the cutest little pumpkin

pillowcase dress by 'my red ladybug' on etsy

[ more pictures here ]

pumpkins galore

We're on a pumpkin roll around here. We went to the pumpkin patch on Saturday past, we eat pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving Sunday and then yesterday we went out to Dollarama for a few festive pumpkins to decorate the house. There is an orange glow around here and if Lilah didn't already know the colour orange, she definitely would by the time Halloween is over!

She isn't much into the Halloween scary stuff and to be honest, I'm not really into the scary stuff myself. Each time we walk down the 'scary isle' in the supermarket, Lilah is very quick to point and say "Not nice". She shakes her head and gives a scowl that's as fierce as the faces looking back at her!

So for now and maybe forever, we're all about the pumpkins.

Oh and speaking of pumpkin roll, doesn't this look and sound delicious? I so have to make it.

( canadian ) thanksgiving

{ taste testing the whipped cream for the pumpkin pie today }

You are really special, in all you say and do. You’ve made a difference in our lives.
We’re thankful now for you.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

for each new morning with its light
for rest and shelter of the night
for health and food
for love and friends
for everything Thy goodness sends
thank-you

They shall abundantly utter the memory of Thy great goodness,
and shall sing of Thy righteousness. (Psalm 145:7)

first trip to the pumpkin patch

I was definitely a lot more excited than Lilah about going to the Proulx Farm pumpkin patch today. Seriously, I've been wanting to go to one since we came to Canada, almost 10 years ago. It was lovely. The field where the pumpkins grow wasn't as cool as I had imagined it to be, but I don't think Lilah really cared too much about the field. She liked the bouncy castle the best. Unbelievable, I know!

[ more pictures here ]

now and then: almost 10 months together

queen of the potty

Lilah is now fully daytime potty trained, however she is quite clever and has started to abuse her I-need-to-go-potty call, mostly to get out of situations she couldn't care less for! Yesterday morning she was half way through breakfast and obviously wasn't particular about finishing it, she said she needed to go to the potty. Nothing. Then yesterday afternoon she'd had enough of shopping, (only about 10 minutes after previously using the public washroom), requested to go again. Nothing. Hmm you little rascal - Miss Lilah, I'm onto you and your craftiness!

a beautiful fall day

So I decided to step a little out of my element with my camera today and started shooting in RAW image format. Here's an article on RAW vs JPEG. To be honest, I didn't google the pros and cons until after we came home from our little photo shoot and Lilah was napping; so I had no idea why I was switching to RAW (rather than JPEG), other than the fact that it's a setting on my camera I hadn't yet explored. Note to self: Must join a photography class soon!

I have to tell you, I love the results. (As well as my photoshop software!)
And more importantly, I love love love my beautiful daughter!

dollar store paint set

I can't think of a better way to spend a Monday: Bike ride around the Canal, a quick stop to play at the park, Tim Hortons for lunch and a walk to the Dollar Store for some crafty goodness. The crafty goodness was indeed a paint set. See the following pictures.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Let's get started...

...I'd still be painting if it wasn't supper time already!

[ more pictures and a movie here ]

festivasia

Happy Mid-Autumn (Moon) Festival!

Just in case you missed some previous posts; we decorated with bright colourful Chinese lanterns, pulled out and ironed one of Lilah's lovely cheongsams (from China) and also tried to make mooncakes. All in the spirit of Mid-Autumn (Moon) Festival! It's been a very fun week!

To top it all off, this afternoon we went to Chinatown. There is a festival on this weekend, called FestivAsia, which has many fun events. We spent the best part of our afternoon watching the little children dance. So sweet. Lilah was completely mesmerized. Before we went home we dropped in to Mekong, one of our favourite Chinese restaurants and had supper. It was a really nice special day.

Tonight we took a walk down the street so we could see and photograph the moon (at it's brightest - of course) and guess what, there was no moon, that's how overcast it was in our area! I should also say, when we are out driving at night Lilah loves to see the moon, she's mesmerized with it and talks about 'the moon' and 'man on moon' a lot.

