What are you doing mommy?

Nobody, but nobody in this house can have food while Emma doesn't and not expect her to come and ever so kindly offer to "share"!!

E: Mommy, what are you having?
M: A piece of cake.
E: Yummy, yummy cake, can I have cake?
M: You've already had your cake.
E: Can I have more?
Me: No.
E: Okay, I will share with you. (such a generous child!)

Finally time to move...

In the next week or two, I'll be closing down this blog and replacing it with a new one. I'd like a little more anonymity. The one thing I regret in creating this blog was using the kids' names in the title. As far as I know, there's no way to change that (I know I can change the actual name but if the address of the blog has the kids' names in it, it's not getting me any further!lol) other than creating a new blog. Of course, when I created this blog so family and friends could follow us on our adoption trip, I didn't expect it would still be around over a year and a half later! Since I don't want this blog linked to the new one, if you'd like the new address, please e-mail me at the address listed on the right side of this blog or leave a comment. Oh, and since I completely lack imagination, any suggestions as to how to refer to Thomas and Emma in the new blog greatly appreciated!!lol Thanks everyone!

P.S.: For those of you wondering why your comments are not showing up on this post, because most comments include a private email address, I've opted not to publish them as I thought some of you might not want your email addresses published - but I have saved all comments. :-)

This is what I call fun!

We had some heavy rains this afternoon and by evening, things had cleared. I wanted a little fresh air so Emma and I headed out for a walk through the neighbourhood. She asked if she could jump in the puddles and she thought she must have heard wrong when I told her YES!lol She kept saying "really mommy, I can jump in the puddle"... really Emma, you can jump in the puddle. She kept getting ready to jump in and looking over at me and saying "you're not tricking?"lol I figured after our walk she was heading for the bathtub anyhow and her sneakers would have time to dry overnight, so why not!! Let me tell you, she hit every single puddle she found in the half hour or so we were out... she had the best time ever and the dirty clothes and wet sneakers were worth the ear to ear grin on her face! Unfortunately, the camera stayed at home on this outing!

What to do on a rainy day...

Gary was off to work for a few hours this morning so it was just the kids and me. It's unfortunately a cold and rainy day so no easy morning spent at the park. Thomas had mentioned wanting to get a particular book (we never say no to books) so I thought a trip to the bookstore might pass a bit of the morning. Well, we ended up picking up a couple of books for Thomas, a couple of sticker books for Emma, a book for me and then we went to the coffee shop and settled in with drinks and snacks and the kids and I read/did stickers for an hour... actually quite a relaxing outing!

Off to the farm we go!

It was a lovely warm day today so we decided to take the kids to a little neighbourhood farm to see the animals - both of them really love all animals.

Thomas

A new little friend... raccoons are really kind of cute when they're not tearing apart your garbage cans!lol

Thomas - who was most excited about seeing a black and white cat and a raccoon at the farm (neither one of which is officially part of the farm!) Gee, we have 2 black and white cats and a whole slew of raccoons in our back yard, we could lounge in our back yard and see both, we don't need to drive 30 minutes to a farm!

Thomas trying to show Emma how to make the funny faces he's gotten so good at doing when I'm trying to take pictures of him!

Emma's new friend - I think he needs a better dental care program!lol

Emma and Rebecca

Emma and Rebecca met for a playdate at a park this morning. Here are a few closeups that I thought were really cute. The girls are so sweet together. They interact so well and play so nicely. :-)

Seville

Gary just got back from a week's trip in Seville, Spain. It looks like a pretty and historical city. While he's definitely not the photographer in the family, I handed him a pocked sized Canon and asked him to at least take a few pics. He did and here are a few nice pics from Seville. The pics are of a colourful building in the old part of the city, what is apparently Christopher Columbus' tomb and a pic in an old shipyard - amazing architecture!

This and that...

Here's a picture of the kids from a birthday party they attended yesterday. I wasn't sure how Emma would respond to her first encounter with a clown, but she handled it with aplomb... one little girl at the party refused to come into the room while the clown was there but our Emma took it all in stride and even went up to help the clown with a trick!

Yesterday was the first day in about a week that we got out and about. Emma has been sick with a high fever, reaching 105.5 at one point! I've never seen a fever that high before! This is when I really hate that we don't know anything about her family's health history. The doctor thought she most likely had a virus that would pass in a few days, but he still had us bring her in for strep, blood and urine tests. And would you believe that through the whole thing, she lay on the exam table, holding my hand and singing... not a tear in sight - well, I was close to tears but she was fine!lol Sometimes I worry that she's a little too tough... Anyhow, the fever broke after a few days and while she was pretty much a limp rag for a couple more days, she was finally back to her old self yesterday. She loved the birthday party and we went to friends' for a swim and hot tub - Emma and Thomas both loved the hot tub...really, what's not to like!

