the north coast - portrush

We decided to take a little time away to explore the North Coast this year. It's been a lot of years since I was here and I have a lot of happy memories vacationing here with my family. I really wanted to show it all to Lilah and let her experience the things I did as a child... even though it's December, rather than July! To be honest, sometimes the weather along the coast could be worse in July. We enjoyed a balmy 12 degrees today!

This afternoon we arrived in Portrush. It is very much a little seaside tourist town, however there wouldn't be a lot of tourists staying at this time of the year. We stayed in a little Ramada hotel on the waterfront, it was really lovely. The shops and restaurants are more run down than I ever remember them; I guess it's just a sign of the times and how things have aged.

[ the flickr set is here ]

shopping in belfast

Nothing says Christmas like a wee spot of shopping in Belfast!

Tonight was the last night of the annual Christmas Markets, but we missed them this year, we were about an hour late. Unfortunately they had already started packing up.

Not to worry, there are plenty of shops in Belfast, so we weren't stuck! We went to the Disney Store and Lilah had her own purse, she made her first purchase, ever! A rapunzel doll. She was extremely excited about buying it herself. And when she sets her sight on something, she absolutely does not waver!

we're away!

We're all packed and ready to go!

We were supposed to leave at 3pm today - flying: Ottawa, Newark (USA), Dublin. But our Newark flight was cancelled and we're now leaving at 5pm - flying Ottawa, Frankfurt (Germany), Dublin! This could get interesting...

where's wally? (...aka, the elf...)

I don't know what made her decide on the name "Wally"... but literally, within a second of me reading the page (in the 'elf on the shelf' book) that said, we needed to name him, she blurted out... "WALLY!"

Oh the exitement and fun of finding where he is and what he's up to every morning, it's almost too much for our little 4 year old! To be honest, her excitement for Christmas, Ireland, chocolate, presents and all the other festivites that are going on right now is just crazy over-the-top! In fact, she can hardly stand on her two feet for any length of time! She's either hoping or jumping or giggling or singing or chattering nineteen to the dozen! Oh 4, what a wonderful age!

Anyway, she has been getting a good laugh out of Wally and his crazy antics! Her best line was when she saw Wally dancing with Barbie, she exclaimed "OH! They must be getting married!" Heh! I can't wait to see her face in the morning when she finds him in a bit of a predicament on the toilet while having a pee, along with helping himself to copious amounts of toilet roll. Oh yes, and I put some blue food colouring into the toilet water too! Heh! Okay okay, I admit, I'm having as much fun as she is!

[ the 'elf on the shelf' flickr set is here ]

forever lilah day

Three years ago today, in Guangzhou - China, a beautiful little 18 month old girl walked into our lives... And every single day since, we've thanked the Lord for blessing us with this incredible girl.

This evening we went out for Thai food with the couple we travelled to China with and their beautiful girl Amelia. We have a super bond with this wonderful family and we look forward to our yearly tradition of going out together on the day we became forever families. (Unfortunately we missed this tradition last year because we were in Ireland)

Today we told our Lilah girl all about the day we met her, the day we became a family. Her favourite part of the story was when Baba told her how she'd burped and spit up on him! Heh! At bedtime I read her the story book, "I Wished for You" - it is a fabulous book. In fact, if you're looking for an excellent adoption story, this is the one to buy. Afterwards, when she said her prayers, she turned the story around to fit herself and said "I wished for a family, thank you God for sending me Mama & Baba." Of course I choked up, I am choking up again just typing this.

We've been so incredibly blessed. Lilah, you've filled our hearts to overflowing.

[ the flickr set is here ]

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Amelia's Mom took some pictures with her phone at the Thai restaurant!
Look at the mess of those beautiful faces!

christmas cards

Our Christmas cards have been mailed by yours truly! One more thing crossed off our list.
Four more sleeps and we'll be "heading home for Christmas"!

a children's carol

"Jesus, Joy of the Highest Heaven"

I love listening to this song, I could listen to it all day.
I can't wait to buy the CD in Ireland and teach Lilah it.

album: Joy! An Irish Christmas
artist: Keith and Kristyn Getty

elf on the shelf

A little yet-to-be-named elf arrived into our house in the wee hours of the morning, along with a Christmas present that Santa couldn't carry all the way to Ireland because it was too heavy!

