gift time!

This afternoon we pretended it was Christmas Eve and opened our gifts. We figured that way we could pack tomorrow and the girls could have some time to play with their new things since we leave on Tuesday. My understanding is that Christmas is not a big holiday in Taiwan, so for us, today was it!

Anyway, I just wanted to post these pictures in appreciation of the gifts that were sent our way! The girls were especially enthusiastic and lots of fun on this sunny Sunday afternoon. 

Such a big smile when she realized it was the exact Barbie she had hoped for!

"YESSSS!" 

And... it even had exciting goodies inside!

He is SO ready for Rosemary Canada Day! 

Leggings!! Better try them on immediately!

New pj's!! 

Beaver Canoe! Brings back memories... 

"Just what we needed!"

Friendship bracelets just like in Annie's book!

Merry Christmas!!! Love, the Janzens

Christmas Festivities

My mom pointed out a few weeks ago that this blog could use an update... and I agree. Must be lack of time,ambition, inspiration or motivation. Just not sure which one!
Anyway, we've had a busy month leading up to Christmas, and here is a little sampling of what we've been up to:

 Making the Christmas crafts that came in the Christmas box from Grandma Ruth (magnet Christmas picture frames). Fun!

 We were heading to an evening performance of the choir Annika is in, so we stopped on our podium to take some pictures of the girls wearing their Christmas dresses. The weather was clearly much warmer at the beginning of the month than it is now! It is now way too cold to be sleeveless!

Pre-performance warm-ups.

Here they are finally performing after a very long time of waiting through "technical difficulties". We were feeling sooo sorry for the music teacher while they were figuring out what was wrong. 

 This fall we started attend St. Andrew's Anglican church because it is so much closer to where we live than our old church. We just couldn't handle an hour long commute with two trains and a really long inter-change. We miss "Island", but we all are enjoying St. Andrews, and we especially enjoy our weekly lunches with our good friends Mary and Joseph (no joke!). Their daughter is to Leila's right. The kids were singing here in a special family service. 

 Amazingly the gingerbread cookies that Grandma and Grandpa Janzen sent us arrived in one piece. The girls had a lot of fun decorating them (and eating them)!

Mike and Leila hanging out waiting for Annika's Christmas concert to start

Leila's Christmas concert. By now, the temperatures dropped and there is no heat in the chapel, so the kids had to wear their jackets and then quickly take them off before they performed. 

Leila was in a little small group that sang some lines of "Away in a Manger" on their own. It was so sweet! And she really wasn't feeling well, so I'm glad she made it through. 

Mike was able to stop by her class party for a few minutes on one of his breaks. 

Annika's class party later in the week. They got to have a "free dress" day on the last day before the holiday. 

Annika's class party

 Christmas din-din with friends at Phoebe and Joey's. Side-note story- that little goof with the rabbit ears was a friend who was just over for the evening, and he goes to CAIS, so he recognized Mike. Mike didn't know who he was though, since he would have been in Grade 4 last year when Mike was teaching grade 6. Anyway, he informed us that he had seen us in the Edmonton airport this summer. We were like "What?!? Why were you there?". He told us that he had an aunt or somebody who was living in Edmonton. So that's a bit unnerving to think that he and his family could have just been watching us in the airport and they didn't approach us and say anything. Weird!!

And... that's what our catered Christmas dinner looked like! Along with wine and ice cream. Merry Christmas!

Throwback Monday

Today Leila was supposed to bring a baby picture to school. I'm not even sure what it was for, but since I didn't have any with us in Hong Kong I made a trip to the photo place in our mall and printed this one for her to take. 

Aahh! What a cute baby... I just want to kiss those little cheeks! Why do they have to grow up so fast on me? We just found out this weekend that one of those little bottom teeth that you see in her smile is very wiggly. I think the tooth fairy will be visiting soon. Sniff...

 And while I was digging through old photos I came across this one and had to print a copy of it as well. My little snow babies! :) That winter we discovered that they were happy as ever being pulled in a sled so we took lots of walks around the neighborhood or on the ice rink with this arrangement. I thought maybe Leila's teacher and classmates would be interested in this photo. I'm sure most of her buddies have never even seen snow!

Feeling Inspired...

Today was a grade 1-3 family picnic at Inspiration Lake. So that meant Annika's grade 2 class and Mike's grade 3 class both went, while Leila and the rest of the preparatory class had an empty school to themselves. It was a beautiful and hot day and I was glad I could go along. Also, I don't think Mike has ever been able to go on a field trip with the girls, although it's not like he doesn't go on his fair share of field trips! It was nice that he didn't have a lot of responsibilities and could hang out with us a bit- there really was no agenda for the day. 

A picnic lunch on actual grass!

The teachers had brought some parachute games and some balls for kids to play with. For some reason the parachute teachers were having trouble attracting kids, so Annika and I joined in for a while. 

And then at noon there was a much-anticipated "nature hike" led by Mr. G.  It was pretty much just a walk around the lake. But that was good because I spent most of last year just in the playground with the girls and hadn't had a chance to explore. It wasn't exactly vigorous, but it was very hot and sweaty and we were all tired by the end. 

Okay, this picture shows some of the beautiful scenery at Inspiration Lake. But see the student way off on the right side wearing PANTS? Those are the P.E. sweatpants that go with the "winter" uniform. There was a handful of kids wearing them today. It was a high of 30 degrees! It's cooled down from August temperatures for sure, but it was probably hotter than any of the days we experience in Alberta this summer with the added humidity! I just couldn't imagine why these children would have been dressed in thick sweatpants. Was there a worry that they could possibly be cold? No really, I wish I could find out if that was an actual concern. Or was it more to protect against the sun's harmful rays and against insect bites. Who knows, but I felt sorry for them. 

Mr. Janzen and his tag-a-longs

A waterfall!

It definitely "inspired" us to think about returning with Grandma and Grandpa Janzen. You can even rent paddle boats and bikes. Can't wait!

Seven!!!

 Time for another roundup of this year's pictures of Annika. I didn't have time to put this together on her birthday, but this year Annika actually remembered and reminded me ("I want to do that thing where you ask me what my favorite things are"). So here goes...

Shanghai, China

 Favorite food: Subway sandwiches (from Subway or it's also what she calls buns with meat, cheese and lettuce which is what I often put in her school lunch).
Favorite book: Cara the Camp Fairy (just got it for her birthday)
Favorite TV show: Jake and the Neverland Pirates (no surprise there!)

 Favorite holiday: Christmas, Easter and Canada Day
Favorite school subject: Christian Ethics
Favorite place: Disneyland
Favorite animal: swift fox

 What do you want to be when you grow up?: Librarian
Favorite restaurant: McDonalds

Birthday party fun

More birthday party fun with a classmate.

 Favorite friends: Audrey, Gigi, Yurino
Favorite season: Autumn
Favorite sport: Swimming
Favorite movie: Cinderella

I think this was the "year of the teeth" as her smile looked different month to month.

Life is good!

Favorite color: Orange and Purple
Favorite flower: Lily

ST-RIKE! (if only)

New and improved skills this year: whistling, shoe-tying, monkey bars, bowling, swimming, jump rope skipping

With Leila on a class field trip to the history museum.

Favorite wedding: Auntie Leanne and Uncle Michael, of course!:)

Dancin' Janzens

A happy camper!

Annika, we love your zest for life! You bring us so much joy! Happy Birthday... we LOVE you! XO