Shady Grove.......

We wanted to take miss diva on a sugar bush tour for a while now, finding the time was always a little hard. Groupon had a deal for $9.00 for 2 and she was free, so off we went to Shady Grove in Guelph.

 Demonstrating the new way of collecting sap and the old way. This was very interesting for us!

 First when sap was being collected, they would put in this hallowed out log with heated rocks and the water would evaporate.

 The picnic area for people to eat. We were very happy to see this area, so we could bring our own food in.

                             LOOK! Their maple sugar has even made it to China. I hope the chinese enjoy our canadian maple syrup..Miss you China.......

                                                 Us on the horse/wagon ride

                     showing how they use to boil and separate the water from the sap

                                                baba and miss diva at the pump house

                                               traditional sap collecting....see the little drip?

 it looks just like water.....look at all that sap in the pail....I really enjoyed this

                                                            goin' for a walk in the trails

 the blue lines....the new way for collecting sap from the trees....beautiful scenery

The favorite part for miss diva was the horse ride...she wasn't afraid of the horses but terrified of butterflies.....don't get it! Lovely day ...we totally enjoyed it. We'll do it again!

Easter Morning!!!!

Miss Diva woke in the middle of the night, needed to go potty, noticed the egg sitting at the end of her bed, asked what it was and went back to sleep. I thought for sure that she was awake for awhile. She crawled in bed with us until 7:30am and then I encouraged the "get out of bed." Then when she noticed the first egg, she was in hunting mode. Let's go Mommy!

 

                       She was super excited to see that the Easter bunny had left her kinder eggs.

 She thought it was funny that the Easter bunny left an egg on her hello kitty puzzle book. She kept saying " he left them everywhere."

            Investigating her basket of goodies that was left on the floor near the back doors.

                                                  She LOVED her hello kitty Easter bunny

                                                    Her Easter basket filled with treats

Miss Diva and her Easter loot.......what a well loved little girl we have here.. Happy Easter princess, mama and baba love you!

Mail!!!

Miss Diva is always excited to get mail, especially if it's from Eloise or Kaleb. She received a package in the mail from Uncle Jeff, Aunt Melissa and Kaleb and super excited to open it. She was thrilled to see Hello Kitty and Thomas in the there. Thank you so much, she is a happy little princess!

Easter Egg Hunt with Friends

We were all excited to see each other. It's been almost 2 months and we all miss spending time together. Jan, Paul and the girls arrived and the big girls were "pretending to be in a mood". Once we ironed that out, we were good to go. jason finally said,"let's go! Easter egg hunt time and the Miss Diva and her friend M were giggling and ready to go! So great to see these 2 play together!

 Miss Diva finding her first egg, she kept saying" woooo, another one!" She was so funny.

 M so excited to be hunting for eggs. I totally love the expression on her face. Happy kiddo.

 Little miss Ailee was off to play, she really could care less about the hunt. She is such a darling!

                                                 Found another one , Mamma!

                                                             Our treasures!

                                                            Little Ailee...so sweet!

 The big girls had a blast jumping on Miss Diva's bed. They are super funny together. They kept bumping into one another and falling down........

                                              and laughing so hard! ( I love this picture)

                          Our dessert....This was fun making and so easy.....Happy Easter to everyone

Butterfly Conservatory

Jason had taken thrusday off, I told him he should take the princess and do something, just the 2 of them. So,he thought they would go see the butterflies. Well, Jason asked me if I rememeber the screech for fear, the sweating, and trembling that happened on the plane from Hohhot to Beijing. I remember that oh so vividly. She was scared! He said that what she was doing, he said he tried 4 times and then left. Here is 1 of the 2 photos that he was able to get.

Miss Diva has transitioned into our family so easily that we sometimes forget that there are little triggers that sets her off. Insecurities or fears that may or may not be apart of the trama or changes that has happened in her little life.

First coming home, she was terrified of any creature that moved. She wasn't the biggest fan of dogs or cats. Birds that flew over her or squirrels that ran on the ground. Lack of exposure. Has she ever seen a squirrel before? I doubt it! Does China even have squirrels? I can't recall seeing them!

I don't think she was exposure to much while in China. I remember the third day we had her, it was nice and sunny outside. We decided to go for a walk. She was afraid of even the trees that moved with the wind. She just stared at it for quite sometime.

I think this is a area that we will need to be sensitive towards but at the same time, trying to exposure her to as many things as possible.

Needless to say, I heard all about the flying butterflies and how she didn't like them.

Easter Baskets!

For Easter with the daycare kids, we always make our own baskets. Miss Diva thought this was awesome. she loved picking out the colours and making the birds nest to go inside. She especially liked the candy that we used for the birds eggs. Silly billy!

 Little Peep and  her eggs...the nest was made out of corn flakes and melted chocolate

                                                   They look good enough to eat.....

Serious dancing

This kid is all about dancing. She takes it very serious, even when she just dancing around the house. Look at some of the facial expressions, very serious work!

Daughter like Momma.....:-)

I was sitting on the couch, getting ready to email a family that I have been helping with paperwork for their China adoption. Miss Diva brings her computer over and places it beside mine. Then she starts pushing letters for her name. She is such a smart little girl. We love her to pieces.

Bunny Game!

We bought this Easter game to play with the princess. It's like Jenga, only building the tower with Easter bunnies and clear disc.She thought this was wonderful and baba enjoyed playing   

with her.

                                                        The tower is almost finished.

 Look at the concentration ....trying to decide which Easter bunny to move...she thought about this for quite sometime.

 Annnnnnddd she is goin' for the yellow one...the tower didn't tumble and she was super proud!

                  little nervous about removing her next bunny.....she knows it could tumble on her....they had fun.

super heros and princess party

Miss Diva was invited to her first birthday party that wasn't "our friends." She totally loved the idea to be able to dress in her princess dress and go outside to a birthday party. She was so excited to go to her little friends birthday.

 We were the first ones to arrive, she was a little uncomfortable able being there. (I think she thought I was leaving.) After she realized I was staying, she was off to make a mask. She made the mask but as soon as someone put them on, she was crying, she wasn't to fond of not knowing who was behind the masks.

      Hear ye! Hear ye! Princess M is in the house! Please return to the livingroom for pizza and cake...lol

The princess and some of the other kids that was there. She seemed to have a good time and ran of to play without me.