My Girls are the Best!

I'm sorry for sounding a little pompous and full of myself but my girls are definitely the best! Cara-Li has been extremely sweet to me of late saying things like 'You're the best cook', 'You're the best Mommy', 'You give the best cuddles'. But what she said today made me melt into a huge puddle. She said, 'You and Daddy and Alexia make my heart happy.' She is just too sweet!



I have to mention that Alexia turned 19 months old yesterday. Happy Birthday sweetpie!

Here's a wonderful picture of Jie Jie and Mei Mei together. They are meant to be sisters!


And look at this... do you think that Cara-Li is flexible enough. The girl's got talent!



And lastly, here's cute video of Alexia. She is edible!


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

This and That

It has been a busy few days.

On Saturday mornings, Cara-Li plays soccer and dad coaches. Last year, all she did was pick dandelions. This year, she is somewhat more interested for the first 30 minutes with a decline in the next 30. However, this past weekend, Cara-Li was the star! She went after that ball like a pro and scored several times! Where are the photos you ask? All cameras were at home comfortably resting in their cosy camera bag. Next, Cara-Li had a birthday party to attend for one of her classmates. They had a blast at a local party place that took as good care of the parents as they did the children. And to end the day, we had a lovely evening and dinner with Mortimer's Mom and her family. The girls just love getting together and they are just too cute together!

I know, I know... my kids need a haircut!

We spent all of Sunday morning shopping (right after a hearty breakfast, of course) for accessories for our master bathroom that is getting a facelift. The only things staying are the tub, sink and toilet. That means new vanity, new granite floors (heated) and countertops, new lighting, new towelrack and acc. The big stuff has been decided, it's the little stuff that is so time consuming. We were not very successful at purchasing such items but we did buy flowers and plants so back home we went to get them into the ground. We ended our day with a hamburger dinner on the BBQ with Auntie Loula and that was that!

Today was a big day in our little town.

They finally started the repair of the entire infrastructure of our road which, believe me, was in dire need! We bought our house in December so we did not realize the condition of the road. Let's put it this way, we try to do all our inviting of friends during the winter months so that no one sees the third world country that we live in! There is a catch however. Our street consists of 4 blocks and they are doing 3 blocks his year. Guess which one is not getting redone? OURS!! The work is not slated until 2010! God help us!

And lastly, Cara-Li lost yet another tooth yesterday which brings us to 4 while Alexia is getting another molar which brings us to 11. Funny, one is losing teeth while the other is getting them. Cute!

Mork from Ork

This is how Cara-Li watches TV these days... just like Mork from Ork!

The mice are out!

This is what the mice (Susie, Cara-Li and Alexia) do when the cat (Gord) is gone.

First, we pick a miniature table and chairs out of someone's garbage and add it to our garage. A little project of refinishing in my future!

Then we buy a telephone bench from a neighbor at a garage sale and add it to our garage. Yet another refinishing project in my future!

Then we went to a dear friend's birthday party and man handled some...

SNAKES!!!

Little ones.

Medium ones.

And BIG ones!!

Cara-Li mustered up the courage to have this huge python sit on her!

Alexia, of course, had no problem touching Mr. Python. What a trooper!

Mother's Day

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

O Canada!

Alexia is officially a Canadian Citizen and has been since April 17th! A little too late for our trip to Chicago that we had to cancel due to the lack of said status. That's OK... we'll go next May. We'll have to find a way to properly celebrate this honor. I have yet to come up with something good. Any ideas? When Cara-Li received her status, it was the July 1st weekend... extremely approriat, heh? Everyone was celebrating her Citizenship.... What do you mean, they weren't?? Oh, right. It was Canada Day. Silly me :)

Flash Gordon to the Rescue!

Flash Gordon, otherwise known as my other half, came to my rescue today. Just as I was at my wits' end with the bedroom painting, he came through and finished up for me. When I started this days ago, I remembered that I am the cutter and detail painter. Gord was the roller. I had never rollered before. I managed somewhat but it took me a LONG time and I used LOTS of paint. But it is all done now and everything is back to its usual place and it looks great! My next project is painting the kitchen cupboards which are oak to white and replacing all the brass hardware with brushed nickel... a quick makeover before the complete kitchen overhaul that will happen one day.

A few of you asked for the recipe for the No-Bake Peanut Butter Toblerone Cheesecake that I made last weekend. It was delicious, by the way, especially if you love Reeses Pieces. Here is the recipe from the great folks at Kraft Kitchen.

Supermom

Go ahead... you could call me that! Especially after a day like today. Woke up early since Gord had a 7AM flight, got Cara-Li to school and bought some plaster at Reno-Depot. Once Alexia was down for her morning nap, I plastered the cracks and nail holes in the bedroom walls. By this time, it was time to pick up Cara-Li and her play date at school and proceed to make everyone lunch. While they were eating, I started the crust for my No-bake Peanut Butter Toblerone Cheesecake for tomorrow night's dinner at C & P's.



Once Alexia was down for her afternoon nap and the older girls busy playing dress-up, I painted the first coat on one wall. Once completed, back down to the kitchen to make the filling for the said cake. Then off to get Alexia out of bed and start supper. The girls eat supper while I call all the soccer players about tomorrow's game (Gord is coach and he's out of town - gotta find a replacement!). It is now 7PM, everyone is fed and everyone is in their PJ's. Oooops! Forgot the baths. Oh well... tomorrow is another day! Oh... and I have to make the chocolate topping for the cake. Will this day ever end!

5 Years Ago

5 years ago to the day, we were extremely busy removing walls, removing wallpaper, putting in hardwood floors and painting the house we are in now. We had our referral for Cara-Li in hand and needless to say, we were extremely stressed about the SARS situation in China. Would we receive our TA in the next couple of weeks or would the situation worsen to the point that we would not ever be able to travel to China for our little girl? These were some of the unknowns at this time 5 years ago today. And what we didn't know as of yet was that all travel to China would be banned on May 15th. This would mean that we wouldn't receive our TA and had to continue staring at the pictures of our daughter until June 26th when we did finally receive our TA. We did finally travel to China on July 22nd and the rest is history.

However, this was not the point of this blog entry. 5 years ago today, I was painting our bedroom and today as I was standing atop of a ladder (which freaks me out!) filling cracks and nail holes, I realized that I am doing the exact same thing again! Where is Gord you ask? Well, he is St. Louis. He was there Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. He made a quick return home for a day and now he is back for 2 more days! While his wife is painting the bedroom. Something is wrong with this! Gord, if you are reading this (which you should be if you want to know what is going on around here), be ready to hold a paint brush on Sunday. You have been foreworned.

Oh! And it is exactly 8 months today that Alexia Yun Xia joined our family! Seems like she's been here forever. Speaking of which, I gotta wake her up if we will make it in time for Cara-Li pick-up at school...