Initially I had no plans for Lilah's school friends on Valentine's Day. Not until I received the email from her teacher (two weeks ago) that stipulated all the rules and regulations for children who plan to give out Valentine's Day cards!
For example: 1) If your child is participating, every child in the class must get one, not a select few - so there are no crying children! 2) Cards must not be addressed to each individual child, but rather the card should only say who it's from, so they're easy to deliver = no crying teacher! 3) Each child has a designated day to bring in their cards for the class, over a 4 day period.
Phew!
When I read that email I thought to myself, 'Oh my dear, JK'ers obviously take this whole Valentine's Day thing very seriously! Jill, you better get your crafty brain, err, I mean crafty search engine in gear!' And an hour or so later, after much oohing and aahing, I finally decided on this idea... wonderfully easy I might add!
: Take a picture of your child holding out their hand in a fist, as if they're giving you something.
: Photoshop some writing onto the photo, if you wish. I used Picnik.
: Get them developed (4x6 at Costco are 16 cents each).
: Buy a big bag of mini suckers (at Zellers).
: Make two slits on the photograph with your exacto knife (above and below the hand).
: Attach sucker - in through top hole, out through bottom hole.
Ta daaa! It really was that easy! ...and they are so cute. Now we're all ready for Valentine's Day!
When I picked her up from her last day of kindercare before Christmas, she said to me: "I told my friends I have to go to Ireland, because my cousins are waiting for me. I really do, it's REALLY true!"
"I love you so much Mom. It makes me want to kiss you."
Overheard Lilah having this two way conversation with Piggy one day: "Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat. If you don't, I don't care, I'll pull down your underwear! - Wait? Is that being cheeky? Nooo Piggy, it's just a joke!"
Obviously trying to comprehend the whole Santa thing one day, she asked: "Does Santa die when he gets older?"
During snuggles one morning she had her feet on me, warming them! She said: "I have magic in my feet to give you love."
One day when we were out driving, she said to me: "When I was a baby in my Mama's belly, I dreamt about you. I dreamt you were coming to get me."
Walking around with a sheet over her head, pretending to be a ghost one day, she suddenly took the sheet off her head and asked: "Can ghosts not see?"
Counting her money one day:
me: "Wow Lilah, you have a lot of money! What would you like to buy with it?
lilah: "Well, I don't know... I was thinking that I could just give it to you."
"When I was born I fell in love with my blankie."
After accidently calling Baba 'Mama' one day, Baba jokingly said "What? Did you just call me Mama?" She replied: "Well, you guys kinda look alike!"
"Piggy's only 2 (years old) now, he turned back to the start! First he was 10 and now he's 2!"
"Pretend I'm a stealer... Oops, I mean robber!"
As she was hugging with me one night, she said: "The love of my heart is yours."
And last but not least, the million dollar question! After hearing the Baby Jesus story at Christmastime, she asked: "How does a baby get in your belly?"
I really miss Project 365 (taking a picture every single day for one year!). What I miss most is glancing at the mosiacs (I used to make) of each month's pictures and being able to see and remember everything we did that particular month.
Project 365 was fun, very fun, but I don't want to force myself into taking pictures every single day. Recently I saw a month-in-photos on Rebecca's 'simple as that' blog and decided to do something quite similiar. I love Rebecca's blog, she is so creative and artsy and she makes things looks easy enough that I think to myself, "I could do that!". Generally I 'think' more than I actually 'do', but it's the thought that counts, right?!
So basically I took my favourite pictures from January and put them into a mosiac that looks like this...
Yep, it really is as simple as that!
We got some crazy weather yesterday, first it was raining, then it moved on to ice rain and finally snow.... that's why Lilah is wearing her rain boots and rain suit in these pictures. It was very mild and she had fleece lined clothing underneath, so she wasn't in the least bit cold! We're having a pretty bizarre winter this year.
Anyway, I picked up this new little sleigh for Lilah last week. I figured she needed something a bit smaller for the little snow hill at the front of our house. This girl LOVES the snow, she loves absolutely everything about it. And this sleigh is fast, oh my, once she got the hang of how to work it, did she ever have fun!
I see many more winter days filled with fun and laughter on this little sleigh!
Lilah absolutely loved going around and saying "Gung Hay Fat Choy!" to everyone today.
This morning I went into her kindergarten class and taught the children some facts about Chinese New Year. I read a book, brought in props (including the 5ft inflatable dragon - they were SO taken with the dragon!), we did a craft, made happy new year (of the dragon) cards and had several work station activities on the go, including the use of chopsticks and also making a large dragon mural out of the children's (painted red!) handprints. Lilah had packaged red envelopes for everyone in her class to take home and she wished them all "Gung Hay Fat Choy!", of course!
It was a wonderful morning and I was rather exhausted when the 2.5 hours was up! (I have SO MUCH respect for teachers)
I can't believe the difference in Lilah this year, her understanding for this New Year tradition and the fact that it is Chinese, is much much deeper than before. She seemed to have this unspoken pride that it was a tradition from her country. She was also SUPER excited to receive three red envelopes this year, one from the owner of the Chinese restaurant we went to on Sunday for lunch, one from our neighbours daughter and of course, one from us!
Wishing you a wonderful new year, on this, the first day of the year of the dragon!
Oh, and if you're interested in teaching your child a beautiful little Chinese New Year song, this is a wonderful link! Enjoy.
There is something very special about Chinese silks.
Being a Mama to Lilah this last three years, sometimes I tend to forget that she's Chinese, that she was born in China and that China and being Chinese is a huge part of who she is.
To me she's simply, my daughter, my girl, my sweetheart.
