Grace is 3!

Before we left the US, the only time I cried was one day prior to leaving...and it was because of a conversation I was having with my daughter. We had just said goodbye to my grandmother, so I was a little emotional already. And then in the car, Grace starting talking about turning 3 and the great party she was going to have. Then she said, "Mommy, all my kids are going to be at my party, right? Will Carter be there?..." and so on. I knew Grace had no idea how far away we were moving. Well, Grace turned 3 on Saturday, and having our dear American friends over made it such a special day for her! Thank you O-family and B-family for coming! No tears on this day, just lots of celebration. I'm so thankful for Grace's life and these 3 years we've had with her. We had a Dora-themed party, since Dora is (of course) her favorite right now. (BTW, I'm so happy to have these pictures posted that I don't care that they are out of order and I'm not even going to try and fix them!) :) I guess Grace knew this was a special day because she wanted to wear her purple princess dress that she usually only wears while playing. We even let her wear it to KFC to pick up the chicken with her Daddy. Nothing says "Happy Birthday" in Asia like a couple of buckets of KFC.

Yes, this is exactly how she eats a cupcake.

A little party-time balloon toss

LUNCH!

I'm so glad my self-worth does not come from my cake-making skills, or lack thereof. I made a round cake (to stack 2-high) and had planned to put little Dora figurines on top since I have not a clue how to decorate cakes. However, in the midst of icing the cake, the top layer was too heavy, the cake was moist and with the addition of extreme humidity, the cake completely fell apart. I mean couldn't even begin to salvage it. Thankfully we still had Dora cupcakes to eat, and Grace wasn't old enough to care. So, the adults had smashed cake and ice cream while the kids had cupcakes. Grace kind of thought it was amusing and kept saying, "My cake was falling down!" Again, although I was close, no tears, just celebration.

These two pretty ladies are sweet friends.

Here's Miss H doing a great job with pin-the-tail on Swiper!

And my wonderful helper Xiao Yu held Trinity and made her laugh. Trinity has slept through the night the past 2 nights! She's all smiles these days and oh, so snugly.

Grace and Miss L enjoyed a little dress-up during the party. Aren't they cute?

Grace, has it really been a year since you turned 2? (6/13/08)

And it seems like just the other day we were celebrating your 1st birthday! (6/13/07)

Grace, we love you so much! You are a spunky, bright spot in our lives. You make us laugh every day. I'll never forget that moment 3 years ago when I heard you cry for the first time and became a mommy. Life hasn't been the same since.