sleeping beauty

Every night, without fail... as I walk past her bedroom, I stop by for a last kiss on my sleeping beauty's face, before heading to bed.

How can I resist her? She is precious beyond words.

top five questions of the weekend

1. What does allergies mean?
2. What are clothes made from?
3. What does personality mean?
4. What does disappointed mean?
5. How does the food fit when there's a baby in your belly?

(PS - she doesn't have a real dog, just a stuffed one... and REALLY wanted me to buy her the shirt!)

national gallery of canada

This morning Lilah and I went downtown to the National Gallery of Canada.

I've been meaning to take her to the art gallery for a while and I'd seen advertisements for Van Gogh's art coming, so I was super excited and blurted out to Lilah that we should go to the art gallery to see Van Gogh's art. Of course, I only learned when I went online (after the blurting part!), that Van Gogh's art isn't actually coming until the end of May. Anyhow, I had already spoken the word and even tempted her with the idea that there would be a craft, so there was no backtracking for me!

As we were leaving the house, Lilah ran back in, saying she'd forgotten something and came back out with her binoculars dangling around her neck - they definitely set the precedent for the day! The gallery in itself is an incredible state-of-the-art building and the inside is fabulous. I have to admit, my favourite part was the Chapel inside the building, there was recorded music and singing - it was very powerful - I felt a real sense of calm and peace standing there listening. Lilah on the other hand, had her fingers in her ears, telling me it was too loud! Her favourite part was the craft, of course! Today they were making butterflies with a type of tie-dye. Basically they had this special textured paper that absorbs water, you coloured on it with markers and then painted over it with water, which created a tie-dye effect. Lilah really enjoyed it.

It was a fun day, filled with the warmth of Spring - we went to the Gallery, had crepes for lunch and did a spot of downtown shopping. Just the perfect relaxing Saturday. Ahhh, I wish there were more Saturdays in the week!

[ the flickr set is here ]

growing up!

In less than 4 weeks, "four and three-quarters" will turn "five".
Seriously?
My little girl is growing up.

thirty five years

It's an annual event that started last year - Lilah takes my picture on my birthday!

Today, when I picked her up after work, she said to me:
"Mama, you're going to get a present when Baba comes home from work."
And then with big eyes she quiely said - "Shhh... it's a surprise!"

a month-in-photos : april

Ahh April! You truly brightened our day with your beautiful spring flowers. One of the things that made me grin this month is when Lilah asked me: "When will our flowers be born?" The wording she used was so appropriate for this time of the year - watching our (Fall planted) bulbs grow daily and finally burst into life.

April brings those lovely warm showers, that turns everything into life. Although, if I'm perfectly honest, there were plenty of cool days in April, I think we were spoiled with the extra heat and sunshine that we had in March!

Not only did April bring beautiful flowers, it also brought rabbit ears and chocolate eggs and a trip to Starbucks for our first Strawberry & Cream Frappuccino of the season - it was indeed a delicious month too! The month of April was also brightened in an unforgettable way four years ago, with the referral of our precious Lilah girl. She is a ray of sunshine in our lives and brightens our days in every single way.

[ the 'a month-in-photos' flickr set is here ]

sunday snapshot - crafty girl

Have you ever heard of melty beads?

Let's just say they are entertaining, REALLY entertaining... if you have a little crafty girl in your house, melty beads are the way to go! We ordered this book from the school book club two weeks ago and it arrived this past week. Lilah was SO excited and has spent many hours (since the day it arrived home in her backpack) pegging beads on the little board by tracing the patterns in the book and making some very fun things; like a fire engine and a duck and tulips and a dragonfly and a dog - the possibiities are endless! On the other hand, I've been spending many hours (slight exaggeration!) ironing her beads! Yes, everytime she makes something, I have to iron the beads so they melt and stick together. Actually, the ironing is easy peasy and best of all, I get to see Lilah's happy face when the finished product has been melted together!

Lilah is really big into creativity and crafts - she loves to create and draw and glue and colour and write and tape.

I generally only blog about the things Lilah and I do together or what we do as a family, but Baba and Lilah have lots of 'dates' too. I just don't blog about them, because Baba doesn't take pictures, and posts without pictures (in my estimation) are rather boring! Ha! Anyway, Baba gave Lilah a choice of things they could do together yesterday and she chose a trip to the local farm in the city here. Her reasoning for wanting to go to the farm was because last time she got to do fun crafts there! Indeed, she got to do some fun crafts this time too - she arrived home with a sheep made from her handprint and real sheeps wool!! And a cow she coloured. She also learned all about eggs, met some friends and of course she got to visit the farm animals. By all accounts, it sounded like they had a wonderful time together and enjoyed their 'Daddy Daughter Day'.

Here's a few more pictures of our crafty girl enjoying her melty beads and the final product - a green dog named Fred!

[ the flickr set is here ]

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You can read all about Stefanie and her beautiful family,
and check out more Sunday Snapshots at Ni Hao Ya'll.

mother's day shopping

There are some things I really like, like purses and prints and cards... not jewellery much, but I am very much in love with this necklace, there is something old and beautiful about it. And that print, oh so lovely. And chevron, well you only need to see my last post to know I love chevron!

