Proud Mama

That's right... I am the Proud Mama of a first grader! We have overcome the 2nd hurdle in this back-to-school business. Cara-Li went willingly to school today, her first full day. I had the honors of doing the drop-off and once at school with her little friend, she waved bye-bye to Mom and was off. Just like that. Did I mention that I have worried about this day for almost a year and that my hair has gone quite gray? Honestly... it has. I just had it coloured yesterday and my hairdresser was shocked as to how much gray there was! Let's see if tomorrow's drop-off will be as easy. And next week, we start the bus service. That's yet another hurdle to overcome!

A Memorable Day!

I have personally been dreading this day , August 27th, for a long, long time. It was Cara-Li's first day of 1st grade in the Big, French school. Cara-Li has attended the local pre-k and kindergarten for the last 4 years and has not had any trouble due to its small scale. She does not fair well on larger scales however. Which is why I was worried. But, much to my surprise, all went well! They called her name (lucky for her her last name begins with F rather than A like mine!) and she lined up with all her classmates and marched off to her class. Mom was surprised and so was Dad. We really did not expect it to go this way. We were so giddy that we invited two other Mo-West families to our house for pizza and beer to celebrate!

Today, August 27th, is also my Alexia's birthday, 22 months old. Already! I better start planning that birthday party of hers. It just seems to me that I just sent out the Thank You cards for her last birthday. Time flies!

And today, August 27th, also marks the one year anniversary of the start of our journey towards Alexia. We flew to Toronto with a connecting flight to Shanghai in the morning. Already a year ago!

Here are some pictures from our weekend at the cottage where C, P, and G joined us for some fun in the sun!

Day Off in the Sun

Yeah, right! I took the day off this past Wednesday and let me tell you, it was much harder and tiring than going to work! I had so many things to do in preparation of next week's return to school for Cara-Li. So I had the brilliant idea of jamming everything that needed to be done into one day. It started off with an early morning visit to the hospital for blood tests that should have been done 2 years ago. Then I joined Mortimer's Mom at the local Second Cup at her Knitting Club. I wanted to learn how to make this bag out of grocery bags. Thanks to her and her friends, I am off with a new hobby (like I needed another one!). OK... is it just me? They charged me $5.00 for a medium latté!!! Since I am in the coffee business, I know that it cost them no more 25 cents to make! That is nuts! The barista was trying to grab the $5.00 bill from my hand as I was really holding on to it. Heehee! And to boot, I got a $37.00 parking ticket after I put $3.00 in the meter! Next, I shopped for an hour for some scrapbooking organizing stuff before I picked up Cara-Li from her first play date to head downtown for uniforms. After 2 hours of traffic, parking issues and a whining little girl (I don't want to go to french school!), we made it back to Mortimer's Mom so that Cara-Li can have a playdate (number 2) with Dumpling. Then I shopped again for the next 2 hours for more school stuff and groceries for the weekend. In conclusion, I left the house at 8AM and returned at 5PM, with one parking ticket, one tank of gas spent and legs that would no longer hold me up. I was better off going to work!

No Lazy Days Around Here...

Here we are on Tuesday night and I thought I'd take a moment to myself and blog a little. Life around here is rather busy, to say the least. Every hour of the day is pretty much spoken for and by the time the girls are in bed, I am pretty much done for the day!

I had to work this past Saturday and therefore we did not go to the cottage. Of course, it ends up being the most beautiful weekend of the summer :( But since we were in a town, we were graciously invited to Red's house for dinner where my girls had the pleasure of spending the entire evening with Yummy. They had loads of fun! So much so that niether one of them had time to look up at the camera.

Since we were out late on Saturday night, the girls (and us too!) all slept in until my mother woke us up at 8AM. What was she thinking? Anyway, she called to invite us over for lunch since a family friend was in Montreal from Italy. So, of course, we obliged. And hey, there's nothing wrong with a good, home-cooked meal from your mamma!

