tracing.....

The wrapping that the scroll came in was a wonderful craft. The kids played on that for at least a hour. They coloured and coloured and thought it was pretty cool that I was allowing them to colour on the floor. Madisyn turned to get a crayon and I got this picture. She looks so big.

 I absolutely love this smile....she makes our family so happy.....We love you Yan Yan

  She wanted to trace her hands and feet onto the paper....and then she printed her name. Then that went into the kids tracing their..................................

                                           bodies. She giggled and laughed while I traced around her body and then quickly wanted to colour it. Then we took turns doing all the daycare kids as well. A very good day~!

                                      Busy colouring.....this craft kept them busy for a long time......

writing her name

Miss Diva now can write her name without the dots. She is doing so awesome and makes this momma's heart burst with pride. She is such a wonderful, smart little girl and I am proud!!!!

She loves to write her name but not the letter "S" so much because it reminds her of a snake..funny little girl.

chinese scroll

While we were in Beijing, our wonderful guide Lily had scrolls made for us. The cherry blossoms and everything on here is hand drawn and painted.

This was made onto a wooden scroll, but to make it some what affordable to frame, we had to take it of the scroll.

It's on acid free backing, reflective glass so the sun can't fade it and the glass is unbreakable. The frame itself looks like bamboo. They made it look very asian. We are very happy!

                                This scroll as Miss Diva's Chinese characters and birth date.

Family Day!!!!

On Family Day, we decided that we would take the princess downtown to The Children's Museum. They had an entire floor of items from China and we wanted to check it out.

 They had it decorated for Chinese New Year, it was nice to see the red lanterns hanging, it reminded me of China.

 They had a giant keyboard upstairs on the first floor that Miss diva was thrilled to play on. She hopped, skipped and jumped her heart out on this thing. So cute to see!

 She thought this was pretty cool. She could see herself in this but the opposite of what she was doing. Also, under her feet was like a huge puddle, when she would move, it would make like waves or ripples in the water...very cool!

 we were building with sticks, she thought this was interesting. She wanted to see how many sticks she could get on one "star".

 She loved the boats...we made a few trips back to this activity. She liked building dams and watching what happens to the boat has it would float down.

                                                          busy building

                                                      cute as a button

 baba was showing her how to use this. It's like a spray gun and it paints the wall. She liked this, she  was practicing her letters.

                                               The sign to the China......

                                                  these sculptures were neat too look at

                                                 this looked like a huge water fountion

                                                                 so cool

            there were so many of these sculptures...they were all from Chongqing, China

 this is one of the many paintings they had on display, I don't know if or what it's meaning is but it was huge and took up the entire wall.

                                     zodiac sign key chains......they had necklaces also

                                                               more paintings.
This was very interesting to me and Jason but no really for children. I was hoping for some activities for the children. It was still really cool to see.

Verses!

Jason and I went out for dinner on Saturday, by ourselves, for the first time in almost 2 years. It was a wonderful evening but I was worried about the princess because she wasn't feeling well and I wasn't with her.

We went to a restaurant called Verses. It's a old church that has been left as it was but now a fine dining restaurant. We started the evening with drinks,

             I had the drink of the night and Jason had a apple martini, they were so good

 Then, they brought a bread basket, there were 4 different types of bread in here...so delicious!

 Inside the restaurant...these pics are not that good because these pics were taken without the flash on.

                                                                             soup

                                                                          salad

 

                                                         Jason had the wild boar

                                I had the veal stuffed with crab , with carrots and potato

                                                                         us!

 I had the peanut butter dessert plate...it was so good...the ice cream so so smooth

Jason had the lemon layered crepe with island fruit...he thought it was cool because there was flower petals on the plate as well.

We had a wonderful evening!

Valentine's Day!!!

Valentine's day is a day I wished would always be on a weekend. Jason and I don't have the energy or the time to do anything during the week. We gave miss diva her valentines and we are going to  celebrate on Saturday.(I'll post about it then.)

 Miss Diva was surprised to see this stuff on the table. She asked" mama, what's this stuff?" So we chatted valentine's day and it's meaning.

                                Her with her loot, she got another Thomas video.....

 She really loves to play dress up but really didn't have much to dress up with. She has a ton of shoes but not really any clothes, so we decided we would get her a dress. She was thrilled. She wanted to take it downstairs right away!

                                              sassy little thing...love you mama's little girl!

                                                             showing of her shoes......

This is the card her and all her daycare friends made for their parents. She made it for baba, considering mama was making it with her. I love it and baba wants to frame it. I think it's a keeper too.

Cherry Blossoms

We were doing crafts for Chinese new year this morning. Miss Diva wanted to paint flowers. SO, this is what I came up with. An empty water bottle, straws and pink and brown paint.

                                                           cherry blossom's!
                                            I think they turned out pretty darn cute!

Xin nian kuai le.....Happy New year!!!

Chinese New Year is a 15 day celebration beginning on the new moon on the first day of the New Year. (2013 is the year of the snake) and ending on the full moon 15 days later. In 2013 Chinese New Year began on Feb 10th.

 Gifts of "lucky money" are presented in small red envelopes, called hongbao(meaning red packet or pouch)and are given as special presents to children by older relatives and friends. Red is considered to be a lucky colour and will bring good luck to the person receiving the present.

                                                    Miss diva with her hongbao.

                                          Wowsers! she has more money then mama and baba

Winter can be so Beautiful

Anyone who knows me, knows how I feel about winter. I am not a winter person at all. I love the sun and warmth. Sunday morning(feb 10), has been the most beautiful winter morning I've seen here to Ontario,since moving here! The frost on the trees and the bushes was so beautiful. It kind of made the world look magical and just it's beauty was so peaceful.

                                Our humble little home looks so cozy nestled in all the snow.

                                      These are the hedges along the driveway....oh so beautiful

                                                                   simply stunning!!

CNY with friends

We were very excited to pack up the princess and head to Newmarket. We were going to finally see Jan,Paul, Maelyn and Ailee. We left a little early because I wanted to stop in Vaughan Mills mall @ the Disney Store.

Chinese treats

                                                                    more Chinese treat....dried fruit

                Miss Maelyn enjoying a Chinese candy, they tasted like a big orange jube jube..

 Ailee was having a nap when we arrived. Soon after, she woke and came downstairs. She was unsure about all of us but soon warmed up and was of doing her thing!

 Miss Diva brought lollipops for the girls with their valentine's day cards. Maelyn was eating hers and this is Ailee asking for hers too. (I love the way she twist her hand when asking for something. She is so cute)

                                                       Miss Ailee with her lollipop

                    Miss Diva opening her valentine's day bag from Jan, Paul and the kids.

                                          A puzzle they gave her....I love this picture of her

 We didn't get to exchange Christmas gifts during the holidays with them because they just arrived home and they have alot of illness and family with illnesses as well. So, we finally were able to exchange presents.

                        me and Ailee. She warmed up to me very quickly but was a little unsure about Jason.
                        She would give him a wave or a high five.

                        The 3 big girls eating their dinner together. They did a very good job!

                                                                   ~ Our friends~