2013 in pictures ~ december

presents
christmas cracker queen
santa visit
magna-tiles
cozy sisters
forever lilah day portrait
lego lover
toboggan hill pile-up

tobogganing!

My girls love tobogganing! Especially Lilah... as soon as the words 'snow hill' or 'toboggan' are uttered, Lilah will start jumping up and down and squealing with excitement. She certainly doesn't take after me, because to be perfectly honest, when I'm standing at the top of that hill I get some minor heart palpitations. The height, speed and out-of-control feeling is not my thing - you can tell I'm a total adrenaline junkie, can't you?! Ha!

Just as well Baba likes a bit of an adrenaline rush!

boxing day

Just in case I forget the date, Lilah is always around to remind me!
I found this sitting on my laptop this morning.

christmas day

It was exactly the day I always dream Christmas to be.
Lots of delicious food, two deliriously happy children, relaxing, cozy...
I could go on.

For dinner I made... ham, turkey, walnut/apple/celery/olive bread stuffing, roasted brussel sprouts,
turnip & carrot mash, maple syrup roast parsnips, garlic mash potato and roast potatoes. Yum!

If it wasn't so much work, I'd make the same again tomorrow!

the night before christmas

There are two very excited girls in our house tonight!
I mean, REALLY excited!

And I love that I get to read them one of my very own childhood books on Christmas Eve.

loving lego city

Lilah's latest love is LEGO city.

The best part, is she can follow all the diagrams in the book and build them herself!
I love her focus, her patience and how proud she is of her accomplishment.

As I was getting supper ready last evening, she had changed into her pajamas and was building the firetruck.

[ the flickr set is here ]

annual santa visit

Look what we did today! Now to peel my girls off the ceiling!

Yes, they were THAT excited! Funny, because I've chosen to be 'that' parent and I've told both of my girls the truth about Santa. That was really hard for me, but I have my reasons. I've always wanted honesty with my girls, mainly because of their story, adoption and all the questions that already have and will continue to surface about their birth, birthparents, etc. I also want them to know that the (real) story of Christmas is true, that our Lord Jesus' birth, death and resurrection really did happen, it's not a fairy tale and it's not pretend... I never want them to question that.

And even though they know Santa is 'pretend', there is still a huge part of Santa that my girls find magical. I like that.

blizzard bizarre

Lilah's school had a 'Blizzard Bizarre' last night.

She's been telling me about these special gift tags she's been making for the bizarre for a while now. So tonight, you know, the minute the doors opened, we were in there searching for the stall that was selling my Lilah girls gift tags. Seems like I wasn't the only parent worried about getting her daughters gift tags before someone else bought them! *grin*

They are worth way more to me than the $2 I paid for them.

five years ago today...

Five years to the day, since I became a Mama and held my lovely Lilah Grace for the first time.
My love for her can't be expressed with words.
How blessed I am to call her my daughter.

it's beginning to look...

...a lot like Christmas!

love notes & cards

One of the many rewards of being a Mama.
Love notes and cards from my lovely Lilah.

[ I got these two today ]

christmas cards

Finally finished... 89 cards!
There was a lot of tea consumed.
They are now in the mail.
Phew!

wheelers pancake house

What a great way to spend a snowy Saturday!
Our girls were thrilled to hear we were heading to the Maberly Conference, yesterday, not to mention it's held in a pancake house.
The pancakes and sausages are THEE best! And the setting is picturesque.

2013 in pictures ~ november

first snow storm
bow boots
bed jumpers
maberly conference
screen time
jumping for joy
movie night
snowsuit sisters

bedtime routine

My girls normally go to bed around 7pm. However, in the last week or two we've started a new little routine that now allows Lilah an extra half hour of iPad time before heading to bed. It doesn't happen every night, but it does happen quite often. Right now she is infatuated with 'The Magic Schoolbus', which seems rather fitting since she is all eyes and ears and questions about science lately.

We also have a new Friday night routine that allows both girls to stay up an hour later (than normal!) to watch a movie or show on Netflix. I snatched the photo (above) of them tonight - such a snuggly sight on a cold winters night! They go down to the basement, lay up on the futon with the comforter and watch their shows. Tonight Phebe was watching Barney's Christmas and Lilah was watching Happy Feet 2.

I am loving this stage of my girls life right now. They are both so happy and gaining so much independence. Not to mention, maturing at a rate that I desperately want to slow down... to no avail. They are such a blessing in my life.

first snow storm of the season!

First snow storm of the season, 25cms of heavy wet (snowman) snow! And oh, it is the most beautiful day outside.

I couldn't even muster up the idea of sending Lilah to school, especially since she's been asking about snow since August. I was teasing her recently, because she talks about snow all the time and is sooooo impatient for it! Anyway, I was saying that where she was born in China, Guangdong, is warm all year round, in fact, in the summer it's downright boiling! So how on earth could she love snow so much! Ha! She sure loves her snow, this girl!

How could I deny her a day off school, just to play in the snow, drink hot chocolate, listen to Christmas tunes. The Phebster was just thrilled to have her home to play with, my girls enjoy each others company so much, it is such a blessing.

Ahhh winter, I know I complain about you a fair bit, but you keep proving to me how beautiful you truly are.
In February though, fair warning, I'm kinda over you!

a hint of snow

Just a little hint of snow around these parts.
Mind you, with a cool wind chill of -17 this morning... winter is really starting to hit.
The snowsuits are in full use!

But more to the point, where can I get myself a pair of these boots, like my girls?
They really gotta start making cute things for gals my age!

[ lilah, heading to her piano lesson this afternoon ]

lest we forget

We attended the service at Lilah's school today, this video was shown during the service.
It was tough enough singing 'God save the Queen', but during this video, I could not keep it together at all.

Lest we forget.