Fall Peektures

Halloween pictures

Birthday pictures!

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you ...

Happy birthday princess Naomi, Happy birthday to you!
Make a wish ...

Friends (some in halloween costumes ... That's Francis with the red hair)

Opening presents ...

Happy 3rd Birthday Naomi!!!

I can hardly believe you are already three. I feel like you are growing up too fast and I wish there was a way to keep you little forever. On the other hand I love to see you grow and learn about the world around you. I love watching you learn new things. You are so smart. Everyone tells me so. One of your birthday gifts is an 87 piece puzzle because you can do all the 24 and 36 piece ones in 10 minutes. The lady in the store didn’t even believe daddy when he told her. Your daycare teacher says you are more advanced than most of the 5 year olds she’s taught. I am so proud of you. I love your big personality. You believe in fairy tales and princesses and princes. You know every Disney princess story by heart. Some days you are so girly and other days you are rough and tumble. One moment asking for nail polish, the next you are shooting your brother with your fingers. You are affectionate and can’t go to sleep without a huggy and kissy. I love the way you drag your stuffed"doggie" around. You love the way he smells and never want me to wash him. You love animals, all animals. You love to visit the snakes at the pet store much to my horror and you call your hamster Fatso in a loving way. You make me laugh every day with your silly antics and it is easy to make you laugh as well.

Every year on your birthday I can’t help but wonder about the mother who gave birth to you. I wonder what her circumstances were. I wonder if she is thinking of you today. I’ll bet she is. I feel so lucky to be your mom and I am grateful to be the one who gets to spend every day with you.

Love always,

Mommy

xxx

Apple Picking 2009

And the award for worst blogger goes to ...

What can I say, it's been a bit crazy around here. Francis is back to school and is off to a good start. His French teacher is a man - he really seems to like that. Ahhh grade 3! I signed Naomi up for gymnastics with the 3-5 year olds since she will be three next month but she doesn't love it. She is used to me participating with her and now she is on her own with the other kids and she is having some major separation anxiety. The first time she ran in and did about half the class before becoming hysterical because she realized I was not there. The second class I could not get her in the door. We also did a ballet trial class. The ballet teacher (a man) told all the parents to leave and Naomi lost it. Ok, so we'll try again next year. It's too bad because at home she is constantly dancing or jumping around!

I have not been very good at taking pictures of the kids lately. Sigh. I did get this one from a recent hike we did and the other one is Naomi wearing her pink kitty pj's same as she saw Ro and Ree wearing the other day. Every day she wants to see what the Salsa Twins are up to!

How to avoid getting your kids a dog in 2 easy steps

Step one: purchase 2 fancy rodents (winter white mini hamsters). Allow children to name them Bugzy and Snowbell. Purchase deluxe cage and accessories, special mini hamster food and aspen pine bedding. Teach children not to squeeze them too hard and to pick up the ...ahem ... dropping they leave on the furniture.

Step two: purchase second type of animal in case they get bored with rodents. Pick aqua colored "wild" budgie along with cage (found) bird toys, food, vitamins and prepare him a raw food diet daily. Try to teach bird to be gentle and not bite children. Allow child #3 (husband) to name bird after favourite hockey player (Kovy). Make children promise to feed and clean cages.

There now, that's MUCH easier than getting a dog right?

Mont Tremblant

This past weekend we spent a couple of days in Mont Tremblant, a ski resort 2 hours north of Montreal. There is lots to do in the summer as well! The above picture was taken during a ride in the gondola.

Naomi enjoying the walk uphill - see how pretty it is? Great views too!

Naomi and Francis enjoying a beaver tail. Not a real one of course, it's deep fried dough with lemon, sugar and cinnamon. Yummy!

Going up on the chairlift - feels weird without my skis! Check out the helmets and toboggans

Francis demonstrating the luge that we came down (hence the ride up on the chairlift).

Naomi showing off her pool jumps. She is also swimming with her face in the water (trying to be like her brother)

Gotcha Day #2!!

Today is Naomi and Zoe's 2nd Gotcha Day!

Here are some pictures from the Chinese restaurant we enjoyed tonight.

Bestest buddies ...

These Guizhou girls have big appetites! Yummy noodles!

I love it when they hold hands ...

Elisa made chocolate dipped fortune cookies and added some #2 candles. The kids enjoyed the attention and getting to blow out their candles!

In the side bar there is a picture of Naomi wearing a Chinese dress - that was taken last year on gotcha day! My she has changed and grown!

And here we are on Gotcha day. Wow, it feels like yesterday and at the same time it feels like a million years ago.

With great sadness

We said goodbye to our family pet, Billy yesterday.

More than a cat, he was a member of our family.