All our pictures from today are here.

lilah-do-it ~ lilah-say-it

We have a wee Miss Independent on our hands now. Just about anything Colin or I say we're doing or going to do, Lilah rushes over and says in a snappy little tone, "Lilah-do-it". So maybe it's best not to say everything out loud, which is generally what I do around the house, in the grocery store, etc. Not only is she all about Lilah-do-it, she is also all about Lilah-say-it. She likes to talk a lot and is rather disgusted if we're talking to anyone other than her; especially if she is holding her own conversation and we aren't listening! We are starting to have to say to her, "Mama and Baba are talking now, you can talk when we're finished". Lilah's quick reply to that is, "Lilah-talk-now". Rascal.

I'm rather negligent when it comes to movies. I enjoy the camera more! Anyway, here's a couple that I've taken over the past month or so.

Ni Hao - A Chinese hello, courtesy of 'Dora the Explorer's World Adventure'

"Seek ye Lord" - my first memorized Sunday School verse.

oh dear, mooncakes

Happy National Day of China.

Well, I tried my hand at moon cakes this evening and they turned out a disaster. They were just like the moon itself, hard as rock! I should have taken a picture before I put them in the oven, because at that stage they looked really lovely, each with their little patterns. I'll try to make them again sometime, maybe next year. For now, there's a convenient little bakery in Chinatown that sells them!

But all was not lost, my little helper had so much fun! Lilah just loves to get in on the action. Here she is mixing the eggs and sugar, looking so intent and then kneading and rolling the dough. I love her enthusiasm, even if there was dough and flour all over the place!

'lilah go potty' and autumn artwork

Just over a week ago Lilah I decided to take on the grand task of potty training. I bought the potty about two months ago, yes that long ago! It's a sweet Dora & Boots potty that (needless to say) the lovely Lilah picked out herself. Anyway, I put it out, then put it away, then put it out, then put it away. I kept changing my mind and telling myself, she's too young and I've only been changing diapers for nine months, maybe I'll deal with it next summer when she understands better. Yeah, I know what you're thinking, enough excuses already Jill! All that and my girl went to the potty the first day and has never looked back, okay maybe Monday was a bad day and she had two accidents, but that's it. Honestly, maybe I'm speaking too soon, but this is way easier than I had imagined. It's just a day time thing for now because she still gets a bottle at night. Lilah is loving it too, she enjoys sitting up on her potty and the toilet alike. She also likes to tell us what colour her pee-pee is! The first day she did it, I totally cracked up. I should have expected that would happen, because right now I emphasize a lot of things by colour then name, I guess I'm still in the habit from when I was teaching her colours. I say things like an orange pumpkin, a red car, a blue sky, etc. Oh another cute thing, when she goes to the potty I hug her and say Mama's so proud of you. Now she repeats it back to me, Lilah's so proud of you. Seriously, she's the sweetest girl!

We did this fun art project today, after our swimming lesson. (Oh yes, while I'm on the subject of swimming, today was the first day the instructor had us put our child's head under water, eek! I think Lilah was the only one to scream her head off, poor girl! She got over it pretty quickly though.) Anyway, while we were out for a walk on Monday evening we picked up these Autumn leaves. I left them to dry out and today I added the glue and Lilah stuck them on the paper. She is very fussy, they all had to have their own perfect little spot. It's a big change from when we first came home from China; she enjoyed playing with stickers, however she would just keep sticking them all on top of each other. Cute. She is so so proud of all her artwork on the fridge, and now she has to have her name on each piece. That was instigated yesterday by another little girl, after story time (at Chapters). Today Lilah pointed to each of the nameless pictures on the fridge and said "Lilah name on"!

Here's a close-up of the mouse picture Lilah coloured at Chapters yesterday. I'm thrilled that she is starting to understand more about colouring different parts of the picture using different colours, rather than just ripping her crayon over the whole page. I would say, "What colour do you want to colour the mouse's ears?" and she would say "Blue", she would then find the crayon and try to colour that specific area, more or less! There is a red sun, blue flower, green trees, yellow cheese and blue ears, of course. She is such a thinker.

Lilah also decorated these little buns tonight, edible art!

[ all pictures here ]