I just love her!

This without a doubt is Aislin's personality in a nutshell...she's got such a witty and silly sense of humor. Here she is getting ready for swimming and she's always jumping around doing whatever she can to get you to laugh! She's turned into a mini-me and copies everything I do, my words, my body language and even make up as you see below. She came out of my room saying "oh oh...Mama's blue stick (her word for lipstick) got all over Aislin"....then she said when I frowned at her "oh but Aislin pretty!"

Two Year anniversary

Two years has passed since we brought Aislin home! Wow, time flies. She went from a little helpless baby to a very active, very imaginative and very funny little girl!!! She constantly has us laughing out loud. Her poor little stuffed lady bug doesn't stand a chance for starters...she loves that little thing and every so often she'll pick her up throw her to the floor (WHACK) and say..."ohhhhh poor lady bug...are you alwight?" Then she picks it back up and does it again!

She also has an uncanny ability to know when you are going to say no to her, for example..she no longer asks me for popsicles (she has an addiction and is only allowed 1/2 of one per day!), so she'll go over to John and put her sweet little smile on and batt her eyelashes and say "Daddy, popsicle....pulllllease!" then she'll look at me and go "NO" and turn back to John and smile...often he gives in. I probably would too if she looked at me that way!

But honestly, it has been a miraculous two years, we've enjoyed every minute of Aislin. We can't remember life before her, she is such an important little girl in the lives of her entire family...Happy Anniversary Missy Miss...MUAH!

Christmas...I'm a little late!

Christmas at Grammy and Grampy's was a lot of fun again this year, Aislin sure got the hang of things. Though she didn't care too much about what she got for Christmas she sure enjoyed opening the presents!

Happy Birthday

Loved the hat...kept trying to blow out the candles on top of it!

Decorating cakes and making pizza! They had a blast!!!

Downstairs to have some fun with the wii and Aislin's new slide...then a chocolate fondue, it was a great party with some of our favorite people! xo!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Our Little Pumpkin seems to have it all figured out this year! Aislin was so focussed with the pumkin carving, we couldn't even get her to look up for a picture! And then of course whenever there is a candle it must be somebody's birthday...so here she is singing happy birthday to the pumpkin and then blowing out the candle!

And here she is....all dolled up as a pumpkin and loves it! We went trick or treating this morning at the mall and Aislin insisted that she couldn't take her costume off when we got home,

"it's Halloween Mama, Aislin's a pumpkin!"

September Fun!

Aislin started pre-school (YIKES!!!) this week and so far so good. It's only two mornings a week but we think it's going to be great. Since her birthday is in early December and our school cut-off dates for entry are the end of December she got in under the wire. Since they discontinued the tots program she was in last year we were quite thankful that we had this as a great option! It's in the same building and so there are some familiarities there.

Meanwhile, we took a little getaway to Halifax and sailed on Theodore the Tug Boat, much to Aislin's dismay! She cried to get off, then fell asleep and then woke up about twenty minutes before we docked laughing and loving it!

We enjoyed a nice fancy dinner out, all dressed up and even though Aislin is used to dining out, our dinner lasted almost three hours and we were so impressed at how well Aislin did (except she called our server a Monkey Monkey).... And here is our beautiful girl sporting her "morning after the night before look"!!!

CHEESE!!!

My little Miss has decided it's better to join me than fight me on the photo taking! Now she says..."ok cheese...lemme see!"

She's a baking fanatic, we made 8 loaves of zucchini bread and 24 muffins in three days. Aislin loved every minute. I gave her a little bowl and but a bit of each ingredient and she'd mix away singing "stir stir stir"...she's such a clown, I love it she's decided her "pearls" work well as earings also!

Summer Fun!

I have a passion for photography and just got a new lens for my camera...I'm pretty pleased with it! Aislin ate the cherry soon after the photo was taken!

Happy Canada Day..we joined the White's in Sackville, New Brunswick for the Canada Day festivities...

My Missy....I think she's getting a little tired of me taking so many photos! Oh well, she'll just have to adjust, I can't get enough of her!

Ethan is sooo good with Aislin, he's so kind and patient and she just adores him and Emma!

And here she is in true form...loves her rubber boots!!!

Wedding and family fun!

We've had such an amazing couple of weeks! First Aislin got to meet my brother for the first time when he flew home from Calgary and then John's Mum and sister Anne flew here from Malta! It was the first time John had seen his sister in 20 years!!! Then we all flew to Calgary to see more family and be together for Kyle and Rhonda's wedding which was absolutely beautiful! All in all Aislin met almost her entire family on both sides in three short days!

I kept a couple of box of raisins in my purse for just this very reason....we sat next to a pond in the gardens where Kyle and Rhonda got married, my comb ended up in the pond as well as Logan's pacifier...out came the raisins!!! Aislin was pretty happy since I never let her have them!

The first time all three of our kids have been together at the same time!!! Aislin adores her big sister Angie and brother Kyle!

Spring means ice cream cones and new tricycles!!!

