Halloween!

Did everyone have a good Halloween? I did!! I went trick or treating dressed as a pumpkin (mom made my outfit with felt!), and got a lot of goodies. 

When I got home I dumped out my candy haul to share with my new sister. Dezhi doesn't exactly seem to enjoy Halloween, she asked me why everyone wants to dress up as ugly, creepy things. (Is she calling ME ugly? Hope not!) Mum says I'm quite a cute little pumpkin. It was a fun night, my favourite candy- Gobstoppers- were given out at several houses!

Love, Winnie

I Have a Sister?!

You will NEVER guess what happened to me today. When I arrived home from school there was a girl in my room. She waved and said in a funny accent, "Hello, Winnie!" 

It turns out that this girl is my half-sister. Her name is Nadezhda and we have the same mum but different fathers. She has just MOVED HERE to live with us from Kazan, RUSSIA. 

I am not at all sure about this...I rather like being a spoiled only child! Nadezhda is way too touchy-feely. She insisted on hugging me and kissing both my cheeks and I don't even know her! 

She seems nice enough though, and it may be kind of fun having a sister. She is older than me by almost two years, and brought pretty clothes with her, maybe I will get to wear them! And now I understand mum's reason for giving me a Russian dictionary. How about that?! I'm sure I will have a lot more to say very very soon! Do we look anything alike? 

Love, Winnie

Update on my fish!

Do you remember my clown fish and angel fish I got for Christmas? I was looking at an old photo of them today and noticed how big they've gotten in the past year! Look at this! I named the clown fish Nemo and the angel fish Ruth, after a friend of mine back home in Wales. 

January:

Today:

Aren't they pretty?

Love, Winnie

A Mysterious Gift...

Today I was scouring the new American Girl Wishbook with Madalina and my mum interrupted us to give me a book. 

It was one of her old books, a Russian dictionary. Now I know mum loves Russia and the language and has been there and everything, but what does that have to do with me? I speak Welsh and English fluently and learn Spanish AND Chinese at school. Why should I need to know any Russian?? Mum just winked and said the book, "might come in handy." 

Anyone have any ideas? Love, Winnie

End of Summer Sleepover

I've been meaning to post about this for a while now! Before everyone went back to school I had all twelve of my friends spend a week at the beach with me- What a blast it was! 

We played tons of games, stayed up way too late, and even cooked for ourselves! 

Trouble only arose once, when Nellie, Rebecca and Xiaofei decided to play with my paint spinner unsupervised...Here they are when the paint was still IN the spinner. The after picture is too chaotic to post!

Only one sad thing dampened the fesitivies- Xiaofei, my friend from music class, is moving! Her dad got a new job across the country and I will miss her a lot! She was half the reason I even went to music class (I'm not very good at guitar, let's be honest!) I'm not sure what I would do if any of my other friends moved away, especially my best friend, Madalina. Let's hope no one else leaves for a long time!

I hope you enjoyed my entry as always, love,

Winnie xx

Still keeping cool

Mum took me back to the beach almost every day for two weeks! I almost got sunburned...er, melted.

I love the water though! I have collected so many neat shells. I'll take them home and use one of my marine books to figure out what sort of creatures used to live inside! Here's a photo mom took to make a Wish You Were Here! postcard.

The outdoor shower of the beach house is another great way to stay cool! 

I hope everyone's summer is being as good to them as mine! It's been so nice hearing from all of my friends here on blogspot!

Love, Winnie

Beach Babes!

Well today I raced down the beach in my new bathing suit! I couldn't wait to play!

The water was great! It was really windy too so I didn't have to worry about getting too hot.

My friend from music class, Xiaofei, came with me for the day. She doesn't like to swim though.

Even though she wouldn't go in the water with me, we had a fun time playing beach ball!

Love, Winnie