It’s a dog’s life

I thought this was too adorable not to share.  It’s funny, I have been a cat person my entire life but this little dog has stolen my heart.  She follows me like a shadow and she is my little walking buddy.  Well, actually this little 20 lb (half schnauzer half yorkie) pulls me down the street so I'm not sure who’s walking who.  Like most dogs, her 2 favourite words are “cookie” and “walk”.  In the video you will see that she does the typical schnauzer “talk” which always cracks me up.  Hope the video makes you laugh!

Don’t mind all the tools on the floor there … heh … we are doing some minor renovations and there seems to be tools everywhere!

CNY Lunch

We had a lovely time lunching with friends for CNY.  There were Hunan dumplings, spring rolls, wonton soup, General Tao and of course, noodles!  Here are a couple of photos of the kids enjoying the feast.

  She ♥ wonton soup!

  Francis can`t get enough of those crispy noodles Say cheese daddy!

This is Doris and Dan`s adorable new son, Donovan

and big sister, Daphne …. enjoying her soup

Little brother is loving those noodles!

 

Francis teaching Daphne to play video games

being silly …

My fortune … hmmm ….  very strange because the very next day I got temporarily laid off at work.

Looking forward to that open door …

恭禧发财 – Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Wishing everyone a very happy Chinese New year! 2012 marks the year of the black water dragon.

Click here to hear how to pronounce Gong Xi Fa Cai.

Recycled castle

Naomi’s kindergarten class was given a special project to complete over the Christmas break.  They had to build a castle out of recycled materials.  It’s funny because I remember doing this exact project with Francis when he was in kindergarten (same teacher). Naomi had a lot of fun creating her masterpiece.  It’s interesting to see all the different castles that the kids came up with. 

Winter

This picture was taken last Thursday white we waited for the morning school bus.

I was starting to wonder if we were in for a typical Canadian winter around here.  Up until December 24th we didn’t have any snow (that stayed on the ground).  At the beginning of January we were still experiencing temperatures of +2C (which was lovely).  I can officially say that winter is here now.  We have had several snow storms and today it is a freezing –22 degrees Celsius.  Brrr.

Skiing & Snowboarding

As part of their Christmas gifts, the kids got skiing / boarding lessons.  Naomi even got some new skis.  The lessons were supposed to be every day for a week but because we all got sick they didn’t get to complete the week.

Naomi took to skiing like a fish to water.  She absolutely loved it.  I am so glad because we used to ski before - so now we can do it as a family.  Looking forward to hitting the slopes soon!

Holiday recap

On the 24th we had Steph’s family over for Christmas eve dinner (and presents, of course!)

all ready for company …

checking out personalized videos from Santa

Leaving cookies (and celery?) for Santa.

Then checking on Santa’s location on NORAD.  Loved the little videos this time (Great Wall of China and Red Square especially).

The big hit gifts this year: 

Francis: iPod Touch

Naomi: Barbie Townhouse

Then off for a quick breakfast with Steph’s parents and then off to Ottawa to see my family.

sledding fun in Ottawa

New books!

and a feast!

 

We had a great time visiting with friends and family for most of our holiday.  Unfortunately, the flu bug hit our house so we were all pretty sick for the remainder of the time!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone the very happiest of holidays! 

Skating with Santa

Naomi had a great time skating with Mr. Claus and her BFF, Layla.   Near the end they dragged his special chair out onto the ice so that the kids could take turns sitting on his lap.  On the way home we all stopped at Timmy’s (Tim Horton’s) for some hot chocolate.  The perfect end to a fun evening!

Mini gingerbread house

Here is a picture of the proud creator of a mini gingerbread house (made with graham crackers).  Unfortunately, two seconds after this photo was taken, Moka ran over and decided to taste the creation.  Bad dog. 

Wondering why Naomi’s hair is so messy in this picture?  You guessed it, I just wrestled “the Hat” off her.  Lol.

The Hat

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Naomi LOVES this hat.  She received it as a birthday present and has taken to wearing it all the time.  Even indoors.  Especially indoors.  And because of it’s rainbow of colors, it matches everything (or so I am told). 

