Thankfulness

Ok, so I am a little late for Thanksgiving post to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, but hopefully you all had a good weekend. We hosted my family as has been our custom now for the past few years. It was fairly low key this year with only 7 of us at the table. Maddy enjoyed playing with her cousin River though at times I think he was not quite a thrilled to have his little 21 month cousin wanting to be part of what he was doing.

Later in the day we went to Uncle Bob & Aunt Janita's house for some yummy pumpkin pie. Since Maddy was the only little one there, she got plenty of attention from everyone. She also got to see Great Grandma Julie which was a special treat.

We count every year that we have Maddy's grandmas & pa & great grandmas & pas around a special blessing. We know that there will come a day when they will no longer be here so we are grateful for each holiday we can spend with them.

Here are a few pictures from the day:

Maddy got a kick out of the olives on her fingers

Playing with River & Auntie Lydia after dinner

Great Grandma Julie with Maddy

Photo opp with Uncle Bob, Auntie Janita & Brandi

A game of ring around the rosy to burn off the pie

And they all fall down!

10 things we love about Maddy

10. How she says 'nusic' when shes talk about music or songs.

9. How when you ask her what she wants to eat she says 'chicken, rice' no matter what time of day.

8. How no matter what drive thru we are going thru (Starbucks included), she always yells 'fries' when we are ordering.

7. How she takes one of our hands and pulls us where she wants us to be & says 'sit, down' so we can play or read her a book.

6. How when we play hide -n- seek with her, she always goes to the same spot to hide.

5. How she asks to sit in her little play kitchen at her little table when it's snack time.

4. How she blows kisses to you when you are leaving and says 'see you later.'

3. How she has to have 5 specific stuffed animals in bed with her & will go thru the inventory until she's named each one.

2. How she gets excited when you say 'we're going to grandma's' no matter which grandma we are going to visit.

1. How she loves to put this little bucket on her head & call it her 'helmet' :

Hangin' with the cousins

This weekend we spent Friday night celebrating the birthdays for 2 of Maddy's cousins and then we met up with everyone at the Christian Community Fair in St Paul at the River Center. The fair was a lot of fun and a great deal. It was free to get in and they had lots of fun kids things to do for free. There was a petting zoo, several inflatables, music, and free stuff from vendors. It was the first time all of the cousins had gotten together since July when we spent the week at the lake.

The birthday girls with Grandma

Hannah & Joey

All the cousins together

Larry & Bob from Veggie Tales made an appearance at the fair

Uncle Adam & Uncle Chad doing the bungee run

Little Miss Tori

Feeding the animals

Group 92 - one year later

Our travel group (aka Group 92 from our agency) recently got together right before our 1 year anniversary together. We are so blessed to have this common bond we share of our daughters from Leping. Maddy is starting to remember the girl's names and is so cute when we say one of the names (like Bri), she will recite everyone else's.


Here are pictures from the Red Couch last year :

And these are from our recent get together, we were hard pressed to recreate the Red Couch, but managed to get a couple of pictures-

Busy week & reflections from our last days in China

This has been a busy week! I have been working on a new project at work that has taken up too much of my time and I was an election judge in Minneapolis on Tuesday. This is my 4th election doing this and though it is an exhausting day (6 a - 11 p) it is always fulfilling to be part of the process. I am proud to say that our state has one of the best / cleanest processes in addition to one of the highest voter turnouts in the nation. Of the nearly 1800 voters in the precint I worked, 23% were same day registrations. It is always truly excited to be in the thick of things on election day!

Back to last year at this time.....After our Forever Family Day on Oct 28 we spent a few more days in Nanchang to finalize the adoption and get Maddy's passport. Honestly much of this was a blur for me because I got sick. Here are a few photos:

Here is where we officially became a family (meeting with the notary to finalize the paperwork)

Our celebration meal (that made us sick later)

Old fashioned stroller we saw in Nanchang

We arrived in Guangzhou on Nov 2nd. While there we went through the process to complete the US requirement. We really like this city and especially being on Shamian Island on the river.

Outside the medical exam office

Lunch at Lucy's with Adam, Tracy & Charlotte from Minnesota too!

Maddy learned how to crawl while we were in Guangzhou

After the American Citizen Swearing In ceremony

Here we are arriving in the US- I got scolded for taking this picture in immigration

This was Maddy's first ride in her car seat

Pumpkin Party

Although we're not super into Halloween and all the spooky stuff that goes with it, we took Maddy to our church's Pumpkin Party dressed as a Panda. They had lots of fun things to do like various inflatables for jumping & climbing, carnival games & foods, face painting, a cake walk & a spin art room. I think I had more fun w/the spin art though than either Daddy or Maddy. Maddy won a little super ball doing the duck pull & you would think that it was a million dollars by the way she protected that ball not letting it out of her site all evening.

Our friends Lawrence & Joyce were up from Milwaukee so we stopped by to see them and there was a house full of little girls 2 & under so that was fun to see them all interact & jump in the mini inflatable at the house. We also stopped by Maddy's Great Aunt Janita & Uncle Bob's house, but Maddy was disappointed that 'Nia' wasn't home:(

Here are a few pictures:

Before heading out

Maddy w/her friend Olivia


Lawrence, Joyce & our God Daughter: Aarilyn

Maddy & Jayah