Stockings are hung....we're ready!

Jolly holiday greetings to everyone! We've been busy going to Lily & Luke's birthday party, celebrating the holidays with the Maryland side of the family and just an all around busy, busy time...I'm sorry I should have posted photos earlier but I'll work on taking care of that now!

Merry Christmas from the Eastern Shore of Maryland! Daddy, Mommy, Maddie and Nana pose at Nana's house after the family holiday celebration.

Maddie with Cousin April and Cousin Michelle....Maddie enjoyed "helping" everyone open their presents. *grin*


Maddie and Grace all ready to celebrate at Luke & Lily's birthday party!


Maddie with Lily, Luke and Auntie Amy....bring on the cupcakes!!!

Mommy and Maddie using up the end of the kifli dough (surprise Poppop!) to make tarts....just like I used to do with my Mom =)


Our Christmas tree, all trimmed with decorations and presents awaiting the big day!

Birthday bashes & daily life...

A quick little post (yes, never fear, with pictures) about the happenings around here.

What Maddie chooses to wear, when she's given the option of selecting her outfit...

This past weekend, wasn't really much of a weekend. Saturday, Maddie had two birthday parties to attend for some of her friends from school (Madison and Savannah) The good part was they were timed well, one in the morning, ending around naptime, and the other starting later in the afternoon. All in all it worked out pretty well, even if it was exhausting corralling an almost 3 yr old at overstimulating locations (a place called Xbos - a much more intense version of Chuck E Cheese, and the other called Little Gym) I liked the Little Gym, they teach gymnastics, dance and karate (Maddie also seemed to really like it as well - the instructors marveled at her ability to bend in half and hang from her hands and feet off of the parallel bars) And yes, I'm considering sending her there for classes with other 3 yr olds *heh*

From Birthday Party #1 of the day....

From Birthday Party #2...

Sunday, was much worse, in my opinion...Mommy spent the day Christmas shopping, hitting two different malls, and several stores in between! It was the last weekend day we had with nothing scheduled before Christmas - so the shopping HAD to be done.

After shopping, I had wanted to wrap everything right away, of course Maddie, the helper, wanted to, you guessed it, help Mommy. So, instead of wrapping, Maddie and Mommy made gift tags while Daddy cooked dinner. After Maddie's bedtime, Mommy then wrapped the various presents and added the lovely gift tags hand made by Madeline.

Now for some miscellaneous musings...

• I love some of the things that come out of kids mouths...
• like when Maddie walked up to Daddy and said "May I love you please Daddy?"
• Ron and I were having a conversation about music while driving in the car somewhere, and Ron said something about classic rock, and from the back car seat we hear "MGK" - for the non-locals, those are the call letters of a classic rock radio station that we listen too when driving...guess they really DO listen and pick stuff up all the time!
• Maddie has been afraid of Santa, wanted nothing to do with him, well, apparently that all changed today, he came to visit her school, and he gave her a candy cane...now all she wants to do is go to the mall to sit on the other Santa's lap and tell him that she wants a pink present for Christmas (never fear - pink wrapping paper has been purchased!)
• I really, really, really wish there were Chinese lessons for 3 yr olds in our area...something where she could hear it being spoken and practice saying things. The one near us, children have to be 4 yrs old in September in order to start, so Maddie won't be able to start until she's 4.5...She picks stuff up so quickly, it would be so much easier to learn how to speak anyway now...
• Maddie already repeats the phrases that we've taught her in Mandarin, as well as those from her Ling Ling doll
• She also sings in Spanish and tried talking to me in Spanish (apparently some word she learned at daycare, but silly me didn't understand, Daddy did, he took Spanish, guess my minor in French isn't coming in handy yet)\
• Guess it's going to be more videos until I can find an alternative...
  

Christmas decorations and holiday parties...

Maddie with her favorite Christmas decoration...the Snowman!

