Our Journey to Mei Mei

It is that time...

2010-03-22T14:43:00.003-04:00

to bid farewell to this blog, Our Journey to Mei Mei. We set up this blog three years ago so that our family and friends could follow our journey towards our second child. Well, Alexia is here and she has been for almost 2 1/2 years!

So our journey is complete and we must move on.

Please join me at Spring Roll & Dumpling for the continuing saga.

Cabane à Sucre... Again!

2010-03-21T21:23:00.004-04:00

I will have to start checking my sugar levels after today. Two cabanes à sucre in one week might be pushing it! Today we went with the Adoptive Families of Quebec gang at a traditional sugar shack in St. Eustache and let me tell you, it was yummy! The place was really nice and being there so early in the morning (10AM) really made the experience painless. By the time we left however, the lineups were crazy! After our brunch, we ate our tire on the snow (a must!),we visited the indoor petting zoo, the doll museum (creepy!) and went on an extra long horsey ride. By this time, the sugar highs had worn off and we were good to drive home for an afternoon nap. Here are a few shots of our day. Hope you all had a great weekend!

Welcome!

2010-03-20T09:25:00.001-04:00

Spring is here! And so are my croccus!

Gourmet Cabane à Sucre

2010-03-19T20:45:00.003-04:00

After reading a review on the Au Pied de Couchon Cabane à Sucre one year ago in the Montreal Gazette, I called to make a reservation. The young lady was kind enough to inform me that they were only taking reservations for the following year. 2010! Having forgotten that I did this, I got a call 2 weeks ago to inform me that it was our turn and that we could come on opening night. So, six of us made the trip to St. Benoit de Mirabel about 45 minutes from Montreal for what was about to be a very memorable night. Not only was the food fantastic, the company was even better! Fixer Mamma was my date as Gord is away and we were joined by C and P and their friends D and P.

So dinner begins with a split pea soup with foie gras, maple-glazed gravlax, homemade creton and maple buckwheat pancakes. Then as a little nibbler, we got BBQ chicken feet (ugh!). Found this to be a little disconcerting but tried it anyway. Then the main dishes arrived and it wouldn't stop. Scarmbled eggs with smoked sturgon and brisket, homemade tourtière with duck meat, salad topped with oreille de christ, beef tongue (more ugh!) and maple-lacquered duck leg and finally the lobster-stuffed cabbage roll and lentils.

And if this wasn't enough, on came the many desserts. Banana split with maple roasted pecans, the most gimormous millefeuille you have ever seen and grand-pères which are fried dough swimming in maple syrup. Oh and we musn't forget the traditional maple syrup on snow.

OMG! It is now over 24 hours later and I am still full. No word of a lie. I woke up at 4AM and could not sleep from the discomfort I was feeling. And I had no breakfast and no lunch today followed by a very small dinner.

I am going to yet another cabane à sucre this Sunday but this time the traditional Quebec kind but I am sure that I will be feeling the same again. Help me!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2010-03-17T15:39:00.003-04:00

TO ALL !

Alexia Sleeping While Skiing!

2010-03-14T16:54:00.002-04:00

She fell asleep on the chair lift up. Gord got off, skied down and she never woke up. She then napped over an hour on the picnic table at the bottom of the hill. She was the talk of Morin Heights!

Spring Break

2010-03-11T16:07:00.005-05:00

Last week was Spring Break for both my girls and I did manage to take a couple of work days off to have an extra long weekend to spend some time with them. I had big plans... you know, do some arts and crafts with the girls, work on some photography, organise our newly renovated cottage. In the end, we spent the entire time at the ski hill. It was a spectacular 4 days with nothing but sun and more sun! People thought I actually went down south after seeing my tan. Upon arrival at the hill, we spent every second outside including every lunch and happy hour too, of course!

Cara-Li and her friend, J, decided that they would like to try snowboarding. So, off I went to organise private lessons for 2 days. Let me tell you, by the time their lessons were over, they were both snowboard experts! Looks like we are adding another winter sport to our household. That means more equipment to lug around... But I must say, I am extremely proud on how well Cara-Li did (and J too!). Naturals at it almost more so than skiing...

After our Saturday at the hill, we were graced with the visit of N & S and their lovely M who came to spend the night with us and ski with us on Sunday. V & J with their lovely SQ & NJ joined us for a gastronomic raclette dinner. Lots of wine was consumed (Gord only noticed the next day upon emptying the receycle bin) and lots of laughs were had. Thanks all for the wonderful visit.

And for another exciting event, Alexia went up the chair lift for the first time this weekend! How thrilled she was to go up like the big people. Once at the top, Gord put a harness on her and she skied down thrilled to be going so fast!

It's All Over :(

2010-03-01T15:27:00.002-05:00

Well, the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics have come and gone. Sadly, they are over but frankly I am somewhat relieved. It has been non-stop Olympics at our house and with all the late night watching, I really do need the break! I am so tired, I need a good night's sleep. It is back to regular programming at our house. Family Network for the girls and the Food Network for Mommy! When Gord left on a business trip on Day 2 of the Olympics, I honestly did not think that I would not watch that much without him. But the girls showed so much interest in every event that all our evenings were spent glued to the set. Gord then went on from Arizona to Vancouver for the final 4 days where he luckily got tickets to the 2 semi-final hockey games. He is now back with tons of memories I am sure. A great way to end what started for him on December 10th by carrying the Olympic Torch!

Gord's Olympic Torch Relay Video

2010-02-22T16:30:00.002-05:00

After over 2 months, here is the final version of the long-awaited and much anticipated video of that very special moment that he experienced on December 10, 2009. I love watching this video. It really brings back the thrill of that day. Take a look! It's way better than our wedding day video :)

Yet Another Celebration!

2010-02-17T16:40:00.000-05:00

Once again, we celebrated Chinese New Year but this time with some of our dearest friends. Every year, we host a dinner at a Chinese restaurant (of course!) and we invite everyone that plays a part in our daughters' lives. We have our old friends that supported us through all the highs and low during both of our adoptions processes, we have the 7 year old girl (who is now 17!) and her family that played a huge part in us deciding to adopt from China and then there are the families we have met over the years who have also adopted. What a great bunch of people and we are blessed to have each and every one of you take part in our lives and most especially in the lives of our daughters. Thank you!

Gung Hay Fat Choy

2010-02-14T21:04:00.002-05:00

Happy Chinese New Year to all!

May this new year, the Year in the Tiger, year 4708,

bring you all lots of joy & happiness!

From our family to yours!

Last night, we had the pleasure of ringing in the new year with 144 other people who are members of Adoptive Families of Quebec. We had a lovely (but chaotic!) dinner followed by a show that was put on by a local Chonese school. It was great and it was fantastic to see all the kids interact with one another. After all, this is why we do this. So that the children can spend some time together and have a little fun. I know Cara-Li has formed some friendships from these gatherings and it is nice to see them pick up from where they left off the time before! As you can see from the photos below of only Alexia, Cara-Li was too busy with her friends to pose for some pictures.

My Little Acrobats!

2010-02-11T14:20:00.006-05:00

Thanks to this little video that I sent in to Virgin Radio, we won 2 tickets to the new Cirque du Soleil show! I really do think that Cara-Li should join the circus. This is our second win. We won the same contest last year. Hooray for my girls!

The Grammys Through the Eyes of an 8 Year Old

2010-02-01T14:52:00.003-05:00

Last night, I watched my first Grammys in oh so many years, since my early adult life, most likely. And the only reason I did was because Cara-Li, my almost 8 year old, wanted to watch it. She was in heaven when she saw the line up. Lady Gaga, Black-Eyed Peas, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé. We allowed her to stay up until 9PM to see this. And for the first time, they actually gave up a minute by minute line up. So she knew early on that she would see 3 out of 4 acts. Taylor Swift would come on too late.

First up, Lady Gaga. She came out in a green bodysuit with these huge shoulder thingies that kind of looked like wings. She sang Poker Face which got her thumbs ups by CL but once she began her duet with the Old Man (Elton John), she dropped her thumbs giving her a 16 on 20.

Next up, Beyoncé. She sang If I Were a Boy. She did a great job and CL was giving her an 18 on 20 up until she grabbed her crotch (like guys do) and she dropped down to a 17 on 20. She stated that she did not like that.

Pink was up next. Not exactly on her wanting to see list but she fit into her one hour window ;) She strolls out wearing a white hooded dress singing a ballad (I don't know what it was, I'm not a Pink fan, well not until tonight). And you can tell that this dress was to be removed and CL is anticipating the moment. Off it came and her expression was priceless! It was a quiet 'Oh My God!' Complete with the stunned face, she watched her strut down the walkway in a sheer bodysuit and ribbons covering the all important private areas. Not to mention, she continued on to do a Cirque du Soleilish act all while singing. Impressive! CL gave her a 19 on 20. Frankly, I don't know where she could have lost a point...

Next, Black-Eyed Peas singing Imma Be and I Gotta Feeling. CL liked this performance and gave them an 18 on 20 despite the fact that they did not sound the same as on her ipod. Nonetheless, a very cool number!

At this point, it was announced that her hour was up. Not happy! She missed Taylor Swift but will catch it tonight on the PVR. Frankly, I don't think she'll enjoy it as she sings with the Old Lady (Stevie Nicks) :)

I believe that Cara-Li has a new favorite. Pink. I guess I will be downloading some of her songs tonight...

2010 Resolutions

2010-01-27T14:27:00.000-05:00

I'm really off to a slow start this year with my New Year's Resolutions. Usually I get going by the 15th of January but this year it's just not happening! I'll try to give them a go by February 1st.

This year's resolution will be similar to last year's resolutions. I will continue to try to achieve these goals.

1) Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

I was pretty good last year in reducing and reusing. Recycling wasn't too bad I suppose but I will make a bigger effort this year by actually adding composting to our recycling regime. Then I would feel like I have achieved this resolution completely.

2) Lose Weight

I was pretty successful with this last year. I did lose those 15 lbs. that I wanted to. But during the holidays I did gain 3-4 lbs back. So I will lose those plus an additional 3-4 lbs. to bring me to a weight were Gord has promised to buy me a new pair of very fancy (read expensive!) jeans! I did join Curves last year but that did not go well since I had hurt my knee. Once I was able to return, I had no interest. So for now it's yoga and walking when the weather gets better.

3) Drink more Bubbly!

This is my personal favorite! During the holidays, you tend to drink lots of champagne and sparkling wine. I really do enjoy this including any cocktail made with said wine such as Champagne Cosmos or Kir Royale. So, really, there is no reason why I cannot drink my favorite bubbly regularily. And if there is no one to share with, well, Mimosas it is for breakfast! So I have a case of sparkling wine and this resolution will certainly be easy to start more than likely this coming Saturday!

Road Trip

2010-01-11T21:21:00.005-05:00

This past weekend we were lucky enough to go on a road trip. We were expected to go visit our dear friends C, P, and G at their cottage in Jay Peak next weekend but after discovering that ski school was starting that weekend and that our cottage contractor wanted us out for 2 weeks, we decided to move our road trip up a week. Good thing our friends obliged!

It was a long ride to get to Jay Peak through what seemed like every tiny little cow pasture. I am certain we drove by every single farm in Quebec on our way there! Not to mention it was snowing those thick, big, sticky snowflakes, the kind that sticks to every road sign and therefore making it most difficult to find our way. But alas we made it! And we were graciously received on the other end with well-deserved drinks and a fabulous dinner.

That next morning we were set to go skiing on what was to be the coldest day of the winter. What our friends forgot to tell us is that when it is cold, it is bloody cold at Jay! I, literally, have never be this cold in my entire life! Going up the chair lift, better known as The Freezer, I had one of those brain freezes like when you drink a slushy too fast. Except it wouldn't go away! And once at the top, I had to take some pictures because it was just awesome! Remember those thick, big, sticky snowflakes falling the night before? Well, they fell all over the county and they were now so frozen onto the trees making the landscape most incredibly gorgeous! It honestly felt like we were in Alaska. I only managed to take 2 photos before my hands froze to a point of no return. Check it out!

Views from the top of Jay Peak, Vermont

Girls goofing around after supper

We decided to take her easy the following day and just kind of hang around the cottage. So we snowshoed and tobagganed and played in the treehouse. It was much milder weather wise so it was much more pleasant being outside.

View from the cottage property

The 3 Musketeers

G, Alexia and Cara-Li

A big thank you to our friends for being the best hosts and for entertaining us for the weekend. We had a fabulous time!

In Loving Memory

2010-01-04T20:37:00.001-05:00

Today was a very difficult day for our family but mostly for my sweet sister-in-law, T, and her family. On Dec. 29th, the world lost a wonderful person... a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, a grandmother. C. was my sister-in-law's Mom who was taken away from her and her sisters at a too young an age after a very courageous battle with cancer. It was heart wrenching to watch them bury a woman who had so more much living to do. But alas, life is not fair and those who are left behind will pick up the pieces and continue on with life as she would have wanted. Easier said than done.

T, we will remember your Mom forever in our hearts. Big hugs to you and your family. XOX

Holiday Activities

2010-01-03T15:23:00.004-05:00

One final post about the different things we did during the holidays. I found some of these pictures in my little camera which I hadn't downloaded in a while.

Cara-Li and Alexia went to a Christmas Wreath workshop here at our local library. They got to decorate a gingerbread wreath with icing and candy. I then put a red pillar candle in the middle of each wreath and used them as my table centerpiece for the holidays.

That same day, they headed off to the university arena to skate with Buzz the Bee, the university mascot. This is a yearly event that we have been attending she Cara-Li was little. It is so much fun for the girls to skate around with Buzz and Santa Claus too. Since this event is always held two Saturdays before Christmas, I am usually never there as I am working at the store. So this is a Dad and daughters event. The girls had to wear their cycling helmets since Dad couldn't find their skate helmets :)

This year we went for Christmas Eve dinner at Gord's brother, G, and sister-in-law, B. We had a lovely dinner with them and our nephews before coming home before Santa's arrival. The girls had to go straight to bed if they wanted Santa to come.

Mom and Dad stayed up to make sure that Santa did come to deliver all the goodies and to make sure that he ate his cookies and drank his milk. The reindeers nibbled on their carrots too.

Christmas day was spent at my parents' house as usual. No turkey to be found there however. Only ravioli and roasted veal. Like good Italians :) Good thing we had our friends over at the cottage a few days later. That's when we had our turkey fill!

Boxing Day was spent doing a whole lotta nothin'. All that was planned was dinner across the lake with J, C and J. And that was enough for me!

At was our turn to host this year's New Year' Eve dinner with J, C and J again. On the menu, lobsters, prime rib and all the fixings. Yummy! Here are the boys playing with their dinner just before intruding him to a pot of boiling water. Just prior, they were holding lobster races in the snow. God help us!