We were also invited to a friend's 5th birthday party in the mid-afternoon. It was quite the Luau bash! Once again, the girls had a blast. Alexia fell asleep in the car 5 seconds after we left and we did not hear a peep from again until the next morning!

One good thing about a weekend like this is that although we were always on the run from one place to the next, we did not spend a single second in the kitchen. That's my kind of weekend!

A Week in Review

Whew!!! What a week! I swear... this work thing really gets in the way of my personal time! Here's what we've been up to in the last week.

• Friday - 08/08/08: The Olympics in Beijing begin (old news... I know). Unfortunately, we were unable to watch the opening ceremonies as we are were on our way to our 1st Annual Reunion for Alexia's travel group. We spent the weekend at Floribell at Lac Bell, a great place to have such reunions. Each family had their very own condo in a complex situated right on the beach. Upon arrival, it was a 'Wine and Cheese' party out on the balcony for us all till the wee hours of the morning. You gotta love wine while reminiscing!

• Saturday - 09/08/08: Lots more fun is had at our reunion. Lots of fun was had at the beach as you can see. And the weather really cooperated this weekend... probably the first dry weekend of the summer. An attempt is made at dinner to take a picture of all the little ones on the couch. Tough. Tougher than it was last year as they are all mobile now! This is when the older sisters are dragged into the picture. Their job... to hold down their baby sisters!





• Sunday - 10/08/08: This is our last together as a group until we meet again next year. We sure we miss all of these wonderful families! PS: Do you think that Alexia will ever forgive me for posting this picture of her on the beach? Heehee! Sorry sweetie. I had to do it!

• Monday - 11/08/08: We finally get a chance to view the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics thanks to the wonders of PVR. All I have to say is WOW! I LOVE CHINA!



• Tuesday - 12/08/08: I flew to Toronto early morning to shop at the Gift Show for our store. I love doing this. I fly in, shop all day, and fly home with nothing more than my handbag. It is just like taking the bus downtown! I found some cute things for the store but the best part was being able to read a book uninterrupted! I fianally finished my summer read... last summer's read, that is! I started reading Red China Blues by Jan Wong last summer but never finished it as our trip to China got in the way :) I not only managed to finish it but was also able to find the second part, Beijing Confidential, athe the airport bookstore. What a score!


• Wednesday - 13/08/08: Dinner at the P. and M. This family was unable to make our reunion but we did manage to hook up with them at their home for a lovely dinner. Our girls just love their girls!

• Thursday - 14/08/08: Dinner at Cage aux Sports with C, P and G. No one in our household wants to cook! Does it show? Cara-Li and I then went to Staples to pick up all her school supplies. Did I mention she is not a bit thrilled about starting school?!?


• Friday - 15/08/08: I am finally at home in front of my computer. It has been a long week! We decided not to go to the cottage this weekend since I have to work tomorrow and Cara-Li has a birthday party to go on Sunday.

Hopefully, I will not have to wait another week before my next entry. We'll see what the following days have in store for us.

Happy Reunions

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of attending BB's (Mortimer's Mom's daughter) 3rd birthday party. A great time was had by all! The kiddos were having a good time but so were the adults. Too bad we had to leave early to get the kids to bed :(

I spent most of this evening packing for our next weekend jaunt. We are off to Lake Bell (near Three Rivers) to meet up with Alexia's travel group for our First Annual Reunion. We are so excited to see the babies again after almost one year! The great thing is is that everyone will be there! I will post pics of the girls once we get home.

On Cloud Nine

Sometimes my husband can be a dufus but sometimes he can be utterly sweet. Before I continue this little story, I need to remind you of Alexia's Chinese name, Yun Xia. Yun Xia means rosy clouds at sunset. Now look at the photos I found in my camera. Photos of rosy clouds at sunset. ''Just a little reminder of your baby'', he exclaimed. Very cute!

Now back to regular programming... ''Gord....''