crafting like crazy!

The littles, going craft crazy today!
If they keep this up, their art-and-craft-wallpaper will be creeping out of the playroom and all around our house!

can we go back already?

This photo, was taken this day last week... in Cayo Coco, Cuba.

My girls did this constant charging into the warm ocean. They had so SO much fun. We all did.
I have plenty of photos to share and I'm planning on blogging some 'a day in the life' posts, over the next week!

wordless wednesday

the silly sisters!

I came downstairs to the girls playroom this morning and found them both with their chests stuffed.
Stuffed with a couple of their little stuffed animals!

As if that wasn't shocking enough, they were singing "Shake your boobies"!

Oh yes, I totally cracked up!

a sister bond

Believe it or not, I took these photos back in November. Last year!

I've been a terrible blogger lately. And you'll maybe notice that I've been trying to catch up lately. Sorry for filling your feed with posts as far back as June... yikes! I'm so not proud of that. I may or may not have made a new years resolution to try and keep on track! Ha! But I must say, I feel pretty good to finally be caught up now. For me, these blogs are all about the girls, I want them to enjoy reading about their little lives in the years to come... they are what keeps me motivated!

Anyway, these photos were taken on the day of our first snow storm... November 27th. We were just heading out to swimming lessons and I decided to run back inside and grab my camera for a few impromptu photos - with the hope that I could get at least one to work for our Christmas Card.

I'm so glad I made that decision. I love these girls, the giggles they share and especially the love they have for each other. It chokes me up and I thank God for them daily, that they are part of my life and part of each others lives too. Just yesterday, Phebe was having a little nap on the couch and Lilah kept checking on her every 10 minutes or so, to see if she was awake yet. She said to me: "It's so boring without Phebe!" And I smiled to myself and thought, that's love.

[ the flickr set is here ]

she's a hoot!

I got a laugh out of my Phebe tonight, I mean a complete laugh out loud moment!

She and Lilah were out playing on the back deck. Lilah had come inside to tell me about this teeny tiny cut she had on her finger, with the tiniest amount of blood that you might have seen, if you had a microscope. She went back outside to play with Phebe.

About 5 minutes later, Phebe came running in to me...

phebe: (pretty breathless) "Mama! Lilah's finger is bleeding!"
me: "Aww, poor Lilah. Did you kiss it and make it better?"
phebe: (stands for 2 seconds looking at me, then starts laughing) "But Mamaaaaaaaaa, Lilah be bleeding in my (points to her mouth) kissing!"

By golly she says the funniest things!

a sister bond

"Because I have a sister, I'll always have a friend"

sisters are the chocolate chips!

"In the cookies of life - sisters are the chocolate chips" ~Author Unknown

unconditional love

Unconditional love. It's a mother's love. It's a feeling so strong, you can't even describe it.

rascality!

Our Phebster is all rascal.

She has that special twinkle in her eye and I quite honestly need to have eyes on the back of my head to keep up with this little monkey moo. Today, no less, she opened the central vac shoot and stuck a rather large piece of lego in there! Oh man. Might I add, she has the sweetest personality, so you know, she seems to get away with a lot of stuff, because that sweet little grin is a bit of a winner around here!

And to be fair, this is all probably regular toddler stuff, but our goody girl Lilah set the bar pretty high and never got into a lot of trouble. In fact, I'd say Lilah definitely gave us an easy time, she was a more sensitive child, when you told her no, she took it as "No, I will never ever in-my-whole-life do that again". When you tell Phebe no, she takes it as "Okay, let's try that again in a few minutes when (hopefully) Mama has forgotten" - Phebe seems to have a very short term memory as far as the word "No" goes!

When people ask us how Phebe's English is coming along, we say the only time Phebe doesn't understand us, is when she doesn't want to - it's called selective hearing, or in her case, selective (English) understanding! Like for instance, when we say "Tidy up time" she sings "clean up-clean up", which actually sounds like "plean up-plean up!" ...and she knows exactly what is expected, but that's about as far as it goes! Ha! She's a pretty typical 2 year old - I'm just thankful she's not too stubborn and seems willing enough to work with us. Right now, she's just helping me work on my patience and a whole new set of parenting skills, that I now need!

We sure do love our little monkey to pieces.

And Lilah, she is such a great big sister. I can't get over these girls and the love they have for each other. I caught a sweet moment yesterday, Lilah was putting Phebe's bib on, which she regularly does when I'm fixing lunch. After she buttoned it at the back she leaned into Phebe's neck and kissed her. Be still my heart - I might even have teared up. Truly. I have been blessed with two beautiful girls.

photo 1: "Who? What? Me?! I did what!!?"
photo 2: "Bahahahahahahahahahaaaa!!"

mimicking her big sister...

Phebe regularly mimicks her big sister Lilah. Especially 'going to school'. She calls the baby carrier (she's wearing in this picture), her backpack!
And she regularly walks down the hallway, looking over her shoulder as she waves to us, shouting bye-bye with a big grin on her face!

I think I can safely say, the best part of her day is the moment I ask: Are you ready to go get Lilah from school?
She runs around like a crazy woman shouting, "Snowsuit-snowsuit-snowsuit, Lilah-Lilah-Lilah!"

She really does miss her sister - for that 2.5 hours - even though she naps during the most part of it.
This September her big sister will be starting Grade 1, and in school all day. Yikes!

'tis the season to be jolly

Such a sweet sister relationship, they share.
I love these girls more than words.

We laugh we cry, we make time fly.
Best friends are we, my sister and me!

one month 'till... christmas!

i just love her little face...

things i love about her : sisters

Definitely in my top five, maybe even my most favourite thing in the world right now, is seeing Phebe and Lilah's relationship with one another.