And finally, a day of just playing in the snow. I love watching kids just have a grand old time just jumping around in snow banks. It doesn,T take much sometimes.

And here is Alexia actually enjoying skiing for the first time this season. There is hope for her yet as she was really quite good. Let's see what this winter brings us.

Year 2009 in Review

2010-01-01T13:43:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T00:01:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year to you all!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T00:01:00.001-05:00

From our family to yours, may the holiday season bring you all lots of joy and happiness! Here's to a fabulous New Year!

A Quick Summary...

2009-12-23T23:05:00.007-05:00

Before the big day. Things have been hectic the last little while. It just seems that every day I am trying to do what is really necessary for the very next day. Let's just say, it has been very relaxing around here :)

Last week, we attended our very first Hannukah party at V's house. They had a bunch of their friends over for a Latka and Vodka party. Brilliant! Everything was fabulous and we were very grateful to have been included. Cara-Li was very much intrigued about the whole Jewish thing. Besides SQ and NJ, Cara-Li has only one other Jewish friend and it always makes for interesting converssation later. The are too cute! As you can see, Gord brought his torch to the party and the kids thought it was the coolest thing!

And since I am not busy enough, I organized a Children's Christmas Party for the following afternoon for our Italian Association. 25 children, 25 gifts to buy and wrap and lots of parents and grandparents to feed. But it went well. Everyone loved their gifts and everyone ate. Party over in 3 hours and I was back home in my jammies. As you can see, Alexia is still not too sure of the Big Guy. Don't blame her really!

Ah, yes. I forgot to mention that the morning prior to the Christmas party, I had to bake 12 dozen cookies for my annual cookie exchange that I host. Yes, I was up at 6:00 AM, measuring, mixing and baking for app. 5 hours in order to complete this task. The party was held a few days later. Lots of nibbles and lots of drinks later, everyone went home witha huge variety of cookies. We are certainly ready for the holidays now!

The Olympic Torch Relay

2009-12-12T15:08:00.014-05:00

For those of you who know us well, know that we are very proud Canadians. Need I remind you of this picture taken in China 2 years ago?

So when Gord was selected amongst 7 million applicants to be an official torchbearer for the Vancouver 2010 Oylmpic Games, we were beyond thrilled! And what an honour that was bestowed upon him! We knew it would be a great day but we didn't really know HOW truly great it would be!

Here's my account of the day, Thursday December 10th, 2009:

Apparently, Gord had trouble sleeping the night before from all the excitement. I, on the other hand, slept quite well :) The girls did not go to school that day as we obviously wanted them to be part of this very special day. Cara-Li made signs while I prepared some nibbles and things for our friends for after the run. Gord was getting nervous so he decided that he would go outside to shovel snow in order to clear his head. Really! I was not undestanding it but whatever. He had to be at our town hall at 12 noon to meet up with the other torchbearers eventhough he was not scheduled until 2:09PM. We left the house at 11:30 as he wanted to make an appearance at our local RBC bank where he is a customer. RBC is where Gord sent his application in to be torchbearer. Upon entering the branch, every employee jumped out of their seats with camera in hand to have their picture taken with him. And so here it began. Who knew everyone wanted to be photographed with a torchbearer! Including the 2 big guys working at the bank that came out of their offices ever so slowly...

As we continued our walk down the street, people were jumping out of the stores to wish him well and cars were honking away. Wow! This was only the beginning. He didn't even have the torch in hand yet. I dropped him off at his meeting and then I ran home to continue with my set up.

I had planned to be at his starting point at app. 1:30PM to be able to park close enough and scout out things. That is until I got a call from my BIL who was on site early and mentionned that it was getting pretty crowded. So we all jumped into the car, the 2 girls, J, our nanny and L, my BFF. At this point I realized that they were clearing the snow on our street and that we were being plowed in. Not a chance! I drove that truck right over the snowbank and was ready to take on the dude that was waving me down! I had a torch relay to see!

We arrived, parked and then noticed what was going on. They had set up stands in the parking lot of the shopping center to accomodate lots and lots of people. And then they started coming! My cell phone would not stop ringing and I was freaking out! Many of our friends and family arrived to be part of this momentous moment. I had all my Canadian gear on, camera around my neck and a pile of Canadian flags that I had brought to had out to our friends. People were beginning to ask me for flags and wondering if I was the organizer :) One woman even said that I had done such a great job in setting all this up. Too funny! I had nothing to do with it. I was just their to see my husband carry the torch!

About a month ago, Gord decided to hire a videographer and photographer to record the event, much to my relief! I was getting really worried about taking pictures for him and failing. Now whatever pictures I did take were just extras. No stress! I was to take photos while L had the video camera. And we decided that we would run along side him. This proved not to be that simple. Snowbanks, crowds and cars got in the way.

Finally, after over an hour long wait, we could see the police cars arriving followed by the RBC and Coca-Cola trucks announcing the upcoming arrival of Gordon Farrell, the torchbearer. And the crowd went wild! Next thing you know, the bus stops and out he comes in full gear and bearing the torch with the hugest smile on his face! He looked a little panicked as he scanned the crowd looking for us. He made sure that we got our picture taken with him first before everyone jumped in with their requests. And there were many flashes going off while we waited the arrival of the flame. It was crazy!

And suddenly there it was, the Olmpic Flame coming along on a bike. Gord got into position as he was told and boom there was Gord's torch lit with the Olympic flame. Man! This is when you really feel it, the power that this symbol has. I was quite emotional to be in the presence of this flame that came all the way from Greece. The crowd went crazy! They must have felt it too.

Anyway, now with his torch lit, Gord began his run ever so slowly trying to savour the moment, trying to take it all in. I could tell that it was all too much for him and thus even more important for us to capture the moment on film for him for future viewing. So we all ran after him or in front of him to try to do just that. But those guys running along side him are RCMP officers and they were none too pleased with us. We were told many a times to get back on the sidewalk but somehow that did not seem to register :) Suddenly, Gord was asked to stop, unbenounced to him, to greet the mayor of Cote St. Luc and a few other officials. After being welcomed to the City of Cote St. Luc, Gord continued on on his final journey. Before we all knew it, the end was in sight as we saw the next torchbearer getting into position. He passed the flame on and Gord's torch was turned off. This glorious moment that will be forever engraved in our minds and hearts was over. He was escorted back into the bus to continue the relay with the fellow torchbearers and we all gathered once again, frozen through, to head back some for some celebratory drinks while we waited for his return.

After about an hour, I heard cheers from the front window as someone saw Gord running up to the house with about 5 teenagers in tow. They were all standing around taking each other's picture when I went out. What we didn't know was that when Gord got out of Town Hall, there was no one waiting for him (Of course, not! We were all home drinkin'!) So as he began his walk home, the kids stopped to ask if that was the REAL torch to which Gord said YES! They asked if they could hold it but Gord being his sly self, told them they could if they could catch him. These kids chased him down the street over the train tracks to our house before he stopped. At this point, he let them hold it! And he was not alone on his walk home. Smart!

We celebrated a little before Gord's surprise arrived. He rented a limobus that could hold 14 people to take us all out to chase the torch throughout the city. He had the itinarary written down (thanks to L) and that is exactly what we did. We caught up with it in Westmount but then had trouble seeing it again due to traffic so we opted to go straight to Place Jacques Cartier, the torch's final destination for the day and site of the evening celebrations. Good thing we had our snowsuits on as it was cold! The was some protests going on and the entire evening's plans was delayed by about an hour. We waited for the lighting of the cauldron and called it a night. It was enough for a day! A fabulous day at that!

' Twas the Night Before...

2009-12-09T22:53:00.000-05:00

Gord's Olympic Torch relay. And frankly, I'm a little nervous. There is a lot of snow out there. I know, I know... It's only 300 metres. He'll be fine. He'll do us proud. This is quite the honour and one that he will surely never forget, one that we all will never forget. And that's because Gord will never stop talking about it :) Just kidding, my dear.

Anyone and everyone that comes out to watch is welcome to join us back at the house for drinks and munchies. The stand for the torch has been set up for display purposes for all to view. Should be a great day. Will report back once it's all over.
Susan

Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry.

Tis the Season!

2009-12-09T09:47:00.006-05:00

It's official! The Christmas season is upon us. Festivities have begun and my Christmas shopping has not! What has happened to me? Usually most of my shopping is done before Halloween... And now I look at my Blackberry calendar and there are no openings in it whatsoever for shopping! Yikes!

Last Thursday, we played hookie as we do every year to go see Santa Claus at Complexe Desjardins with our friends J and C. We headed down a little earlier this year to beat the crowds and saw Santa in record time! Afterwards, it was off to our annual lunch at Baton Rouge before letting the girls play on the inflatables slides while one Mom shopped. We have this down to a science since we are now on our 7th year. And the day always ends with ice cream for the girls and an extremely large latté for the Moms!

This past Sunday was the Adoptive Families of Quebec's Annual Holiday Party. I help a dear friend plan this event à. My job is to purchase and wrap the children's presents. All 42 of them! Yup... that's right... 42. Perhaps I did not have time to worry about my own shopping as I was otherwise preoccupied...

All went well. We had over 100 in attendance this year. We had a lovely lunch of dim-sum folowed storytelling and then Santa's visit. Sadly, it was all over so quickly. It was sooo nice to see all the children especially all the new arrivals that were not around last year! Congrats to all those families!

Busy Times!

2009-11-29T21:45:00.013-05:00

It is been a busy couple of weeks. Thought I'd take a minute to recap.

Two weekends ago, the girls attended Gabba Gabba's 5th birthday party at Kazoum, one of those indoor playgrounds. They had such a great time running around and surprisingly, Alexia was able to keep up with all the big girls. Of course, she had her big sister to make sure she was OK!

It was yet another birthday party the following day. This time it was one of Alexia's music classmates, William, who turned 1. They had this most incredibly large inflatable set up in the local high school gym. His dad being a techer there obviously has connections. You may notice that there are more photos of this party as I knew no one there.

Last Saturday morning, we went to the Santa Claus Parade in downtown Montreal. We have been going to this event for the last several years and although it is fun for the kids, it is truly a huge effort for the parents. It's usually cold, you have to park miles away, lug your chairs and cameras and stuff all those miles only to sit there for an hour anxiously awaiting Santa Claus' arrival. And what does he do?? He zips by soooo quickly that I didn't even have time to snap a picture. And right behind his float is the street washers, you know spraying water and all! So I didn't get to see Santa but I got a free boot wash!

That same evening was the annual Fall Party for the Italian Association that I helped plan. All went well even though things were looking a little meeger days earlier. I nearly got an ulcer as no tickets were sold prior to the event. All tickets were sold at the door. A little difficult to plan when you don't know how many will show. In the end we had 130 people attend when we had planned for 140. Not a bad guess!

I wasn't really thinking when I planned a mini-reunion for Cara-Li's adoption group for the very next morning. We went for an early dim-sum lunch followed by another visit to an indoor playground, this time in Laval. We were there for nearly 4 hours and the girls were soooo exhausted by days end. They were both snoring in the back seat 5 seconds after we left! This day got me thinking. How many of our parents would have sat on terribly uncomfortable chair drinking terrible coffee for 4 hours while their children played? I know my parents wouldn't have!

And finally for this weekend, since Gordie is in St. Louis having a grand old time with the boys, we decided to sort of lay low. I took the girls to see Fantastic Mr. Fox last night. It was Alexia's first time at the movies. She was pretty good but didn't understand the concept of using her little voice when the movie was playing. Good thing we had lots of popcorn as that kept her mouth busy! This morning, after dropping the girls off at our friend, J's, house, I headed off for some power shopping. 23 kiddie gifts for the Italian Xmas party and 43 for the Chinese Xmas party! I had a plan and was able to purchase all but one gift. And all this before a 2:30 birthday party on the South Shore for M who turned 3. M's party was a snowman theme so it was snowman all the way from snowman foam art to snowman cookie decorating to a snowman BD cake. A great time was had by all!

Well, that's it for now. It is pretty late now on Sunday night and I need to get my beauty sleep! Night-night!

Frustrated!

2009-11-27T09:14:00.006-05:00

I am soooooo frustrated today! Everything in my life is either broken, degenerating, not working properly or falling apart!

my favorite little under-the-counter TV in the kitchen blew up the other night. Worst part is no one will fix it nor can I find a replacement. My life is over!
my NEW microwave is making a rattling sound
the NEW hinges on our kitchen cabinets are breaking one by one (I walked in the other day to find Gord with an entire cabinet door in his hand!)
my newly remodeled kitchen will never get finished (Gord refuses to paint the walls and new door)
Gord left the garage door open and a little family of mice moved in (we did catch the buggers though!)
my CD player will not play
Cara-Li's computer only connects to Internet when it wants to
my video Ipod is full and therefore cannot download any more shows (I have fixed this problem... bought a new, much bigger Ipod)
the door handle to Cara-Li's closet remained in my hand while the other one fell on my foot (those old glass knobs are VERY heavy!)
the closet door handle broke and poor nanny had to wait an hour to get her coat
there is a 10 foot long gash in my work office (we had water leaking between the walls) that I know will never get closed up
the lights on my dash in the car are all lit up making it look like a Xmas tree
my ceiling in the family room is falling down (water damage from 2 years ago)
Gord finally changed the outdoor light bulb that has been burnt for 2 months only to discover another one burnt out last night

Need I go on? Oh, yeah! I got up early this AM to go to Wal-Mart to get some things off my list. Forgot my purse at home...

Even Moms Make Mistakes!

2009-11-20T11:02:00.004-05:00

It has been a week since my 'odd' experience and I now feel OK to talk about it here.

We went out for dinner last Friday with 3 other couples to celebrate our dear friend P's birthday. You know, a night out, adults only at a really hip restaurant on Mont Royal. I was really looking forward to it as it had been a while since we had done this sans kids. In fact, the day started with an unexpected H1N1 vaccination. The regulations had changed and Cara-Li had the day off from school so we rushed off to get that done. Anyway, fast forward to dinner. We began the evening with cocktails, followed by a lovely dinner and lots and lots of wine. At one point after our main course, I began to feel a little funny. I wasn't able to follow the conversation. In fact, it made me feel like I was spiraling out of control. And then I felt it. I was going to pass out. Since I am a fainter by nature, I know what it feels like moments before the big crash. I was smart enough to reach over to the person next to me which happened to be birthday boy and state 'I am going to faint....'. At this point, Gord was also beside me as he saw that look on face (one that he has seen before). I was escorted outside to get some fresh air and that did bring me back a little. I was flopped over into their arms and I could feel myself going. I tried to convince myself to go but something inside me said not to as I had the feeling that I would never come back. So here I was, outside on Mont Royal street, flopped over feeling like I was circling the drain for what was about 10 minutes. A verrrrry long ten minutes as I fought and struggled. And then I was back. Just like that. I went back in the restaurant, drank some water as we waited to pay. And then, I was going again. The lights were going out again. So I was whisked off once again into the cool night air. By the time we went back in the restaurant a second time, we had really given all the patrons quite the show! No one really quite understood what was going on. After that, I was fine, shaken up a bit, but fine.

