The Birthday Girl ~ Nov. 6th

With Nora's special day falling on a Sunday, I made an extra effort to dress her for church. One of the boys commented that she looked "Chinese". Okay, son.... well, Nora IS Chinese! It was kind of funny. With having bought so many of these outfits when we were in China, it would be nice to wear them sometime.

A beautiful picture of our two November babies!

Trying to get Nora to sit still is always "fun" but at least you can see my attempt at french braiding her hair. (Thanks to tips from Darlene, and Lewis' help distracting her in the process!) By the end of the morning, it was all undone.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Nora! It's been quite a year for us together. You've changed and grown up so much... you have hair! You understand English and can communicate well . You're running and jumping, and into everything, as quick as can be. You kiss and hug, you laugh and shriek... silent no more. We could do with less screaming, but we're so thankful that you're healthy and happy, and bringing so much joy to each of us. We love you, and look forward to all our adventures together in this next year.

And lastly, to honour Nora's birth mother, for her gift of life to Nora and to us, for her personal sacrifice that we do not know details of... we can't help but think of you today, to imagine your loss. To say "Thank you" will never suffice enough.

Dream of You

Today I'm sitting at the spot

I call our secret place

With eyes closed tight I dream of you

The tears stream down my face

I left you here a year ago

It was to my despair

The emptiness within me

Is more than I can bear

Where are you today my darling?

Where are you today my dear?

A part of me is missing

I wish you still were here

Are you perhaps in China

Maybe right down the street

Sometimes I walk right by that place

In hopes our eyes will meet

I left you here my daughter

I left you in this place

Each time I close my eyes at night

My dreams fill with your face

I will always love you

I will always care

Even though I left you here

My dreams are yours to share

Please forgive me little one

There was no other choice

When you close your eyes at night

Your heartbeat is my voice.

Tom Fisher  (c) September 16, 2004

A sweet visit ~ Nov.5th

Saturday afternoon we were happy to have our friend Darlene visit. "Auntie" Darlene came with many treats!

Darlene is an amazing baker and cake decorator. Her Halloween cupcakes were so much fun... 

Nora was happy to once again model her giraffe costume... we want to get our money's worth out of it! :)

Nora is very intense about opening gifts now. She carefully studies the card.

She concentrates on doing each tear just right...

A giggle of glee... a new jacket!

Thanks Darlene! You'll be keeping Nora stylish in the months ahead. Hope to see you soon!

Celebrating Birthdays Out ~ Nov. 5th

Saturday night, we were finally all together to go out for dinner. After driving around Langley, hearing that the waits were an hour long, we ended up at Montana's... only waited 30 minutes. (Good thing we had the extra hour with the time change to work with.) Despite being way past her regular mealtime, Nora did well entertaining herself by drawing on the table. (It's encouraged...)

On one side of the table, the family members with "bangs". These two are actually my male clones as well.

On the other side, well... let's say these family members prefer foreheads! :) Regardless, I'd have to say it's wonderful to see James smiling!

And then there's Nora, who depending on the hour, as to whether the barrettes are pulled out or not, can go either way with her styles. We don't care how her hair is, as long as she's happy!

She certainly devoured her meal, which was all the best of ours... but her favourite was the lollipop. Again, not a safe choice for her, as she bit it off the stick eventually. We had a most enjoyable, delicious night out.

Thomas turns 13! ~ Nov. 3rd

It's not always fun having your birthday on a weekday, but you try to make the most of it. Thomas is hardly awake, but still happy. Now that he's in high school, I guess we won't be sending Timbits to the classroom. :(

Can you believe it? We have three teenagers now!

Before dinner, Scott arrived home so that  Thomas could open his gifts...

Thomas had a good day, enjoying the attention of his friends. Nora surprises him with some new watercolour pencils. :)

A new watch, to replace one lost at the pool...

Nora nods affirmatively at the mention of her upcoming birthday. She has "connected the dots" in that she will have a balloon taped to the back of her highchair on her birthday... as Thomas has one on his chair. She really is a smart girl! We'll be continuing the celebration over the weekend...

