Look Who's 3!

On Saturday, August 15th, we celebrated Lily's 3rd birthday. I can't believe it. Didn't we just come home from China and celebrate her 1st birthday? I don't know what is going on with time, but it's just going by ridiculously fast. We had our friends and family over for the celebration and we all had a fun time. Lily got a little overwhelmed with all of the people and presents, but for the most part, she did pretty well.

This was her present from mommy and daddy...a ladybug car. How could we pass up a ladybug car?? During her party she was so sweet and showed her best friend Rachel how to use it too.

Great-Grandma, Grandma (Lao-Lao) and Auntie Jenny with baby Sara.

Lily wondering what to do with all of these presents!

Aunt Paula, Larry and Auntie Ellen watching the fun.

Mommy helping Lily open her presents. After the first one, she was so excited she ran right into the living room to play with it. I guess it is kind of mean to have a child open a present and then take it away from them to make them open the next one! Anyway, I ended up finishing the gift-opening for her.:o)

Kitchen Littles! She LOVES these. Every time we go over to our friend Mantha's house, she makes a bee-line right for these toys and plays with them for hours. She was so excited when she saw these!

A girl can never have too many clothes!

A brand new tea set from Lao-Lao. She loves to make us tea and coffee.

This is Kai-lan from the show Nihao Kai-lan. It's kind of like Dora the Explorer, except kids learn Mandarin, Chinese instead of Spanish. She is so cute!

3-D sidewalk chalk! I can't wait to try this. I'm not sure what my nervous expression is about...hmmmm.

Lily sharing her new toys with her friends.

I think someone is ready for cake!

As per Lily's request...a flower cake with M&M's.

She started trying to blow out her candles before we even finished singing!

Blowing out her 3 candles.

Mantha and Rachel.

Mike and Jenny.

Mmmm....I think she likes it!

Sean and Marley...Rachel's' daddy and baby sister.

Flowers, bugs and M&M's were the theme of the day. I had so much fun making these party favors for her friends.

These dirt cups were another special treat. They were so easy to make and came out so cute. Almost too cute to eat....almost.:o)

Mommy and daddy love you sooooooo big baby girl. You are a blessing to us each and every day and we are continuously thankful to God who in His infinite wisdom decided we were worthy to be your parents. I don't know what we did to deserve you, but we will cherish and treasure you always. Happy birthday to the sweetest girl I know.

Panda Party!

We finally had Lily's Panda Party today! She had so much fun and loved playing with all of her friends. She was having so much fun playing, she had absolutely no interest in opening her presents, so I opened them on her behalf. She did, however, thoroughly enjoy her cake. It was hard cutting into such an adorable cake, but it sure was yummy! Robert's sister, Ellen, came over last night to help me decorate it. It took us about 3 hours to finish, but she sure came out looking as cute as can be! One of Lily's friends was so funny. He is almost 10 and as I was getting ready to take the cake out to sing "Happy Birthday" he said, "I can't eat the panda cake. I'm a vegetarian!". (Trust me...he enjoyed every bite of the black ear he and his brother shared!) As I was cutting the cake, another one of Lily's friends, Jocelyn, (who just turned 5) kept telling me she wanted the pink heart. Lily grabbed her fork and picked the little pink mouth from the cake with a very determined look on her face. Several of us watched with no idea what she was going to do, and would you believe it? She handed it right to Jocelyn. Now is that the sweetest thing ever?!? We are truly blessed with a very giving and caring little girl. The more I know her, the more she just melts my heart. Here are a few pictures for now. I hope to have more up tomorrow.

Blowing out Lily's birthday candle.

She enjoyed her cake, but I think she liked the chocolate chip ice cream the best!

One happy birthday girl.

Opening Lily's presents (notice she is nowhere in sight!).

I'm Still Here!

It's been a while since my last post. As usual (ugh) things have been busy lately. We just got back from our vacation to Medford, OR on Wednesday and have been busily preparing for Lily's birthday party tomorrow. She turned 2 while we were in Oregon so we had a little party for her there, but tomorrow is the big Panda Party. My sister-in-law came over tonight to help me decorate the cake. It came out soooo cute! I made a couple of birthday banners for decorations and we'll have lots of balloons and streamers up. I'll be sure to post pictures after the shin-dig. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know we haven't fallen off the face of the earth. Robert's still been updating his blog, so you can read all about our traveling adventures, including a second surgical procedure for him at one of Medford's finest hospitals! He has lots of pictures up from our trip and the first of Lily's birthday celebrations. I'll have more birthday pictures up soon!

1st Birthday Bash

On Sunday, August 19th, we celebrated Lily's 1st birthday. She had such a good time. She played with just about everyone and had so much fun!

The birthday girl all dressed up for her party.

Some friends that celebrated with us...

A ladybug cake for our Lilybug.

"Ok...what am I supposed to do with this?"

"Cake is good! You've been holding out on me mommy and daddy!"

What a mess! Lily loved her cake and we all had a great time watching her dig in. Thankfully the red frosting all came out and nothing got stained!