Pumpkin Patch Fun

We took Maddy to her first pumpkin patch this past weekend. She wasn't sure what to think of all of the pumpkins and she definitely did NOT want to touch "Punkin Poop". Yep, that is what Maddy called the guts of the pumpkin as Mommy was cleaning them out. She finally gave in as you will see in the last couple of photos and got her hands dirty with poo. :0) Great Fun!!

MayMellon, Opie and Nanna

Can anyone guess who the people are in the title of this post? I took me a little while but I finally figured out what Maddy was saying. You see, back in July, while visiting with some awesome blog mommas, little gifts were given to all the little girls. One of the blog mommas made some sweet looking flip flops that Maddy LOVES. I've told Maddy a few times who made them but never really gave it much thought that she understood. Last night she came out wearing them and showing them off to her daddy. He asked me again "where did she get those?" and Maddy responded "MayMellon, Opie and Nanna"! Of course, if you haven't figured it out just yet that would be Maryellen, Sophie and Hannah. Thanks so much again Maymellon for making those awesome flippies as Maddy calls them.

Forever Family Day

Happy Forever Family Day pumpkin!! Due to the wind storms in Ohio, I (Sarah the daughter) am posting for my mom, Marty, and Miss Maddy. Today is the one year anniversary from our Gotcha Day for our sweet (well she thinks she is) little girl Maddy. We have more memories with her that you probably care to read about so we'll just leave it at the fact that she can make you smile on the worst of worst days. Oh! She can now say "howru" aka how are you :-) I leave you with the then and now pictures :-D

Then Now

Buckeye Bash 08

Well, the game is 3/4 of the way over and our Buckeyes are losing to USC but the neighborhood bash was a blast. Of course, I'm home blogging about it now before the game is over because as all good mother's do, I came home to put Maddy to bed when she said she was tired. :-) Here are a few of the fun photos from the night.

Already camped out in her chair in front of the big screen


sweet smile

Marty wanted a picture of him and Maddy. Maddy promptly laid down on the ground and wanted to pretend to tackle her like we did the other day for our family photo only we tackled daddy. :-)


Even Jim Tr*ssel himself would love this football star


CORNHOLE - need I say more?


half the crowd


and some more of the croud. Our neighbors had a great turn-out.



How about a little fun in the firepit. You'll notice it's in the shape of a Block "O"


Maddy thought she needed to take a little spin prior to the game


the big screen. It's hard to see what's playing because of the camera flash but you get the idea of how big it was next to the two story home.


Miss Maddy joins our neighbor Joe on the "red" couch. So funny that she blinked for this picture because it makes it look like she's had to much "punch" in that cup. :-)

12 Month Post Placement Photos

Tonight we have our 12 month post-placement meeting with the social worker for our agency. I will be so happy to have this last report behind us and be done with the agency as well. Maddy has changed so much in the last 6 months it's unbelievable. Her words/vocabulary has literally exploded in the last couple of weeks and she is putting together 4-5 word sentences now. I have no idea how many words she actually says but it's a bunch. Her FAVORITE thing to do when she gets home from school is watch Kai*Lan. She says all the chinese words and remembers what each of them mean. Blows me away. I cannot imagine life without this sweet girl. Below are a few photos starting in April, right after our 6 month letter was written. Enjoy!

In April Maddy and I traveled to NC to visit with other bloggy moms that I have known since the very first months of the adoption website inception.

Here is Maddy in May planting some seeds to grow some spearmint


In June we visited with more friends from NC who came to Ohio to see family. We met up at the museum in Cincy and had a great time watching the boys eat BUGS.

In early July we headed south to the great state of GA to visit with more of mommy's bloggy friends and had a great time. I'm a GREAT traveler (just ask Special K)


Late July brought the county fair and there is NOTING better than fair food!


Of course, Here is our Buckeye in August/Sept and ready for football season. Can you believe she has had three haircuts in the last 6 months?

Game Day Face - Go Bucks!

Maddy's game day face. Actually, this is her saying "cheese". Notice the face is looking better but that poor little nose took a beating.

Go Buckeyes

Maddy's First BooBoo

I think the deck got the best of poor Maddy tonight. Apparently her brain said go down the stairs but her feet and her croc*s decided not to go along so down she went. Poor Baby has a big goose egg on her forhead and just look at that poor little nose. :0( ::sigh:: I guess this is probably the first of many boo boos to come. Hopefully there won't be to many more.!