New "Firsts"

Mara's first face painting (on her arm) at a carnival at the Cisco daycare/kindergarten.  She started the program early August as a transition to joining their specialized, accredited Kindergarten program.  She LOVES the facility and her new learning environment.

Mara also got to attend her first "Take your kids to work day" at Clare's work, her first official visit there since arriving here in the US.  Here with the other kids.

Here posing with two other beautiful smart women: Clare's colleague Karen and Sarah (Clare's friend Maia's daughter).

Mara playing in the fountain with her friend Alessia in Willow Glen. That night she also met the mayor of San Jose, Chuck Reed!

Mara's first visit to the ice cream shop!

Counting with Alessia.

Mara visited Roaring Camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains to attend the Thomas the Train festival.

Mara with Thomas the Train.

Mara and Clare's first selfie on the train ride.

Playing with Bubbles at Roaring Camp (Bubbles are her current favorite).

Roaring Camp historic store fronts.

Mara making friends with the waitress at a local sushi bar (who proceeded to give her a cute t-shirt and mango ice cream for free!).  Note Nick's frustration in the background - not a good daddy day ;-)

Mara posing in her new dress that her Auntie Linda gave her.  Mara is doing great with her potty training - she now goes on her own.  Now if we can only get her to flush and wash her hands!!

 

Mara and her Dad winning a blow-up toy at the Los Altos Art and Wine Festival.  What a contrast between this year and last!! She has grown so much in a year and this year, was able to enjoy the kiddy attractions.

 

 Mara is walking a lot more, but does tire out quickly.  We have now resorted to piggy back for transportation.

 

Mara is now learning how to ride her scooter which should be good for her balance.

In her last days of summer, Mara and Nick have been visiting the SJ Children's Discovery Museum and Happy Hollow a lot.  Here her playing with the sand exhibit.  She loves to explore and try new things.  Her dexterity is getting a lot better.

Here Mara playing at the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom exhibit.  Mara was obsessed with this book for a long time but has since moved on (but not so much that she didn't want to stop and play!).

Riding the train.

First selfie with Dad.

Mara is still a little afraid of rides.  She did try the bug ride at Happy Hollow but quickly realized that she didn't like it and made them stop the ride.

She is okay in riding the swan on the merry go round.

We had a lot of fun going on vacation with Nick's sister and family.  Here Mara enjoying a night out at the restaurant.

Here Mara receiving her first secret from her cousin John. 

Mara's current fascination is with bubbles.  Here her enjoying the bubble machine in our new outdoor dining area.

Mara even got to experience the new 49er Levi stadium open house.  Here her enjoying the view!

Mara and her award winning smile will quickly become a 49er fan favorite!

Mara enjoying her first corn dog and enjoying her last days of summer before she starts Cisco Kindergarten.  We are so happy and feel so lucky for her to take advantage of such a great program: 7 to 1 ratio of kids to teachers, breakfast/lunch and snack and built in daycare.  It will be a great solution to a special kid that clearly doesn't fit the mainstream or special ed programs. 

And our final shots of us re-adopting Mara in the United States.  Kind of a crazy procedure but the extra precaution will help ensure that Mara has full liberties in the US and no one can come back from Georgia (or its sovereign state) to claim that our adoption never happened.  Even after a year of having her, it still made us emotional to know that she is officially our daughter!!

Celebrating One Year!!

Hard to believe it's been a year since we brought our angel home, but here we find ourselves enjoying Mara's one year anniversary BBQ celebration and 4th of July at home as one big happy family!!  Need we say more???

Graduation

We've struck an arrangement with Mara's Friend Alessia's parents to swap baby sitting.  Here Alessia at our house for dinner.  The girls had a ball in the bath together.

The girls also had fun making pizza!

Mara enjoyed visiting her Granny in Santa Cruz and listening to the ukuleles. 

After 10 years of living at our house, we finally ripped out the 50-year old ivy and put in a new fence!  Not only has it opened up a significant amount of space in the yard, it is really beautiful!  In addition to the fence we've laid stamped cement, bought beautiful outdoor furniture and a pool for Mara!

As part of CA special ed, the state is obligated to provide transportation to and from school.  They didn't have room on the bus, so they arranged for Mara to have her own private driver to take her to school in the morning!! Here Mara with her driver Omar.  (Yes the irony of how far Mara has come in less than a year is staggering: essentially living on a couch in a one bedroom apartment to being driven to school with her own private driver!?)

Mara graduated from pre-school!  Although she was in special ed pre-school for only a few months, she learned and developed so much.  Her teacher Ms Christa was amazing and Mara loved her, not to mention her friends Bella and Santiago.  Here we've captured of the special moments of her graduation with her proud Mama.

Mara's friend Alessia turned five and threw a Frozen party.  Mara was so excited to go to her first birthday party!

We finally had a breakthrough in potty training with Mara.  Her Dad was so proud he rushed out and bought her a pair of Dora shoes that light up when she walks.  The shoes have become her fast favorite (despite being a little big).

Mara's walking has become so much better!  No doubt it's the combo occupational therapy she receives at school and her new pool!  Here her walking at the SJ Children's Museum, chasing a bird.

Mara loves anything Dora - even when she's sleeping!

We like to call this one "the wicked witch of the west".

Look familiar?  A shot of Mara at the Rose Garden, nearly 6 months after the shot we took of her when she first arrived.

Mara sporting her new summer wardrobe.

Wearing Mom's glasses showing off on the potty.

Easter eggs

For some reason this last, first major holiday with Mara was the most special (July 4th will be her one year anniversary here in the States, can you believe it?).  Maybe it's because Mara is walking so much more readily now or that she's so inquisitive or that she can express herself using words?  Or maybe that we are settling into more & more of being a family? Or maybe it's the sunshine?  Easter was just downright amazing!!

