Veronica Sue is ONE

(disclaimer: I have not been able to log on/view ANY blogs including my own for over a week.  Augh!)

I cannot believe a year has just gone by.  I said that with Bianca and I'm saying it again.  I feel the first year of my second-born-child's life has gone by even faster than my first.  In such a short time, so many great things have happened.

Dear Veronica Sue,

I am writing this only days after you turned one.  The last year has been beyond life-changing.  You came into our world so gracefully.  You hardly caused any pain in the (not nearly) two hours it took you to come into this world.  I was the first person to hold you.  The doctor let me receive you as you came into this world.  All the worry, all the fear, all the anxiety.... it all slipped away as I laid eyes on you.  You barely cried.  Nursed immediately as if you had done it a million times.  You were - in a word: perfect.

I look into your eyes, and I see sweetness.  A delicateness that reminds me to be ever-so-soft with you.  Your grandmas call you "Sweet Vivi."  That is exactly what you are: sweet.  A genuinely innocent little baby who melts people with her eyes.  I did not know my heart could grow any more, but oh how it has grown!  You have taught me tenderness, loveliness, and a softness I cannot describe.  You are my Veronica Sue.

The way you look at your sister is priceless.  You study her, imitate her, and follow her to no end.  I pray each day that God will bless my hopes for the two of you: to be best friends... to have the best friend I so wish I could have had forever.  You are a perfect balance together.

Each day God has given me with you has been a true blessing.  I feel our family is complete.  We are so blessed and so grateful for the life and the wonderful cheer to bring to it.

Love you to the moon and back,

Your Mamma


At 1 year, Veronica Sue.....
~ weighs about 22 pounds
~ says many words (mamma, dadda, ball, bubba, bye... and some Chinese!)
~ has been to 2 different continents
~ points to anything and everything she wants
~ walks about 5-10 steps independently
~ is a mamma's girl
~ loves watching big sister
~ eats anything.  and everything.  and loves it ALL.
~ totally feeds herself and can almost do it with a spoon
~ takes 2-3 bottles a day
~ sleeps through the night (FINALLY!)
~ plays catch and throws overhand
~ kicks a soccer ball
~ climbs on anything and everything
~ acts shy and embarrassed around dadda and grampy
~ loves her bubba about more than mamma
~ has a smile that infects everyone who sees it

We had a nice birthday party for Veronica last week.  I invited everyone from our weekly playgroup to attend.  We had a good amount of people who could come.  Poor Nana made the trip all the way from the USA but came down with a nasty flu-bug we passed to one another so she was in bed for the party.  But Veronica.... Nana WAS here!!!

The invite:

welcome sign:

walk in welcome:


gift bag table.

i made all the girls hair button clips.

put together some IKEA frames with buttons from the fabric market:

 the cake.  i guess you don't get 2 fantastic cakes back to back in china.  i told them i wanted it pink, purple, and red.  as you can see, it was blue, red, and pink.  i guess the color blue they used they thought was purple?

lots of yummy food.  the pumpkin pancakes with chocolate "holes" that were supposed to look like buttons seemed to be a hit.

vivi's wall of 1 year photos (month by month growth)

princess throne

she was quite dainty about eating her cake.  didn't make a real mess and wanted her spoon.  big sister helped in the end.

this is Chen, our ayi (maid/nanny/life saver/cook).  vivi loves her.

I also had some one year pics taken of Veronica.  I'll post them soon!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SWEET VERONICA SUE!!!!  WE LOVE YOU!!!

Bianca's Alice in Wonderland Party

Bianca turned 3 about 3 weeks ago.  We had an Alice in Wonderland-themed party.  It was so much fun!  Of course, my camera had crashed by this day, so the pics are not too great.  I didn't manage to get any photos while the party was going on - but don't worry it's all on video.  Probably because over 20 (TWENTY) kids came.  It was a MADHOUSE.  It was also raining cats and dogs, so all 20 kids (and some siblings, and 1 or 2 parents each) were all in my house.  Thankfully, I had rented a bounce house so some kids dispersed into the garage!

If you don't know the story of Alice, then most of this probably won't make much sense so I'll try to describe some things.  