Another funny thing about that night. We were driving home when Gord decided we had to stop at a convenience store. What was really funny was that it was 10:36PM. Gord was going in to buy 4 bottles of water. In our younger days, we'd still be buying beer at that time!

Anyway, after what happened that night, I spent all of Saturday being grateful that I was alive. It was a very strange experience to say the least, one that I will not soon forget.

The moral of the story is even Moms make mistakes!

Cute Alexia Video

2009-11-13T15:32:00.005-05:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Isn't she just the cutest?

Interesting how no one commented on my trip to Hawaii...

Some People are Just Plain Lucky!

2009-11-08T12:45:00.005-05:00

I am very lucky to still see my childhood BFF on a very regular basis, LC. We have been through so much together: childhood play, puberty, boyfriends etc. When LC got married and had a child, her priorities changed (rightfully so) and I was single and childless. So enter my now BFF, LG. We met when we were in our early twenties and she has been there through cegep, boyfriends and many adult like problems. Needless to say, I consider myself extremely lucky to have two BFFs!

So a few weeks ago, my now BFF, LG, announces that she has won a trip to Hawaii! Lucky her. And everyone assumes that, she being single and I being her BFF, that I would be the lucky recepient of that second ticket to Hawaii. Also, LG is the one I went to Paris with last year and we decided that we would travel together once every 2 years. A shoe in, you all think. But she did the honorable thing and took the time to think about.

Last night, at my 25th High School Reunion, which I attended with LC, my childhood BFF, one of the door prizes was a 7-day cruise in the Caribean. I was feeling somewhat lucky and having won nothing of the 120 door prizes, I just assumed that my number, 126, was in that box to win the trip. And with every number being pulled out, my odds were getting greater. The MC draws the number and (enter drumroll here), the winning number was......................................................................................................................

127!!!!

My BFF is the winner! Great for her. Not so great for me as she just announced to me that after 6 years of being single (she's divorced), she now has a boyfriend. Guess who'll be going on the trip....

Fast forward to this morning, I call LG to tell her the funny outcome. That my 2 BFFs has both won trips and I was flat out on my ass! LG then proceeds to beat around the bush and finally announces that

I AM GOING TO HAWAII!!!!!!

YAHOO! So, in fact, having not actually won anything myself, I've got one trip to Hawaii in the bag and if I play my cards right and lobby quietly, LC may come to her senses and see that I am much more important that some new found boyfriend and take me instead! Heehee!

25th High School Reunion

2009-11-07T23:57:00.005-05:00

So today started off with a visit to my hairdresser to get my hair done for my 25th high school reunion. Wow! 25 years already! Where has all the time gone? I had been looking forward to this event for awhile yet I am still unsure why. My high school years weren't exactly the best years of my life. I was way too shy and way too insecure of myself. But for some reason, it was like I wanted to go back, stand tall and say to everyone, here I am! So that's what I did. I attended with my two girlfriends, the same two that I spent the entire 5 years attached to. It actually made many people smile to see us still together after all those years! Here is the one picture that I did manage to have taken. The organizing committee hired a photographer to snap shots of the entire evening and of every guest arriving on the red carpet (just like stars!). These pictures will be available in a few weeks and I will post more then.

I was not the only one to attend a party. Cara-Li and Alexia were invited to M's birthday party at Build-a-Bear Workshop. Here they are with Chocolate and Brownie, the new additions to our household!

Please Join us for a Tea Party!

2009-11-01T22:41:00.001-05:00

Stick a fork in me... I am done like dinner. When planning your daughter's 3rd birthday party with approximately 30 guests, here's a word of advice. Do not, under any circumstance, plan to have the party the day after Halloween! Halloween is already a day that requires lots of preparation. Costumes to plan and make, hundreds and hundreds of treat bags to pack, piles of pumpkins to carve. Not to mention the traditional dinner of pumpkin soup, chili and corn muffins. Add to this, a tea party. Oy!

I spent most of Saturday preparing the stuffing for 4 different tea sandwiches, baking teeny tiny cupcakes and scones, not to mention doing all the shopping. Then all of Sunday morning was dedicated to decorating and actually making and plating all the food. Good thing high tea is in the afternoon!

All little guests were asked to wear hat and gloves if they wished and were invited to bring their favorite teddy or doll for tea. We had some games for them such as 'Pin the Tea Bag on the Teapot' and 'Hot Tea Pot'. Not to mention some arts and crafts. Several types of teas were served (of course) along with the food. I forgot to make coffee (I was really concerned about the tea) and some people made comments that it was somewhat strange not to see any coffee in sight since we are afterall in the coffee business!

ll in all, it wa great. Alexia enjoyed her day and that's all that counts.

Here are some pictures of the day.

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T23:07:00.004-04:00

UPDATE: My babies' Halloween pictures are up on the RumourQueen web site! Go check them and the other cuties out!

Happy Halloween to one and all! Hope that you had a grand old time on this wonderful night. We had a blast with our 'Thing 1' and 'Thing 2' costumes. Our friend J was the 'Cat in the Hat'. Everyone on the streets loved the trio most especially the fellow trick or treaters. They looked great!

I forgot to take pictures of our twenty pumpkins. Must check with the neighbor to see if he got any. Check in later for some of these shots. They were pretty cool!

3 Years Old, Already!

2009-10-27T22:29:00.004-04:00

Today is my little Alexia's 3rd Birthday. How can that be? It seems it was not too long ago that we received the referral of an 8 month old baby girl? And now she is 3!

Alexia is such a great girl... smart, funny and quite a handful. She really does run this household as do most babies, I guess. Alexia loves her Jie Jie, Cara-Li, to pieces. Very often, she will reach over during a meal and give Cara-Li a big kiss on the cheek unsolicited. And that love goes both ways. Cara-Li takes such good care of her Mei Mei and enjoys playing with her tremendously. They are truly lucky to have one another.

Alexia, Xia Xia, my sweet pea... A very Happy Birthday to you!

We love you with all our hearts!

15 Years

2009-10-22T15:25:00.001-04:00

15 years ago today, on a lovely fall day, I said ''I do'' to my soul mate and best friend. We have been together, through thick and thin, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, forever do us part. Today I look at my children and I am so glad that Gord is their father and that we are a family. I love our little family and I wouldn't have this today if we did not say ''I do'' 15 years ago.

Happy Anniversay Gordie! I love you.

It's Official!

2009-10-19T20:33:00.005-04:00

My husband, Gord, has been selected to be an official torchbearer for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Gord will be an ambassador for our community and country by carrying and sharing the most sacred symbol of the Olympic Games — the Olympic Flame. Gord will live this dream on December 10, 2009 at approximately 2PM. He will run down Cote St. Luc Road between St. Ignatius and Elgin. You can be sure that I will be there with my two daughters to cheer him on with hopes to capture this moment. (Maybe I should hire a photographer !) You can join us too!

Charlie Bit Me

2009-10-04T22:07:00.003-04:00

I know, I know... a strange title for a post. But this is how it goes.

We were having supper this evening when Cara-Li and Alexia started re-enacting a video clip they saw on You Tube (don't ask how they found it), Charlie Bit Me. I'll give you a minute to watch. OK. So now this re-enactment has been going on for a couple of weeks and the girls were told that they must pretend to bite and pretend only. Well, you guessed it. Alexia forgot to pretend and bit Cara-Li's finger. First we thought it was part of the act but then we quickly realized that Cara-Li was in true pain. Worst part is Alexia wouldn't stop biting! So needless to say everyone was in tears (yes, Alexia too as we were yelling at her to stop) and Cara-Li ended up vomiting her entire dinner as well. A great way to end a rather tiresome weekend :(

One Year Ago

2009-10-02T19:01:00.000-04:00

One year ago this weekend, I was boarding a plane with my BFF Paris bound for a week of frolicking, wining and dining. Besides having a grand old time, I also gained some weight bringing me to the heaviest I had ever been. This morning, after my usual Friday weigh-in, I finally hit my target weight! After months of dieting and watching what I eat, I lost 15 pounds. That was my realistic goal that I had set. Now I will work on my not so realistic target weight and try to lose those additional pounds. Wish me luck!
Susan

Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry.

I'm Still Here!

2009-10-01T21:18:00.014-04:00

Wow. So much time has flown by since my last post. In fact, I was quite busy wining and dining for my birthday, that I simply did not have any time to write :) This is true, you know. I didn't have one particular shindig. It was more like lots of several little ones. Some at restaurants and some at friends and family. With an inpromptu adoption group dinner with 2 other families in between. And since I got a lovely new purse camera for my BD from Hubs, I was unclear on how to download my pics. All is solved and I am including some of them here.

Cara-Li and E playing a duet

In the last 2 weeks, the girls and I have been to the Shriners Circus with J. It is a cheesy circus but my goodness, is it ever fun! We go every year but this year's show was much improved. They had new acts and new talent but some things just never change. You HAVE to ride the elephant when you go to the Shriners Circus. It certainly is THE highlight of the evening!

Cara-Li and I also went to Cirque Eloize at PDA. This circus is more like Cirque du Soleil. In fact, many of the performers are ex-Cirque. This too was an excellent show.

It was the end of the soccer for Cara-Li this past weekend. Not a moment too soon for her. I just don't understand her. She complains about it until she gets to the field. And then off she goes playing like she enjoys it. And she's pretty darn good too!

Also this past weekend, Alexia moved into her toddler bed. I know some of you are thinking, what? She was in a crib until now. What can I say? She loved her crib! But more importantly, she now adores her new big little girl bed.

And on rainy Sunday, we went apple picking. I helped organize this trip with my Italian association and it was quite fun. We picked apples in the morning and then had a huge méchoui lunch with a band and entertainment. Needless to say there was no dinner that evening!

And finally, here is a picture of Alexia wearing her school uniform for the very first time. Check out the shoes... there's apples on them just like her uniform. Got these 3 years ago even before we knew who Alexia was!

The Big 4 - 2

2009-09-17T16:36:00.000-04:00

So today is my birthday. I'm 42 and happy about it! Really... life only begins now. I am in the best shape I have ever been, I feel great, I am blessed with 2 wonderful daughters and a great husband. Really. What more does one want or need? So off I go to supper with my 2 girls while Gord is in Toronto. We will have a celebratory dinner followed by cartoons in bed. What a day!

Various

2009-09-10T15:35:00.006-04:00

We finally are going ahead with our plans to build an extension to our cottage which will accomodate my dream mudroom... the mudroom that I have been thinking about and designing forever. So needless to say, I am more than thrilled that this will begin in October to be ready for the ski season! Along with this addition, we have also decided to change all the siding and the windows and doors of the cottage. Not a small project but a really good one. Anyway, now that this dream will soon be a reality, I went off to Ikea a couple of weeks to buy my PAX wardrobe, a wonderful system that will house all our winter ski stuff etc.

This mudroom will have room for 2 PAX of 5 feet long which equals LOTs of storage. Also, I need to mention at this point that the mudroom dimensions were based on the PAX. Anyway, part of the system I wanted has more than likely been discontinued so I will have to modify things slightly and since I was afraid that the rest would also be discontinued I ordered it immediately eventhough construction has yet to begin. Fast forward to last night as I lay in bed watching TV (and was nearly asleep), I saw a commercial for Ikea and their newest promotion. 20% off all PAX! What? I just spent oodles of money last week and now there's a sale. Well, this AM I was on the phone with them ready to pick a fight but lo and behold, they said that all I had to do was to go back with the bill and they would refund. Thank goodness!

Other news, I just signed up for yoga classes for the fall as well as get this.... piano lessons for myself! I've always wanted to play and this week when Cara-Li was trying to pull the wool over my eyes, I decided the only way to combat this was to actually take lessons myself. And really, why not?

First Day of School, Take 2

2009-09-08T16:02:00.000-04:00

This morning, I made the journey once again, down Ballantyne Street. This morning's destination... pre-school. That's right... it was Alexia's first day of pre-school at the same school that Cara-Li attended for 4 years. It was a walk that I had not made in one year and I had to choke back the tears when I looked down and saw my little baby holding by hand so thrilled to be going to the BIG school. With her backpack and all... so cute!

Since it was the first day, parents had to stay. Alexia is such an independant little girl that she was easily whisked away by one of the teachers to play with the other kids. On the occasion she would look up to see if we were still there. And smile. Alexia will be going every day this week as it is initiation week but as of next week, she will be going 2 mornings a week. Knowing her, she'd probably want to go every day!

A Very Special Day

2009-09-02T21:45:00.000-04:00

Two years ago, a very special little girl was placed in our arms in Nanchang, Jiangxi, China at app. 4:30PM. Our lives changed forever once again at that particular moment. Gord and I became parents for a second time while Cara-Li became Jie Jie for the very first time. Our little Guang Yun Xia changed us all. She graced us with her presence after a very long wait (we won't discuss that for those who are still waiting) and we couldn't have been more estatic. Cara-Li took her new role as big sister extremely seriously and is still, 2 years later, the BEST Jie Jie one could ever have! Alexia, better known as Xia Xia, has blossomed over that last 2 years and has integrated into our family so well that we can't even remember life without her. She is such a special little girl with her very own mind and will stand her ground. She is definitely a force to reckon with but we knew this going in. And we are happy about it! What is unbelievable is that it has been 2 years since we were in China and I swear it feels like it was yesterday. Every moment, every feeling is so extremely vivid in my mind. My hope is that I can hang on to these memories forever and ever seeing they are certainly the most happiest times of my life!

Happy Forever Family Day, Alexia Yun Xia!

THEN

NOW

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

2009-08-28T21:25:00.000-04:00

I keep hearing that Staples jingle when I think that all the kids are finally back in school! Cara-Li started 2nd grade today and from what I heard, all went well. She likes her new teacher and there are many new faces in her class. And she had spaghetti and chocolate ice cream for lunch. It doesn't get better than that! The bus ride was not an issue since she is no longer the youngest on the bus.

My baby is growing up!

Hi There!

2009-08-27T22:38:00.000-04:00

It has been so long since my last post. Summer sort of got in the way!

Let's see... what have we been up to this month of August.

