Time, where do you always go to?

I am a bad blogger.  Four months have passed and I am finally in front of an empty page again eager to type away.  Life is busy and it has kept me away from updates or is it because I get so frustrated uploading photos as it takes way too long?  So, I have a bit of catching up to do since Halloween last year.  I will intertwine it all together and add some photos but for now I just want to start back up and the best way for me to do that is blog about the present rather than the past few months.

Great way to keep your spirit and ears warm at the same time.

Love Family Day weekend and it comes at such a great time in Feb.  just when you can't take it any longer and you think you want to fly south or visit a spa, we get this glorious long weekend!  Well I was lucky on a couple fronts as I did go to a spa with two of my dearest and oldest (not that they are old, but our relationship is).  We actually surprised "J" as she did not know I was going to go until she saw I was on the same train as them.  It may have been just one night but we packed lots of stuff in and even managed hot tub it late the one night with wine in hand.  Thanks "S" for your thoughtfulness and including me!!!

Girls on the train headed to our spa day.

So, back to our Family Day weekend.  Other girlfriends and I plan an annual trip to her parent's farm west of Toronto each year around this time and we bring our daughters.  This is our snow adventure, food adventure and each year as the kids get a bit older we get to see the interaction between them.  This year was so great as they could be very independent with each other which gave mamas some adult time.  We were blessed to have snow on the Saturday and it was the really good packing snow and we also spent time in the barn doing some clean up and brushing horses.  We always make time to go to the local conservation area and this year we actually noticed a  horse farm where we took the kids to ride "Buttercup", the cutest pony!

Baby carrots for the nose and arrowroot cookies for eyes & one hungry dog.

Clean up, clean up.....

No dogs allowed when mixing children and horses.

A sweet ride on Buttercup.

Work on the farm is never done.

All was going fabulously until Monday morning when I fell extremely ill with the dreaded stomach flu.  Everyone else was fine (thank goodness) but I was hit badly.  Well, our dog Char was also hit but her flu was from eating too much horse manure.  Poor stupid yet beautiful dog!

Pretty but not too smart.

Best of times at Nanny's farm.

Well, I think this is a good start at getting back up on that bike again (or should I say horse?).  So, for those followers who have been saying, "when are you going to update your blog", and you know who you are....this blogs for you! 

What is Lily Up To

I guess you can say that this email is more for my records since this seems to be the one place where I am able to add content regularly.  I am a little behind on my baby book sadly.

So, Lily is talking up a storm but mainly one words or two here and there but today she did put a sentence together while we were driving to daycare.  As we did not get our lazy bones out of bed until 7:50 am today we had to eat our toast in the car.  I looked back and could not see her eating, so I asked "what happened to your toast?"  Lily replied, "I eat it".  Oh such a very proud moment for her mama!!

Another birthday treat hosted by Uncle John and Auntie Tina.

One of our last weekends at the cottage on Thanksgiving.  We were blessed with beautiful weather and breathtaking colours from the surrounding trees.

Lily and her friend walking down to the beach.  Doesn't get much better than this.

Happy 2nd Birthday Lily

What a fun weekend we had celebrating Lily's 2nd Birthday.  The weather was a bit ferocious in the morning but the sun did finally shine and the party was able to have fun at the nearby park for an hour before coming back to our house for a pizza picnic, arts and crafts and chocolate yummy cupcakes.

Lily sure had lots of friends over to help her celebrate and of course the house was just a jumpin with the added parents.  It was chaotic at times but the kids sure had a lot of fun. 

Sunday morning walk with the dog proved to be very very cold.

Autumn Moon Festival 2011

This past weekend Lily and I went to the Autumn Moon Festival at HarbourFront.  We went with some good friends enjoyed all the events.  The sun was shining warm on our faces, beautiful singers and dancers filled the stage and there was also a fashion show of Au Dois (pronounced "eye yeow").  We were very lucky to run into other families who are a part of our adoption community.  Always a special time when we see the kids playing together.

They had a competition of lanterns that were all very unique.  Lily loved the butterfly.

Lily and Harper made lanterns in the craft tent.  Lily was very excited to see Harper.

What was really exciting was that we all got to see how Moon Cakes were made.  Monique loved the moon cakes, I was a bit on the fence with them and of course Lily loved them.

Lily had a blast with her "older sister" Amelie.  I think Amelie had a blast being a big and "bossy" sister to Lily.  Nothing like looking up to an older, cool girl.  Lily followed her like a puppy dog.



