Happy Birthday Dolores!

Happy Birthday to Dolores!!

Today is her special day for a special lady!!

We are so lucky to have you in our lives!

Can't wait to see you again soon!!!!!

Head on over to her blog and wish her a great day.

The graphics are courtesy of Doris as I pinched it from her blog...

Apparently Doris pinched it from K1 blog last year...Thanks K1

I then stored the image and brought it out again!! This is one of my favourite pictures of Dolores.

I am really going to learn to do all this stuff one of these days...

Today is the day!

The above cake is courtesy of my sister. She came over tonight with the cake and a present!

Cake was GREAT and the present was perfect!!

Thank you to everyone who sent their birthday wishes through phone calls, blogs, Facebook, e-mails and cards. They are all very appreciated.

Tonight Mark and I enjoyed a lovely dinner out. Now I am so full I have to try and keep my eyes open!

Happy Day to everyone!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUSBAND!!

*since my computer went poof - I don't have any pictures of husband on here to post...This is his incognito look - hard to do in a sombrero!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK!!!

Enjoy your day - you deserve every single minute of it!!

As I said last year - CUPCAKES for you this weekend!!!

Happy Birthday Rhonda

Today is Rhonda's birthday - head over to her blog and wish her a good day.

Image courtesy of D&D. Thanks!!

One of these days I am really going to learn how to do that stuff instead of 'borrowing' everyone elses images...

Happy Birthday Dolores!

Happy Birthday to Dolores!!

Today is her special day for a special lady!!

We are so lucky to have you in our lives!

Can't wait to see you again soon!!!!!

Head on over to her blog and wish her a great day.

The graphics are courtesy of Doris as I pinched it from her blog...

Apparently Doris pinched it from K1...Thanks K1

I am really going to learn to do all this stuff one of these days...

Thanks!!

Thank you to everyone for all the WONDERFUL birthday wishes!!

I really am a very lucky girl!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DORIS!!

Happy Birthday DORIS!!!

I hope you have a fantastic day - you deserve it!!

So glad I was able to celebrate with you this weekend!!

Second note to self - still haven't learned how to do cool stuff with the pictures...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY K1!

Please join me in wishing K1 the happiest birthday ever!!!

Enjoy your day!!

Can't wait to celebrate with you!!


Note to self - learn how to do fancy stuff with pictures and things for occasions just like this one!

Happy Birthday Husband!!

Today is my hubby's birthday!!

I love him the best!

Enjoy your day!!

CUPCAKES for you this weekend!!

*****UPDATE***** Did ANYONE think to tell me that I spelled HAPPY wrong in the title of the post...I am embarrassed - I just noticed it now and corrected it...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RHONDA!!

Today is Rhonda's birthday...I DO have a picture of her and I have met her in person!

I will NOT be sharing a picture of her here, but for a small fee, I can e-mail one to you...Oh was that said in my outside voice??

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RHONDA - head over to her blog and wish her a happy day!!

ENJOY YOUR DAY!

Happy Birthday Dolores!!

Today is Dolores' birthday!! Pop over to her blog and wish her a great one.

Mark and I are very lucky to have met and become friends with Dolores and Shawn. They are wonderful people and and we are so happy that we will share such a special part of our lives with them in China.

Enjoy your day - YOU DESERVE IT!!!

Happy Birthday Catherine!

Happy Birthday to Catherine!

Mark and I hope you have a FANTASTIC birthday!!

Enjoy your day!

Busy Saturday

Mark and I, once again, had a busy weekend...well really just a busy Saturday.

We started out by going to Mom and Phil's to celebrate Tracey's birthday. Mom and Phil have been away and this is the first weekend that we could all get together for her birthday lunch. We had a great afternoon with lots of laughs! Here are some shots of the day!

Madison
Josh








We came home for a quick change and then we were out the door again to meet up with Rhonda and Josh, Dolores and Shawn and Heather and John! Heather and John were in town all the way from New Jersey! It was so wonderful to meet them and spend time with everyone.