I can't wait to see her reaction to the elf and his responsibilities! Have you ever heard of the elf on the shelf tradition?

little comments and funnies!

lilah: "How old are you Baba?"
baba: "40"
lilah: "OH! I don't even think I can count up to that number!" (laughs)

After getting a new game one day: "I think I need to read the constructions!"

Helping me unload the dishwasher one day: "I'm always running around after you, putting away my dishes!"

"Eat up your main course, that's what they say in Canada. In Ireland they say, Eat up your food!"

"I would like to put a chair in the tent. Would that make sense?"

"It's a raining day Mama, that's what God sends us. Right?"

baba: "It's time for bed Lilah."
lilah: "Don't interrupt me, I'm playing!"

"The boy stumbled, that's exactly what the book says! I know that."

After spilling something one day: "No deal. Right Mama?" (She always uses the term 'no deal' instead of 'no big deal'!)

"The car will be warm and I will be certainly hot!"

writing her christmas cards

My girl is way ahead of the game. She's had her friends-at-school Christmas cards written for a couple of weeks now. I finally got mine enveloped, address labeled and stamped tonight, mind you, mine didn't have to be hand written and she totally noticed that difference!

lilah: "You aren't putting any words in your card?"
me: "Nope, they're all written for me."
lilah: "Oh."

I could just see the wheels working in her little mind, trying to figure out how I got off so lightly! Oh well, the exercise was good for her, 25 of her little friends cards later, she knows how to spell 'from' without asking!

I simply adore her 4 year old writing!

reading stories

I mentioned a few posts back about Lilah love for reading. She makes little books herself, but she also loves reading books that I have previously read her. Like most children, she has a very keen memory and if she doesn't remember a certain part of the story, she just relies heavily on the pictures!

Anyway, I love that my sweet girl now reads *me* the stories, in her own words, of course! Olivia (the pig) has been her favourite book this past while and I must admit, I love hearing her interpretation of the story! I especially love the part in the story when she yells "TIME OUT!" and gives me a digusted look! Heh! She may or may not have seen and heard that happen before, in reality!

I captured a few pictures of her on Saturday morning, sitting reading stories. She is such an expressionate reader!

[ the flickr set is here ]

afternoon tea at the château laurier

I think we just added a new yearly tradition to our Christmas list!

Today, Lilah and I, along with 7 other mothers and daughters met at the (very fancy) Château Laurier for Afternoon Tea! The adults had the "Holiday Tea" and the girlies had the "Princess Tea". It was all so very snazzy, complete with scones - devonshire cream and jam, finger sandwiches and delicious desserts like you wouldn't believe.

One of the Mamas decided that the eight little girls would sit at one table and the eight Mamas would sit at another table. Gosh that Mama has her head screwed on well, and of course the girlies loved their independance. One of the funnier moments of the afternoon was when one little girl needed to go to the ladies room and sure enough, all 8 of them paraded off to the washroom together...because you know kiddies, when one has to go, they all have to go! And us Mamas, we barely batted an eye! Well, we may have batted an eye when we saw the fancy schmancy sugar cubes being devoured! Ahem. Can anyone say 'sugar high!'?

It was a wonderful afternoon with wonderful friends.
(regarding the photo above: most of the girls are 6&7 years old, Lilah was the youngest at 4 years old - just in case you're curious about the difference in height!)

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Here's a few snaps of Lilah "making herself pretty" this morning... her words!

[ the flickr set is here ]

the nutcracker ballet

One of our yearly Christmas traditions is to see The Nutcracker. This year it was put on by the Pennsylvania Ballet at the National Arts Center. I'm not a biased Canadian, but I definitely have to say that the Alberta Ballet put on a much nicer show last year! The props and costumes weren't nearly as regal and fancy this year... but that's just my two cents!

It was still amazing and the ballet dancing was second to none. I very much love this tradition.

My fancy little ballerina, Lilah Grace, loved twirling around in the beautiful dress that Nono bought (her) many moons ago. In fact, I'm pretty sure Nono bought this dress even before Lilah was born. She picked it up in a Sale! To be honest, Nono always used that reasoning/excuse - "I picked it up in a Sale" - when she was awaiting her grandchild!

[ the flickr set is here ]