Birthday Surprises!!

I would have to say that Coop was completely spoiled on his third birthday! He woke up this morning and walked into our bedroom where an electric Buzz Lightyear car sat waiting for him! He looked at it and then looked at Danny and I, like, "Is this mine?"!! We said happy birthday and he said, "I love this toy!". He has rammed every corner of the house today since it was snowing/raining this morning and we couldn't get outside! He even knocked down a plant, but it was his birthday, so I got over it pretty quickly!!

After playing this morning and talking to many family and friends on Skype, we had lunch with Coop's little friend Lucy at the Sheraton! The kids hardly touched their food, but when the waitresses (who know us all by name) surprised Coop with a cake, they were suddenly starving!

And, yes Nai Nai, he did eat long noodles today!!

Danny surprised Coop by coming home early, which meant that Coop got to open all of his gifts that travelled across the ocean to reach him!! Thank you, thank you!! He loved everything and so did El and Eens! I rarely buy new toys for them here because they are either, double the price that they would be in the US, or they are poorly made and will fall apart in a week! So, today felt like Christmas all over again for my little ones!!

Ayi made Coop his favorite jaozi for dinner which he picked the meat and veggies out of like usual! I had made ice cream cone cupcakes earlier in the day, so I let the kids put icing on them and then decorate them. Coop really just wanted to eat the chocolate and then the icing (by licking it off the plate!). Eens on the other hand designed a happy face on the top of his!!

The other night we celebrated Coop's birthday early with three of our dear neighbor families! I was so excited to finally entertain in our house! I love little appetizers, so I made lots of appetizers with a little help from products I had brought from the US and a little tweaking of the recipes! They all turned out yummy and it made me realize that I can actually "cook" here!!! I also made two lasagnas, some bread, and ayi cut up some fruit for dinner.

And of course, Danny made Coopie his very special birthday cake! This year he chose an appropriate theme, Kung Fu Panda, and he asked for a baozi cake!! A baozi is a bun stuffed with meat and or veggies. I was very impressed with the end resultn and thankful there was cake, instead of meat filling it!!

There was a lot of Wii playing, chatting, and eating going on, so Coop could barely concentrate on opening his gifts!! He was thrilled to get his very own Lego box set like Eens, a Hot Wheels race track and a delightful Alien Underpants book!! It was a wonderful way to celebrate his special day, with some of the very special people he has in his life here in China!