Well, Cara-Li finished her day camp the first week of August although she did continue on with her swimming lessons (which end today). What a difference 9 weeks of daily lessons will make! She can really swim now and is super confident in the water, not like her dear old Mom that can't float if her life depended on it :)

Alexia also finished her day camp (one morning a week) last week. She, too, spent almost everyday at the pool though not in actual lessons. Alexia we must worry about. She has no qualms about jumping into the pool ...

We took the 2nd week of August off for our yearly summer vacay at the cottage. But with the weather we were having, we were less than thrilled. Turns out we had the best weather ever and we accomplished nothing as we were too busy lying on the dock or swimming in the lake. Best summer cottage vacation in many, many years!

Gord and I did split up for the first weekend of our vacation. Our niece, K, was getting married in Guelph, Ontario so Gord attended the wedding. We, the girls, were unable to make it as it also fell on Alexia's Chinese group reunion and since I was the organiser, felt that I should have been there. K's wedding was held in the evening and since we could not have the girls babysat, I would have ended up spending the evening in a hotel room. Too bad... would have loved to see our oldest niece get married. Congrats K and A and to their boys C and C!

The reunion... well, that went well. Auntie Loula joined us for this trip seeing that she did travel with us to China. It is the second time that we go to this little place near Trois-Rivières. Each family has their own little condo facing a beautiful lake. It is really a pleasant family-run place that are there to please. We decided to leave right after lunch on Friday seeing that t was a nice day and although check-in was at 4PM, we lounged around on the property. Families began to arrive and we soon began our usual 'Wine and Cheese' fest which carried on until the wee hours of the night. Much wine was consumed (and cheese too!). A couple of families were unable to attend but hey, everyone makes a huge effort to be there. It is so great to see all the little ones again! Each condo is equipped with a complete kitchen (though tiny!) but we opted for the meal plan which included Saturday night dinner and Sunday brunch. As usual, the weekend always comes to an end far too quickly but these wonderful moments spent together watching our little ones interact will keep us till we meet again next year!

Once our weekends were over, we all met back at the house to unload and reload the cars for our week at the cottage. I had strategically packed separate suitcases for each part of our vacation (Gord was on his own) but it was such a fabulous week (did I mention this yet?) that we never cracked open the second, larger suitcase. Which means we managed with the clothes that I had packed for the weekend. Which means we must have worn bathsuits the entire time :) Poor us! Here are some pics from our vacation though there aren't many as I didn't pick up the camera much. Signs of a good holiday...

So here we are on the eve of back-to-school. Cara-Li begins 2nd grade tomorrow while Alexia still has a couple of weeks to go before she begins 2 mornings a week at nursery school. All school supplies are purchased, books have been covered, uniforms and shoes checked. All that needs to be done now... Mom needs to come to terms that her baby will be in 2nd grade in less than 12 hours!

South Beach...

2009-08-01T10:09:00.003-04:00

No, we're not headed to South Beach (I wish, with the weather we are having!). We have been on the South Beach Diet for almost 3 weeks. Things are going pretty well. The first few days were a little tough with the no sugar, no carbs and no alcohol but I did manage to lose 4.5 lbs. in the first 2 weeks. This week we are in Phase 2 where we introduced some fruit, some carbs and some alcohol. Thus we are in better spirits :) And I lost 1 lb. Therefore, in total I've lost 5.5 lbs. on South Beach and and 3 on the crazy diet (well, it was actually 5 but then gained 2 back) for a total of 8.5 lbs. I now have 3.5 lbs. left to lose to be at my target (realistic) weight and 8.5 lbs to get to my dream (not so realistic) weight. I continue to walk but have slowed down on the gym. My knee has been hurting and I am not sure what it is caused by. Must check it out. In the meantime, we continue to plug away on this diet and are very happy with the results. you should see Gord. He has lost so much weight, he is hardly recognizable!

Forever Family Day #6

2009-07-27T21:35:00.005-04:00

THEN - 2003

NOW - 2009

Today, we celebrated our 6th Forever Day with our sweet Cara-Li. As we do every year, we began our day with me sliding into bed with her and hugging the bejesus out of her while telling her that I am the luckiest Mommy in the whole wide world. We normally try to take this day off of work in order to spend the entire day together as a family but this year due to many employees on vacation, I was unable to do so :( I did leave early so that we could head down to Chinatown where she was allowed to buy anything she wanted in any of the shops and, of course, we had the best Chinese dinner. It was soooo yummy as it was our first real meal in two weeks (more about this later). Our day also ended as it usually does on Forever Family Day. Cara-Li crawls on my belly and I stroke her hair until she falls asleep, just like we did 6 years ago in China. I love this day... it is my favorite celebration of the year! I love you my sweet Cara-Li!

Hepu Reunion 2009

2009-07-13T21:53:00.014-04:00

This past weekend, we had the pleasure of meeting up with our travel group that we went to China with for Cara-Li for our 6th annual reunion. 7 of the 8 families made the trip to Stoneham, Quebec where we rented 3 beautiful cottages (complete with hot tubs!) in the woods. The accomodations were great and we all had a fabulous time together as usual! Upon arrival, Cara-Li was gone within minutes to check out the place and play with the other girls. Completely out of character for her but we couldn't be more pleased! Since our last trip, Cara-Li has now learned to speak French and can easily communicate with the other girls. Obviously made a huge difference as we did not see her the entire weekend! In total there were 12 little girls ranging from 2 to 9 years old. There were sleepovers happening for all the age groups in differenct chalets but Cara-Li was not ready for that. There's always next year :)

We arrived mid-Friday afternoon and settled in before some of the others started to tricle in. Once everyone was accounted for, we began our annual 'Wine and Cheese Fest'. Everyone adds what the want to the buffet table and then the party begins. This is always my favorite evening of the entire weekend as most of us have not seen each other in a year and there is always lots to catch up with. Needless to say that this usually goes on until the wee hours of the morning and We always get a late start on the Saturday which this year was not a problem as we did not have anything planned. We did end up have a group lunch followed by a swim in the pool which was around the corner. Saturday night was once again a BBQ smorgisborg but ended somewhat earlier due to the night before. A lovely brunch was made by all the next mrning before it was time to wrap things up and make our way home. Another year gone by with our lovely little girls from China. Who can believe it.

Here are some pics of our weekend.

The girls playing 'spies' with their flashlights

I think we need to get a hot tub!

The BBQ Dads

The Girls. Aren't they all beauties?

The Parents. Aren't we all beauties :) Photo taken by Cara-Li with my SLR. She does a better job in framing than Gord does :)

Our little family of four

The Four Musketeers... Friends Forver!

On our way home, we made a pit stop at Montmorency Falls.

Mission 'Almost' Accomplished

2009-07-09T10:53:00.005-04:00

UPDATE: Our friend C. called mid-afternoon on Thursday to see if we wanted to join her and her lovely daughter, G, for a quick bite at the Bistro before going to see a bunch of people shave their heads for charity. So there... the mission was, in fact, accomplished!!

During the week last week, I had made plans to dine out Wednesday and Thursday of this week. As I was sitting on the dock last Sunday, I received a Facebook invite for dinner on Monday. Since we are going away this weekend, Friday dinner would be in Stoneham. That left Tuesday night to fill and I would NOT be doing any cooking! So I scrambled a little to find something and then I remembered that our town always has a theme night in the park on Tuesdays. Perfect... Russian night for Tuesday!

So this is how it all panned (and will pan) out:

Monday: Dinner at Vino Restaurant to celebrate Mortimer's Mom's birthday. I was invited by one of her friends via Facebook and joined her galpals for a very loud but delightful dinner.

Tuesday: Russian Night was rained out but since the girls were at our friend's house for the evening, Gord and I went to the local Bistro and had a renovation meeting, a do we or don't we kind of discussion. Lots of lychee martinis and wine were consumed and by then, we pretty much agreed to go all out on the renos.

Wednesday: Dinner at Tapeo (a tapas bar) with A and C, our dear old friends and neighbors. It was fabulous! Not only was the company great but the food was outstanding. Anyone in the Montreal area MUST try this restaurant!

Thursday: Problem. Our dinner with M and E to celebrate our 2 year referral day called to cancel. Now what? I am scrambling to find a solution. Help!

Friday: Wine and cheese with Cara-Li's adoption group in Stoneham. We are gettting together with all 8 families for our annual reunion. Sound be fun!

Saturday: BBQ dinner in Stoneham.

Sunday: Dinner on the road on the way home.

And finally, Monday is the start of Phase One of the South Beach Diet which will last 2 weeks. No starches, no sugars and no ALCOHOL! Yikes...

Happy Referral Day!

2009-07-06T22:57:00.000-04:00

Today, July 6th, marks 2 years since we got Alexia's referral. We didn't get to see her little face for another week but we did find out that there was an 8 month old baby girl named Guang Yun Xia waiting for us in China. And anyone who has gotten this call knows what a wonderful day referral day is. Certainly a day worth celebrating! In fact, we are going out for supper with another family that we travelled with this coming Thursday. We will be dining at the same restaurant as 2 years ago when we sat there totally consumed with excitement and anticipation. What a feeling! We are blessed to have this little girl join our family and the last 2 years could not have been the same without her. We love you Alexia Yun Xia!

Playgroup

2009-07-02T22:30:00.001-04:00

This was Alexia's first day at playgroup which she goes to one morning a week. She was too cute and so proud to be going to 'school' with her backpack and a snack. The dropoff went extremely well, too well in fact, as she did not even bat an eyelash when I dropped her off :( She was just too excited to be doing what she big sister is doing!

Happy Canada Day!

2009-07-01T23:54:00.005-04:00

First off, I would like to wish all my fellow Canadians a very Happy Canada Day! This is a day that we should be thankful that we are Canadians and truly be proud of who we are.

This is what we did on this day to commemorate it:

Since Canada Day fell on a Wednesday this year, we decided to spend it in town. Montreal-West always hold a parade through town followed by a party in the park complete with BBQ, bouncy games, cotton candy, band and fireworks.

Here is a photo of the Farrell Family on this day. Do you think we are proud Canadians?

There was a bunch of special guests at the parade such as clowns, RCMP officers and the SQ (provincial police).

The girls had such a great time with all their friends and most espedcially Cara-Li who got to stay out until 11:30PM to see the fireworks with her Dad!

Recap

2009-06-30T16:00:00.014-04:00

Whew! Time is certainly flying by and it's not because we're spending all our waking moments enjoying the summer. The weather has not been great but yet we are still busy with everything!

Here's what we've been up to:

Cara-Li finished school almost 2 weeks ago with rave reviews from her wonderful teacher, Mme. V, who mentionned to me that Cara-Li was the student that showed the greatest improved throughout the year. She started off hardly speaking any French and being very reserved and quiet to a a young girl who is no longer shy to speak French. As Mme. V put it, 'Cara-Li blossomed into a beautiful rose right before everyone's eyes.' It is soooo nice to hear this and after my 5 minute telephone conversation with Mme. V, I was certainly the proudest Mom on earth! Congratulations Cara-Li on your success in 1st grade!

For Father's Day, we went to Granby Zoo. Every year we go to a park of sorts with the girls on this day. It is a great way to spend the day. This year we packed a lunch as I didn't want to eat the usual junk available at these places. It was great fun! Granby Zoo has been totally renovated adding a waterpark which is always welcomed at the end of the day when it is really hot out. To end the day, we then had dinner at my parents' house.

These bats were NOT part of the zoo animals. They were just these wild things hanging up side down for a nap! They were HUGE!

Next... since Cara-Li finished school a week before most, we sent her to the Day Camp at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts with a neignbour of ours, S. There she discovered that a girl from her class was also attending. The day always started off with a visit to the museum, sketching what they saw and then followed by reproducing their interpretion of the art. They did some painting, sculpting, stain glass painting and watercolour. It all ended with a vernissage where we got to visit the museum and their art work. It was extremely fabulous and Cara-Li really enjoyed her week there. After the exhibit, we had 30 minutes to kill before picking up a frien, we decided to stop off at Pub Alexandre and I had a wonderful Kir Royale on the terrace just like in Paris! A great start to the weekend!

Cara-Li is now in the Mo-West Day Camp for 4 weeks and in swimming for 9 weeks. She seems to be having fun with the other 10 boys in her group. Yup... they assign 1 girl with 10 boys! Who was the planner here? I was going to ask to have her moved but apparently she likes her group and doesn't want to change. Should I start worrying yet???

A couple of weeks ago, I, along with some friends from the neighbourhood, started power walking in the evening. We do this twice a week and for one hour. We are a group of eight and although not everyone comes each time, you are always guaranteed to have someone to walk with. We meet at 8:30PM at a particular corner and whoever is there is there. It has been great and my legs are starting to feel it. This is part of my get fit and lose weight program that I am on. So I go to the gym 3 times a week and power walk for 2. I rest on weekends. Also, in two weeks I will be starting the South Beach diet. With this, I should be able to lose the extra pounds that i didn't lose in the crazy diet from a few weeks ago. I am proud to say that I have not gained any of that weight back either!

Last weekend was our first weekend at the cottage. Luckily, there were no surprises. Gord was with us which explains the lack of surprise! Gord mysteriously is never around when stuff goes wrong at the cottage ;) Well, we did have one surprise. M, who is the 7 year old granddaughter of our cottage neighbour, was up visiting. Cara-Li and M. have not seen each other in 2 years but did not miss a stride. They kept going back and forth from one house to the other the entire weekend. M. is 2 days older than Cara-Li and is also adopted but from Georgia (not USA but Russia) so they have a very special connection. Here are some pictures of the girls fishing. Too cute!

That is all for now. Will try to post more frequently instead of one huge one every 2 weeks.

Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-21T07:53:00.000-04:00

Dear Daddy,

We wish you, our Daddy, the bestest in the world, a very Happy Daddy's Day. We will have fun today going to the zoo to see all the animals. Thank you for all the things that you do for us like kissing our booboos and brushing our hair and playing with us.

We love you lots!!!

Your daughters,

Cara-Li and Alexia

Some Thoughts

2009-06-18T21:03:00.002-04:00

Some of you asked what were the results of that nutty diet I was on last week. I lost 5 lbs. in 1 week. I must say I felt like crap during that week but now my clothes are fitting so much better! I need to lose 5 more lbs. but the memories of last week are still too fresh to start again. I will wait a little before doing it again. Mom lost 7 lbs. and Gord lst 8 lbs. My first meal was not too tasty and I had trouble getting it in, lunch was a little better and pretty normal by dinner. Now I am trying to be careful of what I eat until I figure out some sort of plan. I also continue to exercise 3 times a week. We shall see...

A couple of bittersweet moments this week:

First, I unpacked the diaper bag and retired it for good. Great news as Alexia is out of diapers... sad news as I most probably will never use that bag again :(

Second, Cara-Li scored her first goal at soccer today in the pouring rain (what a trouper!). Sad part, Mom wasn't there to witness it (I'm not crazy to sit in the rain!).