But the moment she wears her silks, I can't help but think how exquisite she looks in them. When she's wearing them it makes me think more deeply, because I remember back to shopping for them in China: I remember the sights, the smells, the shops, the people, the incredible history of China. When I look at Lilah wearing her Cheongsam, I feel more deeply for her heritage. And of course, I worry that I'm not keeping her heritage 'alive' enough.
Today, after Church, she told us that she didn't need to say 'Happy Chinese New Year' to Chinese people, just people who aren't Chinese! She said "You just say 'Happy New Year' to Chinese people, because they understand it's Chinese!"
I love her reasoning!
Happy New Year my beautiful girl.
I'm ridiculously in love with you.
Are you ready for Chinese New Year? It's on Monday 23rd January this year!
We are so ready, we even have a (5ft!) dragon in the house, that I picked up in Walmart! He has been thrilling Lilah to no end - together, they've been reading stories, playing games, eating cookies, etc. You name it, he's involved! He even had the cold at one stage today, which I realized after half a box of tissues had vanished!
I think it's obvious that they're getting along famously! Especially seeing the photo below of them hugging and wearing matching glasses, Lilah's idea!
I adore this song by Josh Kelly.
The movie is beautiful too, of him, his wife and his sweet Naleigh Moon.
****************
I know the kind of guy I am.
A bit too much to myself,
Not much left for someone else.
I’m sure I caused my share of pain.
But all that changed when you first touched my face.
Halfway around my little world,
You had no idea that you were my girl.
And you found my arms not a moment too soon.
I couldn’t see past me, till I saw you.
My sweet Naleigh Moon.
I love the man you’re making me.
Everyday I wanna prove there’s nothing I won’t do for you.
Just to see you in your mama’s arms
Is more than enough to bring me to my knees.
Halfway around my little world,
You had no idea that you were my girl.
And you found my arms not a moment too soon.
I couldn’t see past me, till I saw you.
My sweet Naleigh Moon.
I can't imagine life without my Naleigh Moon
****************
I read this quote today...
Dear God,
I want to take a minute,
not to ask for anything from you.
But simply to say thank you
for all I have.
I couldn't help but bow my head and say "Amen".
Let me never take for granted my many blessings.
I took these pictures this past Friday. I hadn't planned on posting them, because I'd posted some similiar ones the previous day. Yes, you caught that right! It actually snowed for two days, on and off, but mostly on!
But on second glance, I appreciated Friday's photos in a different way to Thursdays. I think it's got to do with the falling snow!
There's something beautiful about snowflakes falling down.
They're absolutely magical... in the eyes of a 4 year old!
Who knew our Guangdong Girl would enjoy these crazy Canadian winters so much?!
Oh! the snow, the beautiful snow,
Filling the sky and earth below,
Over the housetops, over the street,
Over the heads of the people you meet.
Dancing,
Flirting,
Skimming along.
[ the flickr set is here ]
A big thank you to the commenter - 'Grammy Carol' - for encouraging me to go ahead and enter my photo of Lilah's sassy face at 'i heart faces' this week - see post below. Out of 742 entries it placed in the top ten - #6 to be exact!
I'm feeling a tad exhilarated!
I entered it through my flickr photo stream - you can see it here.
Also, be sure to check out i heart faces to see all the winners.
Oh yes she does! She loves the snow!
We got our fair share of snow today. There's more to come tonight and tomorrow or so Lilah told me (with GLEE!) after Kindercare today! She said her teacher told her that!
When we got home, we shovelled the drive together. Then she got her sleigh and even though it's twice her size, she is able to manage it up the snowy little hill on our front (postage stamp) lawn and slide down! She was SO happy, her and those sweet rosy cheeks! They were even more rosy when we were sitting inside drinking hot chocolate when it was all over!
Today is also a special day. 12 years ago today we arrived in Ottawa, Canada, all ready to start a new chapter in our lives. We absolutely love it here, crazy weather and all!
I was about to join in the competition at 'i heart faces' this week. It called for 'the best face photo of 2011'. So I found one that I liked, but then I found another photo and another photo and another photo, and soon I was knee deep in pictures of Lilah's sweet little face. I so couldn't make up my mind!
So I changed my mind on the competition! I just decided to post a collage of my 'favouite face pictures' from the past year!
I absolutely adore your precious face, Lilah Grace.
Lilah loves crafts! Me, not so much! I very much dislike the clean-up job that follows crafts!
So usually we do non messy crafts together and I leave the messy crafts to school! Heh! Anyway, Lilah got this craft for Christmas and has basically been begging me to open it for her since she got it. The craft kindly came from a couple in our Church who Lilah refers to as Nana & Bompie. Their grandchildren call them that, so Lilah has taken to calling them the same.
Lilah absolutely loved doing this sand craft yesterday. She said she was making the princess dress look like a rainbow.
Judging by the success of this craft, there'll be more sand art in our future!
I should also mention that the dress Lilah is wearing in these pictures was handmade by Robin at 'red thread stitches'. She's one of my favourite people, she has an incredible heart for the Lord and for children in China. And her sewing is also incredible. This dress is called 'Caiti Belles Christmas'. Check out her beautiful clothes here and check out a better view of the dress here.
We had a wonderful time in the Emerald Isle with our families. The weather was very pleasant, compared to the past 2 years! We enjoyed a little overnight trip up to the North Coast (lots of old memories there!) and a wedding as well.
We're exhausted from all the fun and crazy late nights, and we sure are glad to be back in our own beds! I'll be back dating posts to the appropriate days and posting about our trip over the next week, all being well. I have so many photos it isn't even funny!
From our home to yours, wishing you a very happy new year. I have a feeling it's going to be a very special one for our family!
