Anna

When Anna joined our family, we knew that, although she had had surgery in China, she still had some issues with her heart. Last month, she had her first appointment with the cardiologist and we were told further tests were necessary. Today we spent the day at Children's Hospital while Anna had a heart catheterization. She was such a great little patient and did so well, while winning over all the staff in cardiology with her antics. Unfortunately, the results showed that further surgery will be necessary. As there is no pediatric cardiovascular surgeon in our city, we will have to have the surgery completed in another city some time in the next few months. This was not the news we were hoping to hear; however, as we were leaving the hospital tonight, Robin commented how we were actually really quite lucky. Anna's condition is repairable - the surgery is far from experimental in nature. Other kids we saw today at the hospital may not be so fortunate. It is, at least, good to know what we are dealing with. We will now move forward and hope that the surgery can be scheduled as quickly as possible.

Happy Birthday Amy - Mar 20

March the 20th was Amy's fifth birthday and it was a huge milestone in our household. For years, we have told Amy that she can't chew gum until she's five (that kind of went out the window on our many plane trips to and around China this fall) and she won't be tall enough to go on "bumpy cars" until she's five either (we all have our fingers crossed that she actually is the next time we encounter them). Let's just say she has been looking forward to this day for quite some time.

The morning started with princess attire for everyone and a small birthday cake after breakfast.Amy insisted on wearing her Birthday Princess crown all day.

Mei Mei got into the spirit too with an old hand-me-down gown from her sister. Amy did point out that Mei Mei clearly needs to work on her princess manners as "we don't put our feet on the table during a party". I guess other times are acceptable.

Happy Birthday Princess.

After breakfast, we all got to work making dinner and decorating the cake. While Lin was playing with Mei Mei and keeping her occupied, I got Gui Hua, Pin and Amy to practice their decorating skills as they were responsible for decorating the cupcakes.

Ta da! The Belle cake, surrounded by cupcakes. No barbies were hurt in the making of this cake, just gummed up.

Robin barbecued for dinner, but first, he had to get his two princesses, who had already changed into their party princess dresses, to shovel off the deck first.

Finally it was time for dinner.

Amy told Kristin on the phone that this was the "boring adult party". Yep, looks like she's thrilled! Her "fun" kids party will be later in April.

Well, at least I was thrilled with how the cake turned out.

I was able to get ahold of a Chinese Magic candle. I love Amy's expression.

We thought this flame was impressive.

Then, it exploded, the petals burst open and they began to turn. And it began to belt out Happy Birthday (and it didn't stop . . . for three days). It was a big hit with everyone. Notice Amy's expression now on the right.

The present opening commenced . . . finally.

There was huge excitement with this box from Grandma Marilyn.

Yep! It was a skinned cat! Just what I almost wanted. (Actually, it's a Build a Bear and Amy is thrilled to be going on Friday to fill her kitty and bring it to life.)

Happy birthday my five year old. Hope you had a great day.

Puddle Jumping - March 16

This year, it feels as if winter is continuing forever! We still have a huge amount of snow left on the ground even though last year, it was all gone by this time.

The girls have been very anxious to try out their new rubber boots and have gone to great lengths to find that much coveted puddle in our yard.
And when they find it, they jump in it like crazy.
Come on spring. We have some very anxious puddle jumpers waiting for you.

Cuba!!! - Feb 18-25

This was my fourth trip to Cuba and I have to say, it is one of my favourite places. The history and culture are so interesting and the people are very friendly. We arrived early in the morning and hit the beach right away. This was how the kids napped on the first day and every day there after. It was always quite windy, so they never overheated with the towels on them. Two happy campers.

Sarah would often have an afternoon nap too. It might have had something to do with the nightclub.

Enjoying the sand and surf.

When your body is so hot, that ocean can feel a little chilly!

I brought all sorts of sand toys and the girls spent hours playing in the sand, creating architectural masterpieces. Okay, it was mainly just digging, but they still had lots of fun.

The perfect picture.

Amy was very excited to get her hair braided.

This was the perfect beach for kids. The water was very shallow and the waves made for great jumping. When the tide went out, the tidal pools were beautifully warm for playing in.

And the wind kept everyone cool, although it wasn't great for the hair.

A few of us had new attire tailor made.

Laura and Amy worked for a very long time one day on a mystery project.

The game of "robot" was very popular for the entire holiday.

It was the latest craze.

As was football. Naked football apparently!

The girls enjoyed spending time with Kristin and John.

Laura was spotted at the end of the day with her mittens on the beach. Strange child!

Tada! The mystery project is revealed. A Canadian sandman!

The girls were very excited to see what sculpture the cleaning staff would create each day.

Every night the staff at the resort would host a Kids' Show at 8 and then an adults' version at 10. In between, they would play bingo or trivia games. This was probably Amy's favourite part of the entire vacation. We would eat dinner in the restaurant later at night and would sit by the window so that we had a view of the stage. As soon as the host came on stage to announce the Kids' Show, Amy would go running out to take part. Let's just say, her dancing has become quite inspired by salsa dancing and it has become. . . umm . . . very interesting.

This was how we ended most of our evenings. Amy would still be up dancing with the adults while Mei Mei would be fast asleep in my arms. The kids and I would head off to bed after the show and the others would hit the nightclub.

We had a wonderful vacation and it was great to get away from the snow and the ice. Now, if we could just get rid of the white stuff here . . .

Toronto - Feb.17

Working in schools means that I can only take holidays during the break periods, so this year, I wanted to take advantage of being off work to take a winter vacation. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to work for Robin and he was only too happy for us to go away without him.

Hmm. I try not to take that personally!!

So, in the middle of February, the girls, my sister Carol and I packed up and headed for the heat and beaches of Cuba! Our itinerary took us through Toronto, so we were able to meet Sean and Kristin for a quick tour of the CN Tower and go for dinner. Amy was able to get some quality Big Sister time in as they zoomed in on the Toronto skyline.

And Anna was only too happy to hang out with her Big Brother.

While we were in China and dealing with Immigration stuff, we had asked my nieces Laura and Sarah to join us and help out with the kids, given we thought we were going to be there for quite some time and Robin had to get back to Canada. We felt bad that they both had their Chinese Visas when Anna's paperwork began to move and we knew we were coming home in a matter of days and, as a result, they were not able to come to China. So, we asked them, and my nephew Scott, to come along to Cuba. This made the trip lots of fun as only Laura had ever flown before.

Kristin also made plans for her boyfriend John and her to join us midway through our time in Cuba. Sean, had just recently taken some time off work and could not come. Darn.

We went out to the observation deck at the top of the CN Tower where it was just a little windy. I'm sure Sean, Scott and Anna were glad they did not have long hair, as was I.

After dinner, we left Sean and Kristin and went to our hotel by the airport to make getting our 6:30 flight a little easier. Good bye cold winter, hello sun and sand!

Chinese New Year Performance - Feb.12

Amy takes Chinese Dance lessons every week. They have the usual performance at the end of the year in May, but they also take part in a huge Chinese New Year Celebration. There are performers brought in from China, so it is quite the event.

These pictures were taken during rehearsal, as we had a bad angle and could not capture any good pictures of her during the show. The dance routine is quite the workout and Amy is usually exhausted after her class.

Here are the girls during the show. Amy is in the back row, third child from the right.

Whew! Finished!