Isn’t it great to be EIGHT???!

23 February 2014-

Dear Darling Avi Baby,

How is it that today you're EIGHT YEARS OLD?????  

I keep saying this…and I'll keep saying it – time flies by too quickly these days.  I just wish I could make time stand still -even for just a moment- to sit back and enjoy you as you are now.  

And who is Ava now????

She's a vivacious, vibrant little girl with unruly golden locks (we often ask you if you've combed your hair with an egg-beater).  Your blue eyes, your gappy-tooth wide grin and your unique sense of fashion are just some of the parts people see when they look at you.  You have a bubbly personality that fills us …and everyone around you…with joy.  You're quite verbal.  And by that I mean you're a bit of a chatterbug and I love you all the more because of it.  You also have an ability to reach out and grab peoples' attention with your superb speaking talent.  It's absolutely wonderful to watch others react when you're up on stage and speaking in front of an audience.  You breathe life into your roles.  

Then again…you also are an incredible little mechanical engineer.  You love taking things apart and building things with your Daddy.  So….will you end up a mechanical engineer like your Daddy????  (personally, I'm secretly…or not so secretly… hoping for that.)

You're also our dedicated Waffle Maker.  Whatever would Saturday morning breakfast be like without you and your waffles?  I don't even want to think about that…. And what would Saturday morning waffles without a dose of Phineas and Ferb be like?  Also unthinkable!

Ava, I know that you admire and adore your Big Sister, Annika.  (I mean, hey…what's not to admire about Annika?  She's amazing in her own right too!)  HOWEVER – I sincerely wish that you didn't feel the need to follow your big sister's every whim.  You ARE your OWN person.  It's okay to love the things YOU love and it's OKAY if they're NOT the same as your sister's loves.  Really.  (at least we know you love horses…and your sister doesn't.  That's a start!)

You are the most amazing, wonderful, fascinating eight-year old I know.  Don't ever stop being you and don't ever stop with the surprises.  Just be you.  And I can't tell you how grateful and happy I am that I get to be your Mommy.  

I'll love you til the End of the World…and beyond.

Love,

Your Mommy

(PS. engineers make pretty good money. I'm not sure if acting brings in that kind of money…you could do acting as a side career…..that's just my opinion though! 😉  I'll stand by you with whatever you choose to do.  …engineering!!!!)

 

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And guess what???  Today we're going to celebrate your birthday with a BANG!  (not like last year when we made you fly back to China from a fantastic North Island New Zealand vacation on your birthday. Even I have to admit, that's a sad way to spend a birthday)

Let's start it with an AVALANCHE of balloons that will topple down on you once you open your bedroom door:

We've invited several of your friends today (and a few of Annika's) for a small party.  Your sister created this Schedule of Events for your party – eight events …to correspond with your eighth birthday.  Very clever!  Did you remember to thank your Big Sister for creating the Treasure Hunt????  She did that all on her own – without our help.  

 

And here's the next item on the list: The Drawing Competition.  Eight things to draw….I'd hate to be the judge of that competition!!!

Milla and Tilda:  Here we've got Clara, Silke, Fernanda and Mimi hard at work drawing…something. Girls, how did you decide what it was everyone was supposed to draw?  You said it was random…but somehow I don't think it was quite as random as you think.

 Mimi, Anna, Anais and Annika busy drawing.  Is Ava supposed to be the judge?

I think some of you have seen these party decorations before….I still love them.  So colorful!  So cheerful!!! 

Snacks galore…

The colorful, stripey pinata!

Maybe some day I'll learn to make them not balloon-shaped.  Maybe.  Or maybe not!  I'm liking the Easter eggy-ness of this pinata.  ;-)

Okay…Annika is keeping the party moving along at a fast pace- gotta stick to the schedule.  And what does the schedule say it's time for???  

Bashing the pinata!!!