Third, for the first time I thought to myself that 2 kids is as much as we can handle. Always thought that we might go for a third but at this point I really feel that 2 is just right for our family. A little sad...

There's the Finish Line!

2009-06-14T21:13:00.002-04:00

It is Sunday and it is the end of my silly diet. Let me back track.

Day 5: I woke up this morning feeling almost as bad as the day before sue to my wild cold. So I stayed in bed pretty much all day. Well, actually, I got up at 2PM and was in a car at 2:15PM making my way to the Cirque du Soleil. Yah! Just what I wanted to do today... I WAS a great show and did feel better afterwards. Mostly especially because we were allowed to eat chicken. Plain roasted chicken and tomates. So that is what we did right after the Circus and within minutes my belly started to ache. Not used to eating something so solid, I guess.

Day 6: Today was going to be a great day. We could have steak and veggies. The biggest part of my day was going to Loblaws to prepare for our feast. I got a honkin' piece of filet mignon at god knows what price and a huge variety of veggies to stir-fry. Did not enjoy my trip at the grocery store as I couldn't buy anything else and I was light-headed. But that. steak. was. some. good!

Day 7: And the final one. THANK GOD! Brown rice and veggies. OK. Not bad as it is the first carb in 7 days. It actually was pretty tasty.

Tomorrow: I have been thinking for a few days what I would eat on my very first day of real eating. Breakfast is a toss up between an english muffin and peanut butter or vanilla yogurt and berries. Hell. I might just have both! Lunch is for sure gonna be pizza. I have craving pizza since day 1 and if you know me well at all, pizza is not ONE of my favorite foods. Wierd! Dinner I think is going to be fish but I haven't figured out what sides. There. That's what I'm gonna have.

Through all this Gord has been painting the main bathroom from bright orange to a more subdued straw colour. Perhaps I'll have some pics tomorrow. It is still completely upside down.

And it continues...

2009-06-11T21:25:00.000-04:00

We are still plugging along on our diet and boy, it is really tough! But I have set my mind on this so I am getting through each day some how.

Day 3: Today was fruits & vegetables all day all the time. Not too bad but we were looking for something hot to eat. So for dinner, I made a delicious vegetable stir-fry that both Gord and I wolfed up. Along with the usual soup and things were not too bad.

Day 4: Today was bananas and milk. Yup, that's it, bananas and milk all day. So it was a smoothie for breakfast and well, bananas and milk for lunch and dinner. I, however, contracted whatever virus the girls had and went home at 3PM to lie down. Besides the terrible cough that I have had for a couple of days, I was hit with the worst cold of the year. So my meals were the least of my worries as i was trying not to die from my cold.

Let's see what tomorrow brings....

Day 1 & Day 2

2009-06-09T20:26:00.002-04:00

OK. So I started a 7-day cleansing diet yesterday. Yup. My mother, Gord and I are doing it. Let's just say, it has not been easy!

Day 1: All we were allowed to eat was vegetable soup (all you can eat) and fruit and nothing else. Basically, throughout the 7 days, you can eat all the soup you want or can (or can stand!). Eating fruit all day is not that easy. At one point you just want to eat something salty but you can't. So I showed up at work with a Banker's box full of fruits and soup. Everyone thought I was a little bit cooky. Gord called me mid-day stating that he was going to have a steak and a beer cause he just couldn't take it anymore (but he didn't). Anyway, by the end of the day, we were all pretty nasty so it was off to bed early with no Food Network viewing.

Day 2: Today was vegetable only day. Really was not easy! I like my veggies with dip or butter or sour cream or something. But I stuck it out and ate my soup and cold veggies. Yuck! By 4PM, I will literally starving and very light headed. But I munched on a carrot stick and it passed. For dinner, we were allowed to eat a baked potato with butter. I added some steamed asparagus and it was a dinner fit for a king! Topped it all off with some tomatoes, avocados and cucumber. Not bad however I still had huge hunger pains throughout my meal. It is now 9PM and I am going staight to bed with hopes of falling asleep quickly so as not to think about food too much!

Oops... I gotta go. Alexia needs to pipi and it sounds fairly urgent....

The Angry Post

2009-06-07T21:07:00.003-04:00

I have to say I am pretty upset about a couple of things this evening. It all started with last Thursday evening at Cara-Li's soccer game. All the parents were sitting in the stands watching their kids practice. Our team, the green team, was shorta player so the other team, the purple team, passed us a player. The mom of the said player started huffing in the stands stating that she wasn't sure that she wanted her daughter to switch team. Puhlease! They are 7 years old. But wait. It goes on. Besides the fact that she wouldn't shut up about this and that, she still managed to find time to make comments about how the green team really could not manage without her daughter. So every time her daughter came to her for water, mom begged her to return to the game quickly as her team really, really needed her. Double puhlease! She even made a comment about green player #5 (my Cara-Li) which I did not catch. Lucky for her as I was ready to deck her! Soccer Mom rage! But no. I kept my cool as I did not want to be confrontational with her. She was just not worth it!

Another hot topic this evening was the following. Our dear friends who live two blocks away on our street are moving away. Well, in fact, they are only moving two streets over. There was talk some months ago about throwing them a going away party. Great! I thought. Something to look forward to and plan. Well, guess what? The party has been planned and scheduled without our consultation at all. And it is going to be on a dayt hat we are not even going to be in town! Not only was I not asked to help plan it but it was planned on a day that we can not even attend the said party. And the party planners know that we are very close to this family. I mean really close! The 9 year old daughter of one party planner mentionned the date to me this afternoon and when I said that it would be impossible for us to be there, you know what she said?? Well, we'll just have to have a seperate party for them!! OK. I am really pissed off about it this and the more I think about it, the more upset I am getting. Ughhhh!

However, someone good things happened this weekend. Alexia is pretty much potty-trained. She's had no accidents during the day the entire week (we only started last week!), has been dry during her afternoon naps and was dry last night! Yeah Alexia! Gord and I finished up the few things in our bathroom that was renovated last year. And I did some paint touch ups around the house. We also went to a garage sale at Mortimer's Mom's house. They were raising money for Breast Cancer. The girls had fun with each other as usual. And finally, tonight, as we were going to bed, Cara-Li and I had a really nice talk about China. Just as a reminder, Mortimer's Mom's daughter Dumpling comes from the same orphanage as Cara-Li and they were together there for 5 months. Cara-Li always picks a different stuffy to sleep with every night and tonight it was Prescott's turn. Prescott is a fox that came to China with us when we went for Cara-Li. Cara-Li wanted to know what other stuffy had come along for the trip and that other lucky fellow was Canada Bear. But what she didn't know was that we had brought along 4 Canada Bears, 3 of which we put in a care package (along with other donations) to give to the orphanage the day we went to visit. We were not allowed to visit so we left our packages at the gate with a note stating that these goodies were for the babies and the nannies. Cara-Li then states that perhaps Dumpling had played with one of the Canada Bears that we had brought since she was a tiny baby in that orphanage at that time. Yup, perhaps she did. In fact, I hope she did. Anyway, it sure brought a smile to Cara-Li's face to think that our bear might have been in Dumpling's little hands before we actually even met her. So now I will go to bed with this thought instead of all the other nastiness that goes on in this world. Good night!

Weekend Wrap up

2009-06-01T21:10:00.011-04:00

Well, this past weekend didn't quite go as I had planned. There are so many things I want to do around the house before we start heading to the cottage in 3 three weeks (that's if the warm weather ever comes!). But for some reason, the weekends just slip by with no real accomplishments done. Cara-Li played soccer in the rain followed by a movie with her dad and her friend Dumpling and BB. The big plan this weekend was to visit with a family (Bonjour MJ!) that travelled with us to China for Alexia. They have an older daughter, MK, who is Cara-Li's age and travelled with them as well. So it was a little reunion for them too. They have recently moved to the Montreal area and we have been meaning to get together with them. It was great to see them again of course and their little one NL. For their visit, I made Ricardo's Vietnamese spring rolls which were fun to make and delicious. They consisted of rice noodles (not pictured), shrimp, chop suey, mango, cucumber, carrot, green onion and mint served with a peanut sauce. Yummy!

On Sunday, Cara-Li and Gord went to the cottage for a few hours so Alexia and I were alone for the better part of the day. So I decided that we would begin our toilet training session that I have been dreading for months. So off came the PJ bottoms and on went the training pants. Slippers were replaced my Crocs (in case of an accident) and a bowl was filled with candy. It was a tough go and after 2 accidenst and a nap, Alexia finally went to the potty. Finally!! I was justa bout to give up. She was very proud of herself and she loved getting a candy that she had been eyeing all day. Yummy!

Cara-Li finally came home and while potty training and making supper, we started making Zebra Cake. She has to do an English oral on her favorite dessert along with a description on how to make it. So out came the camera for a step by step instruction. We will be putting together a poster board and Cara-Li will explain it all. Here is the fianl product which we finally got to taste. PS: It is also my favorite!

Proud Moments

2009-05-29T21:37:00.008-04:00

Tonight, I am the proudest Mom ever! Since the beginning of time, Cara-Li has been a very reserved, very quiet, very pensive little girl. Very often afraid of things or scared of trying something new. Now I was exactly like her as a child if not worse as I was incredibly shy. I know what's its like to be a prisoner within your own body. It took my until my adult life to shake my shyness and fears away. So of course, I do not want Cara-Li to be like that. Things changed somewhat when she became a big sister. The role of big sister made her feel more secure of herself. And when she started first grade at this new school that is no-nonsense, she gained yet more confidence.

A couple of weeks ago, there was talk of doing a gymnastics show for the end of year. Now, when Cara-Li is concerned, you must never use the word 'show' as it scares her to no end. When she was younger, we would talk about her Christmas show and she would not sleep for nights on end as she worried so much about it. And then on show day, she simply would not perform. So today, needless to say, I was pretty stressed due to our past experiences. And we were in the big gym with lots of people watching. OMG! Gord actually bet that she wouldn't do it. As you can see in this photo, she is not particularily thrilled.

But then it was time for her part of the show. They warmed up a bit while showing us some of their talents. And then it was the big moment. Their skit was to one of the songs from CATS and you guessed it, Cara-Li was one of the cats. They were all too cute! She was absolutely fabulous! I didn't even know she could do such perfect cartwheels until tonight. And for the grand finale, Cara-Li was pushed up to the top by some girls, you know, à la cheerleader style. Amazing! My little girl did it, did a 'show' and survived to talk about it. And she was so proud of herself. And so was her Mom!

Like Mommy, Like Daughter

2009-05-28T19:56:00.002-04:00

Picture this:

Alexia has picked up one of my very worst habits and, at the age of 2 1/2, chews her nails and hang nails just like her Mom (which makes her Dad crazy!). So Alexia and I are watching In the Night Garden tonight and we are taking turns telling each not to chew our nails. It is hilarious!

Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry.

Playing Catch Up

2009-05-25T15:39:00.014-04:00

I haven't had any time to update my blog and frankly have been spending next to no time at my computer at home. With my new Blackberry, I can access all my e-mails and web sites from the comforts of my bed!

Anyway, I found some pictures from Mother's Day that I forgot to post. It was a terribly cold day on Mother's Day but we certainly tried to make the best of it. My younger brother

organized a lovely outing for all the Moms in our family including his wife's side of the family. We all went for brunch at the Golf Club where they got married. It was really great to just eat and eat and eat!

It is SOOOOOO easy to be a Mom to these two fabulous little girls. I am soooo lucky!

Last weekend was a long weekend for us Canadians, something about the 2 Queens' birthdays :) Anyway, we decided to head west down the 401 to visit Gord's family in Guelph, a little past Toronto. Besides the usual visits with his parents, we also got to spend quality time with the girls' two younger cousins, N & C. The 4 of them always have a grand old time together.

This year we went to the butterfly conservatory to check out the papillons. Funny that when we were driving home to Montreal (and doing Cara-Li's homework), we discovered that she was learning about the life cycle of a butterfly. Cool! We put what she was learning into practice!

We also spent a day and a half in Toronto. We had promised Cara-Li that we would visit the CN tower. Remember when she was asking about going to Paris and Italy to visit the Eiffel Tower and Pisa. Well, visiting the CN tower is much cheaper seeing that it is on the same continent as us! But first, Mamma was promised some shopping time. So we stopped at the Yorkdale Mall on our way and Lord behold, Gymboree was having a massive sale! Yes! My dream! We do not have Gymboree in Quebec so my visits are very few and far between. I usually place my orders by phone with a store in St. Louis that is attached to the hotel that Gord stays at or I order online and have it shipped to one of Gord's wonderful co-workers in St. Louis for him to bring back on his next trip. Now, stuff was already on sale and then there was an additional 30% off of everything! I made out like a bandit. However, I had spent so much time in that one store that it didn't leave me much time to hit my other favorites, Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma. In fact, I was so spent from the one hour of intense shopping that I was unable to purchase anything from the other stores. Too much pressure! To round off our day, we stopped off in Chinatown for some quick buys and a lovely dinner. Gord got us a really nice room on the 34th floor at the Sheraton with a wonderful view of the tower.

The girls were beyond excited and frankly, I was too as I was dying to try out the perfect sleeper bed with all its glorious bedding and pouffy pillows. We decided not to bring up Alexia's crib for the night as we decided that she could sleep in Cara-Li's blow-up Hello Kitty sleeping bag. Can we say excited? OMG! She went in it at 9PM and did not stop moving until 11PM when I threatened her. I slept with Cara-Li and for whatever reason, she did not stop moving either. I was hit by every one of her flying limbs and needless to say, I did not sleep a wink. So much for those perfect sleeper beds!!! Gord, however, slept in his own bed and woke up in the morning fresh as a daisy. Good thing they had Starbucks coffee in the room otherwise I would not have been able to start my day. We had a lovely buffet breakfast followed by a dip in the pool (Cara-Li loves hotels and must swim in all the pools). And then we were off to tackle that tower. Of course, by the time we got there, Alexia had fallen asleep. As a joke, I said to Cara-Li that sleeping babies do not have to pay to go up the tower. Now, we were at the highest point when Alexia woke up. You should have seen Cara-Li's face! She had this look of guilt and exclaimed that we hadn't paid for Alexia because she was sleeping. But now that she was up, she wanted to know how we would go about paying for her. Too cute! I explained that I was being silly but that in fact Alexia did not have to pay because she was under 4.

Here the girls are lying down on the glass floor that is 113 floors up! There is nothing below them. It is quite something to stand on that floor... I, personally, had a hard time.