He will be dearly missed.

Mid-July

Time for an update! Despite all the rain we've been getting we are having a very nice summer. Here are a few pictures from the past 2 weeks.

Naomi's "bonhomme" or self portrait. All her "people" look like potatoes but they have arms and legs and eyes and a mouth and hair. I have to say I'm impressed considering she is only 2 years old!

Naomi showing a little Canada spirit for Canada Day

I actually took this picture in the car - this kid always has this mischievous smile (like he's up to

something). Mr. personality ...

Naomi at the lake on an outing with Elisa, Thomas and Zoe. She really loves this "ballerina" swimsuit - turns out Zoe had the same one but in a different color!

Love this picture of Miss Zo-Zo Pinky!

The kids found this giant log floating in the water and decided to hop on. Elisa is trying to hold it steady so they don't tip off.

Francis had a big baseball tournament over the weekend - they won first place!!!

Tired but happy. The game finished at 10pm!

June is almost over???

Wow, where did June go? The summer is going too fast!! Anyways, here a quick picture post to keep you up to speed with us.
Today Naomi had her first dentist visit. She did really well and they made it fun for her. The first visit sets the tone for the rest. It seems I have misplaced her medicare card so today's visit was a ridiculous $157 and all they did was count her teeth and give her a free toothbrush. What a crock. Luckily I can reclaim it but still. Anyhow - moving on.

This shot reminds me why I love my big clunky inconveniently-sized camera. Love it.

Kiddos enjoying la piscine. So glad we went for it even though it was a total pain in the a$$ to repair after the winter got hold of it. Francis is a real fish, you just can't get him out of the pool. Naomi loves the water but she is more cautious and doesn't really enjoy having water in her face yet. I need to find one of those new style life jackets.

Here is Francis meeting Georges Laraque of the Montreal Canadians. Francis won a contest by being part of the Habs fan club and got to skate with him on a special "ice" they set up outside the Bell Center on Saturday. They also got to attend the draft picks.

Little Miss Personality ...

I have been doing really well sticking to my new exercise regime. It's been a month and I have lost a few pounds and inches. We've been doing a lot of bike rides lately - fun for the whole family! Icky picture of me but proof that I'm up off the couch ... :o)

The rest of the team ...

Happy Daddy Day!

Happy Father's day to my husband, my dad, my father-in-law and my grandfather!

Bad Blogger!

Ok, so I’ve been somewhat MIA for the past 2 weeks. So here’s an update.

I joined a health/fitness online group at Sparkpeople.com. It’s highly addictive! You can create a blog page and monitor nutrition and workouts and end up meeting a whole bunch of great people who encourage you along the way. I’m going to be 40 in a couple months and it recently hit me that when Naomi is 13 I’ll be 50! I want to get in shape and take care of my health. So this is where I have spent the most computer-time lately!

We’re also getting closer to the end of the school year and the planning of the summer (time off, camp, etc). Also, the hubby got laid off and re-hired at the same company in a weeks time … weird I know. He start his new position on July 1. Less traveling for him (yay) but more chauffeuring the kids around for me (boo). Anyways we will make it work. We are thankful to both be employed in this economy!

The pool is up and the sun is finally warming us Canadians so my bad blogging days are here to stay for the summer I think. I want to send out a big congrats to Sugar and Spice and a little Rice for their recent referral and I continue to wait for happy news for 3D’s, Catherine’s Chatter and at last, Milana's commin home.

Happy Summer Everyone!

Naomi enjoying the big pool

Strange kid ... I guess the little pool is not small enough. lol.

Kids enjoying ice cream at the fair on the weekend.

Photo at the top is Naomi modeling the knot dress my mom made for her. Adorable eh?

FRIENDS

A girl and her bike

This is Naomi on her bike. It's currently her favorite thing. (ahhh ... to be two and a half ...) Sorry for all my blah, blah, blah, man I'm annoying!!!

It was a blah rainy weekend. We went to see the movie UP which was really good. Poor Naomi had a lot of trouble keeping those big 3D glasses on. When I asked her if she liked the movie, her response was, "mhmmm, yummy popcorn ..."

Playing Photograper

Due to cut backs at work, I am working a 4-day week. Yay for more time with the kids, boo for the cut in income. So on Wednesday, I decided to play photographer for a day with Naomi as my model. I wanted to get some nice pictures of the lovely doggie twirl skirt my mom made for Naomi. With camera in hand I headed for a lovely area near the water. 5 shots later and I had a dead battery and a kid who needed to pee. I quickly found that the life of a photographer was a lot less glamorous than I thought. Back home I got a few more shots in before my model had a meltdown and needed a nap.