We've arranged the kids from youngest to oldest (except Ava gets to go first even though she's not the youngest in this crowd):

Improvise, improvise, improvise!!!  We don't have a good location to hang the pinata from (no trees…plus it's just nasty outside) so Mark has created this make-shift arrangement with a stick.  Just hope the stick is strong enough for this bashing experiment!

Whack! Whack!  Ava did some damage to it….let's let the other kids take a turn

 Amazingly enough the pinata lasted through all the little girls…it's Lachlan's turn.  

 

and …

he knocked it out of the ball park!  Hooray for Lachlan!!!!

The After Math:

 

It's a frenzy of kids making a mad dash to get all the candy, notebooks, and other mish mash I managed to scramble together and stuff inside the pinata.  Not to worry – we tried to divide it evenly.

 

What time is it now???

It's time to decorate the cupcakes!  We decided this year NOT to do a traditional birthday cake/cupcakes/pie.  Instead, each guest will get to decorate their own cupcake with frosting and sprinkles:

and why yes…I do have a lot of sprinkles.  Why do you ask???

Some of the interesting creations:

Oooo!!!  I like the colors on this one:

Mimi's is quite lovely-

Colorful!!!

 

I made vanilla cupcakes using this recipe from The Cupcake Project.  I substituted plain yogurt for the sour cream.  They were perfect!  And I made classic American vanilla buttercream frosting (here's a recipe...it's super simple to make).  To make the project easier on the kids and less stressful for the parents I scooped the frosting into quart-sized Ziploc baggies.  To use: just cut a corner off the baggie and squirt away!  The kids had white, pink, teal, blue and purple colored frosting to choose from.  I really love gel food coloring for my baking projects!  The sprinkles come from all over the world – some from the USA, some from Austria (yes, Austria!) and some from China.  It's amazing what you can find especially when you're not looking for it.  LOL!

 

Ava, Tilda, Silke and Anais posing with their creations.  Most of the kids decorated TWO cupcakes (it was hard to stop at just one!).  

Misha joined us for the last little bit of the party and thankfully we had two cupcakes ready for her to adorn and decorate:

So we've decorated the cupcakes …what's next?  

How about we light some candles for Ava and sing Happy Birthday to her???

That's what I'm talking about!

That's it, Ava!  Take a DEEP breath and blow out those eight candles!

BLOW!!!!!

Ava and her rainbow.  Why is it that the Skittles packet doesn't have blue candies?????  How can you taste the rainbow if it's not a complete rainbow?????? I had to sneek in a M&M candy to make it a rainbow.  

Last event for today – opening the gifts!  How exciting!!!

Here are a few of the parents that helped us celebrate.  Let's see…from left to right…there's Jen, then Silke's parents (Ellen and her husband), Andy, Claudia and finally Julia.  Missing are Agnes, Robert and Annika (Tilda's mom….yes!  Her name is Annika.  How cool is that????).

Ava got so many wonderful and thoughtful gifts from her friends.  Thank you so much!!!! 

What did she get from Mommy & Daddy???  A LEGO Technic Mobile Crane set and this super duper, incredibly awesome and REAL tool kit!!!!

WHOA!  Some of the men in the group made some funny little comments that they didn't have a tool kit as nice as this one!  

What a fabulous party!!!!

Guests are heading home…so sad.  But to soften the blow how about petting a labrador puppy?????  Oh so soft!  Oh, that puppy smell!!!  Sooo….how is that softening the blow???  I MISS OUR MOCHA!!!  (we've got a labrador in the USA.  She's one lucky pooch- she gets to live on the farm with Grandpa and Grandma!!!) This puppy belongs to Clara's family. (do you think they'll notice if it goes missing????)

That was seriously a fun party!  Now it's time to settle down, chill out and attempt building this LEGO crane.  Good luck with that girls!  I might not be able to help you but I know someone that can (here's looking at you Jen! LOL!!!).

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who helped make Ava's day a special day!  Also thank you to Sam and Frances – both of whom couldn't join us today (they were in Harbin enjoying the Snow and Ice Festival).

EIGHT is GREAT!!!!