And now I iclude the following two pictures because I thought they were pretty cool. Too bad I am not taking a photography class at this time :(

Stress on Different Levels

2009-05-12T09:39:00.003-04:00

Besides the fact that the price of gas is ridiculous, so is the service. Anyone who knows me knows that I will do everything to NOT pump my own gas. If it isn't Gord doing it then I will be sure to find a service station that will do it for me. I just don't pump gas, simple as that. But service stations are far and few between and add to that that it must be an Esso station (reduced price with company card), it is really hard to get gas should I really need it. Now, picture this. This AM, I really needed gas. No time to run out of gas on the highway (as has been done in the past). So I grin and bear it and go to an Esso station where I must pump my own gas. Pump #1 did not accept the discount card. Pump #2 did not actually have a hose in it. Pump #3 and #4 had OUT OF ORDER signs and pump #5 once again did not accept my card. There are 8 pumps at this station and only 3 work but I cannot get to them as they were either busy or non-accessible! I finally got gas which in total took 15 minutes! Now do you see why I HATE getting gas!

On another note, Cara-Li was doing her homework yesterday when she asked me to sit and do her reading with her. And so she begins. I usually sit there and listen to her to make sure she pronounces everything correctly but I do not necessarily always pay attention to the content. So these are the key words I hear. Mom, love, other side of the world, darker skin, black hair, belly. At this point, I catch on. It was a story about us. The daughter asks her Mom if she loves her eventhough she comes from the other side of the world, did not come out of her belly, has darker skin, has straight black hair and looks nothing like her. OK. It was well written and really showed how this Mom really loved her daughter despite all these differences. It ended with the daughter saying, '' I love you, Mom. MY MOM.'' So once I made sure that Cara-Li understand it properly (as it was in French), we discussed it. To which she exclaimed that it was a story about us, to which she followed up with a huge hug and a kiss and an I love you! What's amazing was that she didn't seem to be disturbed by all this and actually seemed quite sure of herself. What concerned me a little is that this was read in the class as it is in their reader. While I have no problems with adoption being discussed in class, I just hope it was done properly. Luckily, Cara-Li is not the only adoptee in her class, so she was not alone. When I asked her about it, she did not seem to be concerned. But the kids today, especially in our circle, are used to seeing blended families and therefore, they just see it as normal. Little bit stressful, though.

Hmmm....

2009-05-10T17:12:00.001-04:00

Got a workout outfit from the husband and kids today for Mother's Day. Not sure what to make of that... At least it was from Lululemon.

The Most Special Day of the Year

2009-05-10T07:57:00.001-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there.

Have a great day!

I LOVE Springtime!

2009-05-03T17:28:00.009-04:00

While I absolutely love the fall (as I am a fall baby), there is nothing better than a Spring weekend in Montreal! Us Montrealers have been cooped up way to long indoors through what is usually a loooong winter to miss out on a ray of sunshine. This weekend was a perfect example. While it wasn't the warmest weekend, it sure was a beautifully sunny weekend! Let me describe what our weekend was like.

It started off with a fabulous Open House Happy Hour at our dear friends house. They had officially, just hours earlier, purchased a new home and decided to invite anyone and everyone to visit it and, of course, have a drink (or two)! So that was our Friday evening. Mamma didn't have to cook. The Hostess planned for some munchies (lots of them) and that was dinner. Thanks MC! My two girls had a blast running through their old new house and we did not see them until 11PM when we finally decided to head home.

Next was soccer for Cara-Li early Saturday morning. After a late night, it took some coaxing to get everyone up. I, on the otherhand, have spring fever, so I was up early and mentally blowing out walls and redoing the entire front of our house. But for what I have in mind, I would a pile of money sooo.... we went to play soccer instead. Cara-Li needed a bit of a push and some convincing to play soccer. I personally want her to play as it is a social hour for me :) I get to chit-chat with our fellow neighbours. What??? I'm not allowed to be selfish? She's having fun... In fact, it turns out she did have fun. Yayyy! Apparently, she now likes soccer because she likes the uniform. Who knew I had a fashionista as a daughter. Anyway, after I dropped off Cara-Lu and Gord at the soccer fiels, Alexia nd I headed off to the huge neighbourhood garagre sale. I had a $100 to spend so I was ready! So a bunch of books later I came across a printer that I so desparately needed for work. I was quite pleased with myself with my $5 purchase most especially since a friend that happened to be going by was going to deliver it to me. But at the same vendor as the printer I see this:

I had completely forgotten that this was on my WANT list. I always set out to garage sales with a WANT and NEED list. Otherwise I tend to get sidetracked. Anyway, there it was. I did manage to get it down to $30 and for whatever reason I was waflling. Should I get it or not? In the end I did since my printer was leaving and thought I should probably add this bike to his load. You should have seen Cara-Li's face when she saw it. Pure joy! It is now installed in the back of my bike (which I have not ridden in 15 years! Mental note: go buy a helmet) and Alexia is in a baby seat on the back of Gord's bike. The Farrells can finally bike as a family!

Needless to say that Cara-Li and I biked all around town which brings me to the next topic of converation. (Can you tell I am having a glass (or 2) of wine as I type this?) Anyhoo. We biked in a part of town that we normally don't visit too much by foot. And there it is. The most amazing house! For sale!

So we biked by it one way. And then the other way. Rushed home to find it on the internet and sent Gord off to see it. We love it. We make an appointment to see it the next day.

Just to end off a most wonderful day, we, along with some very great friends,C, P and G, (who could be our neighbours should we buy said house) head off to dine at a Korean BBQ restaurant. Can you say yummy! It is now the flavour of the month. It is my new favourite cuisine. Perfect end to a perfect day. But when I get home, I find a Tweet from MM about bowling with the girls in the AM. Fabulous. A plan for the next day!

Cara-Li and I headed off to the bowling alley on Sunday AM (this is after Cara-Li asks about when she will do her homework. Mental note: Must get to that before sundown) while Alexia and Gord go grocery shopping. We meet up with MM and MD and their 2 wonderful daughters, Dumpling and BB. We had a fabulous time bowling (well the girls bowled while the parents caught up with stuff). And after bowling, we had a grand reunion at the grocery about 40 seconds later! You should have seen the girls in the parking lot. It was like they had never seen each other!

Now, here is the big moment. Will we be moving or not? We have an appointment to see this grand house in Mo-West. It is an old house built in 1890 (good for me as I love old houses) that has been completely renovated (great for Gord as he would prefer to not do so much work). We visit and we look. And for some reason, it doesn't speak to me. It is a beautiful home, don't get me wrong. But it is not right for us. The basement (while it is not finished) is most difficult to get to with its very narrow and steep stairwells. Same with the master bedroom on the 3rd floor. Gord announces that he would never sleep up there due to this. Well,with the 3rd floor not usable and the basement either, we are left with less space than our current house... much less space. In fact, our house is fine. All I wanted out of a another house is that old character that I find our house is lacking but I would not want to compromise any of the good things about our house. Our newly renovated basement and master bath. Our fabulous family room. It is our house and our home and we love it. We staying!

Next on tap was a quick bite to eat at a local spot (gotta love Mo-West!) and then off we went to the Lachine canal. Gord and C jogged while Cara-Li and I (along with P and G) biked along the canal (with a stop at the ice cream joint of course). What a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon! Wait. It did not end there. We went back to C and P's for a dip in the hot tub (by the way, did I mention we're geting a hot tub for the cottage AND town?) No. No. It did not end there. Cara-Li and Alexia went to J's house for a playdate while Mom went home to make dinner. Which is where I'm at. I prepared dinner (very quickly) and am now blogging with a glass of wine. I must say that this is the way to do it. Sorry about any typos that may have occured but there you go. I must now go tend to my dinner and continue to make plans to better this house! Where is that cheque book.....

PS: Any weekend that starts with Happy Hour and ends with Happy Hour is a great weekend exect when your daughter has to do homework before Monday Am..... (sigh!!!!)

Great Answers

2009-04-30T20:22:00.002-04:00

These girls are too funny and they surely have all the answers.

Cara-Li was waiting for her piano teacher to show up for her weekly lesson when I suggested that she practice her piece before his arrival. She mentionned that she did not know how to play it and since I am somewhat musically challenged, I was unable to help her. So I asked her nicely to sit at the piano and try her best and mentionned that Mozart would sit there and fiddle with the notes until he came up with some great masterpieces. To which she answered, ''Well, Mom. In case you haven't noticed, I am NOT Mozart!''

Now Alexia, another smartypants. We always set up on the dining room table to do Cara-Li's homework and often enough, Alexia will sit with us. She colours and thinks that she is doing homwork. So the other day, Alexia was screaming that she wanted to do homework. So I asked her to go get her colours and colouring books to which she responded, ''No Mommy. You go. I'm too busy!''

Where do they get all this stuff??

My Baby

2009-04-27T10:23:00.005-04:00

Today, my baby Alexia, is 2 1/2 years old. Where has the time gone? Wasn't it just yesterday that we were heading off to China to pick her up?

Alexia is the most strong-willed child I have ever met and she certainly gives us all a run for our money. She most especially has her Daddy wrapped around her little finger but that isn't much different from how Cara-Li was with her Dad at the same age. She has the sweetest smile and greatest laugh but watch out... it can turn into a screaming fest should things not go her way. Gone is Sweet Alexia and in comes Feisty and Whiny Alexia. It's a good thing she is really cute :) Alexia knows everything and understands everything. She can count and knows her ABCs but refuses categorically to learn the colours. And she knows that it bothers me so she does it on purpose to get them all wrong. Her vocabulary is incredible and has really improved in the last month. She makes complete sentences that have a noun, a verb and oh whatever else a sentence should have :)

We haven't started toilet training yet but this is the weekend. Today I explained to her how it's gonna go down. It will be intense one on one training all day Saturday (must get rid of Gord and Cara-Li). She gets to wear cute little girl underwear and gets candy when she goes to the potty. 1 candy for pee-pee and 2 candy for ca-ca. This worked with Cara-Li and she was completely trained within 2 weeks. She completely understood and headed off to the potty mubbling candy, candy, candy all the way there!

OK.. I'm off to get her a little cake as she just loves singing Happy Birthday and blowing out candles.

Home Sweet Home!

2009-04-26T21:25:00.003-04:00

Some years ago, before kids, I would come to this neighbourhood to trick-or-treat with my friend's daughter. I did this for a couple of years when Gord was out of town and I always loved the old homes and the friendliness of all the people. Now when was the last time you were offered a glass a wine (more than once in the evening) by the people at whose house you were begging for candy? On year two, I announced to Gord upon his return that we would one day move to Montreal-West. And I was serious. By December 1st of that year, we had bought ourselves a house in Mo-West (as it is lovingly called by all the locals) just down the street from our friends. We were scheduled to move in mid-May of the following year just about the same time that we were due to travel to China for Cara-Li. However, the Big Guy upstairs had other plans for us. Due to the SARS outbreak, our travels to China were postponed till the end of July and we had plenty of time to move in and settle in. Anyway, fast forward six years. This past Saturday was a glorious day breaking all records with a temperature of 29 degrees. We all headed out for a quick bike ride around the block when we ran into B and her daughter K (a 16 year old adoptee from China and the reason why we have our 2 girls) at the café. We stopped to chit chat for a bit when along came P and C with their daughter G (4 yo from China). We were invited by them for a playdate at the park for later in the day with S (6 yo from China) and J (4 yo from China). We continued on our journey to grab a bite to eat at the hot dog joint and then a quick bang trim for Cara-Li. This is when we ran into R with his 2 daughters (you guessed it... from China!). We managed to see all these people and we were but 5 minutes away from our house!

I, myself, had big plans of Spring cleaning but it was all indoors stuff. Hard to do when the weather is so nice. So, I pretty much did nothing but be out with the girls and shop a little. Gord, however, was a busy bee. Washing windows and digging stuff out of the garden in order to plant some new cedars. He did a fabulous job and honestly, I don't know why it took us so long to do this! Our backyard looks great... should think about having a garden party...

Photos

2009-04-25T07:44:00.004-04:00

Well, here you go. After being back for 2 weeks, I finally sat down early this AM to look at our Cuban vacation photos. Must say I am somewhat disappointed in my lack of photo taking and the quality of the photos I did manage to take. I am presently in a no photo mood. Oh well. All has been recorded in my little brain and the memories are there for me, for always. Anyway, here are some of the photos that I did manage to pluck out of the mess for your viewing.

Churro Withdrawal!

2009-04-13T20:07:00.008-04:00

Yes, we have been back from Cuba since late Friday and I have not had a churro in 3 days! I am dying! There was a churro cart along side the cotton candy cart in the lobby of the hotel and it was a struggle everyday as to what to eat first! One day in particular, I had 6 churros and 3 cotton candies. What a good day that was!

I have to say that Gord was brilliant in planning this trip. That's right, Gord... brilliant. We travelled with another family whose younger boy is in CL's class and whose older daughter is also a good friend of hers. This family also happens to be our neighbors. Anyway... when we were planning this trip, Gord was in charge of all arrangements. I personnaly hate reading Trip Advisor and searching the internet for the best deal. Gord decided we would try Cayo Coco this time around as everyone comments on how beautiful the beaches are there. The other family agreed to go where ever Gord thought was best. So let's just say, he was feeling a little pressure!

So why do I say that Gord was brillant you ask? Here is the list:

Cayo Coco has 23 kms of the most amazing beaches I have ever seen
He booked the VIP package which of course I was against due to its cost
This VIP package allowed us express check in and check out
This VIP package gave us an oceanfront view. Wow!
This VIP package got us 6 dinners at 6 a la carte restaurants therefore no buffets for dinner. Yeah!
The hotel was smart enough to make all our dinner reservations for our entire stay so no lining up with the rif-raf to get one
This VIP package got us beach towels delivered to our room daily so there was no running around for fresh ones
VIP package is the way to go
We flew out late Friday afternoon with arrival late evening. This meant that we left late the following Friday therefore getting a complete day at the beach
We returned on Good Friday which meant we still had 3 days off before returning to work on Tuesday
And finally, Gord left the clouds at home (he usually brings all the bad weather) thus breaking the curse that has been following us for years! We have a complete week of nothing but sun and more sun.

I have yet to go through our photos of the trip so I will post them in a couple of days. What have I done in the last 3 days you ask if I didn't go through my pics? I haven't the foggiest idea! And I didn't even touch our laundry yet!

Ah yes... Cara-Li received a kids cookbook for her BD last week and so today she decided that she would make something from it.

Voilà! A Bunny Salad for Easter! Too cute!

That is half a pear for the body with carrots as ears and curd cheese as a tail.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T08:31:00.000-04:00

Hope the Easter Bunny is good to you all.

Happy Easter!

Bye Bye!

