The Maas Family

Happy and Tiffany

Posted on May 20, 2012 by Kevin & Mara

This weekend we flew south for my cousin Happy’s wedding. While we were in the great state of North Carolina, we managed to squeeze in time with friends and a recruiting visit to the most beautiful college campus there is.

We arrived in Durham in the wee hours of Friday morning. We splurged this time around and stayed at the Washington Duke Inn, conveniently located directly across the street from my alma mater. Plus the family suite has bunk beds. Despite arriving at the hotel at 1:30am, the boys were up by 7:00. We imported a traditional southern breakfast of Bojangle’s biscuits and headed off for a tour of campus highlights. First stop (obviously) was Cameron Indoor Stadium. The floor was covered, and they were setting up for some event, but we got to go inside. We went to Wally-Wade next and let the boys run around on the track. David and Kevin ran a full lap, and I timed David at 2:45.5. Just 2 minutes or so to shave off his time to be at world record pace.

We walked through west campus, enjoyed a little snack in the big covered swings on the Bryan Center walkway (where were those when I was in school?) and then took in some views of the chapel, both inside and out. After our obligatory t-shirt purchases at the bookstore, we went back to the hotel and enjoyed the rarest of all pleasures, a family nap. That’s right. We all slept. For more than 2 hours.

Post-nap, we picked up Chick-fil-A and had a picnic in the Duke gardens. To say this is one of my favorite places is probably an understatment. Kevin’s instructions upon my death are to donate whatever is donatable, burn the rest and sprinkle me here. The second picture below is our little photographer. He took some great pictures this weekend, so for the truly avid/bored blog follower, I will try to update the folder of pictures David took as well as the one of Lion all over the place sometime soon.

We capped off a truly delightful day with room service dessert.

The next day was the big wedding. Before driving down to Charlotte, we had breakfast with my college friend Susan and her family. It was a treat to see them and to get to catch up. We were excited to get to meet little Sara for the first time, and the boys had a great time acting like the hooligans they are with Jack.

With our bellies full of french toast and other deliciousness, we hit the road for Charlotte. In my warped mind, for a wedding to be enjoyable, I require two very basic things: two people I care about who are in love and who I am excited to see get hitched AND something yummy to eat at the reception. This wedding was a smashing success on both accounts. First and most importantly, congratulations to Happy and Tiffany! We wish them a long life full of joy together. Second, let me just say this. Cupcakes. All the food was delicious, but, oh, the cupcakes. The peanut butter cup was the winner, but the sweet tea flavor was pretty crazy. The cake somehow tasted like sweet tea, and it had lemon frosting. Weird but quite tasty. Here is a smattering of our pictures from the wedding.

The 4 of us pre-ceremony. Take a close look at the top of my head. That’s not beautiful healthy hair reflecting the sunlight. That’s grey, people. That’s enough grey hair that when I showed my mother, her oh so delicate reply was, “Oh my stars!” The second picture is an appropriately concerned Nahnee and Max trying to dive off his shoulders.

Tiffany and Happy

David blowing some bubbles. Max and I working on a nursemaid’s elbow for him and some vertigo for me.

Cupcakes! (Attention, Miss Laura, they’re going to eat a lot of cupcakes at your wedding. My apologies in advance.)

I don’t have any pictures to prove it, but on the way back to Durham from Charlotte, we made a pit stop in Greensboro to see another one of my girlfriends from college, Erin. Max would like to send a very special thank you to Miss Erin for all the sweet potato chips she shared/he stole. He’ll go to dinner with you any time.

This morning before we checked out, we went for a walk in the woods. We saw lots of turtles, fish, a dead beetle and what I believe to be a blue heron.

Later we drove to Raleigh and met the Heath family for lunch. They travelled to China with us the first time around and adopted their son Jackson when we were adopting David. When I asked David tonight what his favorite part of the weekend was he told me it was getting to see Jackson. Below are the 3 boys together. We also have a cute picture of Max with Emily, who carried him around most of the afternoon, but the blog is stubbornly refusing to upload it.

Overall, a pretty fabulous weekend. We have a crazy week ahead getting ready for our next big adventure, so it’s off to bed for me.

Posted in Travel | Leave a comment

Mommy Day

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Kevin & Mara

With only an hour to spare, we would like to send out warmest wishes for a very happy Mother’s Day to all the mamas out there, mostly especially ‘Ramma, Grandma, GG, Aunt Leslie and Aunt Katie. And since 5:15am will be here disappointingly soon, I’m going to keep this brief.