Rhonda made the reservations and asked for a round table - as it is easier to talk to everyone and there was going to be 8 of us. The lady on the phone asked if we were having a meeting and Rhonda said - 'Something like that'...well we ended up with a PRIVATE dining room!!! HOW COOL IS THAT!!! It was wonderful! We had doors at the end of the room that were closed and it was private and we could be loud and not disturb everyone else.

And we talked, and we talked and we talked! We arrived at the restaurant at 7:00 and didn't leave until 12:15!!! We closed the place! We were the last table in there. I am sure the staff were hoping that we would leave so they could go home!


There were also presents! Heather and John brought the ladies a present. The first is a key chain with a little shovel so that we can 'dig our own hole to China' and the second it is a mug with our blog header on it! How cool are BOTH of those gifts!! We were all stunned when we opened them! Thank you so much Heather and John for the VERY thoughtful gift!


Then there was a gift from Dolores - We had already received a gift from Dolores before and she was giving us another one. We are very lucky to have these wonderful people in our lives. From Dolores we received a beautiful bracelet and necklace in a very pretty bag! Thank you Dolores and Shawn for the VERY pretty gifts - you MUST stop giving them though...

I had a gift for Heather however it was left at our front door...It will be in the mail next week Heather!

The Weekend in Review

Once again Mark and I had a very busy weekend. We are very lucky to have such a wonderfully large family and the opportunity to spend time with them.


Friday was Saige's (our niece) 2nd birthday. We all gathered at Jenn (Mark's Jenn) and Paul's house for Saige's birthday dinner.









Jenn has asked if I could make a cake for the celebration. I thought I would surprise her and try a 'special' cake! Well she was surprised. I actually surprised myself as I have never made a cake like this before! I think it turned our pretty good if I do say so myself!! Mind you, it took about 1 1/2 longer then I anticipated to decorate...not something I am going to do every week!




Here are some other pictures of the day. Saige was MOST impressed with her Dora bandana and wanted to put it on right away. Isn't she just the cutest thing!!















































































Saturday found us visiting Mom and Phil for dinner and a night of card playing! We had a great dinner and a great night was enjoyed by all!

Sunday we were off to Hortense's for yet another dinner!! Didn't I tell you how lucky we are!! We had a great night there and there was more card playing!! Uncle and I even won!!

So far this weekend I have been waking up about 6:00am - WITH NO ALARM! What is with that?? Friday, Saturday, Sunday and this morning I was up that early. I figure that by tomorrow - when I have to set my alarm again - it will be a CHORE to get up that early!!

To top off this wonderful weekend, Mark and I are lucky enough to have today off also. How great it is to have a day at home to get caught up on things when you were out all weekend!

Catching Up...

Last Saturday we celebrated our niece Madison's birthday. She was 5!! Here Madison is modeling the dress up outfit that Mark and I bought for her. We all had a great time at the party and Madison received lots of gifts!

At one point during the party I was helping her put on her "Princess" necklace and she told me that she "was just getting so stylish"!!! I was cracking up! It was just so cute!!

Madison was most pleased to be blowing out her candles!

I am so late in posting this as I forget my camera at Jen's house and I won't get it back until this weekend and I have been waiting for a chance to get pictures from Tracey's camera.

As usual we had a great time and Madison was appropriately spoiled, as a 5 year old should be, by her aunts and uncles!!

I have also updated our quilt site. You can see our updated squares here.

We are up to 44 squares with 56 more to go!! Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far. You have no idea how special this quilt is going to be with all of the good wishes that we have received for Pumpkin!!

If I have promised you a square and have not sent it, please e-mail me.

A bit of this and a bit of that

First off I would like to thank Rhonda and Kathy for the wonderful CNY cards. I am a little behind the 8 ball on that one – sorry... What a lovely gesture and it was very much appreciated! Thank you!!

Secondly – Last night we were at Hortense’s and we celebrated Mark’s birthday! We had a GREAT time as usual!! I made cupcakes and we had them in a ‘tree’. Very cool actually!

Thirdly– I have FINALLY updated my 100 Good Wishes Quilt site – you can see it by clicking here. We are at 37 SQUARES!! Only 63 more needed!!

