Vanessa is Officially Seven

Today, Vanessa turned seven years old. Girl, where does the time fly.

Vanessa's birthday was celebrated at school and home. Her class attended the annual Terra Cotta exhibit at the national American History Museum in Washington, DC. Vanessa raved about how much fun she had at the event. Later in the evening the family had dinner at Vanessa's favorite Chinese restaurant...Honk Kong's. While at the restaurant Vanessa told the hostess, in Chinese, that it was her birthday (initially the hostess was shocked that she knew the language so well and even said so) to our surprise at the end of the evening she created a mini cake surrounded by carved vegetable and fruit decorations and sang happy birthday to Vanessa in Chinese. Also while at the restaurant she taught Vanessa many new words and told her the next time we returned she would have a new lesson for her.

After dinner we went home for the traditional birthday song and cake cutting. The bakery misspelled "Vanessa" on the cake but ironically it said "Banessa" which is what Jade endearingly calls her older sister. I thought it was so cute since Jade is the one who chose the cake design. (I did however make sure the same mistake would not take place with the cake for her party this Saturday.)

As I said earlier I am still amazed at how fast the years are passing by. I guess I need to start saving for my daughters ultimate parties...their weddings :)