Fall Recap Part 2: Harbor Springs

Chris's boss kindly allowed us to use his home up north for a weekend this fall. The foliage was in peak form with beautiful colors of gold, various shades of red and orange everywhere. Even I had to admit Michigan did something well.

Downtown

Visiting the marina. Can't imagine how busy this is in July. 

Throwing rocks with Dada. 

Beautiful colors

Using a bat as a golf club. Her Grandpa would be so proud. 

Farm + winery= my new favorite place

Thinking of you,  Grandpa Mineart!

Fall Recap (part 1)

The past few months have gone by so fast, we haven't gotten a chance to update. So I'm going to try playing catch up. 

Autumn Moon Festival was at the end of September. We attended the Families with Children from China event. Maddy had a wonderful time having her face painted and seeing lots of other families that look like ours.  The children ranged in age from 17 to 1.5 years. It is really neat to see the continuum of ages and hear how families were made. 

Aunt Ana visited us at the end of September! She presented at a conference at a university nearby but was able to hang out with us most of the time. We hit the pumpkin patch and Notre Dame! Aunt Ana was kind enough to stay with Maddy at the Lee's condo while Mom and Dad went to the game.

Visiting the happiest place on earth. 

Tailgating here we come!

We ran into these guys! Fellow Pittsburgians!

Prayers at the grotto for the first time. 

Gameday is exhausting!

Maddy year 1 Large

One year. This is the good life.

One Year

We are working on a slideshow for our little one so that one day she will be able to see a nice montage of her first year with us.  There are some "technical glitches" for the time being, but I wanted to get something up on our Gotcha Day Anniversary.

She was adorable from the beginning, but having serious reservations about her new parents at this point (about 20 minutes into her life with us). Can you tell who had been waiting for a year? Who had not been waiting at all?

One year on, and the scared little girl is largely gone. The biggest difficulty in getting a picture now is getting her to sit still.

One of many wonderful little expressions

Cute enough to survive her father doing her hair

"What are you going to do about it? Nothing. That's what I thought."

Sarah thinks I like this one simply because little one is clutching me to the exclusion of her mother. For those of you who have followed from the beginning, I can assure you that any preferences for 'dada' that we were experiencing a year ago have vanished. Totally. She loves her mama...with very good reason.

 And now a note from the star herself:

b, b n,n g m nfg nn n  nn n n n                                                     

A Birthday in Two Parts (Part 2)

It takes a pretty special person to have a group of people want to drive 12 hours for a weekend. And a pretty special group of people willing to do so. Thankfully, we have both!

In celebration of Maddy & Grandpa's birthdays, part of her Roark relatives headed north. Nana, Grandpa, Uncle John, Sophie and Heidi made a long trip just to spend time with our girl! It was so much fun having everyone visit.  After the memory of the drive has worn off, maybe we can convince them to come back.

A Birthday in Two Parts (Part 1)

We missed Maddy's 2nd birthday by a few weeks. It was heartbreaking to be soooo close. To watch the day go by, travel approval in hand, but not be able to be with her.

But not this year. This year, we were together. As a family, we celebrated the gift of Maddy's life.  And had a wonderful time doing so.  Lots of hugs, kisses and birthday wishes to be had.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Maddycat!

Helping Daddy make the cake. Stirring so fast the picture is blurry!

Tasting her work. 

Birthday girl!

Maddycat the birthday girl

Sweet Afton Tea House for a special lunch with Mama. 

Birthday tea date with my girl

Not sure what to think of the candles

Happy 3rd Birthday!