A Day at the Christmas Tree Farm

This morning we finally had the time to go and pick out our Christmas tree. Traditionally we go the weekend after Thanksgiving, but we were unable to this year.

Today was Leah's second year at the Christmas tree farm :) The weather was great...snow covered grounds, cold, yet very sunny. Leah was only 4 months old the first time so this year we were a little more excited since she can walk, but go figure, we still had to carry her most of the time since she didn't know what to make of the snow and walking in boots for the first time wasn't the easiest. Hopefully next year we won't have to carry her LOL :D

Since it's was so late in the season, we had a hard time finding that "perfect" tree, but after a bit of searching...we found it :)

Leah had fun in the snow, enjoyed the wagon ride to and from the tree farm, and checking out all the different varieties of goats in their petting zoo area.

Leah & Daddy just before I put on her snow gear

At the tree farm

Leah tasting snow for the first time...I guess she was a little thirsty

YES - We finally found that "perfect" tree!!

Leah taking a little breather before daddy cuts down the tree

While daddy was cutting the tree....I was RELAXING :)

TIMBER!!!

Waiting for the wagon to pick us up to go back to the barn

On the wagon - I'm getting seeeppyy (can you tell!)

Leah's first trip to the Zoo (11/15/09)

Believe it or not, we had a beautiful day in November and decided to take advantage of it. Chris mentioned the Zoo and I thought that was a great idea so off we went :)

Leah had a great time looking at all the different animals and practicing her new skills....walking and running. Here are some of the pictures that we took:

Thanks daddy for taking me to the zoo...I love it!!

It's been a while

I can't believe how long it's been since I've updated the blog...sorry!

Well a lot has been going on with us and I really don't even know where to start. Umm...I guess I'll start with lil Leah :)

Update on Leah:
Leah has just taken off since she started walking a couple of months ago. I can barely get stuff done around the house because I'm chasing her and making sure she's not getting into things that she shouldn't be into. She has learned a couple new words since the last time I posted...yuck, or as she says "uck", and "hot". She has also learned to shake her head no, but I'm not sure where she learned that. Anytime you ask her a question the answer is always with a head shake back and forth as to say "no", but sometimes she means "yes" (we will be working on that LOL).

Update on the land/house:
As you all know, we picked out a 5 acre lot out in Manlius, and was just waiting to close on the property. As of today, we are getting out of the contract and looking for new land. It's such a long and complicated story that I'll just hit some of the highlights and some God moments:

Highlights are that the seller's were suppose to fulfill all of our contingencies, which they tried to, however, one of the contingencies was done unadequately and the seller's were unwilling to do it properly or reimburse us the cost for us to get it done right....SO we are backing out.

Some awesome God moments:
Chris really started feeling unsettled about this lot in Manlius when the seller's were not cooperating and seemed to be dragging their feet. So we finally started to really pray about the situation and make sure that this is what God wants for us and that the location is really where we should be building and raising our family, and not just us wanting to live there for our own reasons. As we started praying about the situation, I now started questioning about the lot so Chris and I decided to just have our real estate agent look up some more lots for us in the event our original lot crumbles, and in that search we found a lot that was a lot less money, smaller lot (2 acres instead of the 5), in the area we originally wanted to stay within, and in a good school district (if homeschooling fails). We got out and decided to walk the lot and the neighbor came out and introduced his family to us. They have 4 or 5 children and just built on that lot about a year ago. In talking to them, we found out that they are also Christians (how absolutely AMAZING is that!) and that Chris and them had mutual friends.

That night we decided to pray more and felt God was leading us away from our original lot and leading us towards this one. At the time, we didn't know how we were going to get out of the original lot, but that's the absolute wonderful part about God. We knew that he'll lead us down the path we should be heading :)

A few days later, I get a call about the new lot having an approved septic design from the County (which will save us about $1500 or more) and that it's been approved for a 5 bedroom home, which is the number of bedrooms we will have. PRAISE GOD!!

Needless to say, God was making it very clear that we need to get out of the first contract :)
Now we will have to see if this second lot is where we are suppose to be. If it is, then it'll be sitting there waiting for us until we are released from the first contract and we are able to move forward with putting an offer in for this new lot.

First few steps

Leah is 14 months going on 15 months and Chris and I have always said that we would never rush her to walk and that she'll walk when she is ready to walk!