Saturday we were invited to a neighborhood Easter egg hunt and brunch in Willow Glen (near Mara's school).  Mara was greeted with her friend Alessia and her Mom Tamara.  Mara went right to town searching for eggs.

For the first time since being in the states, at the neighborhood egg hunt, Mara met someone else named Mara!  She was another Mom who was there with her newborn baby.  Mara #2 said it was the first time in her entire life that she had met another Mara.  She said that she loved her name since it was so rare (and was mesmerized by Mara's story).

Admittedly Mara was a little overwhelmed by all of the kids (there were probably 30 there), so she opted to hang out at the table with Tamara and me.  She was very loving!

Tamara was so generous in giving Clare a bunch of fabric that her Uncle left her (a former tailor): imported Italian wools and a colorful piece of bathing suit/spandex material.  Here the girls (Alessia and Mara) posing with Clare and the fabric.  It must be all of the chocolate - look at those smiles!!

Mara loves to eat eggs: scrambled, over easy, omelettes, hard boiled and deviled.  It's a great source of iron and protein.  We are having to watch her candy - hard to believe in Georgia that they said she doesn't like chocolate?  The kid eats and drinks it like it's going out of style.

Sunday was lunch and another Easter Egg at Granny's house in Santa Cruz.  Clare's sister Mimi was there, along with her kids Peter, his wife Lindy, their kids, Chase, Aubrey and Mary, and her son, Wesley.  Mary's boyfriend Wesley (Sr) also brought his daughters Bella and Kaitlin.  Mara took a fancy to Bella (must have been the name) and followed her around like a puppy dog.  It was a wonderful afternoon with the family!  Here a shot of the kids (the best one we could do in trying to get 6 kids to smile at the same time.)

It was a hot day so Mara had to wear Clare's hat.  She needed a little bit of help walking around but by her third Easter egg hunt, she was a pro!  Here her looking in Granny's front yard.

Clare with Mara, Chase and Kaitlin up by Granny's chickens.  Eggs were everywhere!!

The way that Mara is looking up at Bella is just precious!!

Aunt/Grandma Mimi "unleashing" the kid frenzy out into the front yard.

 
With Easter over, now what the hell do we do with all of the candy? 

Spring Break

Mara is doing wonderfully at special ed pre-K.  She adores her teacher Christa, who is young but very creative and committed o children's development.  Christa also really enjoys teaching Mara since she is very receptive and wanting to learn.  One of the resources they provide is an occupational and speech therapist.  Although she only goes three hours per day, she has progressed incredibly in the past month there (even her teacher has commented on it).  She is talking like a magpie and walking with much more confidence.  Here a shot of her on the playground with her cherished Dora lunchpail.

The playground at Mara's school has a Dora kitchen - we can hardly tear her away from it!!

Back in November, her Uncle Danny gave her a singing birthday card.  One morning Clare looked over to see Mara playing it again!

Clare went on her first business trip to Paris, France and Lausanne, Switzerland; leaving Nick and Mara home alone for a week.  Not sure who it was harder on - Mara, Nick or Clare?!  After they dropped Clare off at SFO, Nick visited the Exploratorium.  It was quite a difference to when we brought her there in the Summer.  With her avid curiosity and focus, she REALLY enjoyed the exhibits.  First the rainbow lights.

Then the light circle.

We have ourselves a musician.

Mara loves her rainbows!

Clare adopted best practices from other working mommy friends to develop her own "program" for Mara while she was gone.  Nick gave her notes every day that Clare wrote along with little gifts. Here Mara enjoying the sunlight (and getting her vitamin D dose) with her Dora writing pad.  Nick thinks its ingenious since it gives him a writing surface to practice spelling and arithmetic.

Mara excited at her daily note from Clare and her new book.

There's only thing that Mara loves more than Dora and that's the water!  Here's Mara in the "mommy bath" with her daily note and a Dora mermaid.

Now that's excitement!

Some shots from Clare's trip.  Here the town of Gruyere (yes, where they make the cheese).

Pure decadence - triple creme cheese fondue with berries!

The Swiss Alps.

The view of Lake Geneva from Clare's hotel room.

Swiss chocolate - almost too pretty to eat!

Of course the best part of Clare's trip was coming home and having a reunion with the family.  We took Clare's sister Mimi and boyfriend Richard to Kokkari in SF, a fabulous Meditarranean restaurant (literally as Clare got off the plane) for a much anticipated dinner for Richard's bday.  We ate like kings with Mara sitting on Clare's lap the entire time.

After Clare got home the family got to enjoy fine Swiss chocolate together and here, one of Clare's colleagues Isabel gave her a Swiss purse.

How could that smile not melt anyone?! She loves the purse, spending time moving Euros and Swiss franc coins from her Easter egg into the purse and back. 

This year spring break for us as a family had an entirely new meaning!  We decided to take a road trip down south to visit Santa Barbara and San Diego.

Mara and Clare outside of the Biltmore before our fabulous brunch.

Mara having fun with water inside the Biltmore.  She seems to enjoy fancy hotels!

While in San Diego, we visited the zoo with Clare's friend and colleague Kirsten and her son Gavin.  Mara loved and practically abducted him.

We also visited our friends Bill, John and MJ in La Jolla.  Mara went to her first pool party and even thought it was only her third time swimming, she proved that she swims like a fish!!  Swimming lessons are in her near future...

We also got to visit Nick's cousin Bunni and her husband Fred in Coronado.  It was really great to connect with them and have them meet Mara.  Mara took a fancy for Fred and the restaurant coasters.

Bunni gave Mara a bunny?!