A couple of years ago I bought Hannah her first Lego set when we were on vacation. I had no idea how Lego had changed since I was a kid with their neat pieces and great instructions!
Since then Hannah’s Lego collection has continued to grow as she’s purchased some herself and she’s received many as gifts.
We wanted a place to store her Lego so I purchased a book case and Hannah was a big help putting it together!
I love this little video of her playing when she didn’t know I was filming. I love to hear her sweet chatter.
Hours and hours of fun already….and to come.
As I was writing the post I suddenly realized that I could hear the familiar rustle of Lego pieces being played with in the play room above. My girl in her happy place!
Canadians enjoy our ketchup. For years Heinz purchased their tomatoes from local farmers and manufactured ketchup in a nearby town. All of that changed a while ago when Heinz pulled out and left many famers and factory workers wondering where to turn next.
Enter…French’s!
French’s has moved into the same factory, hired staff and are once again purchasing their tomatoes from local, Canadian farmers. This has led Canadians to stand up and take notice. A ketchup challenge is taking place across the country!
I will admit that I’ve been a Heinz ketchup girl since I was a child and only once did I make the mistake of buying a different ketchup. Oh boy was I sorry when I did!
But now…all that is changing!
Like many Canadians, once we finally got our hands on a bottle of French’s ketchup (thanks to my friend Gord who found them at his local store, as they’re disappearing off the store shelves as quickly as they are stocked) we set up a family taste challenge!
We quickly realized that they looked different so it needed to be a blind taste test. Enter the official blindfold – my nephew’s dinosaur sleepers.
My brother David was first up.
Next, Trish.
I was the third victim to go and lol….check out my dear SIL!
As you can see we had a lot of fun with this!
In the end 5 of us took the Heinz vs. French’s ketchup challenge. All 3 adults were surprised that we would happily eat either ketchup as that wasn’t expected!
When encouraged to make a decision the final was:
Heinz: 1
French’s: 4
French’s was chosen by all 4 girls and I know that it will now become the ketchup of choice at our house!
Last week was March Break for Hannah and she had lots of fun with her friends at daycare. She was the only other child besides Ange’s 3 so they were able to do lots of neat things. Movie day, games, science class and a trip to the Toronto Zoo. I took the day off work and surprised Hannah by going with them.
As I was dropping her off at Ange’s I said, ‘I sure wish I was going to the zoo with you.’
Her quick response was, ‘Call your boss!’
I surprised her by saying, ‘I did!! And he said ‘yes’!’ She started jumping around and squealing with excitement! Love being able to surprise my sweet girl and that she enjoys the time we share together as much as I do.
We left early knowing that the zoo would be busy as the new baby pandas had just started greeting visitors a few days earlier. We arrived before opening and as soon as we were in the gates headed directly to the panda exhibit. We only had to wait about 30 mins. and they were worth every moment of the wait even though the babies were sleeping.
The babies are 5 months old and are named Jia Panpan (male) which means Canadian Hope and Jia Yueyue (female) which means Canadian Joy. They were absolutely adorable!!
Mom and the babies were inside while daddy was outside. I think I have a new favourite animal!!
I hadn’t been to the zoo since Hannah was a baby as she goes a few times a year with Ange. I loved seeing all the different animals!
Baby white lion
Cheetah
Orangutan
It was such a treat to spend the day with Hannah, Ange and the boys.
The Monday before Hannah’s birthday, she was excited to celebrate with family and friends at her birthday party!
Such fun was had by all! Hannah is blessed to have many friends and to be a friend to many!
Hannah and her cousin Makenna. The best of friends!!
Auntie Trish made this most amazing cake for her!Thanks Auntie Trish!!
It was a late night after the party so she opened a few gifts but we left many for the following night.
I have a feeling there might be a shortage of Shopkins in our local stores right now.
It was a great time celebrating my little girl and sharing time with her sweet friends!
My sweet, amazing, wonderful girl turned 7 years old on Saturday!
She woke up to traditional celebratory balloons.
She quickly wanted to go downstairs and open her gifts! Frozen Early Reader
Ice Cream Pillow craft kit
and, Friends Vet Clinic Lego. I bought the Lego a number of months ago and when she saw it on ellieV toys on YouTube last month she really liked it which I’m glad about. (This channel plus Disney Parks are the 2 YouTube channels Hannah is allowed to watch.)
After gymnastics we met my parents at our favourite Chinese food restaurant for lunch. Great choice Hannah!
More Lego fun!
Lunch was followed with a surprise visit to a local pottery painting store that Hannah has wanted to visit for a while. It was made extra special when her cousins were there too!
In Kallen’s excitement he painted mommy too! I think he enjoyed that!
Painting was followed by an impromptu play date and I finally took my sleeping birthday girl home to bed after partying all day!
Sunday the celebrations continued with a birthday lunch at Nana and Papa’s!
I love you so much my sweet, sweet Hannah XiaoFen!!! Happy 7th Birthday!!!
Single Mommy to the most amazing baby girl in the entire world! We were blessed to be brought together through the miracle of adoption. My file was logged in China on March 23, 2006 and life changed forever in a wonderful, amazing way when Hannah was placed in my arms in Hunan, China on Monday, November 2, 2009!!! This site is created to welcome family and friends to follow along with our family's fun and adventures.
'The LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.'
Psalm 118: 23