Yesterday while I worked, Kevin took David and Max to his cousin Ann’s house for a party celebrating her daughter Hailey’s first communion. The kids had a lot of fun playing together, and all the ladies got to fuss over Ava.

On the left, Hailey and Ava. On the right, second cousins plus a couple of friends. Anyone remember the cute little flower girls at our wedding? They are Hailey’s older sisters standing in the back, Melanie (in blue) and Ashley (in white). They were 5 and 3 at our wedding. Yet another sign we’re getting old.

I started Mother’s Day off with a bang this morning. I got up at 5:30 to round so that I could be home in time for church with the boys. When I returned, they greeted me on the back porch with homemade cards. They were so cute and excited to show me what they had drawn. They hugged me until they literally knocked me over. These are the moments.

Max was in rare form at church. We go to Wiggle Worship, which is designed for young antsy children. He always runs around like a nut and makes a good bit of noise, but today he just kept talking (very loudly) about nipples. ”Nipple. Nipple. NIPPLE! My nipple. I see your nipple.”

We spent the afternoon and evening at Great Aunt Vicki’s house. David and Max always have a good time with the extended family. Tonight they ask that I send a very special thank you to cousins Tracey and Katie who spent a lot of time playing with them and even managed to climb around on the tiny playground set David is pictured on below. The second picture is David and Max helping GG open her brand new snow cone maker. (What else do you get a woman in her 80s who can’t name one thing she wants and only drinks fluids if they are in dessert form?)

Posted in Cousins! | 2 Comments

David Day

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Kevin & Mara

Four years ago today, we walked into the civil affairs office in Chongqing, China to find a group of five children. We picked David out right away even though the only pictures we had of him were 9 months old. We knew him by those big brown eyes. Our guide walked over to the ayi who was holding him and introduced us as his mama and baba. She handed him to us with a smile, and our lives changed forever. You can see the little tiny David we met that day here if you so desire.

Today was all about David. The first item on the agenda was (obviously) his gift. We gave him his very own camera. He was quite pleased, and I’m excited I’ll have a lot more photos to add to my little album of pictures David took.

Present opening was followed by light saber duels (Max loves to pretend to die) and a healthy breakfast of chocolate chip Mickey Mouse pancakes and homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Next up was the Cubs game. I have lived in Chicago now for 14 years. I have studied temperature patterns carefully, and though I can’t explain it, I can tell you that Wrigley Field is the coldest spot in town. I’ve living in the northwest suburbs, the northern suburbs, the near west suburbs, immediately west of downtown about 2 miles from the lakefront and on Lake Shore Drive in an apartment maybe a mile away from Wrigley (this location sounds nice, but was that apartment ever a hole); and it is always 5-10 degrees colder at the stupid ballpark than wherever I am coming from. Always. Today was no exception. There was a cold wind and a delightful mist that necessitated two rounds of hot chocolate. Despite the chill we had a fun time. David took lots of pictures, and Kevin graciously agreed to leave after the 5th inning. (The picture of Max acting like nutjob below was taken by David.)

We hopped on the red line and went down to Chinatown for a very early dinner. Max fell asleep on the el and stayed that way through the entire meal, which is very unusual for him. Sleeping on chairs in restaurants is David’s signature move.

The boys played outside after we got home, and we wrapped things up with cupcakes and more ice cream for dinner. David and Max are going to be very disappointed when they have to return to eating foods with some nutritional value tomorrow.

And, yes, he is dressed as an astronaut for his cupcake dinner.

Posted in David's adoption | 2 Comments

March for Babies

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Kevin & Mara

Monday Max had an appointment with his orthopedic surgeon. He told us to let him wear his AFO until he outgrows it and never come back again or, more accurately, not come back until Max breaks his first bone. Tuesday we went to the dentist where Max got his two root canaled teeth filled.

Thursday night we left for a weekend at ‘Ramma and Nahnee’s house. We didn’t arrive until after 1:00am, and so both boys acted like sleep deprived lunatics the entire time. Friday’s activities included a walk around the lake to feed the fish and some fairly aggressive ducks, fake mowing the yard in our socks and a play date with Haley, Kendall and Sandy.

The picture on the left is the first of at least a dozen we have of Max stripping in public. Not pictured is Haley chasing after him. The second is cute Kendall Jane.

David and more of Max stripping. This time he left Haley holding his pants.