Dress up / Fashion choices

This was Miss Naomi's choice of fashion for today. Ahhh, princess for a day!

This was last Friday's fashion choice (I was planning to join in om M3's fashion photo challenge). She said that she was a rock star. lol!

This was yesterday's fashion choice - hmmm ... from rock star to preppy!

Naomi a la ferme

It was unusually warm here today and I wanted to spend a good part of it outside so Naomi and I headed off to a farm that is open to visitors and only 15 minutes away by car. It was so nice to see all the baby animals and enjoy the sun!

Naomi's favorite by far were the big cows. Kids are allowed to help feed the animals and they are allowed to touch all the animals which makes things very fun and hands-on.

The farm is in a forest and just behind there is a lovely picnic area by the river.

The best part of the day was throwing stones into the river!

pictures

I love this picture ... makes me think of a Chinese Holly Hobbie! Lol!


Naomi loves this little sandbox - it has legs so it's the perfect height. In the sunlight you can see that her hair is more of a chocolate/auburn than black. Not sure if that is one of the traits of her minority group (Miao /Hmong) but it is very fine and thin as well. Finally her bangs are starting to grow in - yay!! (click photos to enlarge)

It's begining to look like spring!

don't know what these are called, but they're teeny - about 4" high

I love the blue vein in these - I think it's a type of hyacinth - also tiny 3"

this is a bud on my lilac tree

mini Irises - about 3" tall

The begining of a fragrant fave

Forgot to say that these were taken with my Canon Rebel XTi with the 35 mm lens (no filter).

If you click on the image you can see all the detail as the pictures are huge. Love this camera but I still want to get a mommy purse cam!!

Gottcha Day and Easter Pics

7 years ago (yesterday) Stephan and I became parents for the first time. We spent a month in Russia as it was a turbulent time in Russian adoption - but finally we were allowed to adopt a sweet little baby boy known as Andrei (Androushka) who will forever be known as our son, Francis.

This is Francis' referral picture. A picture that changed our lives forever. We had very little information to make a decision with. We decided to take a leap of faith - that this child was meant to be ours - so happy that we did. I can't imagine life without you Francis! Happy Adoption Day! Love always, Mommy and Daddy. xxx

Here's a picture from Easter morning. The kids we up so freekin' early!!!

Here's Francis with Buddy (my dad's dog) on Easter Sunday at my mom's house. He was so happy to get to be the Easter Bunny this year and organize the egg hunt. There were only a few pictures of him and this was the best of them all - he's been shying away from the camera lately, not sure what's up with that.

Naomi and Cousin Kaleb partaking in the Easter Egg Hunt that Francis organized for them. It was freezing cold (about 5 degrees Celsius) but we got to enjoy a few minutes of fresh air!!

More cupcakes!

Tonight the princess and I made Easter cupcake "nests" for her daycare group. They were really fun and easy to make. Ice cupcakes then sprinkle with (combo of melted chocolate and coconut) then add mini eggs.

Bento and Baking

I just entered the Maisie Eats Bento 100th bento giveaway. Go check it out! The deadline for the draw is tonight but if you want to be inspired to make bento, this is the place to be.

Last weekend I made a snack bento - Naomi really loves it and I should make and effort to do it more often. I need some wider containers I think. Too bad Ichiban Kan doesn't ship to Canada. I've ordered a few things on eBay direct from Japan but it was quite expensive.

Last weekend Naomi and I made cupcakes and we had so much fun. She really liked icing the cupcakes and adding sprinkles. I separated the icing into 3 bowls to make 3 colors and then put the icing into baggies and wrapped an elastic at the top, then cut a small hole for the icing to squeeze out. This "smaller" version of a piping bag is much easier for kids to handle and then you can throw the whole mess out! We made minis and regular sized - they didn't last long!

(click on picture to enlarge)

Fun stuff

This morning we went to an indoor activity centre with the lovley Miss Zoe and her mommy (also lovely) Elisa. We had a blast and it was so much fun to catch up. The girls were so happy to see each other - it was so cute!

(click to enlarge picture)

Naomi and Francis

Naomi is officially a 2 1/2 year old so here is a quick update as to what she is like at this age. She's always giggling and laughing about something. Well, most of the time. She can also be crusty and fight with her brother. We've had to go over "why we don't hit people" because when she is mad her fists fly. She is speaking in full sentences and has started to use "me" and "I" so we get "I'm hungry" instead of "Naomi hungry". It's weird how kids talk about themselves in the 3rd person. Naomi is still into dress-up and costume jewelry. She loves movie night (Friday nights) when we rent a family movie and eat popcorn. She LOVES books. She likes to read them to me. Lol. Some books we have read so many times she knows them by heart. A few of her faves are; The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss, Mr. Seahorse and Panda Bear, Panda Bear What do you See? both by Eric Carle, Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown and series of Dora the Explorer. Naomi also loves music both the kiddie kind and the current stuff. She also loves to dance. I could go on and on about what she is into because she's into it all. Sometimes I forget she is only 2 years old. She is mature for her age and she is very independent. All the baby "stuff" has been put away and I am both happy and sad about that. We have not decided if we will go for a third child so all the 'stuff" will remain in my basement for now. I wish the wait for China was not so long.

