Birthdays in China! (prepare yourself- another long one)

Ok, once again, late as usual, getting behind, etc, etc. I would yet again apologize but, let's be honest, I'm just a bit of a slacker when it comes to blogs that will be long and complicated!!

I guess that's what I get for having my kids birthdays so close together. :)
It's so funny when people ask if I intended for my children's birthdays to be 2 days apart. Of course, I say! When you're a nurse in a hospital setting, having a baby is the only way to get a bunch of time off in the summer. :) God knew I needed that so He blessed us twice in that regard. :)

Anywho, birthdays are a difficult thing when you live in China.
We decided to have one combined party for the kids and just invited our 2 families of friends. Many people throw huge elaborate parties, inviting the entire class and spending thousands of RMBs ($1=6.5 rmb). Fortunately, I am comfortable being the odd man out and just did my own thing.
Also, I can't just go to Target for my party hats, streamers and other supplies. In fact, I never did end up finding streamers anywhere but some ribbon actually substituted alright. :)
I was able to find balloons in the local supermarket just fine. But, that was it. And, for any of you who are on Facebook, I'm sure you remember the picture of some of those balloons. VERY oddly shaped...

For birthday-themed plates, napkins and the like I had to trek out to the flower market (I know, makes perfect sense the stuff would be there, right?). There was one tiny little shop that made my day and had plates, napkins, a tablecloth, a banner and candles, but, no streamers. After looking in about 5 different places, I ended up just getting some wide white ribbon that had multi-colored spots on it and I hung that around. It did the job.

We grilled some hamburgs and hot dogs and just hung out. I did bust out a pretty sweet birthday cake and overall just enjoyed each others company.

One hit of the party was the homemade ranch dip for the veggies- JUST LIKE HOME!! So tasty...

Part of the spread...

Aren't we the party animals? Can't even tell it's our house, right? ;)

The cake. I know, I'm amazing... :) I had no 9x13 but I did have a small rectangle and a smaller square. Bake em up, stack em up, slather some frosting on it, bam! So ghetto.... :) Tasted good, tho.

Isaac, Ben L, Liz and Laura chillin' on the terrace. (Patrick is hiding in the chair)

Coop trying to figure out if he could climb over the railing...

Sophia opening her presents from her friends. Why the cape, you ask? Really, you have to ask???

Coop was not as enthusiastic about present opening (he hated it and could have cared less). However, this music-making truck was a hit from the Winkler's! Isaac liked it, too. :)

Sophia receiving her Rapunzel doll (It's what I always wanted!! Thank you, Mommy, thank you!)
That's right, I can pick 'em. :)

Cake time!

Sophia post-wish and ready to blow out the candles. Mia ready to assist. Aubrey waiting patiently. :)

Success! (after about 5 tries)

Cooper just wanted to eat it already.

A little family pic...

Yes, she thought it was that good...

We were also able to Skype with the families and the Oostings so they could watch the kids open the presents they had sent.

Here Sophie is opening her presents from Nana and Grampy, Auntie Jenn and Uncle Pete. You can see my parents on the computer there. Sophie LOVED her diving rings, sunhat, new shorts and dresses!

Uh oh. Grampy lost the picture and doesn't have his contacts in. This is what we got to see for about 5 minutes while they figured it out. :) It was hilarious!! :)

Cooper opening his new shoes. He also loved his name puzzle, sunhat and China blocks!

On Sophia's birthday, I let her wear her new pink converse shoes (care of Nana- she loves them!) to school instead of her standard black uniform ones.
Here she is on the first day she was 5! (A cute side note- the whole day before she was telling everyone that that day was the last day she would ever be 4. It kinda made me sad!)

I was able to bring in some cupcakes during their snack time that day. I spent a small fortune on these cupcakes and Cooper's cake, but it was the one extravagance I allowed myself for their birthdays. Here is her My Little Pony cupcake-cake. There were vanilla, chocolate and oreo ones.

This is Joanna, Betty, Victoria and Ville. They are from 4 different countries! All were quite excited to see cupcakes and frosting!!

Here is part of Sophia's classroom. In front, from the bottom left going clockwise is Ciana, Timmy, Jumainah and Imogen. 3 other countries represented there. It's been really amazing to see the world come together in her classroom and watch them all play together. The world really is smaller than we think!

Sophie's teacher, Ms. Hafseth, was out with strep throat so the classroom assistant, Ms. Zhang (also their Mandarin teacher) helped me hand out the cupcakes. It's weird how frosting can bring everyone together... :)

Sophie and Ciana having a moment with their cupcakes. :)

That night she wanted to go out to eat for her birthday and get dressed up. We headed out to The Black Sheep (her choice) and then came home and skyped with Ben's parents so they could watch her open the rest of her presents...

The above box contained the below doll. She had picked it out in one of the fake markets several weeks earlier. It's super creepy to me but she loves it. If you squeeze her she sings a super fast and annoying rendition of "I'm a barbie girl, in a barbie world..." SOOO annoying....

Our ayi was very kind and got Soph a present as well. It was this huge teddy bear and Soph really liked it. On the foot of the bear it says "Happy for Lovers". Ummmm, ok.......things that get lost in translation here...  :)

Here's more skyping with Ben's parents.

Soph showing them her new princess stamps for crafting...

Cooper's birthday was, as expected, less of an affair. He doesn't like to open presents, doesn't usually care about the presents... I, however, like to make a thing of it bc I'm happy he's here.
So, on his birthday I brought in a little cake and some goodie bags for the other 4 boys in his class.

His oreo cake with smily face candles...

Cooper was unimpressed with his birthday hat. You have no idea how hard it was to get this pic!!

Coop's school/car buddy, Luca. He's 4 and from Texas! He really liked the little cars Coop gave out.

Didi, the original kiddo here. He was a big fan of the playdough.

Shaveer came about the same time as Coop. He's from India and is 3. Also loved the cars (no one loved the M&Ms- what????)

The boys in one of the playrooms. BingBing is on the left- she's an assistant. Marjolean in the middle- she's doing an internship here from the Netherlands. MyMy is the little boy on the left in the blue. He's the newest addition to their class.

All the boys got to take a turn blowing out the candles. They had been practicing for this for days in class and all did well!

All Didi really wanted to do was cut the cake. He had absolutely no interest in eatting it. Here he is hacking away...

After school I decided to take Coop to do something he would actually enjoy (since the school party was like torture to him). So, we went swimming! He just loves the pool here!! This is just a tiny shallow bit. I'll post more pics of the pool at another time...

That night I made his favorite dinner, banana and blueberry pancakes with scrambled eggs, and he got to open some more presents! Here's his new rocking horse. He loved it for about 5 minutes and really hasn't touched it since... :)

He got in some great "where is your ear?" time with daddy, another favorite...

 The firetruck was another hit for about a minute. He loves big trucks, but apparently not this one. :)

Now, this, by far, is his lasting favorite present. He was so ecstatic to get a bright yellow soccer ball. He LOVES this thing!! He kicks it around, chasing it through the house, laying on it, sitting on it, rolling it on him, etc. He giggles and squeals whenever it's around. Who knew?

Aunt Christy and Uncle Peter sent him a truck and an airplane that have also gone over quite well!

Overall, the birthdays went over quite well. I was nervous about them being happy bc we're not with family and friends from home, but I think they felt the love. :)