Heaven

Robin is in his glory! We are getting the vinyl in the kitchen, bathroom and laundry room redone before we sell the house, so the fridge had to be moved . . . into the family room. Robin can now sit on the couch, work on his computer and get food and drinks from the fridge all at the same time, without ever getting off the couch. Heaven.

I haven't told him the fridge is going back today.

Caught!

Last week, we had lunch with Amy's friends Ben and Julianne at McD's. Amy doesn't really like the food there, but it's the play structure that makes it a great time. We were late getting there, as we had to stay at home and wait for the storage containers to be delivered, which meant we only had a short amount of time to play. Julianne needed to get home for a nap, so we joined them. This way, the kids could continue to play at their house.

Ben decided to have some quiet time with his game thingy in his parents' bedroom, so Amy played with Julianne downstairs. Amy soon declared that she was going up to see what Ben was doing. When she didn't come down after about 10 minutes, I thought I should go up and check on them (I had visions of 'artwork' on the walls). This is what I found instead . . .. . . they were in bed together, snuggling!

Is this insight of what's yet to come??! I thought I should save this picture to include in the slide show at their wedding.

Corn on the Cob

We are finally having nice weather. Last night was such a pleasant night, that we broke out the patio furniture and had our first dinner el fresco.Amy and I went to Costco earlier in the day and she spotted one of her favourite foods - corn on the cob. All the other groceries went in the cart, but the corn was lovingly strapped into the child seat with her. We, of course, had corn for dinner, with Amy gobbling up her entire cob and part of Robin's. As I was bringing food to the table, Amy said, "You have two bums Mama!". I admit that I stopped for a moment to think about what she meant, but when I looked at my plate, I realized she was right. I did have two bums!

561 Days

Today is Day 561.

That is how many days Amy has been physically part of our family.

This is a significant number because Amy lived with PoPo ("My China Grandma"), Amy's Foster Mother in China, for 560 days. As of today, we will have had her one day longer than PoPo did. I can't imagine what it must have been like for PoPo, to have the child you love, removed from your house and your world, possibly forever. My life would be so empty without my girl.

I'm excited that we are going back to China so that Amy can be physically part of PoPo's world again, because, as PoPo said, "I can see her in my mind forever".

Busy

We have been so busy here - getting the house ready to go on the market, packing to de-clutter, making arrangements for trades people to either do things in this house or the new house, trying to finish up my course work, and getting ready for our trip to China. So why am I blogging now with all this to do? I'm not sure. Call it denial. I promise I'll get at it right after this one little post!


We've begun our immunizations for China and Amy was such a trooper. She received three needles, but only cried on the third one. That lasted for a few seconds until the nurse pulled out the stickers - gotta love stickers. We go back again for our final round in a few weeks.


She also had her 3 year old check up with "Dr. Gramouski" - not her real name, but it's how Amy pronounces it, even though she looks nothing like a mouse. Amy has gone from being at the minus 30th percentile (if there was such a thing) for weight, to the 75th percentile. She is also in the 99th percentile for height. That's my girl! We are all tall in our family, and if Amy keeps this rate of growth up, she'll be taller than Sean (6'4") by the time she's twelve.


Our plans for China are slowly coming together. Once we solidify our hotel in Hong Kong, I'll post further information.


We went to my Dad's for the weekend. This will be the last time I am able to go until June, so I needed to get his taxes and books done. Needless to say, it was a busy weekend. Amy was really into Easter Egg hunting so it was repeated a number of times. She doesn't really care what's inside the plastic egg, but really cares about the hunt. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so no pictures.


Amy has been busy lately doing "work". She sees Robin and I on our laptops so often doing our "work" (unfortunately, most of it being real "work"), that she feels she should do some too. She received this adorable table and chair from Grandma Marilyn for her birthday and the laptop from Sophie. She has set up shop in the family room and always asks for "some privacy" while she's working.
Okay, back to the boxes and tape. The storage container is coming on Friday and I hope to have everything ready to go by then.

Arlene's Birthday Party - Sunday, April 5th

I took the girls to the pool on Sunday and then we began preparations for a birthday party for Arlene. Her mom, Shirley, and friend, Marion, are here from Newfoundland, so we celebrated six weeks late so they could be at the party.
My sister Carol, Arlene and her mom.
I can't seem to get a picture of Amy without some goofiness. She and Betty (well, mostly Betty) were a great help with the dinner party.

Carol, Arlene, Shirley, Marion and Marion's boyfriend, Robin. This is a bit of a running joke. Marion is an amazing cook and Robin loves to eat, especially some of the Newfoundland dishes Marion makes. As a result, Robin is sweet on Marion.

A Weekend with Betty - April 4th

We were lucky enough to have our friend Betty come to stay with us for the weekend.
Saturday morning began with Play-Doh and then off to run errands with Daddy while I tried to finish off University stuff. Who's idea was it to assign twenty page papers? What was I thinking?

Some of the beautiful creations made by the girls.