you only turn five once...

Well, the typhoon is over, and things are back to normal. On the walk to school, we saw lots of debris on the sidewalks, and some really huge branches that had fallen. I'm guessing that by the time we pick Annika up, things will be all cleaned up like it never happened!

I didn't know what we would do for Annika's birthday since we are so new here. I suggested to her that we just celebrate as a family, and she said "but what about the kids?". Somehow I couldn't say no to that, so Mike and I talked about three options. We could invite our fellow expat friends to a little party, but the people we know with kids have children closer in age to Leila than Annie. We also thought of just having a little party with the kids from the building, but it is really hit and miss who we run into in the playroom, so we don't really know people that well. There's one little girl Annie's age who's often there, but she isn't even that nice to her! So our final idea was to invite the girls from Annie's class. This made me really nervous, as planning birthday parties isn't my favorite activity to begin with, but I have never met any of the kids or their families. I didn't know if they would come, and what cultural expectations we may not even know about. Apparently birthday parties are a really big deal here, so I wasn't sure what I was stepping into!

So I bravely sent invitations with Annie to school to the seven girls in her class, with a letter explaining that we are new to Hong Kong and that their daughter and whoever in her family that would like to come was invited to join us in the Function Room of our clubhouse for a very "simple" party of pizza, cake, and games.

Out of the seven invites, five responded favorably, one couldn't make it, and one I never did hear from. It was a bit awkward and I did find it stressful to figure out where to get a cake (I don't even have an oven so I was off the hook for making one!), how and where to order pizza, where to collect all the paper plates, party favors, balloons, and all those details that make up a birthday party. Somehow we managed, and I think it was a success. The girls were sooooo excited to see each other outside of school, and Annika was a very happy little five year old!

This is such a bad picture, but my mom sent her a "Boy Barbie" that you can record your voice and make him talk like a man. It's so funny- we've all had fun with it!
My dear friend Lisa gave me a gift to give to Annika on her birthday back in June at Leila's party. I managed to get it all the way here, and Annie was so surprised to receive something from her friends in Canada. Thank-you!

The cake! I ordered it from a bakery near us. It looked much better than it tasted.

After cake was eaten, we "released" them into the playroom, and I wondered if the whole building could hear us! They were extremely excited to play. These are Annika's friends Hoi Yee, and Belle.

The whole gang... Ajax, Ashley, Olivia, Autumn, Birgitta, Annie, Leila, Belle and Hoi Yee. It was fun, but is it bad if I say I'm relieved we don't have any birthdays coming up for a while? Haha