Here’s the fashionista and her favourite accessory at the library yesterday:

 

Whoa, time really does fly

Seriously, I can barely believe that I haven’t posted in over a month! Ok, let’s see … um,  we’ve been really  busy lately with hockey for Francis and Naomi in gymnastics, skating, swimming and Sparks.  Next Sunday is Naomi’s last swimming class for this session and she will be moving up to the green level after the holidays.  It’s amazing how much she improved.  She can now easily swim the width of an Olympic sized pool doing front crawl – so impressive for a 5 year old!  She is also really loving gymnastics and skating lessons.  She was even asked to join a special skating program because they see some natural talent in her.  We’ve decided to hold off for now as she has enough activities.  She also joined Sparks which is a part of Girl Guides but for her age group.  Several kids from school joined and she just loves that they do lots of singing and crafts. 

Francis has been busy as ever with his intensive hockey training.  He is in a special sports-enhanced school program where he practices 3 times a week in the morning.  He is also on an elite double letter inter-city team which practices several times a week and has 1-3 games a week depending on the schedule.  He is one of two goaltenders for this team.  It certainly keeps the parents on the go!

In November someone in our family celebrated their 40th birthday (and it wasn’t me)! 

So here we are, the 7th of December – I am not done my Christmas shopping nor have I done any baking.  The tree isn’t even up yet!  Gah!   I am looking forward to the days after Christmas where I have a week off to spend entire days in my pyjamas playing video games with the kids and eating nothing but chocolate and eggnog.  Yeah.  

And last but not least, I am thrilled for my dear friends Doris and Dan (and daughter Daphne) who are in China getting to know their adorable new son, Donovan.  Just thinking of them in China as a forever family of 4 makes my heart happy.  Looking forward to meeting their new little guy soon!  ♥

Halloween 2011

Francis – not sure what this costume is, but it is creepy!

These are the hot dog “mummies” we made …

Little miss ballerina … she LOVED her costume.  It was a chill 5 degrees (40 ish) so under the ballerina costume she has a t-shirt, 2 turtle-necks, a windbreaker and a hoodie.  On the bottom she had a pair of thick tights and two pairs of leggings.  Gotta love this crisp Canadian weather.

That’s our smoke machine in the background – not a fire.  Lol.  I wish I had taken more pictures …

Naomi’s birthday - review

So Naomi’s 5th birthday came and went with much to-do.  On the Wednesday, two days before her birthday, we got a call from the school saying that Naomi wasn’t feeling well.  We picked her up and sure enough she had a fever and a sore throat.  Luckily I overheard someone saying that strep throat was going around so I took her to the clinic the next morning for the strep test.  I paid to have the 10-minute test done and it came out negative.  Luckily I had gotten a prescription for antibiotics from the doctor just in case because that evening I noticed that Naomi had a rash all over her body.  I knew in a minute that it was scarlet fever.  So yes, Naomi spent her birthday at home with scarlet fever.  She was quite annoyed at missing out on the school party.

Later in the evening, Naomi’s very brave grandparents and aunt came over for dinner and cake. You would have never imagined that she was sick – she was so hyper and excited. And wouldn’t you know it, the lab called and said that the culture for strep was now positive – which I had already figured out (from the rash).  They told me to start the antibiotics – which I had already done 24 hours ago! (Yay for mom-instinct)

This is the cake I made for her birthday – my first time playing with fondant …

 

 

These were the cupcakes that never made it to school.  They are now in our freezer …

On Sunday Naomi had her friends party.  We did a joint party with her friend Layla who’s birthday is a few days after Naomi’s.  Since the girls are in the same class and have many of the same friends, it just made sense to combine the parties.  This allowed us to have it at a local venue called the princess castle.  There, they were entertained by princesses, dressed up, made crowns and much more.  I have a ton of pictures but they all have other friends in the picture and since I do not have permission to post them I am opting to not share them.  Here are a few pictures from the party …

These are the cupcakes I made for the party … wish I had taken a picture of the whole box of them! 

BTW, Naomi is feeling much, much better but her skin is actually peeling from the rash – poor kid!