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~

Just Because

I was just playing with the camera, taking pictures of the princess. She was building with blocks and I was snapping away. Sometimes I could even get her to pose.

 Here, I asked her to give me a fancy look, this is the expression I got...funny kid!!!!

                                                                           Her tower

colouring.....

This morning Miss Diva and I will working on some A B C recognition and secondary colours. At the end of the first few pages, there was this page. She got down to work and did her best colouring it. She loves to colour and thinks it very neat that she is almost able to print her name on her artwork.

Gift from her Mongolian/travel group friend

 The family that travelled with us to Hohhot, sent the princess a gift. She was super excited when I told her it was from her friend Eloise. Look at that smile!

Isn't the dress just adorable? She wanted to try it on right away and take pictures to send to Eloise. Look at the smile on her face, she loves this dress and asked if she could wear it tomorrow. Thank- you to our friends.

Game On!

All day Sunday we stayed @ home. I did some much needed cleaning and a little baking. Then in the evening, we played games with the princess. She loves games and we love playing games with her.

Our first game was Candyland. She beat me and baba with no help and keep saying" nana nana boo boo, you can't catch me." Funny kid!

 Our second game of choice was trouble. She had a hard time pushing the pop-o-matic but with lots of coaching and telling her to use her strong muscles, she figured it out!

                                              We had a fun and can't wait to do it again.

1st Chinese New Year Celebration 2013

We arrived a little late and they were already in the mist of doing the dragon dance. Miss Diva heard the loud music and completely freaked out. I removed her the room and we chatted about the dragons and how they were just people dressed in costumes and I would never allow anyone or thing hurt her. She was okay to return to the celebration as long as she could sit on my lap. Then she enjoyed the rest of the performances.

The traditional dragon dance

 The people doing the dragon was standing on the red bench to left. They jumped of the bench and landed like this at exactly the same time. Just amazing!

 

This young guy was amazing to watch with this sword! Good Lord, I think I would have be missing a few body parts if I even try to attempt the things he did. Amazing to watch! 

Jason and the princess

                                These young ladies were doing a traditional Mongolian dance

 I loved the detail in their outfits. They were very beautiful to look at and lots of detail!

 This young man has been competing all around the world playing this traditional Chinese instrument. It was a very beautiful sound.

                                                     These girls were very cute to watch.

                                                    Look at that shape. Simply amazing!

                                                                        Miss Diva

 This group of people was singing happy new year to the audience in mandarin..very nice

 just a small sample of the yummy food that was there. they also had a table set up with all kinds of different teas. I know Jason tried the date tea and the jasmine tea.

                 The princess watching all the action very closely while eating her dumplings!

 Another traditional Chinese instrument... I wish I remember what they were called but I don't. This was a very different sounding instrument but a common sound I have heard in Chinese music.

 This little girl blew my socks off! She has a FANTASTIC voice....It's powerful and almost hard to believe that such a big voice could come from such a little person. She sang a song about Chinese new year and sang it very well.

                                              These little dancers were very cute.

                                                                     Great pose!

 Another traditional Chinese instrument. The detail in the craving on this thing was wild. I remember thinking while in China in the Forbidden city about how much detail China puts into their world. It's wonderful to see!

                                                            Look at the detail

 Thia Chi dancers. Again, we saw this a lot while in China. In the local parks, in the front of churches and in the Summer Palace!

 Jason and I bought some Chinese lanterns to bring home. Well, when we got them out of the bag, there were like a zillion pieces to put these things together. Thanks goodness we took a picture of them there.

The finished lanterns that weren't so bad after all. I kind of like them. Miss diva keeps saying"there so beautifu!" Happy Chinese New Year to the chinese world!