Kieren's First Birthday Mexican Fiesta!

What a day yesterday was! Saturday we had a huge birthday party to celebrate Kieren turning one years old (the actual birthday is on January 12th, but we wanted to party while my parents were still here). In honor of my mom who is Mexican American, and my years of birthday parties in the theme of her vivacious heritage, we decided to continue the FIESTA tradition here in our own community of Ocean View. We prepared pico de gallo, chicken, veggies, chips, salad, rice, Mexican beans, and lots of sweets for all our guests for two days leading up the party. We invited all our guests through evite, texts, phone calls, and just word of mouth, decorated the house, rented a 'jumping castle,' and my mom and I even made a home-made pinata for the kids! The party was Saturday afternoon and around 50 of our wonderful friends in our various communities here in South Africa came to celebrate sweet Kieren. Our friends Lauren and Shagmie bought her 'fairy wings' to celebrate her princess status for the day - very appropriate and cute. The house was buzzing and my parents helped with the cooking and serving of our Mexican feast since most of our friends had never even heard of fajitas - shame! They had also never seen a pinata but quickly joined in the fun with the kids of hitting it, although it took our 'big' friend Evan Torrance to finally break it open. The day flew by and it was just a great time of visiting and celebrating with so many people that God has blessed us with here. Kieren got lots of fun presents (most of which she still hasn't opened because she was so excited to just be with her friends). My parents really enjoyed seeing our friends and spending time talking about them and their lives, although most of them had already come by for a visit at this point of their trip! By 10:00pm all the guest had gone home and we sat exhausted in the lounge in a fog of bliss and thankfulness to all God has created here. The gift of the day gave us memories we will never forget and the only thing it was lacking was SO MANY OF YOU back home that we wished could have been with us too! Know that you were missed at this celebration with us - you are always in our thoughts - especially on days like these!

Still recovering and deeply thankful,
Sarah



Sarah and Kieren with the woman of her support group

Wendy trying to break the pinata

Uncle Jenks hanging with Kieren, telling her about the festivities around her

Mom explaining how to 'construct' the fajitas

Mom and Dad with the Terry family, Bernadette and her son, Robin and our 'Granny' Jacoba

Casey 'braving' the grill for our 'braai'

Evan, Cameron, and Kerryn Torrance

The neighborhood kids who showed up to hang at the jumping castle and celebrate with us

The ladies of my support group taking over the jumping castle