For the first time, Sunday, October 11th, I was going to finally learn to let go of Leah and let her be in childcare at Church so that she can play with other kids her age and for me to be able to sit through a whole service with my husband instead of being out in the lobby taking care of Leah. My plan didn't work out to well though...I didn't realize that I was suppose to register her prior to service so I ended up just staying and watching her play and socialize. After being in there for less than a minute I started to feel like a horrible mom....I was watching all these little kids ranging from 9 months - 18 months just walking around playing with toys while my Leah was crawling around with no care in the world just minding her own business. Some were talking up a storm and here I am looking at my precious Leah crawling and barely even talking. She just knows the 3 words she's known for months - mommy...daddy....what's that. I started to question myself...Am I doing the right thing by not pushing her to walk? Should I only teach her English and just drop the Chinese? Maybe I should've taken her to more play groups and join MOPS? Am I sheltering her? ETC.

After praying and asking God all the questions that came to mind and seeking his guidance, I knew that I was being ridiculous and that each child is different and will learn at their own pace and to truly not compare her to others. I was reminded of all the positive things that Leah has already accomplished. Potty training at a young age, learning 2 languages at once and for the most part understanding what I say in both languages, crawling like there's no tomorrow, going up and down stairs even before she learned how to crawl, and drinking from a straw and sippy cup before she turned one. Of course after that reminder, I didn't feel the need to rush her to walk and actually felt kind of stupid for comparing her to others :)

The following Sunday, which was October 18th, Leah took 3 steps towards Chris in the family room. We never pushed her to walk or even encouraged her until then. The next day, Leah doubled that and now she has tripled that, even though most times she would rather crawl to her destination then take the time to walk over there. The hilarious part is that she knows that she's doing good...after she falls down from trying to walk, she'll sit there with a big grin and clap for herself as to say "Good job Leah! You are doing great! Keep up the good work". She crack me up!! Even though I miss her baby phase, I am really enjoying her toddler phase and just seeing her grow and learn new things.

Our Cruise & Miami Trip - Part One (9/11-9/21)

For my sister's graduation gift, we took her and my mom on a 7-night Caribbean cruise with a couple of nights in Miami Beach, FL after the cruise because my sister wanted to collect sand and see Miami.

My sister and mom flew in from Vancouver so we met up at the hotel in Miami the night before our cruise. I highly suggest flying in the day before the cruise in case of delays. Chris, Leah, and I were suppose to be in Miami around 3PM, but instead we ended up not getting in until 10PM because of airport delays.

Leah was so tired that she fell asleep

Checking in after a long day of flying

My mom playing the Chinese game that she taught Leah back in Vancouver

Leah drinking her milk before bed

The next morning we all got ready and headed down to the Port

Yee Yee (Auntie Mandy) watching Leah = Earbuds wrapped around Leah's top so she can listen to music without having the buds in her ears haha...Genius :)

Pictures of our ship while driving by

Checking in at the port

This is the ship directory

Leah having a great time in the baby pool with her friend Allysa (in the background)

This was one of the arranged play groups for babies age 12-18 months.

The counselor brought in a ton of toys for the kids to play with.

First formal night

We sat with a very nice family who went on a cruise to celebrate their sister, Mary's 40th birthday. Left-to-right: Matt, Mary, my mom, me, Leah, Chris, Mandy, Shelly (Mary's sister & Matt's mom), the mother (forgot her name), and Bill (Mary & Shelly's brother; Matt's uncle)

Our dining room

Captains table in the center of the dining room

The Captain, who's in the middle, came down from the ceiling on this platform in the middle of the Promenade then one-by-one introduced the others while they walked on the platform.

Chris drying his clothes on the balcony LOL

Leah playing with the toys at play group

Leah and Allysa

Scallops with Risotto

Strawberry soup

Meet Orly, the best waiter ever!!

Phillipsburg, St. Maarten

Water Taxi from the port to the beach

You have to pay to use the chairs and umbrellas and each section is owned by different people that are competing for your business

This guy is carrying the stroller and Leah in it thru the sand to get to our chairs and umbrellas that we paid for. He wouldn't let me take Leah out so I told him if he drops her, he is a DEAD MAN!!...He got her there safely, thank GOD.

That's our ship in the background

Mandy took a picture of us walking

She's just hanging out :)

One of the schools in St. Maarten

My sister and I just goofing around

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Old City of San Juan

Looking down at San Juan from our balcony

Most of the pictures you see from this trip was taken by my sister, Mandy

Pictures from our balcony

2nd formal night (last night on the ship)

Here's a view of our suite - The bedroom/vanity area can be separated from the living room by a curtain that stretches from the wall on the left to just left of the TV, the sofa (right) can be pulled out to a sleeper sofa, the bar area in front has drawers on the bottom with a mini fridge, off to the left (not shown) is the door to the bathroom, and behind where the picture was taken is the closet and door. After staying in this suite, I don't think we can ever do an inside cabin. It was beautiful!

So this post is already WAY to LONG so I'll end it with our second formal night. Next post will start with our last stop - Labadee, Haiti.