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)