Mississauga Christmas

 We were very excited to get together for our second annual Mississauga Christmas with our wonderful friends. There was once a time I was able to get together with my kids at least once a week. Now, it is often way too long between our visits. I love them so very much and I miss them to bits!

We stopped by Bryanna, Cassidy, and Auntie Lianne's house before heading to the Woodburn household and Maelyn was able to spend some time with her God-sisters.

Bryanna showing Maelyn how to feed Charlie...

My beautiful Cassidy...

My sweet Brya...

At first, Maelyn wasn't into opening her gift --

that is, until she noticed the candy cane attached to it!

Love my kiddos!!

It takes my breath away that Maddie is looking so grown up...

Noah -- what a ham!

A Montreal fan -- another reason to love him!

Cheers to wonderful friends!!

Neighbour Christmas

A week before Christmas we were able to celebrate the season with good friends -- for our fourth annual Neighbour Christmas!

Have I mentioned before that I LOVE traditions -- and this is one of my favourites!

This year we got together for dinner and gifts at Keri and Dave's new house. It was great to get the kids together again and to be able to catch up with one another.

Maelyn, loving her new sled. Now if it would only snow!! :)

This kid plays with her cars and trains every single day...she is obsessed!

She loved her new pink princess shovel so much that she cuddled

 with it and then took it to bed!

I am already looking forward to our celebration next year -- time spent with good friends!

Christmas Set-Up

The absolute best time of year -- Christmas!! I have to admit, I start getting lists ready in September. I can hardly wait to get started on the prep for such a spectacular holiday. :)

We chose a warm November day to get started on the outdoor decorations...

Maelyn watching Daddy and Papaq hanging up the lights...

Maelyn got tired of watching and instead drew pumpkins

(see the circles?) on the driveway...

Hehe! Where are you, Maelyn?

I have a wonderful husband who puts up with my demands desire to put up the Christmas tree nice and early. Normally, we get the tree up by mid-November. That way, most of the work is done in time to enjoy the holiday gatherings. This year, however, we had to wait until after my surgery, which meant that the tree didn't get up and finished until the first weekend of December.

Maelyn catching a ride while the furniture was moved

around to fit the tree...

Helping to put the tree together...

A happy girl -- eating all of the candy canes!

I am going to be an Auntie!!

Yep, you heard read that right -- I am going to be an Auntie!!

A few weeks ago my sister and her husband stopped by for dinner. In the middle of getting the food into the oven, I heard Kara ask Maelyn to give me something. I glanced over and saw a piece of paper exchange hands -- and thought nothing of it at all.

When I took a look at it, I saw that it was an ultrasound picture. It took a second to sink in -- I couldn't believe it!

Paul and I are thrilled that we are going to be an Auntie and Uncle for the first time and that Maelyn will have a cousin! We are sooooooooooooo excited to welcome our nephew (yep, it's a boy!) into the family in early May. Congrats, Kara and Cam!

 

Random Cuteness

Resting with Daddy...

Fall fun.....isn't she just so cute?!

Paul will kill me....but isn't he just so cute?!

Yummy!!

Thanksgiving dinner with Ross side of the family...

Happy Birthday, Papaq!

Today is my Dad's birthday and Maelyn was very excited to help him celebrate.

Normally, I would make a cake to have with dinner, but with everything going on lately, I didn't have time to get anything prepared. After daycare, Maelyn and I headed out to pick up Papaq (Maelyn's word for Grandpa....don't ask, I have no idea where it comes from), a birthday cake. All the way to the store, she insisted that Papaq wanted a chocolate cake.

Once we were at the counter choosing the cake, this is the one she was positive Papaq would like:

She even insisted that he would like the writing in pink. So much for the chocolate cake -- hehe!!

Happy Birthday, Papaq!

Love Without Boundaries

When adopting internationally, it can be difficult to put together your child's history. It is so exciting when you are able to find even tiny tidbits of information or even better, photos.

We were fortunate enough to connect with a family in Spain that sponsored Maelyn while she was in foster care and we received pictures of every month of her life. What a gift! Then, while in China, we received more pictures of Maelyn from Holt International. Maelyn was part of a programme that followed her progress while in foster care and they recorded their observations and took pictures on a monthly basis.

This past summer I decided to send an email to Love Without Boundaries, a U.S. charity organization that works with orphanages in China. I honestly didn't think that we would get any information at all -- what were the odds that Maelyn was part of three different organizations?

Love Without Boundaries responded to my email that they did in fact have some information about Maelyn, but that it was very little information. The picture was one that we had already seen, but it was nice to know that they had also followed Maelyn's progress in some way.

A few days later we received another email from LWB, stating that they had dug further and found more information in their records about Maelyn. Apparently, she was part of their 2009 cleft project -- and they had records and pictures of her lip surgery. We were blown away!! In April of 2009, Maelyn made the journey from her orphanage to Shanghai and spent a few days in the hospital with LWB volunteers.

We received records of the surgery and even pictures of the doctors who performed the surgery. The project was one where U.S. doctors had gone to China to help teach the doctors new techniques for fixing cleft lips and palates.

The following are pictures of Maelyn's lip surgery...

What a precious, precious gift....