Okay Okay.......

Hi everyone, just wanted to let you know I AM STILL here, just semi-retired.

I am training for a marathon and gosh running takes up SO MUCH TIME.

FYI..............I have NOT lost an OUNCE, sad but true.

So depressing, however tomorrow I start the SACRED HEART DIET. Lord please give me strength. I am not a dieter and find it extremely difficult but this diet is one week only and you can lose up to 17 pounds!!! I'm aiming for 10. Don't know how this will affect my strength for training but I am willing to sacrifice anything for 10 pounds!!

The regular blog talk including S + A's birthday pictures will be returning soon!!!

Stay tuned!

A New Dawn

I have a feeling that this year is going to be one of the best ever since the girls are now "coming of an age", that I percieve as being one of the most exciting. Their almost 3 short years on this earth have sped bye and I am hoping that the "terrible" 2's weren't really just the "tiring" 2's and the 3's are really the terrible stage!!!! BTDT??? Is this a fallacy? Words of enlightenment?


Nonetheless, we will get through it, and the fascination they have of their world never ceases to amaze me.....


I warn you now, that this is going to be a Momma bragging post, so for the feint of heart you may wish to move on to another blog.


In the New Year I can see Sophia continuing to build amazing structures out of anything and virtually everything and creating wonderful works of art with her crayons. Sophia has been known to work on a card for her Grandma Judy for a week, and when the time came to give it to her she did, but refused to let her take it home. Do you blame her really? She will continue to pursue collecting things in all things collectible (so much for organization). She just loves to reorganize everything in her playroom into little bowls, cups , boxes, bags, you name it.
Sophia has alot of patience and loves her puzzles.


One of Sophia's many creations pictured above in which she meticulously and patiently placed each item.
Alyssa, I am sure will continue delving into the world of fantasy, dress up and creative play....she is my "model of new clothing purchases" and will gladly don a fancy dress (Sophia needs urging..........many times I have dressed Sophia kicking and screaming into her fancy wear). Who would've thunk it???Alyssa has yet to meet a mirror she doesn't like, (DH says she gets it from moi, but I know she really gets it from Nonna).
Mommy's tupperware drawers still continue to be their favourite to raid, and just before bath time they will madly dash to "the drawer" to grab stuff to drag to the tub. Politely asking me "Mommy take this?" over and over. It isn't unusual to have 25+ items of various sizes from Mommy's drawer in the tub at any given time. Need a lid anyone? Makes it tough to stay organized but WTH, a small price with big gains.
Alyssa,directly pictured below, sporting her bathing suit around her neck (a frequent sight in our house).

Alyssa all ready dressed and ready to go, pictured above.
Their creativity and imagination astounds me as well as their articulation of words. They take pride in enunciating words correctly and will practise saying a new word a few times until they have it. No temper tantrums here due to communication barriers, because they have always been excellent communicators. The girls have amazing observation skills, they notice the tiniest of details often overlooked by others. They don't recite their ABC's perfectly not even close to perfect, or for that matter count effortlessly to 20 not even 10. Why? It is my own personal believe that it means nothing to them so I don't value that type of learning right now as much as more relevant type of learning. There are so many things in their life that DO mean something to them and those are the things that I chose to teach them with passion. Things like that red light means Stop and see that green light means go . And yes Alyssa that is a stop sign and that is red, and looky here the banana is yellow like the sun. And when the sun is out the snow melts a little and sometimes the snow freezes. My girls are great at making CONNECTIONS and that is something that is very difficult to teach. For instance, they can pick out the numbers of their address because it means something to them and they can identify the letters in their name and they can tell you that an Octopus would be able to give lots of hugs because they have 8 arms....They can classify and sort their toys and they can tell you what they have in common with each other. They know that when they make jello the powder turns to a liquid when water is added and then after refrigeration the liquid turns into a solid. That's the kind of teaching that I love to do.





I am a mother filled with pride and unconditional love for these 2 lassies. And I still cry alot, more than parents who have not experienced their families through adoption. But mine are tears of happiness, joy and still at times disbelieve and awe that these 2 wonderful beings are calling me Momma, even after 2 years of being a family. I can't wait for all of you Mommies-in-waiting to experience this journey of love and I hope to be able to come along via your blogs with you.


I sense a little bit of my old life returning gradually. A friend recently told me at a dinner party that we are now reaping the benefits of our 2 years of hard work raising the girls. The girls are social with our friends and family, they are entertaining, and have a great sense of humour. Who else but Alyssa would put the "crayons" in "time-out" because Sophia tripped over them and cried??? Their imaginative play is so real to them and sometimes causes great dissent when Alyssa takes Sophia's nose and throws it in the garbage. NO amount of reassuring that her nez is still there works, only Alyssa generously fetching the appendage and putting it back.


For me this year I am training for the oldest running race on this continent (Around The Bay). A grueling 30 km race with the hill portion the last 15 km.... would anyone notice if I ran it backwards???I can just picture it now, the starting pistol going off and me turning and running upstream in a crowd of 5,500 people and everyone yelling "NO....". Um...maybe not. I am thrilled to be training for this race since it has been a life goal I have had for at least 5 years. This is the year, and March 30th is the date.


As a side benefit of all this training I hope to lose a few pounds in the process. Hopefully you will be seeing "less" of me in the future. lol.

This post is dedicated to my beautiful twin daughters, may God continue to Bless you and keep you healthy in the New Year.

Girls Just Having Fun

The girls had such a blast over the holidays, (after sickus interruptus was over), and these photos reveal the inner clown in both of them. I posted them in the order I snapped them and if I do say so myself I think they turned out pretty good. Am still using the old camera but I DID get a new camera for Christmas. But looking at these pictures I kinda wonder why.......





Remember this photo? from the summer?? Look carefully and you will notice that the stairs have been recarpeted!!!!! yippeeeeekayyeeee

A week before Christmas, yes, I know christmas shopping, baking, decorating, sewing wouldn't be the same without some home renovations thrown into the mix. But it was SO worth it, before I used to cringe looking at pictures of the girls on the ugly carpeted stairs (which happens to be one of their favourite places to pose for pictures), but now I love it!!!!