2009-04-03T11:05:00.003-04:00

We bid you farewell as we begin our journey to Cayo Coco, Cuba! As of tonight, we will spending 7 glorious days at the Tryp Cayo Coco:

and as tomorrow morning, we will be swimming in this:

Talk to you all when we get back. Bye Bye!

7th Birthday Celebrations

2009-03-30T16:08:00.013-04:00

Today, we celebrated Cara-Li's 7th birthday with 14 dear friends from school and 'life'. It was a cooking party. The invitation was printed in the form of a recipe card and all guests had to make their own pizzas, salads and sundaes. Since the party was held at Loblaws, the kids had to go get their own groceries from the store. So upon arrival, each child received an apron and a chef hat. They were then divided into 3 teams. We had an adult assigned to each team and off we were to roam the store armed with a grocery list. My team was responsible for pizza ingredients. Up and down the aisles I went with 5 screaming kids running in all directions. Customers thought it to be the funniest thing to see 15 kids dressed like little chefs running through the store. That's because they were not the adult trying to control them :) Anyway, my team was pretty well-behaved until we approached the sliced olives. The 5 girls spotted them simultaneously and then as I watched in slow motion, there were a pile of olive cans flying in the air with one glass jar crashing to the ground. They all stopped, looked at each other, and one said, 'Guess we'll have to pay for that!' Too funny. Once in the kitchen, the kids had to chop, slice, and dice all the ingredients before actually making their pizzas, salads and sundaes. We also played theme appropriate game such as 'Pin the moustache on the chef' and 'Guess what this kitchen gadget does'. Auntie L made 2 wonderful 'pizza' cakes to help ring in her 7th birthday. The kids loved the fact that they could have pizza for dessert!

''7''

2009-03-26T10:17:00.002-04:00

Today is a very special day. My sweet Cara-Li is 7 years old. Where has the time gone? Where is that frightened little girl that we met in China some years ago? In her place, we have a young lady that is so full of life with so much love to give. Over the years, Cara-Li has gained the confidence needed and freed herself from her fears and inhibitions. In the first few days she was with us, I knew she was special, a child with a heart of gold. I handed her a bowl of Cheerios and after figuring out that it was food, she went around the room and fed all the other babies first before actually eating herself . Till this day, Cara-Li does the very same thing. Cara-Li... my baby, my girl, my everything! Happy Birthday. I love you with all my heart.

Love Mom

Sugar Shack 2009

2009-03-22T18:22:00.000-04:00

It is that time of year again when everyone in Quebec flocks to the Sugar Shacks to ingurgitate everything maple syrup. Eggs and maple syrup, ham and maple syrup, pancakes and maple syrup, beans and maple syrup. Well, you get the picture. We attended the Adoptive Families of Quebec Sugar Shack event again this year which was held in St. Eustache. It was lovely and quaint and the girls got to see their friends from China once again. They seem to get closer and closer with every event which what makes these get togethers so important and great!Myself, I had such a sugar high upon leaving as there was no stopping my intake. Diet, what diet?

As a side note, these photos were taken with my old 35mm Canon Rebel as I forgot my digital one at home. Anyway, you should have seen the guy at Costco's face when I brought in a roll to have developed. Priceless! But, these photos have been printed as opposed to the thousands I have stored on my PC from years gone by now. Now there's a project... actually printing them! I am on it.....

Cottage for Sale!

2009-03-20T22:05:00.001-04:00

So here we are at the cottage, myself, the girls and my friend L. Gord stayed in town since he is flying to Lake Louise in the morning. All is well, the heat is on, nothing is frozen. Perfect. I prepare for dinner as L unloads the car. No surprises there. L's job is also to start a fire but upon opening the fireplace door, she immediately shut it and scurried into the kitchen stating that we couldn't have a fire. Problem. Squirrel. Dead. Inside. After much contemplation and dinner, it was agreed that I would do the scooping while L would hold the bag. Yuck. After all this, L asks me if I still want a fire. Duh!

Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.

My 200th Post!

2009-03-20T09:26:00.002-04:00

Today marks my 200th post since I started this blog about 2 years ago. It started off as a blog to keep our family and friends up to date in our adoption journey but has now morphed into a blog about our life with our two daughters from China. I've had a great time trying to keep this blog up to date and many thanks to all of those who read it.

Last weekend, my 2 dear friends, L and C, and I went to Le Spa Scandinave to celebrate both their birthdays. I don't know if any of you have ever been to such a place but what a treat! There are 3 stations: hot, cold, relaxation. By the way, all the cold stations are outdoors as well as some of the hot stations. So basically, you start off by choosing one of the hot spots which could be a hot tub, sauna or steam bath and stay there a max. of 15 minutes. Then you are to jump into a cold spot which could be a pool of 64 degree F (16 C) water, a river shower or the river itself which is at 30 degrees F (1 C)! Cold let me tell you! But strangely enough, once you've jumped into the cold, you can easily stroll outside down the snow-covered paths with nothing but a dripping wet swimsuit and some flipflops. The weather was nice this time (40 F or 5 C) but the last time I went it was a balmy -13 F or -25 C! After the cold which usually lasts but a couple of minutes, you head off to a relaxation spot indoors for whatever time desired. You must remain quiet during the entire visit which can last a good couple of hours. You do hear the odd yelp or two when someone jumps into the cold waters! Too funny! A must do for anyone who has never been to a Nordic spa.

Welcome to moi!

2009-03-18T11:31:00.002-04:00

I have finally joined the 21st Century with my new Blackberry Storm!

Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.

Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2009-03-17T15:46:00.001-04:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day on and all!

Please Don't Laugh!

2009-03-16T10:05:00.005-04:00

OK. So here is my Year in Review 2008! I know, I know. Usually this kind of post is seen within a few days of the New Year but it took me this long to do it. What can I say? Enjoy!

Winners Once Again!

2009-03-12T10:50:00.007-04:00

Watch this little video clip that I entered for a radio contest on Virgin Radio and see what won us 2 tickets to the Cirque du Soleil this morning. Cara-Li is my Contest Cash Cow. She last won me $100 at Reno-Depot.

Welcome to Frozone!

2009-03-11T15:43:00.009-04:00

That is what I am calling our cottage these days... FROZONE! We went to the cottage last weekend and once again, surprise surprise, the furnace had stopped during the week. So the girls and I spent over an hour in the car waiting for the cottage to warm up before dropping them into their beds. I was soooo miffed first at the furnace, then at the furnace repair guy who came 2 months and then at Gordie for not doing something about it all. Anyway, long story short, repair guy came the next morning and found the problem so things seem to be working but for some reason, this cottage will be forever known as Frozone to me!

We had a lovely weekend of skiing and visitors. We had some very special guests, M, N and S, join us on Saturday afternoon carting a whole raclette dinner with them. I had never had this before and it was amazing! Nothing low-fat about this meal, let me tell you. We were supposed to have been joined by Mortimer's Mom and her clan for skiing and dinner but due to some rather bad news, they were unable to join us :( We then spent the entire Sunday skiing with our guests with M impressing us with her talents. I need to mention that M is only 2 years old! Quite impressive. Alexia, too, tried skiing for the very first time. She was soooo excited to be going skiing like her Jie Jie. All was great until she started to go down the baby hill. At this point, she was not so impressed. 2 runs and she was back in the daycare. Better luck next year!

And this is how Alexia actually enjoyed skiing... in her Daddy's arms!

And lastly, for my pictures on the week (my final assignment).

WEEK 4: Frame within a frame

WEEK 4: Natural Light

WEEK 4: Action

Togas and Cottages

2009-03-02T16:22:00.011-05:00

Phew!! What a weekend! Going to work is much easier, I am sure. Gord is in Arizona until Wednesday so I am alone with the girls. We did not go to the cottage this weekend as our dear friend J had her 10th birthday party, a Greek Mythology theme where all guests had to wear togas. Fine if it is 25 degrees out... not so much if it is -25 out! So we got up early in the AM and pulled out all our white sheets and tablecloths. I have not done this since I was 18! Alexia donned a card table tablecloth as she is little, Cara-Li had a slightly larger one and I wrapped myself in the largest tablecloth I could find. Lots of safety pins later and this is what we came up with.

J's parties are always the best! Her Mom always goes way out to convert their house into whatever the theme may be. So there were lots of columns and lots of flowing fabrics and lots of gold stuff. Of course, lunch was everything Greek from souvlaki to Greek salad to tzatziki... well you get the picture. For dessert, baklava and a chocolate fountain. Oh, of course, there was a birthday cake too! For entertainment, bobbing for olives (really large black grapes), Greek mythology quizzes and wonderwords, pin the eyeball on the the cyclops etc. There was a caricaturist on hand for all little guests to get their portrait done. Cara-Li's and Alexia's turned out so well that I already framed them and are ready for hanging. By the end of the said event, I dragged my 2 poor little tired children home (luckily we live just down the street) and dropped them into their beds. They were spent as I was!

We were supposed to lay low the next day but when I woke up to a wonderful and sunny morning, I convinced Cara-Li to go skiing. So off we were by 9:30 to get to the cottage to pick up our snow suits and then to the slopes 10 minutes from there. Only problem is once we got to the cottage (after we stopped at Ikea to get frames for the portraits), I discovered upon entering that our furnace had broken. Yup, saw my breath again. Twice in one week... I am seeing a pattern here. It was below 0 in the house and everything that is supposed to be in a liquid state was frozen solid. The question was, do I turn around and pretend that I was never there? After all, the damage is done. But the responsible side of me said no, you must assess the situation. So I dragged my 2 tired kids into the friggen igloo while I went into the basement to try to start the furnace. Need I remind you that Gord is sitting in balmy Arizona while my fingertips are falling off looking for the reset button on the furnace. It started at the flick of the switch and well, instead of watching the cottage thaw, we went skiing for a few hours. Once at the hill, I forgot about these recurring cottage troubles and picked up my new skis. Yes, I broke down and bought them. They were waiting for me at the pro shop as I had ordered them by phone. All is good with a new pair of skis. Upon our return to the cottage, all had thawed nicely except for a leak in the basement coming from the bathtub above which I think might have been there prior. Now, I believe that this is the 4th or 5th time the furnace has crapped out on us over the years. The furnace is new so I don't know exactly what causes it to stop. Well, it hasn't crapped out on us, it's always crapped out on ME in particular. Mysteriously, Gord is always out of the country and is usually somewhere very warm when all this happens. So I will be ordering the Freeze Alarm ASAP as I have asked Gord to do so so many times in the past. This little gizmo will alert you by phone when the temperature in the cottage drops below a certain degree. Happy Birthday, Gord! You just got yourself a early birthday present!

Conversations with a 6 year old

2009-02-27T15:45:00.003-05:00

This is the conversation that I had with Cara-Li yesterday.

CL: Mom?

ME: Yes?

CL: I want to go to Paris.

ME: Really? Why's that?

CL: I want to go see the Eiffel Tower... and the Mona Lisa.

ME: That's nice. Maybe Mommy will take you one day.

PAUSE

CL: Is Italy close to Paris?

ME: It's not too far, why?

CL: Can we go to the tower of Pisa also?

ME: Sure, why not.

PAUSE

CL: Mommy? In the meantime do you think we could go to New York City to see the Statue of Liberty? Daddy says NYC is nearby.

So from the sounds of this conversation, it looks like my daughter is extremely interested in tall structures of every kind! Perhaps we have a budding architect on our hands.

In Shock!

2009-02-26T15:49:00.006-05:00

This morning, upon arrival at the store, I noticed that someone was already there. Unusual as I always open and therefore am always first to arrive. Inside I see lights on but no one answers my call. And then I notice my breath. Goodness, the heating system broke down. Great! What I didn't know and I found out once my Dad peered his head out of the basement was that minutes before closing last night, there was some sort of explosion in our basement and the electrical box controlling the heating system had exploded and caught fire. That's right. Explosion, smoke, fire = not good! Since it had happened just before closing, all was controlled by my brothers. But imagine it had happened after closing... I wouldn't be sitting here at my desk today. Sure makes you think...

And now for my weekly photos.

WEEK 3: Up, Up and Away - Perspective

WEEK 3: The Orange Gerber - Shooting detail

Huge Problem

2009-02-25T12:31:00.003-05:00

That's right... I have a HUGE problem! As you know I started watching what I eat back in January in hopes of losing some weight. So I have reduced my portions, say no to seconds, cut down on most condiments and toppings and started working out. I have lost app. 5 lbs. But here's the problem... in the evenings after having spent some time on the computer doing some work, catching up on blogs and, of course, shopping, I like to watch a little television before I go to sleep. And every night, I get hungry. I want to eat everything in sight! But I don't (I might have a rice cake as opposed to my favorite Nutella and peanut butter sandwich) and I fall asleep frustrated. This morning I came to a realization that my problem is that I spend my last waking hour watching the Food Network while reading food magazines! Well, that'll do it! That'll send anyone on a diet over the edge!

Gotta go... my Dad is having a Big Mac. He's 80 years old. He certainly can't eat the whole thing. I'll be like a dog and eat his table scraps....

UPDATE: Bugger... he ate it all!

This and That

2009-02-23T14:54:00.010-05:00

Last Thursday, Gordie and I went out for our monthly dinner which was also our belated Valentine's date. For Christmas, we received from L. gift certificates for the Montreal High Lights Festival which is basically an entire festival revolving on fine dining. This year's represented city is Paris. Perfect. So I booked a dinner, 'The Best of Paris', at Verses Restaurant in Old Montreal. It was a 6-course meal accompanied by 6 glasses of wine (and a Kir Royale to start which I absolutely have to have everytime!). It was a very long-winded affair (close to 4 hours!) and quite tasty. But I don't know if I am just getting too picky... there was definitely room for improvement as far as service and menu planning went. It wasn't a cheap night out even with our gift certificates. When you spend that much money on a meal, I always want to be knocked off my feet... and I wasn't. Well, a little after 7 glasses of wine!

This past weekend we skied and skied and skied some more. It was glorious! Alexia spent the entire day at the daycare at the ski hill and fell asleep at 5PM in the car ride home. We tried to wake her for dinner but couldn't so she ended up sleeping 13 hours until 6AM the next morning! Poor thing! We skied for so long as we were unable to get Cara-Li to stop. She just got new skis and she was not phased a bit considering they were much longer. She can really ski and she just loves it! I, on the otherhand, tried some demo skis they had at the hill and I fell in love with a pair of Head skis. Now the question is, to buy or not to buy. What should I do?!?

Last week, 3 out of 4 of us were down and out. This week, Cara-Li is down. She's got the cold and cough thingy but hopefully it will not last too long. We all sort of bounced back pretty quickly. Cara-Li was somewhat sick on Saturday morning but she said that she was fine as she wanted to go skiing. Same for Sunday. This morning she asked me if she had to go to school as she was feeling sick. My response... If you felt fine to go skiing, you're fine to go to school!