Saturday was the March of Dimes walk. As many of you know, my friend Alexa had twin girls in December. They were born more than 9 weeks early, very very sick as a result of Twin Twin Transfusion, a condition only seen in identical twins where one baby gets too much blood flow and the other too little. Kathryn died when she was only 2 days old. Charis was just 1 pound 10 ounces when she was born and spent about 12 weeks in the NICU before finally coming home last month. Needless to say, Alexa and her family have been through it over the last few months, and I was so happy it worked out that I could walk with her to honor her girls. Thank you again to everyone who donated to the cause. Our team raised the most of any other family team at the walk–over $6500!

Charis snoozed for pretty much the entire walk. Me with some of my favorite ladies (Danielle, Leila, Alexa and Rebecca) after walking 6 miles.

I was not brave enough to bring my children on the walk, so Kevin and Nahnee took them to the zoo.

We met up afterwards at Sandy’s hotdogs. As you can see in the second picture, Max did not take the “No Shirt No Shoes No Service” sign very seriously.

‘Ramma, David and Max playing earlier today.

Posted in Stupid human tricks, Travel | 1 Comment

I-797

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Kevin & Mara

Friday we went to court to readopt Max. It is more or less a formality that allows us to have a US adoption decree and a US birth certificate instead of having to rely on the Chinese versions we brought home from Guangzhou. It is not required, but it will make paperwork for him for the rest of his life a little easier. Max seemed to enjoy his trip to court and was very cute for the judge. When we arrived home, we were very pleasantly surprised to fine our I-797 which, quite logically, is the official title of our I-800A approval. We now have all the pieces of paper we need for our dossier. We just have to go through all the notarizing, certifying (through the IL secretary of state) and authenticating (through the Chinese consulate) that is required. With any luck we’ll have all that done and everything ready to go to China in the next month-ish.

Saturday we went to Morton Arboretum with Grandma, Grandpa and the Uncle Daves.

Saturday night Kevin and I had a wild and crazy night out on the town. Our church turns 100 this year, and there was a big dinner/silent auction thing to celebrate last night. Quite frankly, I am moderately antisocial, and I wasn’t sure it was going to be my cup of tea, but we had a really nice time. AND at the silent auction we got some pretty sweet deals on babysitting, some home repairs and a professional photography session for the family.

Today we churched it up. There was one big service for the centennial celebration and then a lot of food. The kids had fun playing with their Wiggle Worship friends afterwards, and there was a raffle with toys and other fun stuff. Max won the coveted Puss in Boots dvd, which we obviously had to watch immediately upon coming home.

As I type this, our house, as per usual, is kind of disaster. Bordering on embarrassing. At one point today I surveyed my bedroom and saw a tee ball stand, a sit-n-spin and a dirty dog on top of my unmade bed. The floor was (and still is) strewn with papers, boys’ socks and pj’s and an assortment of toys, books, balls and lightsabers. If I clean it tomorrow, no one will be able to tell by the time I get home from work on Tuesday. And that will be the story of my life for years to come. And for that I am eternally grateful because it’s these two monkeys making all the mess.

I will leave you with some pictures taken by my photographer husband. He has taken a few classes to help him make the most of his fancy Christmas camera. These are a few of my favorites.

Posted in Adoption #3, Max's adoption, My name is No No Bad Dog | 1 Comment

Fingerprinted

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Kevin & Mara

Yesterday Kevin and I were fingerprinted for what we hope is the last time for this adoption. Now we hurry up and wait for our I-800A approval, the very last document we need to send our paperwork off to China, to show up in the mail.

And now I give you some pictures from the last 10 days.

At the Museum of Science and Industry

At the zoo. Kevin likes the first picture because it shows a contrast in styles.

Don’t worry, David did not take out Max’s eye while painting his face.

At the Bulls game Monday night with Grandpa

Posted in Adoption #3 | 2 Comments

Tell it out with joyful voice

Posted on April 8, 2012 by Kevin & Mara

I’m sure all four of you reading this are dying to know how we spent our Easter weekend, so I’m staying up late so that you don’t have to wait any longer to find out.

First, a picture of GG, Kevin and two exhausted children after the Bulls game Monday night. We’re very glad she could come with us.

Friday we went to the children’s service at our church. The boys’ buddy William was there, and they could not contain their excitement, which set just the right tone for a service devoted to the death of their Lord and Savior. Afterwards we joined Miss Aimee and Amanda at the park. David and Max had a really good time, and Amanda seemed to tolerate Max dragging her all over the place and both boys’ persistent attempts to tackle her relatively well.