Francis is now 8 and still lives and breathes hockey. His team lost a lot this season but he was a good sport about it. School is still a bit of a struggle for him but his reading tutor has done wonders for him. His reading (in both English and French) has improved enormously which has helped his self confidence. He has many friends and is liked by everyone - even the girls (Ugg). I am not ready to deal with girlfriend issues yet. I have already had to answer more than my share of questions about (ahem) physical relationships. Though he comes to me with lots of questions about life and adoption . In some ways he is wise beyond his years.

39 trips around the sun

Disney trip

At last. Pictures of our trip! I've been feeling lazy since we got back but have been wanting to update so here's a quick post:

It was fun but exhausting. We were somewhat unlucky. When we got to the airport their entire system was down so check-in and security took about 4 hours. Then when we finally got on the plane Naomi vomited all over her seat and herself before the flight even left. She ended up with flu for the entire vacation and only started to feel better on the last day. We had some cold days that were unexpected but all in all it was fun. My parents joined us which was really nice. We chose the Port Orleans French Quarter hotel which was surprisingly un-Disney like but nice and quiet and a great reprieve from the busy days plus it had an awesome pool with a dragon slide that the kiddos loved.

Naomi was feeling well enough to go to the princess breakfast (the one at Epcot) near the end of the trip. She got to meet all the princesses which she really enjoyed. I have to say that was one of my favorite parts, watching Naomi meet and interact will all the characters. She was not shy at all and everyone got big hugs - she even got to meet Mulan.

I will add more pictures in a few days.

And we're off!

6 more sleeps!!

Someone is REALLY looking forward to leaving for D!sney World. Can you guess who? Don't let the picture fool you. It's me!!! Lol!!
Steph picked up this adorable Minnie mouse at the D!sney store in Charlotte SC last week (we don't have a DS here). Anyways, she is so attached to it and she constantly totes it around with her. I even had to tuck MM in to bed tonight!!

Speaking of Naomi, here is a quick update (she's 29 months):
~ Naomi is finally out of diapers and Pull-ups! We're on week 4 of underpants and she has only had 1 accident! Yippee!!
~ I measured her yesterday (I wanted to see what rides she would be allowed on ... hee hee) and she's 36" tall.
~ Naomi still sings ALL THE TIME! Current favourite is Pettit Papa Noel (yup, a Christmas song)
~ She loves to sneak into her brother's room and destroy his Leg0 creations
~ She loves snakes
~ Her current favorite toys are; dolls, doll stroller, purse, princess high heels, princess crown, her brother's large machine gun, play-doh, puzzles and books.
~She is such a comedian. She's always making me laugh!
~ She loves to eat! My daycare provider jokes that she should charge me extra for food!
~ She can entertain herself for hours
~ She speaks in sentences and sometimes amazes me with what she says. She also speaks French as her daycare is mostly French.
~ She can count to ten in English and French and can count items as in how many candies, how many blocks, etc...
~ She knows if I skip a page or skip words to her favorite books!!
~ She's starting to enjoy movies now and can actually pay attention from start to end. Oh, and she hogs the popcorn!!!

Well, that's it for now. I'm off to do some packing!

Professional help

Yup. I did it. I hired a professional to fix my blog. I was just beyond frustrated with XML. So you can expect to see some nice changes around here soon.

I've also decided to change the name of my blog (again, sorry). As you may or may not have noticed, I have been playing around with names - the latest one was "a sweet life" but I have changed my mind yet again and who knows, it may change again (though I hope not). You see as much as I loved the MADE IN CHINA name, it excludes my son. Now that the journey is done, I feel like this blog has turned into a mom blog. Just my rambling about daily life with my 2 kids, hubby and cat. I almost named my blog just that .... For Sale, 2 Kids, Hubby and Cat.

OK, so the new name is "Once Upon a Time". I like it because I feel like my blog is my story. So you can go ahead and update your lists. I will keep the (MADE IN CHINA) name in brackets for a little longer until everyone gets used to the new name and then I will drop it altogether. I have picked out a digital scrapbook style paper for the header that matches the name so I'm thinking that once I pay for it the name is going to have to stick!