I started a new photography class online a couple of weeks ago. I must say I am having trouble with my assignments. I only have the weekend to take my pictures but with so much skiing going on, there is really not much time left for photo taking. Last year when I took my last course, I was home with Alexia and therefore had free time during her naps for such things. So, anyway, I am enclosing some pix I took for my first 2 lessons although I am not highly impressed with myself.

WEEK 1: The Snowshoer - Rule of Thirds

WEEK 1: Frozen Lake Hughes - Leading Lines

WEEK 2: Lonely Pinecones - Minimal Depth of Field

WEEK 2: This way - Extended Depth of Field

Gettin' Fit & Drinkin'

2009-02-18T13:53:00.004-05:00

So I went home early yesterday but instead of going home to lie down, I went to the gym. That's right... I have been considering joining Curves for a while and I was given a free trial week which happens to be this week. So I decided to go even though I was not quite up to it. It wasn't too bad. Basically, the entire workout is 30 minutes which is right up my alley as I despise exercise! You should go 3 times a week for it to be effective. I figure even if I go twice, it's a hell of a lot more exercise than what I am doing now, which is none! My next visit... tomorrow morning.

A few people have asked what kind of martinis I favoured. My summer favourite was Lychee Martinis and my winter favourite was Cranberry Martinis. My new favourite drink is Champagne Cosmos. Now these are yummmmy!

One Man Standing

2009-02-17T11:27:00.006-05:00

This post is written as I sit at my desk literally dying. I have THE cold. It all started with Alexia early in the week which then proceeded to attack Gord and then I was hit in the middle of the night. Cara-Li seems to be the only one that is still healthy!

So this past weekend, we were graced with a visit from Mortimer's Mom and Family. We first met up at our ski hill where we skied together. The girls had soooo much fun together! They just kept buzzing up and down the hill with their moms in tow. We had a special mission to accomplish. MM made some heart-shaped stuffies that needed to be dropped off somewhere for someone to find. It is for The Toy Society and once found, they hope to get an e-mail from the finder. So off we went and the girls decided that they should be hung off of Tinkerbell's wings (little wooden characters that decorate the ski hill) but they really had to make sure no one saw them doing it. So one girl skied the bag down, the other hung it and one was the lookout. Now we are waiting to find out who is the lucky recepient of some very cute stuffies! After skiing, we all headed back to our cottage for some play, drinks and a Valentine's dinner. And MM made my girls a couple of heart stuffies as well! Very cute and the girls just love them!

Bento lunches that I made the girls for the ski hill

On Sunday, we headed home early as Cara-Li had a party to go to. In fact, she had a club meeting to go to. A CLUB MEETING! Apparently, in the bus, they created a club called the CFS (Cool Fast Spies). And true to all clubs, we are not allowed to know what goes on (well, we do because the party was held at 2 houses and adults were present!). Apparently, the created a special handshake and a bunch of rules that are not to be divulged to anyone! But, since we returned early, we were able to completed finish our master bathroom. Curtains are finally up!
And since we were home, I made this fabulous dinner of isreali couscous with roasted veggies and shrimp. To die for!

So I will now go curl up in a corner in my office and hide! Better still, I will sneak out of here early and go to bed! See ya...

Martinis... Yum-Yum!!

2009-02-13T13:39:00.003-05:00

D over at 3D mentionned that she was having a Martini Monday. Well, I have had a Martini Week!

It all started off with a speeding ticket on my way to work on Monday. Now, I was only going 50 km/hr but it happened to be at the the beginning of a school zone which is a 30 km zone. So $110.00 and 2 points later, I was back on my way to work. I must now find a new way to and fro work because I cannot tolerate driving 30 km/hr!

On Tuesday, I had several doctor and dentist appointments so I took the day off. I ended up spending the rest of my day working on my Italian association newsletter which had to be sent out ASAP. I worked on it until midnight at which point my eyes were popping out of their sockets! Not to mention that I had really worked my brain to the max as it had to be written in Italian. I think in English but cannot translate into Italian easily as it is not a Latin language. So I had to translate into French and then into Italian. Did I mention that I never studied Italian so I had all my Italian reference books out so as not to make too many mistakes. I did have it all proof read by a real Italian and I am proud to say that I did really well!

On Wednesday, I ended spending a good part of my day looking for a dead guy. Yup! Apparently, my duties for the Italian association does not end at being secretary. I got an e-mail from a family in Italy explaining that their brother had passed away 3 months ago here in our province and that they wanted to have his body returned. After many phone calls, I found the person who has his remains, some French guy living at the same address as Italian guy. Do I smell a scandal? How do I send an e-mail back home explaining all this? Anyway, I told them what I had found and figured they could come to their own conclusions!

Gord has not been around all that much in the last couple of weeks so I have pretty much been a single mom. Not bad. My girls are great so things ran pretty smoothly.

So, I do not need to mention that I have been sipping Martinis pretty regularily all week!

More Festivities and Could it be?

2009-01-30T15:36:00.004-05:00

UPDATE: I have finally included the pictures of Chinese New Year.

Another wonderful evening was spent with fabulous friends celebrating Chinese New Year. We decided to hold our annual dinner in Chinatown a few days after the fact so that we could get better service. And it was so much better than last year! The food was great, the service was great and they let us relax after dinner. Unlike like year where they were hovering over us to get us out ASAP! This year, we were a total of 24 people, with 7 girls from China ranging from 2 yo. to 16 yo. and one 9 yo. who is not Chinese but wishes she was! Along with these 6 families, also present were the godparents to our children. I can remember our first CNY back in 2004 where we only had about 8-10 people for our dinner. Our adoptive circle is certainly growing. I love it! As I was not much in the mood of taking pictures, Cara-Li went around with my SLR wrapped around her neck and snapped away. As it was late last night, I did not get a chance to download them yet. I will post them Sunday when we get home from the cottage. Anyway, it was great to see all the girls have such a great time. Everyone found a buddy and new friendships were formed. We now have lots of BFFs!

As a sidenote, my watching what I eat (well, except for last night) has been paying off. In the 15 days that I have started, I have lost 5 lbs. Could it be? I am dumbfounded! And thrilled! If I could only figure out what my target weight should be, then I would actually have a goal. And I am still wearing makeup daily and the recycling thing is also going well. And finally, Gord has not returned anything for me yet this year! Things are good at the Farrell residence!

Happy Chinese New Year!

2009-01-26T10:58:00.003-05:00

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Yesterday, we celebrated Chinese New Year with another 130 people with the Adoptive Families of Quebec. It was a great party that joined many Montreal adoptive families together to celebrate the arrival of the Year of the Ox. We have been going to these festivities yearly since before Cara-Li, therefore app. 7 years now, and it is amazing how many people you get to know over time. Some families have older kids while others have just got home with them. It is always such an emotional time to see all the wonderful children and extremely lucky parents all in one place. We are all so lucky to have each other to laugh and play and just enjoy one another's company. I love my adoptive family friends... they are all so great!

PS: Gordie was out of town and therefore not in the picture. Sorry Gordie!

Day 2

2009-01-16T09:49:00.002-05:00

I did not realize how often I rub my eyes in a day. Mascara is now on and I had raccoon eyes within 5 minutes!

Went out for supper last night with some old friends at a French bistro. I managed to eat a pretty decent meal that was not too fattening and I managed to stay away from the cheese plate and dessert. A very BIG feat for me indeed!

Problem now is the weekend. I LOVE to eat on weekends. Plus we have friends coming for weekend making it that much harder. Wish me luck!

Day 1

2009-01-15T09:36:00.002-05:00

It is now 9:30 AM on Day 1 of the start of my New Year's Resolutions. I have already taken one step forward and two steps back! Hugh!! This is not going to be easy!

As I got up this AM, I was determined to make things work. So I proceeded to prepare a salad for lunch. However, since I have not been grocery shopping in a dog's age, there wasn't a whole lot to throw in there. I like salads and don't mind eating them but there has to be some good stuff in it. So here is what I managed to put together: mesclun lettuce, sliced black olives, 1/2 can of tuna, chickpeas and sweet onions with a homemade salad dressing. I also packed a couple of clementines for dessert and some carrots for a snack. Next, I had to deal with breakfast. I never eat breakfast, only on weekends and then I have the works which is not really diet- friendly! So I had a yogurt topped with some granola. Passable. I really do need that granola to get that yogurt down. Yuck! This was my one step forward... resolution #2.

Now for the two steps back. My yogurt was in one of those individual cups and therefore not so good for my Reduce, Reuse, Recycle resolution. But to my defence... I did not buy them. My brother, who was leaving for Puerto Rico, needed to clean out his fridge and I was the lucky recepient of the said yogurts. Next, the makeup. After all the salad hoopla and the breakfast thing, there was no time for makeup. Well, to be truthful, I forgot! I remembered in the car and so I did a really girly thing that I never do when driving... searched through my purse for some makeup. I managed to muster up some lipstick but that was it. The mascara will have to wait until tomorrow!

Alive and Well

2009-01-14T16:31:00.004-05:00

No, I have not fallen off the face of the earth! I just find this time of the year the hardest. All I want to do is sleep! I have trouble getting to work and being motivated to make it through the day. Then i cannot wait to get home and hit the sack. For this reason, I have not really been on my computer very much and thus no blog entries.

But we are alive and kicking and today I wanted to discuss my New Year's Resolutions. I have three. But I decided that it would be unrealistic to begin on January 1st so I have told myself that the 15th is a more reasonable time to start. And guess what? Tomorrow is the 15th. Am I ready? Sort of, not really...

Here are my resolutions:

1) Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

We have always recycled but now I will be kicking it up a notch. Recycling will be a last resort. That is, while recycling is a great thing to do for the environment, reducing and reusing is far better. The items do not need to be recycled into something else if it will be reused and better still reduced. Therefore, no more individual yogurts, no more pre-packaged pieces of cheese etc. You get the picture. Also, before recycling, I take a good long look at it and think if there is another use for it. What Gord doesn't know yet that the next step is composting!

2) Lose Weight

Although my doctor says that for my age and my height, my weight is just fine. But I still feel that I am 15 lbs.ounds overweight. When we went to China for Alexia, I was 10 lbs overweight but I was convinced that I would lose them during our trip as I had when adopting Cara-Li. Clearly a second adoption is much less stressful and more of a vacation that I actually gained 5 lbs when over there! During my year off, I managed to trim of those 5 extra lbs. but regained them again when I went to Paris this past October! So there you have it... 15 lbs to go!

3) Apply Makeup

As silly as this may sound, I will as of tomorrow apply makeup on a daily basis. This will be extremely difficult for me as I hate the stuff! But really, I can make a little effort. Perhaps a little mascara and lipstick! I will let you know how this goes...

Gord, on the other hand, has one New Year's Resolution. No more returns for Susie. This means that whatever I buy that needs to be returned, I must return myself. In the past, I would buy, buy, buy and return, return. Well, Gord would do the returning. He has now put his foot down and he shall not return anything anymore! Well, in fact, he is still returning stuff that I purchased in December as this new rule is only applicable to stuff purchased in 2009! Hahaha!!!

Cheers!

2008-12-31T10:30:00.001-05:00

Wishing you all a very Happy and Properous New Year!

May 2009 bring nothing but Joy and Happiness to all!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-23T21:28:00.002-05:00

Cookies Galore!

2008-12-18T09:53:00.009-05:00

This past Tuesday, I hosted my 2nd Annual Cookie Exchange. We were a total of 10 bakers, everyone bringing with them a dozen cookies for every baker. So in just a couple of hours, we all got ourselves 10 dz. cookies to enjoy throughout the holidays. And all while sipping on festive martinis and nibbling on appies and of course, the actual cookies themselves! New friendships were made and old ones rekindled. Fun was had by all!

Here we all are with the packaged cookies (and drinks in hand!)

Here is the layout of our samplers (yum-yum!)

My cookie this year was the Walnut Shortbread.

Et voila! The finished, packaged product!

I must thank Gord for being the best waiter, bartender and photographer all the while taking care of the two girls!

Coming up for air!

2008-12-10T14:36:00.035-05:00

I haven't really had the time nor the energy nor the desire to make any posts of late but today, due to the snowstorm followed by ice rain that we've had, it is REALLY quiet at work.

So here's a summary in bullets of what we've been up since my last post.

A few weekends ago we headed up to the cottage to prepare it for the winter. Bringing in firewood, winterizing the windows, turning on the heated water line etc. I was in charge of feeding everyone and playing with the girls, of course!

A few weekends ago, we went to see the Santa Claus Parade downtown which I have never done even as a child. We also took the girls to see the Ogilvy window. It was, however, really, really cold!

On Friday the 28th, I had a doctor's appointment so I decided to take the entire day off and take the girls to see Santa Claus at Complexe Desjardins. This has been a yearly tradition since Cara-Li's arrival in 2003 with our dear friends C. & J. Needless to say, the girls played hooky from school :) We had lunch at Baton Rouge, saw Santa Claus, played and shopped in the mall. A great time was had by all!

On the Sunday, we were invited to G's Christening. It was a beautiful ceremony followed by a lovely lunch. The whole Church thing was cool because Cara-Li is doing Religious Studies at home with moi and so much stuff that we've covered was being talked about during the ceremony. Cara-Li kept looking over at me with the look of 'I know what he's talking about!'. She's much better that I was at her age where I'd just sit there and daydream.

Last weekend was a real busy one! We fell out of bed on Saturday morning and rushed out to get a tree as we were going to trim it that evening. We walked over to Alex's around the corner and picked up the nicest one he had and wheeled it home in our wagon. The girls were not impressed as they had to walk home.

Next, Cara-Li had a Gingerbread workshop to attend with her friend C. at the library. Their houses turned out to be works of art!

Upon her return it was off to the hairdresser's for their Christmas haircuts.

Alexia then went for nap while Gord took Cara-Li for their annual Skate with Buzz the Bee event at Concordia University. It is a fundraiser where they collect canned food for the less fortunate.

And finally, after dinner, we decorated our tree. I must say that by this point, I was spent and just wanted to get the whole thing over with. But a couple of glasses of wine did take the edge off :)

On Sunday, we attended the Adoptive Families of Quebec Holiday Party. It was held at a Dim Sum restaurant. Yummy! And of course, Santa came around and brought gifts to all the kids.

Once home, Cara-Li changed and was off to a birthday party at Loblaws where they had a Gingerbread House Workshop. Anyone need help with their houses? Cara-Li has become an expert!

And finally, I have taken pictures of my finished master bathroom. So here are the before and after!

BEFORE

AFTER