New York

Maddie and I flew to New York City the day after Thanksgiving to visit Justin ("Uncle Gay") & Sam and meet Sam's family. We stayed at their place in the city with Grammy who was already there for the week. It was a great visit. While we did not really visit any of the main touristy sites, we had a great time and got out and about every day to see something new. Maddie's favorite part of the trip was going on a choo-choo Subway train. She rode on my back in the backpack and loved it! Also Justin and Sam's apartment complex (really it is a town unto itself) has a playground that she loved. We really enjoyed meeting Theresa ("Tess") and Bob (Sam's parents) and her brother Ian. They had us to their house in New Jersey for a wonderfully yummy dinner and a relaxing visit. Maddie is a fabulous traveller and she adjusted to the time change both ways without any trouble. She also did very well on the airplane (we got to sit in first class on the way over!) despite delays and mean passengers.

At the Cloisters Park ( a potential wedding site for J&S)
At Stuyvensant Town playground

Bob & Theresa's house

Walking the High Line promenade in West Manhattan. Only a small sheet of plexiglass between Maddie and the city streets!


Thank you so much to J & S for your hospitality and for a great visit!!!

Happy Turkey Day!

The weekend before Thanksgiving we were visited by Auntie Dian, Katie, and Grammy. We celebrated by making turkey cookies.

Mmmmmmmmmmm!

Maddie has been into drawing and art projects lately. She loves her new desk! On Thanksgiving we made a felt turkey by tracing Maddie's hand.

Maddie helped Daddy stuff the turkey.

What a great Thanksgiving. Just Tony, Me and Maddie at our house. We had all the fixings and it was a wonderful, low-key family day!

Peanut was with us in spirit. We made sure to say our blessings and acknowledge how thankful we are for our family.

All done! It took WAY longer to prepare the meal than to actually eat it!

Ladybug

Somehow Halloween got lost in the mix with our trip to Hawaii and all that has been going on. But, Maddie did get dressed up as a lady bug. She also got to trick or treat a few select houses, and as you can see, she enjoyed her first lollipop! Our friend Sarah Budd took these wonderful pictures of Maddie (and many more!). Sarah is building a photography business, so please check out her gallery of pictures and feel free to order any that you like: http://www.sarahgracephoto.com/Portraits/Kids. The password is "mpf".

Maui

We had an awesome and much needed vacation to Maui! It perfectly coincided with Tony's break from school and with my birthday. Maddie was great to travel with and she loves the outdoors and the water so it was the right destination. We saw lots of fish and turtles! We did a lot of snorkeling, relaxing, swimming, and playing the sand.

Maddie on "Baby Beach"--a super calm beach
Maddie and Tony at the Ocean Center Aquarium

Maddie watching the shark and rays.

Me and Maddie feeding the Koi fish at the resort. We stayed at the Westin Kaanapali Resort Villas. We had a one bedroom condo with a full kitchen and washer/dryer. It was very nice.

Our family picture at sunset on my 31st birthday.

Tony and Maddie on Kaanapali Beach.

Maddie got a special Hawaiian barette. It broke her second time wearing it.

Maddie in the pool.

Maddie and I under the largest Banyon tree in the word. In LaHaina.




We feel so blessed to have had the opportunity for such an amazing family vacation. We are already planning for our next trip.....

On the Go

My newest favorite picture of Maddie. Such wisdom behind those eyes. And I adore her little pigtails!!

We continue to be on the go....literally and figuratively. We have added a weekly trip to the indoor play gym in Clackamas. Maddie's favorite toy is a roller coaster ride!

Fall brings more baking and yummy veggies. Here was my attempt at a meat filled eggplant recipe that I saw on Rachael Ray.

We made a trek to The Dalles. It was a sunny day (albeit a little chilly) and we actually got the O'Parents to talk a walk around the property!
Maddie and Grammy on the thinking bench.

O'Pa is passing his train wisdom to Maddie. Choo Choo!

And of course we carved the pumpkins we so carefully picked.

Dada pumpkin, Maddie pumpkin, Mama pumpkin

Pumpkin Patch

Last Sunday we took our first family trip to the Pumpkin Patch!! We chose a place a little out of the way, in hopes that it would be less crowded, and it was perfect! They had plenty of activities, but it wasn't crazy busy, and the weather was cool and dry.

It was called Twisted Creek Ranch in Estacada.

We fed the fish in the pond.

We found a caterpillar! (Maddie is signing "eat" to say that the caterpillar is hungry, which is one of her favorite books--The Very Hungry Caterpillar.)

This is her first taste of Elephant Ear!

Petting bunny rabbits. We also fed chicken (bok boks), horses, goats.

Maddie picked her pumpkin!

They had a maze made out of sunflower plants. It was a treasure hunt to solve a word puzzle. It was cool!

We also jumped in a bouncy house, rode in a wagon, walked through the gift shop, petted a dog and climbed over hay bales. It was a pretty darn near perfect family day!!

Maddie's First Hair Cut

Maddie's hair has been growing so fast and her bangs were getting into her eyes, so we decided it was time for her first hair cut. We were all excited, we waited until a day when both Tony and I were home. We borrowed some scissors and got the video camera out..... All that hype and her first hair cut lasted about half of one second. We got one good snip across the front before she decided that she HATES the scissors and will not tolerate any more cutting. Of course we saved the locks in an envelope for her baby book. The bad news is that her bangs are super crooked and she won't let us fix them. Oh well, at least they aren't in her eyes any more.

See...She loves her new hair cut!

Happy 18 Months!

On 9/12/09 Maddie turned 18 months old, and is therefore officially closer to being 2 years old rather than one. We went in for her 18 month check up and here are the latest stats:

Height: 2 feet 9.25 inches (90%)
Weight: 27 lbs, 1 oz (84%)
Head Circumference: 19.25 inches (96%)

So basically Maddie is still topping out the charts in terms of growth. The doctor was also very complimentary of Maddie's development, especially verbal and creative. She got a completely clean bill of health! Next appt is at 2 years of age.

I thought she looked like such a big girl in the gown. She was drawing with crayons on the exam table paper. Also she didn't really even cry when she got her shots!