It is already December 2nd, and we've been to two (2) holiday parties! It's true! The past week+ has been "full" schedule wise. Thanksgiving weekend we broke into the attic and brought out the Christmas decorations. We use a fake 9 foot Christmas tree that is pre-lit. It looks nice, although I do miss doing the "Christmas tree farm" thing that we did when I was little. But over the years we've tried all of the variations from cut trees, balled live trees and fake trees...and for now, the fake tree is working just fine.

Maddie enjoyed the decorating, not just the tree but the whole house. She is in love with a 3.5 foot tall Snowman decoration, and keeps giving him hugs. The holiday parties were with the FCC-DV and our International link group (both adoptive families groups, one just for Chinese children, the other is all international adoptive families). It was great watching Maddie play with all of the kids! She's really quite social so getting together with the groups is great.

We really haven't started the Christmas shopping in earnest yet, but I need to get in gear. One good thing coming up this week is that I'll FINALLY be able to pick up my pictures from JCPenny, which I can't wait for!

Some fun kid-related things...Maddie is very vocal and loves to talk, making up stories and songs that she sings. Her pronunciation is good but there are two things that she says that cracks me up.

1. The word "helicopter" Maddie says, "Hello Doctor!" which only makes me think of the Animaniac's "Hello Nurse"!

2. "Lily Cat" is the term Maddie uses for Hello Kitty. I finally figured it out when we were at the Drs office and she pointed to a picture of Hello Kitty and said the phrase.

Now...I know, bring on some more pictures!!!!

Maddie pondering the best placement of the "crush" ornament.

Maddie all dressed in purple with a dress up Tutu and magic wand, despite all of my best intentions, she does seem to have a girly side to her *grin* But never fear...I'm balancing it with books like "Do Princesses wear Hiking Boots?"

A group picture from one of the holiday parties...

Happy Thanksgiving!

This may come as a shock to those of you that know us...but we invited people over for Thanksgiving dinner at our house, and people (people that KNOW US, and my infamous inability to cook) came anyway! That's correct! We had MomMom, PopPop, Nana, and Great Aunt Carol over, although, I do believe that they came more for a visit with Maddie than our turkey and stuffing... But hey, we'll take what we can get *grin*

It was a good day which started out interesting (ok, interesting is a relative term remember)...in general, Maddie doesn't really show much of a preference in the clothes she wears from day to day. I give her some choices if she wants to wear pants or jeans, which dress, etc... For Thanksgiving I had a nice dress picked out for her to be all cute for the day people were coming to visit but that plan fell by the wayside as Maddie made it very clear that she wanted to wear her "Chinese clothes", so I go into the closet to retrieve a gold pantsuit, only to be told that no, she wanted to wear her red Chinese dress...so that's what she wore. (Between you and me, she was still cute in that dress too!)

Maddie posing for the camera....for some reason, she now thinks that when you pose, you need to have your hands on your hips.

Maddie pushing her bear in the stroller, entertaining company on Thanksgiving.

Adventures in Portraits...

In the past, we've gone to Kiddie Kandids for our pictures of Maddie. All in all I've been quite happy with them. They get good pictures of her smiling, in a variety of poses...to the point that I spend so much time trying to pick a couple of pictures because in the end I want a copy of all of them! Well, this year, we wanted to have a family portrait done, so Kiddie Kandids were out...they do kids. So, we ventured into the realm of JCPenny Portrait Studios this weekend. Maddie had her normal "I'm scared" response for a while, but we were able to get some good pictures of the three of us as well as some of Maddie alone. I was a little disappointed with the family shots when I compare them with what they have on their site...unusual pictures of different combinations Daddy/Daughter, Mommy/Daughter, Mommy/Daddy, All three...I think that is what I was hoping for, but instead there were 3 poses with all 3 of us together and then 2 poses of Maddie alone...we had 10 pictures to choose from for the order of pictures. Now, I don't know about you but I was SHOCKED at how expensive their pictures were when you actually print them. I guess I was used to Kiddie Kandids options, prices and the fact that you walk away with the pictures on the SAME DAY. For everyone's information: This is NOT true at JCPenny...we won't get our pictures until Dec 4th, and can only pick them up Mon - Fri, not on weekends. I'm wondering if my sort of disappointment with JCPenny stemmed from me not being pro-active about the poses I was interested in vs how freaking busy they were due to the holidays. Well, we live and learn...we have pictures coming of all 3 of us together which is what I really wanted.