I guess I need to have a chat with Lilah, who in turn needs to have a chat with Baba! She can basically talk him into anything, so I think my chances are looking pretty good! Although to be honest, I'm not sure if he knows much about Etsy! Heh!

print - near & dear ~ purse - crafts by nesli
cards - perenthetical press ~ necklace - crafted by kerstin

I know, if I want my husband to buy me anything in the grid above, I really wouldn't feature this print...
But I know, like me, you'll probably see the humour in it! You can find it here.

"some children look like their parents..."

Today, Lilah and I walked up to Starbucks for a drink.

We were sitting by the window chatting, (mostly silly stuff since she was in a rather silly mood!) when a family walked by - the Dad was carrying his little toddler. Right after they walked by, Lilah turned to me and said: "Some children look like their parents and some children were born in Canada, but not me." I didn't even have time to say anything, because she was right on to a new subject without taking a breath.

This past weekend I started reading her the book: "Kids like me in China" and she is really enjoying it. (Thanks for reminding me about that book Katherine!) I read her about three pages each day and after reading the first page regarding Ying Ying going back to visit her SWI in Hunan Province, Lilah excitedly announced "Ohhhh, Hunan! That's where Phebe's from!". Our sweet girl also prays for Phebe every night, and has recently added Phebe's birthparents to her prayer list. Tonight she even told the Lord about how much she loves Phebe and how she doesn't want another family to take her before we get to her. Melted my heart.

You wouldn't think she had a case of the sillies from the pictures I've chosen for this post, however you can check out some of her sillies here, here and here. The flickr set is here.

the things she says

"Baba, are you interested to play tennis? Baba, watch!! Pay attention!!"

Excitedly pulling on her shorts after school one day: "Mama, we're back into the Spring life again!"

Driving down the street one day:
lilah: “Did you ever see a car without a window in the door?
me: “No!”
lilah: “Well I just did so there must be one car in the country like that!”

At the coffee shop one day:
lilah: “Mama, don’t you like Earl Gray tea?”
me: “I love Earl Grey tea. Don’t you like fluffies?” (fluffies are steamed milk)
lilah: “I’m not real big into it actually!”

"Will you buy me these two books from the book club? They could be a surprise for my birthday!"

lilah: “Baba’s rental property is so dusty, isn’t it?”
me: “It is.”
lilah: “Doesn’t it drive you crazy? It drives me insane!”

lilah: “Are you writing down what I say?”
me: “Yes, I’m writing the funny things you say.”
lilah: “Well you should write some serious words!”

Praying one night: “Thanks for a beautiful day God, we don’t like cold weather much, but that's the way it works - that’s the pattern - Summer, Spring, Fall and Winter.”

“I love you two the same height and I love your parents the same height too!”

lilah's little garden

Do you remember in my last post, I mentioned the crocuses we planted last fall? And I was 'scoffing' about how long it would probably take them to grow? Well, with the beautiful weather we've enjoyed this week, they have indeed sprouted up very quickly.

Lilah is absolutely thrilled. Every day, the second she jumps out of the car after school, they get a little watering from the garden expert herself. Now we're awaiting the tulips grand arrival!

the daffodils

You can probably tell I'm one of those people that live by routine! Every Spring I think to myself, "Ohhhh daffodils, I wonder are they flowering yet? ...I must photograph Lilah among the daffodils!" I think photographing the daffodils is one of those momentous breaking-the-camera-out-after-a-long-winter moments!

Last weekend, when we were off for Easter, we took a drive by this little patch of daffodils at Rockcliffe Park and not one of them had peeked their beautiful yellow head out yet. But today, it was a totally different story, the daffodils were all enjoying the beautiful sunshiny day, just as much as we were!

Lilah had so much fun, and watching my little photographer in motion... well, what can I say, I really enjoy seeing her enjoy photography as much as I do!

Lilah has really been enjoying flowers and understanding more about them arriving in Spring. Recently she's been drawing a lot of 'Spring Posters' - her words - and on them are daffodils, the Canada geese flying back (in the V formation!), the Easter bunny, flying kites and a bunch of other Springtime items. Last Fall, for the first time, Lilah and I planted tulips and crocus bulbs together. Well, the front of our house doesn't get a minute of sunshine all day long, so it's been slow going! Lilah pretty much measures the little green stems that have sprouted, every single day. I figure at this rate, it's going to seem like forever before they arrive!

[ the flickr set is here ]

referral anniversary - four years ago today

I'll remember the moment for the rest of my life. The moment we got that incredible call and I saw my daughter, Lilah Grace Xiao Tong's face for the first time. "Cloud 9" were only words I'd heard and even said before - but I'd never really experienced them, not until this moment. I could hardly sleep, going over every little detail of her pictures, I would excitedly squeal every time I talked about her with friends. I had a perma grin for many many days!

It was an incredible day. What followed, the 9 months of waiting, it was a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions... but gosh, it was so worth it! Our beautiful girl, 4 years later, has brought us so much joy. Every day is a pleasure to spend with her. We feel blessed in an incredible way, to be a forever family.

I have to laugh, this past 2 years she been really tickled about her (very cute) sticky up hair! ...as I'm taking pictures or her, she's pointing at it and having a big old giggle about it! I just adore her joy and her sense of humor!

Our daughters are the most precious of our treasures, the dearest
possessions of our homes and the objects of our most watchful love.
~ Margaret E. Sangster