Our 2 year Anniversary was celebrated in Chinatown

We did manage to celebrate with two other members of our original travel group to China. It was great to see everyone and to marvel at our lives with these little cherubs. And may I add "imps"! As you can see they had a ball running amuck in the Chinese restaurant. They ran continuously back and forth to the fish tank because Nimo was in there.... It is wonderful to see them together because now they know their history and know the others were with them in China. It is there longest link and one to nurture and cherish. We missed some of the others this year but they plan to come next year. Looking forward to more time to play.

ahhhh how the climate and seasons change

Time just keeps on a tickin' as I look back in these posts I am reminded of when we returned from China and AnnaLeisa played in the snow. It has been late this year and the weather milder. Last year was so dry we did not really get to play in the 'fun' snow. But our first snowfall this year fell on the holiday (Nov 11) and we did everything in one hour that we missed last year. We made snow angels - that sang - made a snowman and quite vigorously had a snowball fight. It was great fun and AnnaLeisa waddled and managed the playground quite famously. Since then we have had no further accumulation and that is fine with me.

Halloween was here!

AnnaLeisa was quite clear that she did not want Halloween and we decided we were going to "skip it...." Like we do bad music on the radio! But as the day came closer and I told AnnaLeisa there was a sign outside saying "No monsters allowed!" she became more half heartedly enthused. Daycare had a very low key party and she enjoyed the fun of dress up for about 5 minutes. When we arrived home from work and had 30 minutes for supper and then a possible quick stop at our neighbours I persevered with coaxing her to dress up. So off we went as some semblance of a "bear dog - named Yoyo". Well I could literally see the light bulb go off above her head when we stopped at our neighbors and she said "trick or treat" for the first time. You see AnnaLeisa had no association with Halloween and candy. Well I could not get her home. "Let's go to another one Mama!". So we did.. and the neighbours were so generous she was getting 5 at a stop. Sheeesh. So you can see from the pics she enjoyed her stash..... And was she excited about being out in the dark..... P.S. Note Lola in the last pic.

there is nothing like cake and ice cream

AnnaLeisa and I were invited to a friend's pool birthday party! Bao is eleven years old so we had fun with the older kids in the pool and then consumed energy in the form of cake and ice cream. Yahhh... good ole sugar. AnnaLeisa looks wonderful in these fully engrossed photos consuming cake with her eyes and anticipating the ice cream with fully devouring looks. She scrambled right in there to the front of the line and I loved watching her. She is not what one would consider shy.....

snippet

As a prelude one needs to know that Annaleisa loves loves loves tatooing her body. It can be with marker, stickers, paint or actual tatoos that wash off. In any event her favorite passtime is to color her body, or yours. The other day AnnaLeisa and I were going to daycare and work... it was after a long hiatus without seeing the moon. It was dark out and she saw the moon in the early dark hours of the day. She stood in the backyard with her arms outstretched and proclaimed loudly "moon! moon! I missed you so much, I am soo happy to see you, come on down and I will give you a big tatoo".....

made my day.

Brett's Visit

AnnaLeisa's cousin Brett was here for a week in the summer... boy did we have fun. It was great to have such a beautiful young man here to play and enjoy our home. thanks Brett.....
considering he is used to daily surfing the Atlantic ocean with his brother's he was somewhat landlocked here in the prairies. All I could do on a hot day was offer him the Legislature fountains for water while he was here.... Truly a different land for a fellow who is part fish.... or should I say dolphin?

Calendar pics

I have been creating a 2009 calendar for our travel group who all met in China in Oct of 06. It has been really fun to see the pics arrive and to compile a calendar including all of the girls. I have yet to see the final product but in the meantime I took oodles of pictures of AnnaLeisa .... here are some.