BBJ's Birthday, Pt. 2

For the final leg of BBJ's birthday celebrations, we had a total family extravaganza! There are certain traditions in our families for these celebrations, and we added a few new ones. Since BBJ's birthday happened to fall on the same week as the Mid-Autumn Festival, we held off on both celebrations until everyone could be together. My mother in law created a veritable FEAST of Chinese food. The poor thing! Something got lost in the communication - Louh Gung knew his mother had agreed to make lunch for all of us at my mother's house. Louh Gung's father knew his wife had agreed to cook lunch, but didn't know where. Louh Gung's MOTHER (the cook, remember), knew she had agreed to cook at my mother's house...but thought she was cooking dinner! At 10 am, when she realized the mistake, she took off. It was amazing! The potatoes were peeled, the carrots were julienned, the chicken was boiled...and we made it to my parents' house with quite a bit of time to spare!

We had quite a crowd. All of my (numerous) siblings came, with their spouses and children (as applicable). My husband's parents were there, as were my father's parents. What a happy party we were!

For lunch we had rice, fried egg rolls, fried eggplant with fish paste, chicken curry, shrimp and cucumber salad with sweet chili sauce, ...and I know there were several other dishes, but I can't think of them right now! Like I said, a feast.

After lunch, we rolled around on the floor, trying to make some room in our bellies, under the guise of "playing with the baby." As soon as we could breathe again, we called for BBJ to start opening her presents. WOW!

I made sure there were no fewer than 27 presents my "Mom and Dad" for my little princess. Why? Because she has a two year old cousin who only knows one thing to do with wrapped presents. (That one thing does NOT include handing them to a baby!) While Daddy helped BBJ open her presents ("Ooh! Another little squeaky bath toy from the package of six your mother opened up and wrapped separately!", Auntie M was sitting behind them helping Cousin E open up a few of BBJ's presents.

Seriously, with 30 presents, BBJ needed a little help!

BBJ received so many beautiful gifts - books, clothes, toys, clothes...did I mention the clothes?

She will be one beautiful little princess this winter!

After presents came the part we were all waiting for - the cake! There were so many predictions on how BBJ would inhale that first uninhibited foray into gooey, sugary goodness. In the end, BBJ was BBJ. She was so happy when she realized the cake was just for her. She dipped a few fingers into the chocolate icing, licked them, and lit up the room with a grin. She did it again, then smiled at each of us, laughing. When she was certain this was really for her, and we weren't going to take it away, she started really getting into it. she stretched her arms out as far as they go, grabbed the frosting on the far edge of the cake and raked it towards herself, smearing it into, on and around her little mouth. She didn't end up eating too much of the cake, all things considered, and asked to be taken out of her high chair after about 15 minutes.
(That's the big people cake. I was really proud of it - I made two cakes, one chocolate, one yellow. I mixed a box of instant pudding into a white cake mix to make the chocolate cake. It came out really moist! The "Big People Cake" is three layers, and BBJ got her own little one-layer chocolate cake.)
BBJ started out nice and clean.
She took an accidental elbow-swipe at the cake. You can see a little bit of chocolate on her finger tips and she's looking at me, trying to figure out why this is happening. Why isn't Mommy taking this ooey-gooey cake away fr.....ooh! Is that chocolate?
Mmmmmm...yummy. Chocolate is my friend!
Guys, you should really try some of this!
Seriously! This is good!

Mommy, you were always my favorite.

(Nothing like a first birthday party to make a two-year old cousin shine! Look how neat the princess is with her cake! She knows better than to waste a crumb!)

I love all you guys! Seriously!!!

Let me just scoop a bit from that side...ooh, that's nice!

This is starting to be some work!

Look how much she ate!
BBJ has had enough.

Time to wash up!


Happy Birthday, BBJ. We love you!