One of the things that frightened me about adopting again was whether or not my children would be compatible with one another... in fact, we even talked to our Adoption Practicioner about this when he came to meet us for our twelve month Post Placement with Lilah. And his wise answer was, you just never know, sometimes even biological siblings don't get along together! So it was faith and an answer to many of my heartfelt prayers, that these girls of mine are not only sisters... but also friends.

Their personalities are quite different and they'll each have something to learn from the other. Lilah loves to Mommy her little sister and Phebe just loves to copy everything Lilah does. Sure, they have their moments like any siblings, but I'm amazed at the tolerance they have for each other. Sometimes they sit together and read, sometimes they play quietly together, sometimes they play rough and sometimes they torment each other.

But at the end of the day, these girls are sisters. Maybe not by blood. But by love and adoration and togetherness. We are a family, each chosen and placed together, by God Himself.

things i love about her : bathtime

Oh yes, this girl of mine LOVES the bath, and I love that!

As soon as we mention the word 'bath' there is a fair bit of excitment around here and Phebe will start running around in an excited little high-step-dance while tuggin at her clothes, wanting them off, of course! Lilah always baths with her and they both love that. The two of them can play in there for over an hour. In fact, there is generally water everywhere but in the bath, by the time it's all over!

She also loves soap and you should see her go when she's washing herself! She'll generally say "belly belly belly" when lathering up her belly! Water in her eyes? She doesn't mind one bit. In fact, I'm going out on a limb here, but I think she gets a bit of water tipped over her head by her, ahem, very kind sister, Lilah... when I'm not looking!

The only thing that freaks Phebe out, is the hairdryer. She does not like that thing at all and will run and sit on the couch when it's turned on! Not that she needs the hairdryer yet. Hopefully by the time she does, she'll have warmed up to it!

I love how she puts joy into every little thing in life. Even her baths!

things i love about her : sleeping

I've decided to do a week (or so) of posts, on the things I love about our little Phebe.

Which is basically everything!
But I'll try to contain myself a little.

I just don't want to forget all these little moments in our daily life. They are beautiful and they make my heart just burst for joy. And most of the things I love about her, are things she loves too! She is so sweet and silly on so many levels. And she is the easiest child in the world to love.

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I love that she loves her sleep.

I will tell you right now, I don't take this for granted. I go to a couple of playgroups and I hear Mum's talk about their childrens lack of sleep and I secretly cringe. Lilah and Phebe were both great sleepers. Thank you Lord. And if I was making a top ten list of loves (for myself), sleep would definitely be in that top ten. In fact, it would be quite close to the top!

Ever since the day we got Phebe, in China, she has been a great sleeper. She sleeps 12-13 hours at night and 1-2 hours in the daytime. She goes down happy and wakes up happy. Again, thank you Lord. In China, she would sing herself to sleep. Now she and Tigger usually have a full out fun time with lots of loud chatting before she falls asleep. It takes her 10-20 minutes to fall over at night. But during the day it is basically immediately.

In fact, there are times (mostly during the day, approaching nap time) that she will simply conk out wherever she's at. Over dinner, reading books, playing toys and even in the shopping cart, where she put her head down on the bar (that you use to push the cart) and promptly fell asleep, one day. And no amount of anything would waken her. I tried talking, lifting her head up, trying to prise her eyes open... nothing worked. But man, was she uncomfortable! She would let out a groan every now and again!

I'm so thankful my girl loves to sleep - I think that's one of the things that makes her so happy. She is very rarely grumpy and I think a good nights sleep has a lot to do with that.

When I put her into the crib at night and for her nap; she gets a kiss, a head rub/massage and I tell her "night-night, I love you". She makes us VERY aware that the same must be done to her stuffie, Tigger... and he must also have her blanket over him. And then she too will rub his head, kiss him (many times) and tell him night-night. She is a very affectionate child, in a lot of ways and it melts my heart, in a big way!

taken just hours after Phebe joined our family, in Hunan, China
my two girls enjoying a well earned nap

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clean jiggered, after a day at the pumpkin patch

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she conked out, while reading the Indigo Kids toys and Costco flyers, last week

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last night, ready to fall sleep with her best friend, Tigger
i ♥ how they start the night nose to nose

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finally, fast asleep
love my baby girl so very very much

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and on Sundays, they get a special treat, napping together... which they love!
how can I even stand this much cuteness in one bed? it's beyond me.

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fun at the pumpkin farm!

We took Phebe on her first Pumpkin Farm excursion, last Friday. I'm only a week late!

We figured we'd missed any decent (weather) opportunity to visit the pumpkin farm this year... but alas, the weather man was saying it would be a balmy 25°C. And likely, the last warm day in October. Baba had the day off work and shhhh, don't tell anyone, we kept Lilah home from school! Believe me, she was still "learning" at the pumpkin farm... and having fun too. And Phebe is ALWAYS thrilled when her sister is around. Honestly, it is so sweet to see her face light up when she sees Lilah. It just melts my heart.

On the walk over to the pumpkin field, Baba had his two girls in a wagon running them down a little hill. They were shrieking with laughter. This Baba sure knows how to entertain his little girls.

I love my husband and our little family. Since bringing our little Phebe pumpkin home from China, you know I've always felt incredibly blessed, but now I can't even find the words to express how I'm feeling. It is a overwhelming joy, love, thankfulness, all mixed up into a very blessed Mama. And I know my husband feels the same, recently he said to me: "Can it really be this good?" I think he was pinching himself at the same time!

Phebe had a lot of fun, although to be fair, she wasn't so sure about playing in those bales of hay... she kept disgustedly looking at her hands and dusting them off! And saying "dity", which is a very posh way of saying dirty! She really enjoys big open spaces and exploring, so her day was a fun one.

We ended our day with a picnic and two sleeping girls!

[ the flickr set is here ]