A Year of Memories - Part 5

November 2007

December 2007

January 2008

February 2008

Bryn and Caia celebrate Chinese New Year together.

Shootin' hoops with Dad.

Say "cheese"!

There you have it. A few photos from our life over the past year. The time has flown by and as much as we miss the baby Bryn was, we treasure every moment with her now as a toddler and we're anxious to see what the future has in store for us.

Our days in China are etched in our memories and, much to our surprise, we miss it and can't wait to go back. As corny as it may sound China is the only place I've visited where I feel as though I left a piece of myself behind. Our emotional ties to our daughter's homeland and the incredible people who live there are much stronger than we ever thought they'd be.

A huge thank you to all our family and friends for your love and support over the past year and for welcoming Bryn into your lives. Her transformation since coming home is due in part to the love you've all shown her.

Happy 1st Anniversary of Forever Family Day to our extended family. I know we've said this countless times in the past year but we are so truly blessed to have all of you in our lives...again, it's so very hard to put into words. We miss you and look forward to a reunion of all the China sisters someday...Sarah, Bryn, Ashlee, Roshandra, Ava, Elizabeth, Maeve, Kennedy, Cassandra, Julie, Claire and Caia.

Behind the Scenes

Bryn isn't very co-operative when the camera comes out. This is why I don't post many videos...

Our Week So Far

It's been the usual busy week around here but we've had a few special things going on.

Sunday we had a visit with James, one of our travel mates who lives in Edmonton but is here for a teaching seminar. Unfortunately, Beth, Helena and Ava weren't here with him but we had a great visit and are glad James took time out of his busy schedule to pay us a visit. We haven't seen James since we returned from China so it was wonderful to see him again.

James and Bryn.


Tuesday we went to our second Tumbleweeds class with Shea and Caia. It's difficult to get a photo of the girls together since they're always running around, which is good since that's the whole point of the class! Caia is the quicker of the two and is a lot more adventurous, but Bryn is much braver now, even after just two classes. She'll actually plop herself down on her butt and even walked on the balancing beam with a bit of help from me.



Some shots from gym class.


Yesterday I took Bryn to see the Backyardigans. I wasn't sure if she'd be too young for it or if the big crowd and wacky characters up on the stage might scare her but she sat through the entire show and had a great time. She sang along and clapped and danced and was quite interested in the "lady snail" who was actually an alien in the show but I guess the antennas on her head had Bryn thinking something else (and she obviously wasn't paying very close attention to the story line).  I didn't take my camera because they always say taking photos isn't allowed but of course all the other parents were busy taking pictures through the whole show, darn it. Oh well, another photo for the album in my mind.

Backyardigan tickets, $65; souvenir t-shirt, $20; parking, $6 (plus 30 minutes waiting to get out of the parking lot with one very impatient child stuck in her car seat); having a great time with my daughter, priceless.

Swimming

Tomorrow Bryn starts swimming lessons so we thought we should take her to the pool at least once before the big day.

She's usually not very brave at trying new things so we were amazed when she walked into the pool and just kept walking and walking until the water was up to her chest. She loved it!

More Holiday Family Fun

Well, so much for my New Year's resolution of updating our blog more frequently. Hope you enjoy the last of our holiday photos even though we're well into the new year. Cheers to a happy 2008!


How lucky are we to be able to spend time (especially over Christmas) with two of our extended families?! Here we are with Shea and Caia, and Paul, Monica and Claire. The girls had already posed for quite a few pictures by this time and were growing tired of the paparazzi (and so was Girard)! We had a great visit and it's so wonderful to see the girls together. We were also thrilled that Shea's mom Darlene could join us. Thanks for having us, Shea!



It's not easy to get three toddlers to all pose with their prettiest "cheese" smiles but here they are (sorry, not much cheese in these photos) -- Caia in her oh-so-trendy brown and pink, Claire with her cool sparkly tights, and Bryn with a hole in her shoe.


Bryn's Papa came for a few days and managed to get a few hugs and kisses.


Pubba and Nana were here for Bryn's first New Year's Eve (I think we were all in bed by 12:10 a.m.!).


Bryn had a great time with her cousins Katja, Nicholas and Matthew.


Auntie Chele and Bryn getting ready to do some coloring. (I'm not positive, but I think that's "Nit" peeking over the table.)


Thanks to everyone for the visits, we loved having you!!