Besides learning to ride a two-wheeler (David would have you know he rode around the block today without stopping), on Saturday we dyed eggs. We had a simple system for remembering whose were whose. Kevin’s and mine were dark from sitting in the dye a long time, David’s were lighter, and Max’s were cracked. In fact, Max just smashed his last egg to bits in the red and green dyes and then spent the rest of his time sloshing it around the bowls.

This picture is for Grandpa. I’m sure I’ve mentioned that Kevin, Uncle Dave and Grandpa used to pour the egg dyes into the toilet one at a time and then flush. I have witnessed this many times now, and I still don’t know why it’s a thing, but it is. I just smile and nod. And so every Easter Kevin takes our kids into our bathroom, dumps the dye one color at a time into the toilet and flushes.

That brings us to today. We started the day with the obvious: Easter baskets, egg hunt in the boys’ rooms and a chocolate pre-breakfast. Then back to church for the Easter wiggle worship service. I really do love our church. The kids genuinely enjoy going. They get to participate in every aspect of the service. Max marched right up to the “altar” today when the priest was raising one glass of wine to be blessed and raised the other one up himself.

We went to GG’s this afternoon. Where, to no one’s surprise, we discovered that the Easter bunny had left gifts and several pounds of chocolate for David and Max at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. They were kind enough to bring it to GG’s. David and Max also got to have another egg hunt. Max immediately opened every egg and stuffed the chocolate in his mouth while David was much more interested in the quarters.

Max with one of his many egg hunt assistants, cousin Tracey. GG with baby Ava, who survived her first marathon family party.

GG, Max and David. (Thanks for the jerseys, Steve!)

Posted in Cousins! | 5 Comments

Well, that took 10 minutes

Posted on April 7, 2012 by Kevin & Mara

Last summer we never got around to taking the training wheels off David’s bike. Alma and the nanny from two doors down gave us the push we needed. (They took the training wheels off themselves a couple of weeks ago.) And after maybe 10 minutes of Kevin running behind him, this was David.

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Spring break

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Kevin & Mara

Again, just another normal week in the Land of Maas, but I figured if I didn’t post something I’d have some complaints. So here you go…

This week was David’s spring break, so Alma took the boys somewhere pretty much every day. Here are a few pictures from the children’s museum at Navy Pier.

Thursday night we went to the Blackhawks game. It was a 7:30 start. We made it through about half the game before both boys became completely delusional from exhaustion. Of note, David has been dying for a jersey with a number on it, and he has started to outgrow the hockey jerseys he has, so he pitched in some of his allowance money and is now the proud owner of a red Jonathan Toews jersey. It is enormous, but that bothers him not at all. Below is pretty much the only picture from the night as our camera battery died. This was pre-jersey purchase.

Friday David completed the pre-kindergarten trifecta with an eye exam. He has already had his check up and his dental visit, so we can all enjoy not having to fool with any of those appointments over the summer.

Friday night Kevin and I went out with Mr. Adam and Miss Laura like real grown ups. We want to give a very special Maas blog shout out to Mr. Adam (not that he reads it, but we know Miss Laura does). He defended his dissertation this week and will soon officially be Dr. Adam. Congratulations from all the Maases!!!

David reading to all his animals. Apparently it was their bed time.

Saturday we went to Adler Planetarium. Max was chanting “See rocketship!” all morning and getting quite agitated that we weren’t leaving the house at 7:00am. It was worth the wait, though. Both boys had a great time. We watched the kids’ show with Big Bird, Elmo and Hu Hu Zhu, a blue pig from the Chinese production of Sesame Street. It was pretty cool. Not only did the kids learn a little about space, there was some Mandarin thrown in the mix, too. Afterwards, we walked over to Shedd Aquarium. We ended up staying about an hour. It was a madhouse in there, but David got to play on the submarine, and Max got to see turtles, so overall it was a success.

In case you can’t tell, the picture on the right is David on an astronaut toilet.

As you can see in this picture, we are currently enjoying much more typical spring weather in Chicago.

Today we went to church where no one lost an eye to a palm branch and have been enjoying a leisurely afternoon at home. Or as leisurely as an afternoon can be with nonstop roughhousing.

Kevin took this picture this morning. David is very carefully studying Optimus Prime for the drawing he’s doing.

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Fingerprints

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Kevin & Mara

We got our fingerprint notice in the mail from USCIS yesterday. On April 17 we will enjoy one last (we hope) round of fingerprinting for this adoption and then sit around and wait for our approval to come so that we can notarize, certify and authenticate it (yes, those are all different things) and finally send our dossier off to China.

And now more pictures from the new and improved Taylor Park. I’m not sure if you can tell, but the kids really like it.