July Part Two Vivi Turns 2!

This little girl turned two in July.

The Birthday Girl

The kids and I went to Sugarica the morning of her birthday and picked out the most perfect purple sparkley cupcake.  We also got her favorite food Chinese (of course) and let her eat whatever she wanted.  She had sesame chicken, fried pork dumpling, fried rice, crab wontons, and whatever else she could get on her plate.  She was thrilled and chatted the whole meal.  Than we let her have the cupcake and sang 'Happy Birthday'!  She was so full she didn't even finish the cupcake!  This was the first time she had ever felt comfortable enough to leave something on her plate without stressing that she might not get to eat again!  Go Vivi Cate!

Here was my Facebook status update that evening...

This little firecracker turned TWO today! We had so much fun celebrating with her. She had two candles on her cupcake, but her brother found a star candle and told me we had to add that one too because "She's a star, mom!" She was a spicy little one-year-old, so we cannot imagine what the 'Twos' are going to be like! Bring it on, sister!

The kids loved helping her celebrate!

Her favorite part of the cupcake was the frosting, of course.

Aaron likes to set the camera to a timer and let Camden and Caroline make different poses.  This time we all jumped in for a quick family picture.

 Even Gracie dog was happy to join in on the fun!



I was really torn about doing a birthday party.  On one hand, she deserved a celebration.  On another hand, Caroline's birthday is five days later and that was just a lot of celebrating during a very busy time.  Aaron was working weekends, and it would not have been good for either of the girls to share a birthday party this year.  They couldn't even share a toy at this point!  I decided on no parties for either one.  We were heading to the city the weekend after Vivi's birthday for Pine Cove week, and we were also going to miss a family reunion later that week because of Pine Cove madness, so my mom decided to create a mini family reunion, make a cake, and celebrate Miss Vivi Cate because some family hadn't even met her yet.  I agreed and put her in charge of yet.


That morning I dressed her in a soft pink satin and tulle dress.

 I had discovered it on a sale rack a few weeks before we traveled to China, and once I saw the gold sequin stars peaking out underneath the tulle skirt I knew it was for my Vivi Cate.  In her referral file and in the nanny interviews, they referred to her as a 'star'.

She LOVED the dress.  and the matching barrette.

 She could have spent all day posing for the camera.

But there was family to meet and gifts to be unwrapped!

She LOVES soft things, so this small pillow and new blanket were a huge hit!

She also got some Minnie toys and baby dolls, which she loved!

My mom made Vivi her very own birthday cake, so she got to blow out candles again.

I try my best not to dwell on where Vivi was a year ago... and where she is now, but this was one of these moments where I couldn't help but take a step back and be awe of the beauty of it all. With a family surrounding her with love and singing Happy Birthday to her, this little girl blew out her candles with such joy. And I couldn't help but tear up... because adoption is just awesome.
 

After cake, she had a dance party in the kitchen with her Pops and Great-Grandfather.

A few minutes later, I noticed she was gone.  When I finally found her, she had already pulled off some pillows and brought in some of her new gifts and decided that it was a little too much excitement for the day...

she was going to take a nap. Birthdays can sure be exhausting!