B handed out invitations to all her friends.  The invitation also included a DVD of the movie Alice in Wonderland so everyone could start watching it a couple weeks prior to coming.  You can get DVDs here for about $2 and since I bought in bulk, I got an even sweeter deal.
The invitation:

The signs pointing in the right (or wrong!) direction:

Follow the red arrows to find the rabbit:

Again, missing the camera.  But you can see I had tons of streamers in the vestibule area, followed up with pom pons.  

This is a tea-party-hat making station.  The kids got to design and glue the hats they wanted to wear and take home.  

after:

Don't step on the Mome Raths!  These are little creatures from the movie.  I copied them and hot-glued two pencils together, gave them eyes, and crazy hair.  The kids got to pick their new pet!

Look!!!  A talking flower!!!

You can't see everything, but there are little Nutella/Jelly sandwiches cut out in the shapes of tea cups with a sign that says "Eat Me" on the top.  We had coffee and tea for the parents, juice for the kiddos.  Also "proper" (in my best English accent!) biscuits and jelly, crackers, veggies and dip, and of course.... red rose cupcakes!

The cupcakes were given to each mommy to take home to enjoy.    

And personalized "tea cups" for all the kiddies drinks.  They loved them!

I swear... if I can't get my camera fixed by Vivi's birthday, I'll be so upset!  This blurry pic is all I have to show for the dining area:

The best part of everything: the cake.  It looked AND tasted amazing!  I was so happy!  The fresh flower rose assortments were lovely.

Don't ask: NO.... I did not make the cake.  I'm a momma who likes to put my personal touches on everything at the party EXCEPT the cake.  I did design it, but someone else did the grunt work.  It looks exactly like the picture I gave the bakery to replicate.

The sun room (before) the chaos.

The naughty ever-so-beautiful Alice herself:

I drew this and made the mouth "stickable" so kids could pin the smile while being blindfolded.  

The flower garden.  Kids got to "pull" out a flower.  

The take-home "thank you" bags.  They included an Alice coloring book (CARS for the boys), a halloween candle you can "blow" out, stickers, and all the other treats they got while coming for Bianca's 3rd birthday.  

It really was a great day for Bianca.  She loved having all of her friends to her house.  She had over 20 of her friends, and only 2 of them were American.  It was so cool to have so many different nationalities under our roof at once.  Bianca loved being Alice and having a special day.  So much, in fact, that she wants to wear her Alice dress everyday.

Our Family in China Pics

I am sooooo far behind in my blogging, it's not even funny.  I need to blog about:
1. B's Birthday
2. Halloween
3. My mom's visit
4. Bianca in Ballet
5. Vivi walking
6. Bianca at the dentist & 3 year check up

And that's just this blog.  I can't even begin to list everything I need to catch up on in the China blog.  I honestly can blame most of it on the fact that my computer is not working well, my VPN working only sporadically, and my camera is not working - at all.  The later is the most depressing.  I don't know what is wrong with my dear camera, and what's worse is I don't even have a clue as to where to take it for a "camera doctor" visit.

 So, I will be blogging very soon about more things, but for now, I leave you with some pics of my family in China.  I can do this because my camera was not required!

Nana & Grampy Wrap Up

Well, things are a bit crazy around here, so most of the future posts will be short!  I just want to conclude Nana and Grampy's visit with a couple more pics....

We went to eat "Peking Roast Duck" while they were here.  The New York Times says it's one of the top ten restaurants in the world: Da Dong Duck.  You have to call ahead about 5 days to reserve a table and order a duck.

 We weren't really sure how to eat it.  Below you see Nana eating what we all thought was a piece of bread.  Turns out, it was a hollow biscuit to be filled with duck, cucumber, melon, and whatever you desire.  Oops.

They brought our duck to the table and cut it into over 100 pieces.

The ambiance was very pretty.


I think we all enjoyed it very much!


We had such a great time when they visited.  Bianca loved having Grampy there to be ready to play at 6am when she woke up and go "full speed" until she crashed at night.  Trips to the clubhouse were mandatory.

 They even got a little spa time in!  A surprise birthday treat from us.

They deserved it!

We miss you both so much.  Bianca has her "Grampy Gum" he left almost everyday.  The girls just loved everyday they got to spend with their grandparents.  Thanks again.  We feel so blessed and so special you came to visit us.  Hurry back!