June 10th

I love celebrating Anna. And so on her 17th we celebrated a bit here and a bit there all day long.

She is such a precious daughter to me. I adore being her mama, so it gives me great joy to love on her all day long.



She loves this china mug and actually uses it all day long - so much so that we HAD to take a picture of it when she was actually using in on her birthday!





Usually I bake a birthday cake the evening before but Anna picked a lava fudge cake from my Birthday Cakes cookbook so I thought it was best to make it the day we'd be having it.

It's one of those cakes that doesn't look impressive and when she was thumbing through the Birthday Cake cookbook I said, "are you sure? It's not that pretty?" But she wanted all of that gooey fudge and it really was so decadent!



In the afternoon Abigail wanted to surprise her with a ice cream sundae station and a show together. So she got everything all set up.





Meanwhile I pulled out this gooey, chocolate goodness out of the oven. Oh how it made out kitchen smell! Now it's a birthday!



So the girls decorated their ice cream (in the middle of a distance learning day) and enjoyed some time together!



We had Anna's favorite for dinner that night. It's a delicious meal - think what's INSIDE and egg roll. Super healthy - all veggies and some protein on a bed of sticky rice. It's got a tangy sauce made from fresh grated ginger and some Asian spices.



And it looks so pretty too!



We took a few pictures before cake and presents to make the occasion!

















Just like that - - 17!





For Abigail's birthday, she opened one B I G present. When I asked Anna if she wanted one big gift or lots of small surprises I knew she would say, "lots of surprises". And so lots of surprises it was!






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There were wonderful clothes (that she all loved and all fit from J Crew), books that she'd been wanting, a few pretty things for her desk, a milk frother for when she makes her tea lattes and a little pitcher to froth her milk in... we surprised her with a genetic kit that focuses more on what they can tell about your health and less about your ancestry. (she's not interested in that and we joke in our family, "don't worry, I'm pretty sure you're from China)



I completed a few missing, out of print, early childhood chapter books that she loved way back when she was just starting chapter books.



There were lots of special gifts from grandparents and love all day long.



What a joyful day it was.

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