So, you'll all have to wait to see these gems, but until then....a gratuitous shot of Maddie...

I-Link visit to Children's Garden...

Poor Daddy had to work today, but Mommy and Maddie went with our I-Link friends (international adoption group) to the Children's Garden at Longwood Gardens. So it was good friends, good times all around - we explored the Children's Garden, went on a Stamp hunt through the Conservancy, grabbed some lunch and then went to the Craft room for the kids to color, play, etc. After that it was time to head home...Maddie fell asleep 10 minutes into the ride home, and is still fast asleep. I would definately go back again. But a message to parents...be warned and ready...the Children's garden is FULL of fountains for the kids to play in/around. So, come prepared (pack a change of clothes), let your kids be kids and let them play and splash around!

Here is Maddie enjoying the fountain. There are large creatures spouting water into the center of this fountain, and these things which she loved.

Think she was enjoying herself? I think the big grin gives it away!


Yet another of the 17 different fountains just for kids...very much a Please Touch place!

Maddie enjoying coloring with chalk on a blackboard that had beautiful painting on it with Dragons and flowers and birds...

Some of the pretty Mums...and fountains from the gardens...



Pet Peeve Alert: Parents not letting kids BE kids...I got several looks, and some comments from complete strangers that Maddie had gotten her sleeves or her pants wet. Well, mix a toddler with toddler sized fountains and what else would you expect?!? Happily I did do my research and knew about the fountains, I came prepared. I did also see many other parents spending their time keeping their kids away from/out of them because they'd "get wet", the same ones that seemed to "tisk tisk" me for letting Maddie have fun and splash.

Happy Halloween 2007!

Maddie all dressed up and ready to try out her new magic words... "Trick or Treat!"

I hope everyone had a good Halloween! Oh our household was full of Halloween spirit from the moment we all got home from "school" and work! When we were all ready with our 200+ pieces of candy for our trick-or-treaters, we headed outside, lit our freshly carved jack-o-lanterns and joined in with a couple of our neighbors and their boys (Jarrod and Tyler both 4 yrs old) for a "round the neighborhood" tour. At first I thought we'd go down one street and back and that would have been enough for Maddie...but, I was wrong. We went up and down several streets each time she would walk up and say trick-or-treat and then said thank you when she got her precious prize. It was a late night. Daddy and Maddie kept giving out candy to the neighbors while Mommy made dinner...which we didn't eat until 8:30 or so. Maddie had a great time and so did we.

Maddie posing with the jack-o-lanterns just before the trick or treating started.

Hope you all had a "BOO-tiful" Halloween!

Mischief Night Musings

Aww come on, how is that NOT a mischievous grin?

It's mischief night! So, to cause as much mischief as I can, I choose to do a blog post *grin*. We had a good weekend, a nice mix of household chores and fun. The fun this weekend turned out to be the Newark Halloween Parade. Maddie gave her Halloween costume a test drive, to which she chose to embody the "cowardly lion" and sit huddled against Daddy while the big bad marching band went past! After the first two, however she was enjoying herself and waving to everyone in the parade. After the parade was over, the Main Street stayed blocked so the children could trick or treat all of the businesses along Main Street. I wasn't sure how Maddie would do...but she was holding onto the orange pumpkin bucket and we held hands walking up to Bing's Bakery....her very first "Trick or Treat". I told her what she was supposed to say, when we got to the man at the door, she said "trick or treat" and the man put some candy in her bucket. Maddie stopped. She looked up at the man, looked at her bucket, looked at the man again, then looked in her bucket again! The power of three little words....you could see the wheels turning in her head. These three little words would change her life! Never again would she be without a lollipop or candy, these three little words were the key! She used those three little words at each business that was on the way to the car, stopping and grinning after each successful use. Yes, my friends, Maddie is a Trick or Treater...and she'll be out there tomorrow!