Aislin had never had an icecream cone! We never really thought about it so this is her first and she was in heaven! Now she asks for one all the time!

On the same day she got a tricycle! She keeps saying "feet on the pedals!" She has a little trouble getting on and off but loves her pretty new "wred" trike!

Easter Bunny

The Easter Bunny made his appearance at our house and left Aislin a ton of eggs to find...Aislin however, had other plans....she decided she'd rather take the eggs the easter bunny placed in her basket just for show into an egg carton and not be bothered with anything else! So that's what she did, after finding her basket on the coffee table she sat on the floor with an egg carton!

Busy Girl!

Aislin is a busy busy girl these days...I am back to work temporarily 3 days a week, so she had to give up her tots group short term and now goes to a home daycare which she loves! She walks in, kicks of her boots and coat and maybe, if I'm lucky turns her head back and smiles! She has also started Chinese school...this I'm not too sure about yet, I am positive she'll pick something up but last class while they are teaching us words Aislin was chasing a ping pong ball across the room and stealing each child's chair if they stood up for any reason, she had a collection by the end of it. After all she is two so we don't expect she'll sit down nicely and repeat the words as the older kids do and the teachers are so wonderful, they tell us not to expect anything from her and to let her roam and play that she will learn just by being there, we were very relieved they didn't kick us out! Not only do they teach Mandarin language but they also teach singing and dance as well, which Aislin seems to truly enjoy! We are lucky that we get to stay and participate, so we'll all learn something (hopefully)! Either way it is a great opportunity to keep some of the Chinese culture in our lives and also a chance for her to surround herself with other children who are not only adopted children but that also look a little bit like her, which may or may not become more important to her as she grows.
She is also as funny as all get out! Her favorite sayings right now are "you're so funny" and "you're ok"...the you're ok thing came because she falls alot and bumps herself alot, she is too busy having fun that often she doesn't notice walls, doors, floors, people etc...so when there is a minor injury I usually say "oh I think your ok" so I don't upset her or bring out her dramatic side! So now, whenever she bumps, bangs or bruises...she says automatically..."you're ok".

The other night she woke up crying, which doesn't usually happen, so I went in to check on her and she was quite upset and clung to me as though she was in great fear. So I took her to bed with us and as soon as she got in bed she tapped John on the back and said "dada", he rolled over and said "hi honey" and she laughed this new fake laugh that sounds alot like Bert from Sesame Street...this went on for 10 minutes, she then was carried oh so lovingly back to her own bed and we all had a good night sleep!

GUNG HAY FAT CHOY OR XIN NIAN KUAI LE， 新年快乐 OR HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year!!! We celebrated by going out for dinner to a Chinese restaurant and Aislin received a traditional Chinese New Year gift of a red envelope containing money. So though John is out of town, Aislin and I joined some other families for the nice dinner out.

We are heading to Truro on Sunday for the BIG celebration, we've never been but hopefully there will be some Chinese dance and music. We hear we are getting some snow (surprise surprise) but are really hoping to make the trip there.

Here is a couple of recent pics of our funny girl! She has taken a liking to Mr. Potato head's glasses and wears them any chance she gets!

ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

It's our first Gotcha Day celebration, we spent the day stormed in and played! We started our tradition of a family snapshot, we'll take one every year on this day and we have one from our first day together in China. We also gave Aislin a charm bracelet and every year on this day we will add a charm to it, the first one we want to add is the Chinese symbol for family...

One year ago today I held my sweet Aislin in my arms for the very first time! I remember it so clearly...we flew from Beijing to Guangzhou and when we landed our guide told us we had enough time to check into the hotel because our babies were already at the Adoption centre, waiting for us! We took a bus over to the centre and waited and waited...Aislin was across the hall and down a bit, we could hear her but couldn't see her. It felt like an eternity! Finally at long last the Director of her orphanage brought each child into the room one at a time and they were united with their forever families, finally it was our turn!

I was so afraid of everything until I held her...then nothing mattered! Aislin and I sat in a room with many of the Mom's and babies while John was in talking to the Director asking questions about Aislin, her likes/dislikes, her developement etc. So I had almost an hour of just her and I to start bonding...it was so strange but when she looked at me it was like she already knew me, she didn't seem scared or aloof...she cuddled and laughed with me..After that we left and some of us went to get some last minute supplies we needed and John took Aislin and went back to the hotel with my warning" DON'T DO ANYTHING WITH HER, WAIT FOR ME, I DON'T WANT TO MISS ANYTHING!" Well, he listened because when I got back an hour later the two of them were playing, no diaper change, no feeding, no bath...he took me literally! But they were both laughing and so happy, it is a very sweet memory. So Aislin had her first bath and then we called Mom and Dad...Aislin had the phone to her ear and fell asleep that night listening to Grammy's voice...

Here she is one year later in the very same pajamas...yes they still fit (they were really big on her in China!) though the sleeves just reach her wrists and the cuffs just reach her ankles...

It's been one amazing year, with so many more to come!