Birthday Bash Recap

We had Leah's 1st birthday party over the weekend at my sister's place in Michigan and it was a lot of fun. On John's side, his mom, nephew and niece, who had been visiting for the week, were there, too. My sister and her husband know how to put on a party, plus we knew it would be inconvenient for family to come to our area for a short party, so we were really happy that Holly and Dean were able to do this for us. We wanted to keep it pretty small so as not to overwhelm Leah with too many strangers at once. And we weren't sure how she would handle her first roadtrip and weekend away, but she surprised us and seemed to enjoy herself once she warmed up and got over her initial apprehension.

Apparently, Leah has a future in sports and will live a long life and become wealthy. That is at least what her selections at her Dol-ja-bee predict. In the Korean first birthday tradition, we placed Leah, dressed in her hanbok (given to her by her foster family), in front of seven items at a table, and waited to see which items she would pick. The first two or three items picked are said to be predictors of their life's path. She picked the ball, the thread, and the money, in that order. Not surprising to us since she's already been kicking a ball around and has very good strength, balance and coordination for a baby her age. She noticed everyone's reaction when she picked up the money and smiled and waved the $10 bill around. It was really funny.





For dinner, we had a combo of American picnic style food and Korean food we ordered from a local place....Kobe beef burgers, bratwursts, and various cold salads, etc. And for Korean food, we ordered some bulgogi, kalbi, dak bulgogi, chapchae and kimbop just to have some Korean foods available for people to sample. It wasn't the best Korean food, but at least people got a chance to try it.




Then it was time for birthday cake and ice cream. Leah got her own little baby "smash cake" and did just that to it. She didn't even make too much of a mess on herself and had only a minor meltdown at the table. We were able to get her cleaned off quickly at the kitchen sink, so luckily, we didn't need to take an intermission for her to get a bath.







Time to open presents! Leah seemed more interested in the birthday cards than the presents themselves. She got some really cute clothes, toys and books that she didn't already have. And by the end of the party, she was really pooped out and had her major meltdown, but we think she held up great for a 4-hour birthday party!





We had some professional portraits taken a few weeks ago. There were 52 shots altogether, and we went overboard and ordered 12 or 13 of them. I finally figured out how to get them uploaded here, so here are just a few.