Mother’s Day 2018

Hannah made Mother’s Day 2018 absolutely perfect from start to finish!

When we woke up I was asked to stay in bed while she prepared breakfast.  She called me downstairs when her masterpiece was ready.

I was welcomed by a path of Hershey Kisses.  Chocolate?  Yes please!!

She created a delicious breakfast for us to share!

After breakfast it was time for church.  I will say that Mother’s Day was one of the few days each year that I really struggled going to church before Hannah was born.  I wanted so desperately to be a Mom but since I had never married (I was not willing to settle for a guy just to be married and be a mom) so I spent many single years going to church with an aching heart on Mother’s Day.  My heart still goes out to other singles and couples who do not have children as I do not know if that is their choice or if becoming parents is a challenge for them.  Regardless, I think of them and pray especially for them on Mother’s Day.  Singles and couples without children are those my heart reaches out to on this day.

On Mother’s Day our church provides gifts to Mom’s in the congregation who meet different criteria each year.  This year one gift went to the mom with the picture in her wallet of her child that was taken the longest ago.  One mom had a picture in her wallet that was taken in 1945!! Hannah was selected to help hand out gifts to the moms who won each gift.

After church Hannah blessed me with a number of sweet gifts!  (Thank you grandma for taking her shopping at Dollerama the week before Mother’s Day!  Hannah looks forward to this traditional shopping trip with you before each special day!)

So sweet!  Hannah created a number of ‘Sap’ day coupons for me!  It will be a treat to use these coupons and spend special times with my girl.

An annual tradition we enjoy is our dinner at a local restaurant with Grandma and Grandpa and then dessert together in their home. 

We love you Mom/Grandma!!!

Thank you Lord for my sweet Mom and amazing daughter!!!  I am blessed beyond measure and could not be more thankful!!!

Happy 50th Anniversary Uncle Tim and Aunt Chris!

It was wonderful to get together with family to celebrate Uncle Tim and Aunt Chris’ 50th Wedding Anniversary.  What an amazing time of celebration!

It has been a long-time standing joke that Aunt Chris can find loose change anywhere!  When they arrived at the party we welcomed them with a ‘red carpet’ of loose change.  Too funny!

Uncle Tim is Dad’s youngest brother.  It was great that all 3 brothers and his sister were together.

Aunt Chris’ sisters were there too.  Neat to have a picture of all of their brothers and sisters together.

Happy 50th Anniversary Uncle Tim and Aunt Chris!  We love you!!

Hannah’s 9th Birthday!

Hannah celebrated her 9th birthday late in February!  (No, we are not mentioning or discussing the rumour that she will be in double digits next year!  La la la la la….I can’t hear you!)

The weekend before her birthday was a weekend of celebrations starting with her birthday party with friends at a local pottery painting store.    Hannah truly does have a wonderful group of friends!  So thankful for these girls!

Hannah and her cousin Makenna.  They are the best of friends!

The girls’ creations turned out so well! 

The party hosts at the pottery place helped Hannah create this beautiful keepsake plate. 

It has her handprint in the centre and the fingerprints of each of her friends around the outside.  A treasure for sure!

After we left her birthday party with friends we headed to Grandma and Grandpa’s for a family birthday party.  Mommy totally forgot to take family pictures.  D’oh!!

The following afternoon we celebrated her 9th birthday with Nana and Papa!

My sweet 8 yo who would wake up (lol….earlier than I’d anticipated!!) as a 9yo!

Hannah woke up at 4am and then was too excited to go back to sleep!  What’s one to do when you’re open at 4am on your birthday?  Why, open presents of course!!  Her eyes about popped when I asked her if she wanted to open her presents in the middle of the night! 

Hannah’s final birthday celebration was supper at her favourite restaurant with Grandma and Grandpa on. her birthday

Happy 9th Birthday Hannah!  You are loved by so many and are such a blessing to us all!  WE LOVE YOU!!! xoxoxoxo

8th Referral Day Anniversary

Better late than never…

August 21st is a special day to Hannah and I as it commemorates the day I received Hannah’s referral call on Aug 21, 2009!  She was just 5 1/2 months old at referral!!

A photo montage of referral day memories followed by our referral day videos at the end.

2017 (8.5yo)

2016 (7.5yo)

2015 (6.5yo)

2014 (5.5yo)

2013 (4.5yo)

2012 (3.5yo)

2011 (2.5yo)

2010 (10mos)

Mid-Autumn Moon Festival with Friends

We celebrated and early Mid-Autumn Moon Festival/TET with friends last night.  It’s been unseasonably hot here  so rather than the parents shivering as the kids played at the park when we first gathered together, we hung out on lawn chairs while the kids ran through the splash pad!  I’ll take 35o/90o weather in September every single time!!

We returned to the house to share a delicious Asian pot-luck dinner.  Oh my – so much delicious food!

Thanks to one of the dads not only did we get pictures of our amazing kids,

we also got a picture of the parents!  We have been getting together for the past 7 years to celebrate both Mid-Autumn Moon/TET and CNY so these families share a special bond and friendships.  Some of the mom’s met over 10 years ago when we used to get together at our bi-monthly Waiting Moms dinners!

After dinner the children made lanterns, some donned their traditional dress and then the lantern parade began.  I couldn’t find Hannah but then realized she wanted to be the caboose of the parade.  LOL – that’s my girl!

Not sure if this is a lantern parade or a pose for the camera!

I sometimes get teased about carrying a ‘real camera’ instead of just my phone but it’s times like this when it was pretty dark out that I’m thankful.  (Hoping to upgrade my iPhone 5 soon and I’m confident my phone picture taking will improve)

When we returned home the final event of the evening was listening to a Tet book from Vietnam.  The kids were amazing and you could hear a pin drop when the book was being read.

Thank you for organizing and hosting this wonderful event again this year Julia and Danny!  Many of these friendships we share are thanks to you and we appreciate all you do to organize this event each year!