Fourthly - I would like to address Blog Etiquette – if there is such a thing. Should one seek permission to put a link on your own blog to someone else’s blog? When I first started blogging I was doing this, but then I saw that I was on other people’s blogs and they hadn’t asked me (which I am o.k. with) so then I thought I was doing it wrong so I then just added who I “read” to my blog roll. Should one seek permission?

Fifthly - I would like to address that sometimes there is nothing to comment on. What I mean by that is that someone has made a post (generally a wonderful one) and I generally comment, but there are times when I either, don’t agree with what they have posted about, or I can’t think of anything to say to comment on. I sit here and rack my brain to think of something and either someone has already said it, or I just CAN’T think of anything prolific to say. So it is o.k. to read and NOT comment sometimes – though everyone LOVES comments!

Sixthly – about commenting – if there are a bunch of posts, it is o.k. to just comment on the most recent and not comment on all the previous ones – especially if you have been away and there are 165 new posts on your Bloglines account. I know it is o.k. as I can comment where and when I want, but I was just thinking about it out loud.

Seventhly – how do you get that little icon beside your blog in the address line? Like Rhonda has a little maple leaf, Kathy has a heart and C.J. has her little “picture” symbol??

Eighthly – It is always the question of how much to reveal on your blog. I know MANY others have also grappled with this dilemma as many of them have had some negative experiences. There are many things about myself that I don’t reveal on the blog and perhaps never will. But for now, I am happy with the blogging world and it keeps me in touch with SO MANY wonderful women and that (at this point in time) out weighs any negativity with blogging.

Ninthly – If you are not on my blog roll and you would like to be, please let me know as I am going to be doing some blog housekeeping in the near future.

Ottawa!

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Well Mark and I are back in town. We left first thing Saturday morning and flew to Ottawa to celebrate mark’s 40th birthday weekend. What a great weekend we had!! We were picked up at the airport by Mark’s cousin Elizabeth and niece Ashley and went back to their home. We had time to drop our bags, grab a quick bite and then we were off. We headed downtown to go skating on the Rideau Canal. This is something that mark and I have always wanted to do. There were 6 of us – Mark and I, Elizabeth, Ashley, Shannon and Hannah. What a great atmosphere it was down there. There were lots of people, ice sculptures, activities, Beaver Tails, Hot chocolate etc. The sun was shining and we really enjoyed ourselves. HOWEVER – we did discover that skating is NOT our forte!! We did sit down and enjoy a Beaver Tail and a hot chocolate. A visit to Ottawa is just not complete without a Beaver Tail. After skating we went to see the ice sculptures. They were really amazing. I do wonder HOW someone would discover that that was where their talent was.

After our afternoon adventures we made it back to the house. We had time to get ready and the 3 of us headed out to dinner. Elizabeth’s husband Jeff was on a business trip. We really missed him over the weekend – except perhaps when we were skating as he would have made fun of us!

Dinner was at the horse race/casino. We had a wonderful buffet dinner and made our way to the slot machines. Mark and I decided that we were playing with $20 each. I picked the best machine ‘cause in about 10 minutes, my $20 had morphed into $70!! I cashed out!

Sunday was another great day – it was Mark’s birthday party day! We were having a big celebration dinner. Elizabeth and I went out in the morning to pick up some supplies and the day was a realizing one – Just what we needed. We decorated the dining room fit for a 40 year old party dinner and Elizabeth made a FANTASTIC dinner! There was lots of gabbing and laughing! A great party!

Monday was some shopping and Scrabble playing with the girls when they got home from school. I didn’t win:( Ashley was the winner! Another great family dinner followed.

After dinner everyone disbursed. Krystal decided that she wanted to practice the piano. I proceed to the living room to listen. What an INCREDIBLY talented woman she is!! WOW is all I can say. She was playing a BEAUTIFUL song and when she was finished I told her how much I enjoyed it. She told me that she wrote it herself. She then played it again and sung the words that she wrote. I was transported away while listening. I was transported away while listening. It was stunning!

