New York, New York

So Joe was able to get a pass for the weekend to come hang out in NYC with me, and my friend Kristi Rose. Most of you know Kristi (from Book Club) has been studying at medical school in Salt Lake City for the past four years. She will graduate with an MD in May from the University of Utah, and she has been interviewing all over the country for medical residency programs. Her second to last interview was at Columbia so I flew out to spend the weekend with her. It was really nice to hang out with Joe...I like who he is becoming as an adult!!

It was COLD in NYC...the overall temperature wasn't so bad (like about 25 degrees or so), but the wind...the wind felt like it was about 25 below zero! I ended up buying a dorky little stocking cap from Little Italy just to keep my ears from freezing off! This is us outside of our hotel...which was very near everything cool in NYC...we were across the street from Carnegie Hall, about 6 blocks from times square, and very near all the Broadway theaters!

The thing that was most amazing to me about that sign, is I took this picture from almost a block away...the lights and advertising make Las Vegas pail in comparison! I bought Matt some M&Ms in Patriots colors for the Superbowl party we are hosting on Sunday. On a strange note, in the 48+ hours I was in NYC, I did not see one person wearing NY Giant paraphernalia...there were no "Go Giants" signs anywhere. It was so crazy!!

So, out the back door of our hotel was this little theater--home to David Letterman. Had we stayed one more night, we could have gotten tickets to a show. Oh well, we'll save that experience for next time!

Did I mention how obnoxious all the lights are??? I took this shot when we were walking from seeing Monty Python's Spamalot...which I highly recommend. It was so funny! We also saw a play called, The SeaFarer...it was ok, but I am disinclined to see a play again on Broadway...a play is a play is a play...but musicals are AMAZING!

I have a friend from my National Catholic Student Coalition days, Paul Snatchko, who lives in NYC and spent most of the weekend showing us the sites...we had a great time hanging out with him and we are grateful for his hospitality.

It was a great (but way too short) trip. I left my house at 3:30AM on Friday morning to catch a six o'clock plane flight, and I got home at almost midnight on Monday night/Tuesday morning. I don't regret it at all, but I must admit it has taken me most of the week to recover from it!

We'll try to take some pictures of the football action on Sunday.
Hope you are all well, and "Go Pats!!"

Hugs from Oregon, Sarah

LaLa's Birthday

So last weekend we went to Eugene to celebrate Tia LaLa's birthday. Her birthday was Wednesday, January 2nd...and Nona brought all her favorites to celebrate with a belated dinner (manicotti and leg of lamb). LaLa saved some toys from when Tegan & Cielle were little, so there was stuff for Mateo to enjoy. Featured here is a "snow-filled" cow placement.

You can barely tell from this picture, but Mateo is sitting on a little chair that was sitting on a big chair. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!

LaLa found this scarf for her outfit when we were shopping at Zona, a local boutique in Eugene that makes all the clothes by hand that they sell. She was so excited to find this dyed cut velvet scarf...and to have an excuse to get it for herself! She bought me two cut velvet blouses...very classy looking!

Most importantly, Nona made an Italian Rum cake for LaLa...her favorite and a once a year tradition for all. It is a divine layered treat that has Rum, pistachio filling, chocolate filling, and other nummy stuff.

Mateo came in just after this shot to help LaLa blow the candles out.

There are many birthdays in the first few days of the year. Marnie's (bookclub) is on the 1st, Pamela's (aka LaLa) on the 2nd, Patty's on the 3rd (bookclub), Mark (Matt's brother) on the 4th, and Rachel (Sarah's sister) on the 5th. The new year is always a week of celebration for us. We count ourselves blessed to have such good relationships with friends and family to celebrate!

Readoption process in the works

Mateo got a train set for Christmas from Cousin Tegan...and Tia La-La was an expert at putting it all together. It remains in front of our tree where he plays with it each day.

We FINALLY filed our court papers to begin the readoption of Mateo. While Mateo's adoption was finalized in Guatemala, and he has a US certificate of citizenship, it was issued as William Aquino Miller (his birth first & middle name with our last name). In order to change his name legally to Mateo, we needed to undergo this process. Another benefit of the process is that the State of Oregon will issue a birth certificate (in English :)!!) that lists us as his parents. This means that if there is ever unrest in Guatemala's government, we will be able to produce documentation that shows us as his parents even if the original Guatemalan documents are lost.

In this consumer friendly state we live in, we were able to purchase a kit from an adoption attorney and we did all the paperwork and filed ourselves. I must admit, it was a bit of a let down when I found out that "filing" simply meant we stood in front of a cashier and wrote a check to the court. But it is the first step in the process. Now we wait. Hopefully, we will be allowed to have a finalization ceremony at the court in 3 months or so. We'll keep you posted!

All our love from Oregon, Sarah & Matt & Mateo William Miller (his soon to be official name)

Christmas pictures...finally

Mateo wore this suit, which we orginially bought for Matt's Uncle John's funeral.
Nice to get to wear it at least twice.
His patent leather shoes were the big hit...and people loved the little red hankerchief!

WHY is is that family pictures are never taken at a flattering angle??

Our Christmas Tree with the before shot...WAY too many presents!!

Wouldn't you know that Mateo had more fun playing in a big box with Uncle Dan...who needs toys at this age?? Santa should just deliver boxes!!

Oh, and then there is couch jumping...which is allowed if he is hanging on to an adult (who is disguised as a blue dragon in this picture-Tegan)

Christmas was a joyous celebration for us with our family. We did the traditional Miller Italian Christmas Eve meal (stuffed calamari) at Nona's and then (for the last time for a long time) started opening Christmas presents at 11AM...oh, how I will miss the sleep that comes with such a schedule!

We hope you and yours had a very blessed holiday season too...love, Sarah & Matt & Mateo

Nona's Birthday

So Nona turned 78 years young on December 23rd. We had a fine feast of Pork Tenderloin (done Traeger style of course), roasted potatoes, and artichokes...topped off with a DQ ice cream cake special. We recycled the 7 from the 75th birthday cake, added eight pink/orange candles for her years plus a blue one for good luck in 2008.

Mateo loves to perch in Nona's lap when she's at our house...he helped Nona blow out all those candles...someone call the fire department!

And boy does Mateo love ice cream cake...plus it was this hideous stain all your fingers plus your clothes blue frosting...so by the time he was done, he had it spread from ear to ear!

Nona makes a good book reader...and the dog you see is Cocoa
(a new addition from Cousin Tegan...who Mateo calls Tee-Tan).

We consider ourselves especially blessed to have Nona return to full health after the craziness of 2007...she had two craniotomies, DVT's in both legs, spent more than a month between hospitals and nursing homes, and appears now to be none the worse for the wear. In fact, we give her a hard time about actually being better now than before! :)