HAPPY BIRTHDAY SADIE!!!

For Sadie's first birthday party, we decided to have a small gathering at Grandpa Minn's house with our closest family and friends.  Although I can't say what the exact head count was, my guess is that about 60 adults and 11 children attended.  The night went so fast, which is always the case when you're having fun! The theme for the party was Hello Kitty, and the colors were green and pink.  We set up tents, tables, and chairs on the lawn in front of grandpa's house and the food was set up in the garage.  For our pupus we had assorted poke from Tamura's, chips and dip (homemade by Grammie), and soy beans.  For dinner, we had Pulehu chicken, rosemary pork, and furikake salmon....which both mom and dad didn't get to try since there was so much excitement all night long!  And lastly, for dessert we had a giant HK cookie from Cookie Corner, ice cream, and a HUGE neapolitan cake from Zippy's.

Grandpa bought Sadie a traditional Korean outfit, which she wore while she performing a traditional Korean ritual of placing a ball (signifying athletics), money (business), and a pen (academics) in front of the baby to tell it's fortune.  Sadie went straight for the $100 bill!  Daddy thought she just chose the money because it was in the middle, so we repeated it, and she again chose the $100 bill.  We have a businesswoman in the making!

We planned a couple of activities for the kids, which kept them busy.  First, we had Aunty Kara's cookie factory, where the children were able to draw on their cookies with edible food coloring pens.  This was a hit with not only the children, but with the adults as well!

Next, we had sidewalk chalk for the kids to express their artistic skills on an even bigger scale.

Then, we had a pull-string pinata....which malfunctioned because it was OVER-stuffed with toys, senbei, and goldfish.  The look on the kids' faces was priceless!...they were SO confused because nothing was coming out!  Uncle Alika ended up shaking the pinata to release all the goodies.  And even more priceless was none of the kids wanted the senbei!  It was so funny....but I wanted to avoid putting CANDY inside, so senbei seemed like a reasonable alternative, but I guess not!

The next activity was a modern-day version of "pin the tail on the donkey"....it was "put the bow on Hello Kitty."  All the kids under 2 years old were able to see while they put their sticker on, but the kids over 2 were blindfolded.  When it was Naila's turn (she is 6), she put the box exactly on the spot!  Aunty Jenn was so impressed with Naila's placement of the bow she said "oh my gosh, that was SO good!  could you see when you did that?!"  And being the honest girl that she is, she sort of put her head down and nodded her head and said "yeah."  SO CUTE!

For the final activity of the night, Aunty Jenn set up a mini-nightclub for the kiddies.  With the colorful disco lights and the music pumping, the kids (especially the girls) were having a blast!  Most of the girls were jumping up and down and just having fun, but cousin Paisley was showing off her moves in a very serious manner!....her new favorite song is the LMFAO's Party Rock Anthem.  Sadie seems to be following cousin Paisley's footsteps, as she was also grooving a bit to the music.

Mostly everyone left by about 10:30 or so, including the birthday girl.  She ended up having her first sleep over at Grammie's house, since mommy and daddy had to stay at Grandpa's house to clean up.  All in all, it was a great night: catching up with friends and family and watching the kids have a ball.  Thank you, everyone, for coming and celebrating with us!

Lastly, two very special people were missing from Sadie's party, Uncle Ryan and Aunty Jenn....but they weren't able to come for a very legitimate reason....they had their first baby (Benji Orion Hew), exactly 1 year after Sadie was born!  What a birthday present....a new cousin!!!