Birthday Parties

As I mentioned before, Mary's birthday passed recently and I took some pictures.

Food plays an important role in our family. We LOVE food, especially GOOD FOOD!

Yummy appetizers by Ann. She twirled up a basil leaf into the olives!

Stuffed tomatoes. Something new. Something different. Something delicious!

Chinese style Korean BBQ ribs :)

You almost feel you shouldn't eat such a beautiful work of art... but food is much better in your stomach :)

I made some stuff, too. Below are pictures of my 7 layer dip. It was my first time making it and it was a hit!

Can you count all the layers?

There wasn't enough space on the table so we put it up on the counter ;)

I also baked a cheescake for my wife's birthday. Again, first time baking a cheesecake!

I think it turned out pretty good, if I don't say so myself ;)

Some more pics of the cheesecake... :P


Mmmmm... makes my mouth water just seeing the pics...

BTW, if you've never been to the City Market, check out what kinds of zuccini you can find there!!!

They are literally the size of a small child!

I would have never believed such a thing before I came to Kansas City!!!

Anyways, we also had some very special guests with us. Mary's uncle and aunt are missionaries in China and they were finally able to get some time off to come back and visit the States after a few years of not being able to come back. However, their daughter and her family (of four children with another one coming...) drove all the way from Colorado to surprise them!

Anyways, they are the cutest kids ever and the most well-behaved and fun kids :)

So we celebrated a lot of things (after Mary's birthday): Ann's birthday, which was almost a week after Mary's, Mary's grandparents mini-60th anniversary celebration (with the big one coming on Thanksgiving), and a reunion of grandparents, parents, and grandchildren!

Here's a lot of pictures!

It was also Ann's birthday.

Here's some pics of Jordan floating in air :)

More food pictures... :)

Grandma Ju's famous dumplings! Everything is made from scratch including the skin. It's amazing watching Grandma Ju at work making the perfectly shaped dumplings.

For Mary's grandparents' mini- anniversary party, Mary baked a cake. She is the master baker in the family. Her cakes are light and delicious! You could eat the whole thing and not feel guilty about it! I am truly blessed! :)

Of course, the true test of a cake is how it fares with the kids. Here's what the kids had to say...

You can have your cake and eat it, too! But for Ann's birthday party, Ann wanted a blueberry pie!

And who better than Mary to bake her favorite sister a pie!

*WARNING* The next pictures may be explicitly graphic so for those faint of heart, you may want to scroll down past the next pictures...

Here, we start with cute, little, innocent baby Elisha.

Here she is during dinner...

And here is her eating surface... who knew how messy babies are when eating! I guess the positive side is that she knows how to feed herself ;)

Apparently, Elisha got some food stuck in her nose and was trying to rub it out... with her fist!!! LOL

If you thought those pics were bad, that was only after dinner... dessert hadn't come out yet... Ann's blueberry pie...

Mmmm... that was finger-licking good... but Elisha wasn't done yet...

She didn't want to waste a drop of that pie! Who knew styrofoam bowl tasted so good?

Guess who gets to clean Elisha's mess up? Mommy to the rescue!



Group shot.