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...