Celebrating Chinese New Year ~ Feb. 9th

For the second year in a row, we woke up with anticipation of seeing our fellow adoptive families, as FCCBC once again organized a banquet in Chinatown at the Floata Seafood Restaurant. We downplayed the "Year of the Snake", as snakes and I do not coexist at all...Nora was excited about wearing her "Chinese dress" despite the tight neck buttons, and tolerated having her hair braided, with assistance from Lewis to keep her head straight!

"Gung Hay Fat Choy"

The local girl guide troupe were assisting the children with making "snake" crafts, much cuter than the real thing!

Nora and Anna

Julie and Anna joined us with the "God of Fortune". He scared most of the
younger girls there but eventually Nora resorted to calling him "that funny guy"
after he handed her a red envelope with chocolate money in it. :)

Anna awaits the 8 course meal...

Lovely Isabella, Nora's fellow Gao-girl.

Our table, with Isabella's family from Whistler and Jenna's family from Victoria.

Julie was a good sport as she doesn't care for Chinese seafood much!

Happy to see our friends again.

Nora, Anna and Jenna storm the stage to view of the Lion dancers.

Isabella, Jenna and Nora...a colourful parade of cuteness!

The Lion dance wasn't so frightening this year, although it was just as loud!

Awaiting a picture together...

Love it!

Nora and Jenna overcome their timidity to touch the resting lion!

A true party girl... having so much fun.

Listening to a performance of Chinese instruments.

A chance to make "beautiful" music as well...

The best part of our afternoon out was the news that Isabella's family would host an adoption reunion in July at their parents' home in Kamloops, which we attended in 2011. Definitely something to look forward to, and we'll make sure not to have any drums or cymbals on hand seeing as we got our share of that today. :) And as you can imagine, our little princess was sound asleep not too long after starting the car ride home...

New Experiences ~ Jan. 30th - Feb. 7th

Nora and I enjoyed a delicious sushi lunch our with our friend Sherrie, with a quick stop by her house after. It was time to meet the newest member of her family, a little black kitten. Nora was so excited, but the feeling wasn't exactly mutual... :) Thankfully, no scratches were involved and "Mocha" eventually went into hiding. For living in a home with family members allergic to cats, this is about as close as we're going to get. (I would have a cat if I could...)

In the midst of a quiet week, Nora had a rare preschool field trip so it gave me a chance to watch her in action. The class attended a local gymnastics club where parents watched from afar, from the viewing area up above. Nora did fairly well with following group directions, as much as 3 years old can when being explained three separate circuits one after the other... yikes!

I'm only posting these in the very slim possibility that she turns out to be a future Olympian gymnast. Seeing as she didn't start training when she was 2, I don't think it'll happen... it's too late now.  :) Taekwondo is still a possibility...

"Hey buddy, not so fast... it's my turn!"

I observed with interest how Nora made a beeline to be as close as possible to the "adult" of the group, even squeezing her way in between others to be right there. Kind of like at church when the children come up in the service to hear a story... she just has to sit right by her Daddy, "Pastor Scott". :) She seems to relate better to adults than her peers right now, likely a consequence of having older brothers, too. (This noted when observing the pairing off of other little girls holding hands, dancing together... I'm sure the world of girls will be a shock to me after all boy dynamics.) Meanwhile, I spent the hour getting to know a fellow parent... a Fijiian man, as all the girlie-Moms grouped together elsewhere. I'm not always comfortable with the girl-politics, either. :)

Happy Birthday to Me! ~ Jan. 29th

Believe it or not, I had a choice to work on my birthday or not, and I said "Yes". Mind you, that was when I only had one shift booked for the whole month and so I was desperate. (I've since had many due to a co-worker's illness... not exactly how I wanted God to answer my prayers for more work!) It wasn't until noon that I finally let it slip out that it was my birthday. The rest of the shift was considerably different, with well wishes from everyone. My co-worker and friend, Megumi, even came in with flowers at lunch, and somehow I ended up with a cupcake as well. :) It's amazing how much goodwill there is when people know that it's the day you were born. The well-meaning compliments are funny too... like, "Wow, I had no idea you were that old!" Yeah, thanks... I could be your mother. :)

After a tiring but pleasant day...

Met with hand-made cards... so creative.

Scott is good to me.

Smirks from James always makes me smile. His card actually was addressed
with "To a beautiful mother..." I was so shocked, there is hope. :)

Aren't all lit candles just calling for help to be blown out by 3 year olds?!

Mom and Dad kindly delivered a cake after dinner,
because you can't expect all those boys to make one, right?

Being with my parents on my birthday always makes the day feel just right.
Makes sense seeing as we started life out together from day one.
 Each year, just makes it that much more meaningful.

Life is beautiful, full of sweet friends and family.
Thank you for being a part of my  lovely bouquet of blessings.

Enjoying time together, and apart! ~ Jan. 25-27th

Looking at our calendar last minute, it seemed a good weekend to go downtown and celebrate our birthdays. My parents were gracious to help out, as well as Auntie Darlene with having Nora the first night. Here's to the last days of being 44, with my newest friend, Seymour... he's shocked, too, that I'm almost 45!!

With Dine-Out Vancouver on, we enjoyed too many 3-course fine dining experiences. I would definitely recommend that for trying out new cuisine. The Thai food we tried had our noses running, but it was worth it! On Saturday, we attended Missions Fest, an event we hadn't been to for years. Looking for information for Charles in case he really enjoys his upcoming Guatemala trip, we also found opportunities to work in China for short or long-term experiences. We enjoyed thinking about "Someday"... for about 24 hours until the reality of being back with our children sort of cut short the dreaming. At least for now...

 Meanwhile, Nora was having a blast with Darlene and her family. For only 18 hrs, she lived life to the max!

Gavin meets Nora's best friend,  Teddy.

Silly times with Trevor.

Nora's wondering why Trevor's having a time out?   :)

Getting to sit at the "big" table.

Unlike Lewis, Gavin  still likes reading stories to Nora.
(I believe the novelty wears off eventually...)

Ice cream sandwiches before bedtime... can't get much better!

Helping "cook" breakfast.

So many fun ways to make a meal special.

Some time together before Trevor headed off for gymnastics.

Outside for some action.

Two beautiful smiles.

Gavin... a natural big brother. :)

Thanks everyone, for a great weekend... we really appreciated your assistance. For some reason, Grandma and Grandpa didn't have any photos of their time with the boys... go figure! But seeing "The Hobbit" movie together was a definite highlight. :) Call us anytime, if you want to borrow our children for 48 hours, give or take. :)