Maddie in her Lion Costume at the Newark Halloween Parade.
Maddie playing the role of the Cowardly Lion.

Tonight, we tried to keep the mischief to a minimum...so we decided to carve pumpkins. One for Daddy, one for Mommy and the one that Maddie picked at the pumpkin patch with Mom Mom. I think it was pretty successful...no screaming or tears from Daddy so all in all it went well *grin*

The pumpkins "before"....

The "during"....

The "after".... Our first successful pumpkin carving!

Autumn Adventures

Maddie enjoying a makeshift "playground" outside of the Camden aquarium with the Philadelphia skyline across the river.

We've had some autumn adventures so far, that is for sure...this weekend is finding us at home *gasp* Although there were like 4 different things we could have gone to... But the weather is beautiful and we're doing stuff around the house, taking it easy.

This past week/weekend had been busy enough. Let's see...last Saturday we went to Adventure Aquarium in Camden, NJ. The aquarium is located just across the river from Philadelphia, PA. It was a beautiful sunny day, if but a tad cool. I don't know why I thought about trying to go to the aquarium, but we did. (actually, we wanted to not do too much walking until Ron's toe healed all the way from his surgery, and the aquarium would be less walking compared to our normal fall haunt of the Maryland Renaissance Faire!)

Maddie and Daddy fighting off the crowds at one of the observation areas of the shark tank.

We really liked the aquarium, even compared to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. I do think it was mostly due to the lack of crowds which let us spend as much time at the exhibits up close as long as we wanted compared to fighting to wait in line at the Baltimore aquarium! They had lots of interactive exhibits that would work for Maddie if she was a wee bit older, but she enjoyed watching the fish and animals (birds, penguins, seals, hippos) We did buy a picture taken of her there that was just too cute to say no to...(unfortunately you'll have to believe me on that one as our scanner is down for the count right now.

Here is a picture of Maddie resting in front of one of the self picture taking areas.. I don't know exactly what to call it, but it's where you can put your heads through holes and be a "fish", "turtle", etc.. They were too high for her, but she was able to sit nicely =) The T-shirt is not a bullseye by the way...It was something I couldn't help myself in buying. It is a picture of a record (yes, there are those around that remember vinyl) and it says "The Time Out Blues Band: Ain't Misbehavin' No More" I thought it was quite appropriate for her. Found it at Baby Blend Tees.

Last Sunday, I had to work again at the Blackbird Fall Festival So, for two weeks in a row Ron has had to entertain Maddie while I worked. Last Sunday though he brought her to the festival and she got to sit and listen to music, had her face painted with a rainbow and sun, and scampered about outside on another beautiful day.

Maddie all dressed up ready for Halloween! Yes, we do know what she's going to be...she picked it out all by herself! It's making its public debut most likely next Sunday at the Newark Halloween Parade!

This past week was also exciting as Wednesday was field trip day at Maddie's school! Mom Mom and Pop Pop came down from NJ and Mom Mom and Maddie enjoyed the field trip to a pumpkin patch where they picked corn, picked pumpkins, fed ducks, drank apple cider and went on a hayride! They had a blast! It was an extra special day as Mom Mom and Pop Pop spent the rest of the day with her picking out some mums for the flower garden in the front and went to the playground too! After a lovely dinner out, they had to depart - but we all had a good time together!

Our wish for you...