Tuesday morning was HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK day and it was great and relaxing – in the morning.... We had to leave the house at 11:30 to catch our flight. Before we left the house, we checked to see that the flight was on time. Everything SEEMED fine and Elizabeth dropped us off at the airport. But wait…Our flight was CANCELLED! We told the check in lady that we just checked and it was on time – she said it was cancelled 5 minutes ago.

For those of you who don’t know, Ottawa is about a 5 hour drive / 1 hour flight from the Toronto area and there are basically flights every hour back and forth. We were too late for the hour before flight so we got on the hour later flight that was set to depart at 2:00. The flight was PACKED and was late getting away from the gate. Then there was ‘de icing’ and a line up for that and then we FINALLY made it to the runway and HOUR after we pulled back from the gate! We should have already been home by the time we took off. Did I mention it was Mark’s birthday? Not the way he would have chosen to spend it! We made it back to Toronto right smack dab in the middle of rush hour! AAAGGGHHHH!!!

We made it home at 4:55 and were out the door 15 minutes later to be at Mark’s parents for dinner for his birthday...can you say RUSHED!!

PHEW!! We are home safe and sound and now are trying to get ourselves back in order!

Please stay tuned for the Adventures of the Golden Pig – coming soon...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST HUSBAND EVER!!!!

Mark and I have just arrived home from an extended weekend...don't have much time to write right now, but I wanted to share with everyone that it was Mark's 40th birthday today!!

Much more to come about the weekend - including the Adventures of the Golden Pig!!!

Happy Birthday Mom & Snowy Day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!! Enjoy your day in the WARM climate!! We wish we could be there with you!!

Well today we were greeted with about 15 cm of snow. It is still snowing and DRIFTING. This morning when I was trying to get in my car, the snow on the drivers side had drifted and was almost at my knees...my boots do NOT go to my knees...

I made it to work EARLY today. I got up early as I knew the snow was coming and made sure I left extra early as not to be late. There were not too many people around, but that is nice sometimes. They actually closed all the schools. I can't remember the last time they did that!! Since I started early, that means going home early too.

Today is one of the days that I am so happy to pay my condo fees – those fees cover shoveling / plowing and salting the snow all the way to my front door!!

When I got up this morning, Mark had already left for work and I went downstairs and there was a lovely card and a chocolate heart. It was very sweet! I am not a big Valentine's person – never have been. When growing up, February 14th was always Mom’s birthday and that was that.

I think Mark was kinda relieved when we met that it wasn’t something that was important to me. Sure a card is nice, but I don’t need all the fru-fru of the day.

As for this evening, I don’t know what is in store. I am thinking we might just order in dinner and watch the snow fall...

2 Months Down...

Well today marks two months since our LID. I can’t really say that the time has gone fast as it has been 13 months since we started this journey. I know there are MANY more months to go – probably about 20. Accepting it is the hard part...

I know too that every month for a long time, I (along with everyone else) have been keeping my fingers crossed for a speed up. Every month I hope that, and every month, there is NO speed up. I am just going to have to resign myself to the fact that it is going to be another 2 years until our daughter is HERE. That is a very daunting thought.

However, in the mean time, we are CERTAINLY keeping busy. Sunday was Hortense’s birthday dinner. I forgot my camera so there are no pictures. We had a great time – as always – and Hortense got some nice gifts. We ordered in Swiss Chalet and I made a cake and a fruit tray.

Monday we had Dan over for dinner. He is Mark’s cousin’s son and we refer to him as our nephew. He is in College in Toronto. I popped by after work and picked him up and brought him back here for dinner. The weather was quite bad after work yesterday and it took us an hour to get home. This is a drive that would normally take about 20 minutes.

Regardless of the late start, we have a nice evening. Dan is very personable and good company. I didn’t crack out the camera. I didn’t even think of it until Mark was driving him home...Next time!

Tonight is AquaFit with Jenn (Mark’s Jenn). We have had no major ‘incidents’ since 'that time'. I now have a wonderful lock that works EVERYTIME I try it!!