SS is TEN!

To us she is still the little girl we met for the first time at the Civil Affairs Office in Kunming on 07/08/2008. Reality does have a way of bursting our bubble, and we woke up this morning to the beautiful sight of our ten year old baby. SS is TEN YEARS OLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SS has karate class on Wednesday, and of course there is homework after school. Since she has arrived at double digits age, we gave her a choice. She could open her gifts in the morning, thus waking up earlier, or open gifts after karate. Silly us like she would chose the latter. So getting up at 6:00 a.m. to open presents it is. SS made sure to bring DOG with her for the special occasion.

SS had a great day, but there was a bit of sadness. Only Abuela and Abuelo remembered her birthday.

SS is not a fan of flash photography, especially after just waking up. 

A Batman T-shirt to go along with her cake.

Flash photography aside SS was eager to open her gifts.

Her first wireless headphones.

SS loved the movie Moana, and we can see her as the strong willed and adventurous protagonist.

She was happy with the Multiplication Bingo game. SS's teacher plays the game with the kids and it really helps. 

SS picked this cover for her full size iPad, and was rightfully disappointed when we bought the "wrong" size.  On a funny note, Abuela loved the cover. Yup, our daughter has the taste of a 77 year old woman. Just kidding.

SS looks less than happy with her big gift. She has had the full size iPad since Kindergarten, time for an upgrade. SS had no idea what a tablet is, because she has lived in an iPad, and mini iPad world. Once she realized what it was, she was happy, and the smaller cover made sense. P was in charge of still pictures, I have no idea why we do not have some of her using the new tablet.

We decided on a cupcake cake to make it easier to distribute in the classroom. I had surgery Monday, and still have a draining tube, and a lot of pain. A full birthday party was not an option for us, the same for two days at Disneyland. We are taking SS on a fun trip next month to make up for the timing of my surgery.

The Yunnan Ham is ten years old.

SS's teacher asked her to choose two classmates to help her pass out the cupcakes.

I was able to film SS and the kids saying hi to Abuela, who enjoyed the video.

Happy girl, proud but still sad parents. It really is unfair how fast she grows, but she is kind, intelligent, inquisitive, happy, determined, and so many other great things. We are very lucky to be SS's parents.