Day 194: Sofia birthday party

We had a very busy but fun day to celebrate Sofia’s 8th birthday. It started with a 30 min jog with mommy! She’s really getting stronger and fast!

I had a quick trip to the dentist and then got some last minute essentials for all the cooking i was planning to do. I should have finished all the prep during the week but work was hectic and I didn’t get to. Oh well. I finally got home at 9am, 3 hrs away from the “party”. I started making the cake, once that was in the oven, I prepared the dishes. The menu was a mixed of western and asian food:

Starter/snacks: chips with guacamole and tuna salad, and garlic bread

Main dishes: teriyaki chicken

stir fry noodles, a must dish for any birthday in asian culture

sweet sour tofu with tomato, sautéed greens

steamed shrimp with glass noodles, everyone’s favorite and steamed fish

We invited the family of Sofia’s recent favorite playmate, who was supposed to go to China next week, which made us all very sad. But it turned out that their flight was cancelled, so they are STAYING!!! Sofia was dancing out of the joy and already planned a sleepover with her next weekend. The parents enjoyed a good chat. I found the family really kind and shares a lot of our values. I’ve met many expat families here but never really felt connected with any of them until yesterday. Our shared experience of being born in China and traveled the world through study and work made us see the world through a similar lens, very rare to find. We are super excited to get together more and even spend a holiday together.

Sofia and her friend chatted over lunch as they usually do

and then it was cake time! My fruit cake turned out PERFECT!!!

they girls spent quite a while to blow the resilient candles…

and look inside! it’s not the western type of cake that is usually dense and too sweet for our tastebuds, but it’s light, soft, spongy with fresh whipped cream and fruits. can you guess how much I paid for the box of fresh strawberries??? 10 USD!!! oh well… at least they were super juicy and sweet.

Sofia has the tradition of doing nails once a year during her birthday, and guess what she got for gift from her friend? a nail set!!!

Her friends left before her 4pm Math class. I was exhausted by all the prep and chatting, so enjoyed the rest of the evening watching the new series with hubby. The girls also had their quota of movie time.

Final tradition for the birthday girl? a sleepover wit mama!!! We didn’t chat much as we were both quite ready to sleep when we got to bed, but Sofia had a great sleep in my bed.. while I woke up like 3 times to put blanket on her.

8 years old!!! my god! when will she abandon me for her friends/bfs??? I hope never!!! 😆