2014 CNY Celebrations

Hannah and I shared 2 weekends of CNY celebrations with family and friends.

She was invited to take in her story books to school and also shared red envelopes with gold chocolate coins with her classmates. 

We kicked off our celebrations at our favourite Chinese food buffet with Grandma.  Cotton candy for dessert.  LOL – not your typical CNY dessert!

The day after this we braved the snow and went to a mall about a 1/2 hour away to celebrate with a local Chinese Cultural Centre.  We enjoyed walking around listening to the beautiful Chinese music, watching people create neat things like paper hearts, and Hannah’s name written in Chinese.

Face painting is always a hit with my girl and this little panda was adorable!

There was a place set up where the children could also try Chinese calligraphy.  She really enjoyed this and practiced for about 20 mins before asking to move on.

Once we left we went to celebrate with friends from our agency.  I love the friendships our girls share!

Debbie made this beautiful cake to celebrate the year of the horse.

While the adults were chatting around the dinner table the girls were playing upstairs.  It’s amazing how much noise 4 little girls can make!  We were sure they were going to come through the roof so E and I went up to check in.  We laughed when we saw what our creative little girls were doing!!

Thanks for hosting such a great party Debbie, Dave and Charlotte!  We love being invited to share in your travel group celebrations!

Our final celebration was with a group of friends, many who live locally and a few who drove a distance in the snow to join in the celebration.  Back in 2006 all of us began to attend a Waiting Mommies group and now we all have our children home to share in the celebrations!  Perfect!!

Opening their red envelopes.

A wonderful time of celebration Gong Hey Fat Choy!!

China Travel Group Reunion

Last weekend Hannah and I plus my Mom and Dad were excited to get together with some of the families that we travelled to China with in 2009.  These families hold a special place in my heart as we shared the most amazing, life changing time together as we became parents together in Changsha, China.  We walked into a room with arms aching to hold our daughters and minutes later those arms held our daughters!  I am forever grateful that I had these families  to share that experience and many others with as we spent over 2 weeks together in China.

This year we saw huge changes in our girls as they’d changed from playing independently beside one another to playing with one another.  It was so neat to see! 

Although all the girls are from Changsha, only one other little China sister, Emma was in DaoXian with Hannah.

At one point I popped upstairs and asked the girls if they knew any songs and this was what happened.  Precious!!!

A second sweet video can be viewed here.  My favourite song of the evening happened when I couldn’t get to my video camera.    Our precious daughters born in China stood together and sang, ‘Oh Canada.’  I shed a tear or two and I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only one who did.

This year we were finally able to get a group picture!  Phew!  The past 2 years when we attempted this it was a bit like herding cats!

2010

2011 (slightly more successful as the girls were 2 and 3 years old)

2012 – Ah, now that’s better!

Hannah’s China sisters – then and now.

Emma

 

Tessa

 

Kristy

 

Jiana

 

Meigan

 

Serena

It was wonderful sharing time with these friends and as we watched our girls together we realized the friendships forming between them is very important.  We’re hoping to get together more often in coming years in order to foster their friendships.  Such sweet little girls.  We are all SO BLESSED!!!

Happy Mid-Autumn Moon Festival!

Moon Festival celebrations, though still relatively new to North America, have been held throughout Asia for well over 1,000 years. This holiday is a time to reflect upon the bounty of the summer harvest and the fullness of the moon. The Moon Festival is often compared to a sort of "Chinese Thanksgiving" because of its spirit of gratitude and its inclusion of abundant food - including the popular moon cake. Moon cakes are flaky, round, semi-sweet pastries often filled with bean or lotus-seed paste and topped with a duck egg, echoing the shape of the full moon…or so I’m told.  The only ‘Moon Cakes’ I’ve eaten are sugar cookies iced with a soft orange icing, tinted to mimic the colour of the Autumn Moon.   (Hmmm, celebrating Thanksgiving in September/ October.  Sounds like the perfect time of year! Right Stacey??  )
Hannah and I have had lots of fun this past week celebrating the Mid-Autumn moon with many friends.  First off we met with another travel group from our agency whose sweet girls are also from Hunan.  It was also during this get together that we realized even though our DD’s came home from China 10 months apart from one another that all the girls will enter JK (Junior Kindergarten) next September.   They seemed so far apart in age the first time we were together and now as they’re growing that age gap is quickly vanishing. 
I am so thankful for the friendships we have developed not only with our own travel group but with this one too!  When they were planning their travel to China Hannah and I were invited to go and I shared of our experience in China.  From the day we met this group welcomed us with open arms and it’s wonderful!  Thank you friends!  We enjoy celebrating these special events with you.
While we were there Hannah made a beautiful Chinese lantern.  It’s amazing to see how much more intricate Hannah’s crafts can be now compared to a year ago.  She did a great job!!
Our second party was hosted last Tuesday by our friends Ange and Gavin and their boys.  There were more beautiful lanterns to create.


A picture of the ‘big kids’ minus the adorable two little babies who were busy cruisin’ around.
After supper we took the kiddos out for their lantern walk and found the moon.

We attempted one final group shot with the littles but since it was almost an hour past most of the kiddos bedtimes…oye!  They had done really well all evening but by now were ready to call it a day.  Hannah crashed within minutes of her head hitting the pillow when we got home.
Tonight was the true Autumn Moon so Hannah and I went out for a quick walk with her lanterns in search of the moon.  Unfortunately it was hidden behind the clouds but we had fun anyway.
Searching for the moon while wearing her super hero cape.
I love you XiaoFen!  It’s been such fun celebrating this festival with you!

China Travel Group Dinner

Last Saturday Hannah, my parents and I had the pleasure of getting together with some of our China travel group. What fun we had! We'd been home 2 1/2 months and it was wonderful to see how the babies had grown and were progressing with their new families! It was also good to share stories of getting over jet-lag and sleeping schedules.

I am SO THANKFUL that Hannah is a super sleeper! This morning we were able to get up in the middle of the night to take my parents to the airport and then go back to bed. I was surprised when Hannah was wide awake and happy for the first hour of the getting ready and car ride (2:30 - 3:30am) and then she went back to sleep and stayed asleep when I transferred her back into her bet just before 5am and slept until her normal wake up time of about 8:30. I love that she's a 'goer' just like her mommy and is willing to do things at the drop of a hat! Yeah XiaoFen!!

Here are pictures of the families, first in China in November and then at Saturday's dinner.

Our Family



Anna and Peter



Tony and Marj



Robert and Bonnie



There were 6 other families in our group who unfortunately weren't available for Saturday's dinner. Hopefully more will be able to make it in April when we get together next. I love keeping in touch with these friends and the importance of the friendships for the girls is priceless!