birthdays are kind of a big deal. We invited all of our extended family and a handful of friends who live in SoCal to a banquet-style Chinese dinner at Golden Soup Restaurant. We had a private room and about 40 people attended. From our perspective, the evening went very well. The food was good, and it seemed like people were enjoying themselves. We especially liked catching up with people who we haven't seen in awhile & it was some people's first time to meet our daughter! My former roommate, and good friend who lives in Ecuador happened to be in SoCal visiting her mom at the time, so they got to be there too!
My BF (who is also a pastry chef) made the cakes for the occasion. She made a small cake for the birthday girl, and a large one for all the guests. Our little one held up very well, for it being such a late night AND being surrounded by so many new people and lots of cameras flashing at her (especially during the birthday song and cake time). She didn't quite "dig in" to her cake as enthusiastically as the previous party, I think mostly because she was intimidated by the crowd. But slowly, she did warm up to it & eat some.
Singing Happy Birthday
Big Brother "showing" her that the cake is yummy
One of my favorite parts of this party, was the adorable outfit that Koko gave to our daughter to wear on her first birthday. She brought the outfit all the way home from China & even bought her matching shoes to go with it! I loved it, and thought she looked so sweet in it.
Hao Ke Ai!
Proud Papa
They prepared another feast on Sunday afternoon! This one was just at my in-laws, with my husbands siblings & kids, but it was quite the meal. They had prepared lobster, crab, lamb, meatballs & noodles (long life!). I cracked up because 1o minutes before sitting down to eat, one of our sisters says to the other: "Oh, guess what we forgot to make? We forgot to make any veggies!" This is funny to me because I always tease my hubby about how his family are big-time meat lovers, & I feel like I'm the only one who ever orders a veggie dish whenever we go out to eat. So, ha-ha! My point is proven! But even minus veggies, it was a fantastic meal & I greatly appreciate all of the effort that went into giving us such a special feast.
Have you ever cooked a lobster on your stove???
Chef Wens
The spread...
So, to sum the whole birthday experience up...We just want to say thank you to everyone who sent their birthday wishes our way, & who have supported us through our first year with our little miracle girl. Every day we thank God for her & are thrilled that we've gotten to parent her through this first year of life. We look forward to watching her grow and become the girl that God is making her into.
Being from a Chinese family, first birthdays are kind of a big deal. We invited all of our extended family and a handful of friends who live in SoCal to a banquet-style Chinese dinner at Golden Soup Restaurant. We had a private room and about 40 people attended. From our perspective, the evening went very well. The food was good, and it seemed like people were enjoying themselves. We especially liked catching up with people who we haven't seen in awhile & it was some people's first time to meet our daughter! My former roommate, and good friend who lives in Ecuador happened to be in SoCal visiting her mom at the time, so they got to be there too!
My BF (who is also a pastry chef) made the cakes for the occasion. She made a small cake for the birthday girl, and a large one for all the guests. Our little one held up very well, for it being such a late night AND being surrounded by so many new people and lots of cameras flashing at her (especially during the birthday song and cake time). She didn't quite "dig in" to her cake as enthusiastically as the previous party, I think mostly because she was intimidated by the crowd. But slowly, she did warm up to it & eat some.
Singing Happy Birthday
Big Brother "showing" her that the cake is yummy
One of my favorite parts of this party, was the adorable outfit that Koko gave to our daughter to wear on her first birthday. She brought the outfit all the way home from China & even bought her matching shoes to go with it! I loved it, and thought she looked so sweet in it.
Hao Ke Ai!
Proud Papa
So the big party took place on Saturday night, but our little girl's actual birthday was on Sunday. At first we had wanted to have the party on her actual birthdate, but realized that logistically having it on Saturday worked much better (mostly because we needed to drive home on Sunday evening). I was a little disappointed that we wouldn't be doing anything "special" on her actual birthday, but my sister-in-laws took care of that one!
Have you ever cooked a lobster on your stove???
Chef Wens
The spread...
To wrap up our daughter's birthday, on our long drive home from SoCal, we stopped at Denny's for one final meal. Yep, I'm sort of embarrassed to admit it, but it's true. We rarely ever eat there, but thought that maybe since it was her birthday, we could get something for free...and we were right! A free breakfast slam for us...I mean...for our daughter!
So, to sum the whole birthday experience up...We just want to say thank you to everyone who sent their birthday wishes our way, & who have supported us through our first year with our little miracle girl. Every day we thank God for her & are thrilled that we've gotten to parent her through this first year of life. We look forward to watching her grow and become the girl that God is making her into.
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