Halloween 2011

The night that so many children await... such a bizarre occasion really. I have a close friend that we often ask each other,"What exactly are we celebrating again?" For us, it's the fun in dressing up, in going out to meet our neighbours, and then having a block party together on our cul-de-sac, where our local fireman-neighbour supervises the fireworks.  That's not something I particularly like, but the food is good as well as the company. (And of course, the candy....)

This year James was off to work from 4-8pm, so this is how he dressed to cook his hamburgers on the grill. Nice, hey?! His friends joined him after work to light fireworks down the street. One friend burned his fingers somehow, which was quite scary but thankfully there is no permanent damage. I'm hoping they all learned something from the experience. Teenagers... sure can drive you crazy! Charles went to hang out with his calmer friends in a neighbouring area. (At least that's what we were told!)

The Jack-o-lanterns on display. There are three photos to get all the sides of Charles' pumpkin on the left... his creative offerings as a skater-dude.  Thomas' pumpkin in the centre is supposed to be an "Angry Bird" from the video game, and Lewis created his version of an inverted face.

From the depths of the dress-up box, this is the combination Lewis came up with. He was pleased when I labelled it as a real "something" by telling him he could be "The Phantom of the Opera". He has no clue what that is, and no one asked him... but it works. (Suit jacket was compliments from Thomas' Gr. 7 graduation!)

Thomas was more traditional with the pirate outfit, clothing which we've had on hand for years. I must say he froze when outside. There was no way we could convince him to where a jacket etc. Let's say we weren't surprised when he wanted to come home early!

Posing with our little giraffe was not the easiest task... we asked Nora repeatedly to stay still and keep her head down.

Eventually Nora popped her head up... it's all so exciting! She certainly had fun dressing up. She stayed in her stroller for most of the evening, only getting the occasional candy given to her. The ones she had, she certainly enjoyed, even if her hands were frozen. She's a good sport, for sure. See you next year!

Pumpkin Prep ~ Oct. 30th

In attempting to stay on top of things, we carved up our pumpkins a day early. (Maybe most of you smart people out there do that regularly, but I 'm just figuring it out!) I actually didn't have to do anything, which was a first. I mostly just supervise the safe handling of knives, and try to keep my sharp intakes of breath to a minimum. :) James has moved on to other things now (work), although I feel confident that  he has learning the art of the jack-o-lantern well enough.

Nora sat close by, in a much safer location, to observe the bizarre goings-on. (Because when you think about it, this is a fairly strange activity.)

It was quite a fun afternoon, as the boys got quite silly. I think they were trying to convince Nora that eating pumpkin guts is quite tasty...

She was presented with her own mound of pumpkin to explore...

In the end, the pumpkins were all carved in quite abstract designs that didn't work out super well but... they had so much fun together that I really don't mind.

There's just nothing quite like hearing boys giggle!

Nora took a little while to figure out what this "sucker-thing" was, but once she tasted it, there was no going back. Well, not until she bit it off the stick and I had to fish the candy out of her mouth. Perhaps not the most age-appropriate thing to eat yet! :) She will have fun tomorrow!

Halloween trial-run

I was pretty excited when I found Nora a suitable costume just days before Halloween, especially at a 50% markdown. She was even more excited to dress up in her giraffe outfit. It's one of the words she can sign, so I can tell when she wants to put this on. Knowing that she was enthusiastic about wearing this was great, as you never know if a child may not cooperate with dressing up.

Saturday morning, we got ready to do our first "run". My workplace was having an event to allow children to "trick-or-treat" to visit the residents in their cottages. Where there's candy involved, Thomas and Lewis are game to be there, too. (They also remembered it from last year.) Even though Nora didn't know what was going on, give her a bucket and she's on her way, too.

Lewis, in his modified, non-scary version of the "Phantom of the Opera"!

My friend Megumi had helped organize the event. Her daughter was pretty cute in her butterfly costume.

H. was also very generous, giving any candy that she had to Nora. What a sweetie!

The girls started out their picture posing alright...

... but then resorted to their usual scrapping. :) Nora didn't want to give any of the candy back!

They are very sweet together though. Sure didn't take Nora long to figure out the concept here with the candy. She learned how to say "treat" and take lollipops out of the paper bags that the residents' were holding. (With help from Mom, too.)

Thomas and Lewis are sweet guys, too. Gotta love them! I like it that they can see where I work.