Peek-a Boo-Bunny



Two Weeks Left of Being 1YR

The last bit of summer is still hanging on (in my mind at least).  I am missing the carefree days with no dates to do anything.  When we felt like it we went to the beach, we read books, we had LOTS of popsicles and ice cubes were a hit.  We laid in bed when we woke and watch the leaves dancing around in the trees.  We search for the most perfect stone and collected them in momma's pocket.  Sandcastles, moats, roads and pools made on the beach. Kicking back with good friends that sometimes we only get to see in the summer.  Cocktails at five (mommas only).  Froth from Auntie's coffee in the morning (Lily).

Suddenly, without much notice, Lily started to sing songs.  Baby Beluga, Twinkle, Twinkle, Happy Birthday, Row Row, Wiggle songs and to top it off she shouts at me to "STOP" when I start to sing along or dance.  Here I have sung my heart out to entertain her and teach her and now when we can do a duet....I am kicked out and she is going solo.  Hmmm lets hope that is a phase.

Only a couple weeks until Lily turns two.

Favorite Shows:  really old Wiggle DVDs, really really old Barney VHS, Back Yardigans, Little Einsteins and Guess with Jess.

Favorite Books:  thank goodness she still is into Goodnight Moon, Peepo, Baby Beluga, On the Night you Were Born, Time for Bed, any book with dogs or cats on it,  and Dora.

Other Milestones:  Hops on two feet, does tree pose and downward dog with leg in the air, just went down the slide and did not have to hold onto my hand, will hang from the monkey bars for 3 seconds, walks Char Char (should say demands to walk the dog), can put on her Crocs by herself, brush her teeth (pretty well), NO interest at all to be toilet trained but that is OK.  A couple months ago Lily started to say "luv you".  She also says goodnight to almost everyone she knows (with a little help)

Favorite Foods:  Everything but top five right now would be bananas, apples, tomatoes, toast, fish (the orange snack kind)



End of Summer at the Beach



Lily's first day of school (well daycare really) and well
it is not really her first day but her first day in Sept.



All excited coming back from daycare.  Long day and we need to play.



Cheeeeeeeeese!



Signs of turning 2yrs

I have seen the signs.  Turning two and what comes with it.
Strong will is not so bad and I actually like that but when it comes with short bursts of tantrums thats when I start to thing my golden one is  not going to bypass the "terrible twos" or I would rather call them "tantrum twos". 

Lily will be going for her two year check up soon and I am anticipating a weight gain of a few hefty pounds to bring her up to 23.5lbs.  And I think her height will come in at 32.5 inches.  Her shoes size went from 3 to a short lived 4 to almost a five.  We are between sizes right now.  This girl is shoe obsessed and it is all my fault.  Without a lot of closet space in our small Toronto home Lily's shoes have found their home on window sills and within reach of her tiny hands.  But that is the fun stuff in having a girl isn't it.

Cool Nights and Warm Days

Doesn't get much better than this.  Love the cool nights in the evenings but I am not quite ready to pack up our summer clothes.  Lily, Char and I are looking forward to a great weekend up north.  We may go late Friday or early Saturday to avoid the parking lot on Hwy 400.

Our cottage beach was featured in this month's Cottage Life apparently.  Not too happy about that as I personally like to keep in on the low down.

This summer has been a great one for us, just in Lily's development alone it has been a riot.  She is just so much fun and is constantly laughing at pretty much anything.  She has grown taller and put on a few more pounds that allow her to go into a facing forward car seat.  Makes my job as her mama just that much easier and I AM very grateful for her present temperment. 

   

Around the middle of July, Lily and I headed up north to Huntsville to a camp that my sister has been coaching at for over 25 years.  Camp Olympia was hosting all girls week so it was appropriate that Lily and I were my sister's guests that week.  It was paradise for me with no cooking, cleaning, planning.  Just got up and ate with the campers, went on great walks and played at the beach.  Below to the left is a picture of Lily wandering to the neighbours and kindly recycling their bottles.  And to the right is Lily and her Auntie playing with bubbles.

We left the camp and heading back over to our cottage for 10 days of sunshine and tons of fun.  We could hardly wait for our friends who travelled to Vietnam to join us for the upcoming weekend.  We had four toddlers running in every direction and then two five year old BFFs playing and laughing for the whole vacation.



Dinner alfresco for the four toddlers, Harper, Cedric, Olivia and Lily

Lily, Cedric, Yasmine-Li, Hannah, Harper and Olivia with matching giraffes



Olivia, Lily and Charlotte



Lily and Harper (kids are always looking outside)

 

Lily and Mama at sunset time, friends are all close by.



OK I just can't believe that I caught this on camera.

Lily loves the cottage and loves the "wa wa".  She  says it from the moment she wakes to the last moment before she closes her eyes for the night.

Lily plays the Happy / Sad game and when she says one of the words that is your queue to show her what a happy face looks like and then a sad face.  The more dramatic your face the more she laughs.