Happy Birthday Jen

One of my most favorite people in the whole world turned 40 (yes I know she doesn't even look 30), so we went to Napa to celebrate. Keith  planned a wonderful weekend away including wine tasting, a beautiful hotel and a fun dinner. Couldn't think of a better way to honor such an amazing friend.

Cheers at Chimney Rock

Was very impressed with how many glasses of wine this guy could carry

We got treated like royalty

Stag's Leap 

Lunch at Rutherford Hill

They have a gorgeous picnic grounds that overlooks the valley

Always love getting away with this guy

Thank you Keith for all the planning. It was the best! 

Last stop Mumm

Dinner at Bottega

Jen...Happy Birthday my friend! I am so thankful for you in my life. You have been my rock and helped me so much thru the many trials these past years. Who would have thought all those years back at Pickett Advertising that our friendship would turn into this 10 years later. I have no doubt that we were brought into each others lives for a reason. I love you so much. Thank you for being such an amazing, supportive and loving friend. Cheers to a happy year ahead. 

Valentine's Day

Valentines Day was hard this year without my Mom here, but I tried my best to focus on the kids and it helped a lot. They really got into the holiday this year and were looking forward to passing out their Valentines at preschool. Love experiencing special days with these special kids. 

I wanted the kids to do something nice for our neighbors this year, so I let them paint and decorate some Valentine hearts. We then delivered them to our neighbors and I realized how this little act of kindness meant so much.

 Roman ready to open his bag of Valentines after school. 

 Paisley was so thrilled to have her own bag of Valentines this year. 

The kids made and mailed their Valentines from school to our home. Paisley thought it was magical how her card ended up in our mailbox.  

Roman had a field trip where they walked to the mailbox and mailed their own Valentines. He loved seeing it arrive 1 day later. 

Happy Valentines Day to my 2 little sweethearts! I love you so very much and am so thankful for you. 

Exciting Announcement for our Family

We have been waiting for months to make our official announcement, so we are so excited to finally let everyone know that our family of 4 will be welcoming a new baby into our lives. As many of you know, we have struggled with miscarriages and after our 5th pregnancy loss last year, I was certain that God had an amazing plan for us. After lots of reading, talking with friends and family, and research, we decided to begin the approval process of becoming adoptive parents. Adoption has always been on my heart before even having children and to see it all become a reality is such an awesome feeling.

We found a local non-profit adoption agency, Independent Adoption Center, that specializes in open adoption. We fell in love with the agency and just felt at home from the 1st orientation. We loved that this agency focuses on counseling and support for both the birthparents, the adoptive parents and also our adopted child. The agency also has no racial, ethnic, age, religion, marital status or sexual orientation restrictions for prospective adoptive parents, which is another thing we loved.  We were proud to be part of an organization that supports the right for everyone that can provide a loving home to become parents.

So we just became officially approved through our home study process and went into "circulation" as they call it. This means that we have an online profile that is available for birthmothers to learn more about our family posted on our adoption agency's website. Birthmothers choose from prospective adoptive parents and match with the adoptive parent that they feel works best for their baby. The most common question we are asked is how long will this take? Our pre-approval process took about 8 months and now that our profile is in circulation, the average wait is about 14 months. We are reminded that when the right match comes along, we will be ready, whether it is in 1 month or a couple years.

We are so excited for this new journey and thank you for all your support. We will be sure to keep you updated with all the latest.

All our love!
The Maddox Family

You can visit our online profile at:
http://www.iheartadoption.org/users/heatherandjason

Winter Vacation

We hadn't taken a vacation in a long time and really wanted to get away before Jason's 4th Quarter began at work. We really needed time away as a family to reconnect and just have some fun with the kids. We happened to see that the weather was going to be unseasonably warm in Southern California, so decided to plan a last minute getaway. We spent 2 days at the beach and then 2 days at Disneyland. It turned out to be one of our best vacations since we just went at our own pace and just focused on enjoying each other.

Our 1st stop was Manhattan Beach. We loved staying at the Manhattan Beach Marriott. Great location (close to the beach), restaurant and good pool for the kids.

This was eating breakfast at 9am. Can you believe how beautiful the weather was

Paisley and Roman loved the beach and playing in the sand. I couldn't believe it was January. 

It was 70 degrees and perfectly clear. 

The guys loved the water

And they are heading in

The ladies were happy collecting rocks, playing in the sand and dipping our feet in

This boy has my heart

Bathing Beauty

Met up with the Freas Family for swimming and dinner. Loved getting to spend some time with Scarlett and Macy (and their parents too)

Went to Uncle Bill's for breakfast which was AMAZING! Highly recommended.

Beach Day 2

Little Rascal

Water + Sand = Heaven for Roman

We loved being at the beach. There is something so peaceful and heavenly about the ocean. Got some good time for reflection and relaxation. 

And now on to Disneyland! 

Arrived at our hotel, The Paradise Pier

Roman took one look at the view from our room and I'm sure you can guess where he wanted to head next. This boy could live in the water. 

Roman went down the waterside a dozen times. 

My favorite spot, the hot tub

Headed to Downtown Disney for dinner and a little shopping. Of course had to head to Lego store. 

Paisley's Favorite superhero was there...the Hulk

(I'm serious he is her fav. She loves Green)

Cheers! 

Iron Man balloon at dinner. For anyone who doesn't know, Roman is OBSESSED with Iron Man. It is his 1st real obsession and is pretty funny. The balloon guy did a pretty impressive job with this one. 

That night we watched the fireworks on our hotels patio. They pipe in the music from the show and it was magical. I LOVE Fireworks! 

1st Stop: California Disney

Since we stayed at a Disney hotel, we got the Magic Early Morning. Never worth it for the summer, but in the winter the park opens later, so we loved the 9am entry. The park was empty both mornings and the park was actually peaceful. 

Always our favorite ride, Toy Story Mania

Roman has always loved meeting the characters. Pluto is his favorite and he even carried around  his stuffed Pluto all day. So when we saw his favorite dog, we couldn't wait to meet him. Paisley wants NOTHING to do with the characters. She stays at least 10 feet away at all times. 

I had to share this pic since this was Main Street around noon. We have never been to Disneyland when it was so empty. It made all the difference. I think we will always come back in January. 

This was the new virtual Iron Man exhibit where you get to "Suit Up" and become him. This was such a cool experience for Roman. It was magical to watch since it really is his dream to become Iron Man. Captured a great video of the whole experience. 

In the Hall of Armors 

Roman's favorite ride remains: The Haunted Mansion (went on 3 times)

Some love from Tigger

Mommy's favorite, Pooh Bear

Our goal was to get Paisley on Radiator Racers. Problem was she was only 39" and she needed to grow 1 more inch. We managed to make her a little taller and got her on the ride. You should have seen her face when she realized that she got on. It was priceless. She was so proud and the ride was awesome. 

Where is Paisley? She is to the right of Jason. 

We love Cars Land at Night

All packed up and ready for Day 2 at Disney

Our Princess P

They LOVE the teacups since they know their Dad does not. They always try and spin really fast. 

Her favorite ride is always the Carousel

On our way out we ran into Donald (another fave of Roman's).

Disneyland was perfect! That isn't always the case, but the weather, lack of crowds and the kids ages all made it for a perfect trip. We weren't in a rush and just spent the 2 days at the park doing what we wanted to do. It was just what our family needed. 

One of our all-time best family vacations. We loved the combo of the beach with Disneyland. We are very blessed to live so close to Southern California. We just love it there.