BE NATURAL. Be peaceful. Be happy. Be kind. Be yourself. Be gentle. Be silly. Be funny. Be creative. Be loving. Be stylish. Be inquisitive. Be playful. BE HEALTHY. Be charming. Believe. Be original. Be hip. BE CARING. Be friendly. Be active. Be fascinating. Be adventurous. Be brave. Be aware. Be calm. Be a good friend. Be knowledgeable. Be honest. Be merry. Be earth-friendly. Be your best. Be nice. Be comfortable. and most of all. BE YOU!

Fall (?!?) Fun for the Family...

I hope everyone is having a good start to autumn! (Although with the temperatures in the 80s here this week, I'm beginning to wonder when it will ACTUALLY get here)


This past weekend we went to Milburn Orchards on Saturday. They have fall festival type stuff, hayrides, pumpkin picking, apple cider donuts, farm animals, etc - we went last year as well and Maddie enjoyed herself "milking" a pretend cow, playing with the pumpkins, going through the haystack maze, hayrides, sandbox fun and her very first actual pony ride. Sunday I had to work at Coast Day while Ron and Maddie went further south on Delmarva to visit Nana.

Playing in the pumpkin house at the orchards.



Daddy and Maddie enjoy the hayride. Whee!

Probably the biggest hit of the day was the milking of the pretend cow...she kept wanting to go back and do it some more!


Other things we've been up to...We also hit another milestone...Maddie got her very first hair cut! Despite her worried and pained look, she actually had a good time, Mommy is just bad at timing a picture with the camera on her cell phone. We went to Kids Kuts, and Maddie got to sit on a horse and brushed the horse's hair while the hairdresser cut hers. We are a NO BANGS family and will stay that way thank you very much. Maddie is now sporting a lovely little bob that goes past her shoulders. The good thing is that she didn't freak out at the hair dressers....so return visits will hopefully be smooth!

Jersey Shore, big girl undies & more...

Down the Jersey Shore we went in mid-September. Yes, I said "down the shore" not "went to the beach"...I am a living and breathing Jersey Girl at heart still and I'm already training Maddie to use the proper phrase as well! We love the fall down the shore, September and October are our favorite times of the year as all of the crowds are gone, the water is still warm and the weather is usually wonderful! That was the case again this year. Early on though it was a tad chilly during the day (read too cold to put on bathing suits to sit on the beach) but there is PLENTY to still do down the shore than sit on the beach! We went to playgrounds, the Cape May Zoo, Insectropolis, Barnegat Lighthouse, etc..

The week before we left was quite an interesting one... a pleasant surprise was that Maddie started going all day at school in big girl undies! We continued while we were down the shore and ever since! There has been a couple of accidents, but that is to be expected...but all in all she's doing really really well!

Maddie enjoying the Jersey shore! She looks sooo grown up!

That's more like it! Here is Maddie being a kid, playing in the sand with her buckets and shovels.

Poppop, Maddie and Mommom enjoying the last day of vacation (which was the most perfect beach day that you could ever imagine )

One of the places we visited was Insectropolis - a place all about bugs! They had live bugs, pinned bugs, bugs you can touch, as well as a movie for kids about bugs! Maddie really enjoyed it...what kid doesn't like bugs?

Maddie also got to touch several different types of bugs including a millipede, tarantula, and a scorpion that glows in the dark!

I just really liked this picture and thought I'd share it. The entire place has murals painted on all of their walls...all bug related. This was the mural for the bathrooms. Ladybugs to the left, Spidermen to the right! *grin* Maddie enjoyed visiting both sides once with Mommy and once with Daddy as she wanted to go potty a couple of times while we were there.

Maddie enjoying the playground at the shore on one of the more chilly days. Her hair is obviously getting pretty long, and I've still not gotten her hair cut. It is time though to get a trim!
Maddie trying to check out the sights and waving to all of the boats passing by at Barnegat Light Inlet.

Daddy and Maddie enjoying a lollipop break after spending some time climbing on the rocks with "Ole Barney" in the background.