Too cute for pictures!

A few weeks ago, M3 posted a "swimsuit edition" post where she linked to a variety of swimsuits she was thinking of getting for the girls. Well, I just fell in love with one of the suits and had to order it. Emma wore it today to her swim class - simply too cute for words!! I won't post the pics here but if you want to see, leave a comment or e-mail me. I know a lot of members of the adoption community are into ladybugs - I'm not one of them, but if you are, you might like this little number I found on the same site as Emma's suit.

Mother's Day Relaxation

We actually celebrated yesterday with family so today just the 4 of us got to hang out. In between grocery shopping, Sunday school and swim lessons, I got to sit back and relax a bit. I ordered these great pillows at Restoration Hardware so I set up my outdoor sitting area which is one of my fave places to relax. I then got a book and a blanket and got comfy on my swing for an hour of reading... ah, there's not much better than that

New wheels!!

I got a new van this week (yeah, I know, I know, but it's so convenient for carpool, especially those automatic doors and rear hatch!) but I'm not talking about my new wheels, look at the little number Emma picked up yesterday!!

Day trip!

Carolyn, Rebecca, Emma and I took a road trip to visit Samantha and Jade today. It was so wonderful to see them again - it had been over 6 months since we'd last seen them. The girls had a blast - and the destruction in Sam's house is proof - sorry about the mess Sam! It was just so wonderful to see the girls together, they played so nicely. It was a great day.

Look at those 3 little faces and tell me they don't spell trouble!!lol

Jade having a snack.

Rebecca, Emma and Jade visiting with one of Jade's cats.

Emma and Rebecca running down the driveway... love the speed - look at Emma's ponytail flying in the wind!lol

Rebecca getting ready to race her cart down the driveway.

Potentially a pretty pic of Emma if I can Photoshop the runny nose and food on her chin!lol

What are they up to?

When we were packing up our gear to head out of Samantha's place, it got really quiet... we went off looking for the girls...looks like they'd all decided that Jade's bed was a really fun place to play!

Our morning out

Here's Emma, Queen of the Beach!

It's a little windy down here!

The trees are finally blooming!

Forget about smelling the flowers, I'm playing in the dirt!

Teach your children well...

DH is at work and Thomas is at a friend's for a few hours which meant Emma and I were left to our own devices which of course meant a trip to the beach! When we're in the car, Emma likes to dictate the music we play. Most often when she gets to pick what we listen to, we get stuck listening to Sesame Street. However, we've been trying to widen her horizons. So, today, from the back of the car I hear "Mommy, can we listen to Hey Jude and Hotel California"... YAY!!! Goodbye Big Bird!!!lol

Let's do lunch!

Doesn't Emma just look like she's heading out for a lunch date?lol She's not overly fond of the sun our Emma and most mornings when we head downstairs into the kitchen, the first words out of her mouth these days are "I don't like the sun" as she orders us to close the curtains! Needless to say, she's amassing quite the collection of sunglasses! Also, I bought a new summer purse this week. Emma has never shown any interest whatsoever in my purses, but she has fallen in love with this lovely summer Cole Haan number and spirits it away from me at every occasion. There's nothing like being in a hurry to leave the house and having to search high and low to find where your 2 year old has left your purse!!lol

Mandarin lessons

Thomas has been taking once a week Mandarin lessons for the last few months. I was just listening to him with his teacher tonight and I had no clue what was going on!! She was pretty much just speaking to him in Mandarin and he was speaking right back. I was so amazingly impressed... an hour a week and he seems to be learning so much!!! Gary's also teaching him and Emma some basics in Mandarin such as colours, numbers, animals, body parts and all that good stuff. Emma obviously must think that Mommy is a moron because she regularly tells me that Daddy is teaching her Chinese and she's teaching Mommy! The saddest part is that she's right...her Mandarin vocabulary has way surpassed mine by now, and Thomas' even more so!

Misc. Emma pics

Here's Emma, all ready to head out for our bicycle ride.

Emma insisted on getting her picture taken with Toby. He was less than thrilled at the prospect but since she kept following him around and plopping herself right by him, he finally gave in!lol

It's just as much fun to go up slides as it is to come down!

Here's another use for those cute little tables in the family room - they're great to practice doing the splits!

Do you like my ankle bracelet?

Morning cuddles

Here are Thomas and Emma all snuggled up this morning while Thomas reads to her... so sweet my babies!