It's Fall Y'all! This weekend we visited an Ellijay Apple Farm and petting zoo! We arrived as the first guests with the fog and by the end of our visit we left the bright hot sun & crowds behind. Our timing was perfect!

We walked through parts of the orchard on our way to the petting zoo. One of Zachary's current favorite books is Dr. Seuss' "10 Apples up on Top". Zachary was in shock at all the apples, on the trees and on the ground! We quoted lines from the book as he pointed to apples, apples, everywhere!!


We chose this apple farm because of it's petting zoo. We were both looking forward to watching Zachary's reaction to all the live animals. And, the petting zoo did not disappoint! It was full of baby goats, a calf, a pig, 2 rabbits, lots of chickens, a rooster, several kittens, 2 lamb & even a chihuahua named Scooper (no Yetty)! All the animals that are in Zachary's Little People Farm were represented in the petting zoo. He was most excited about the chickens. And, the goats were most excited with him!


One of the highlights of Zachary's day was the pillow jumper. He would have jumped ALL day if he could! He enjoyed it most when more children came to play causing the pillow jumper to bounce and jiggle with little effort. Even when he took some hard tumbles he smiled through it!


The Tractor Wagon pull ride dropped us off at the Pony ride & Bull sitting picture opportunity. Both situations where Zachary demonstrated his brave nature.Zachary didn't know what to think but I was happy to get a few more pictures into my camera. Zachary kept sliding to his left side while riding on the pony. I think he was afraid of falling off. But, the ride lasted as long at it took to hand over the $5 bill to the attendant. (Not long!)
I love this sweet picture...


Towards the end of our visit the sun finally came out. We stopped our activities for a few more pictures
Walking back to the shop we noticed lots of headless photo opportunities -- hmmm, my description isn't great but looking at these pictures I'm sure you know what I'm talking about-


We ended our day in the store choosing our purchases. We picked up a mixed peck of apples, apple rum butter, apple syrup, apple cider & apple donuts. Zachary LOVED helping put the apples into the bag. We had to keep an eye on Z because we caught him taking the apples off the table to sneak them into the bag with out our experienced inspection ;)

We had a GREAT day and we look forward to going again next fall! We have a few brief video's of our day and we will get them up online soon. Thanks for visiting our blog! Happy Fall Y'all!!

Just an update on our life with the Z-Man.

We recently had the social worker from Families First come out to the house for his 6 month post-placement followup. China requires a 6 month and a 1 year followup for their adopted children. It was a nice visit and went well.

Zach continues to enjoy Gymboree and has discovered an affinity for "magic". He will make an object "disappear" by hiding it behind his back, followed by a rousing "TAAA-DAAA!" and a bow. We hope to catch that on video sometime soon.

We are blessed to have a very mentally and physically gifted son. He amazes us in some new way on a daily basis!

Happy Birthday Matt!! Today we celebrate Matt's birthday. And, in the morning Matt is earning another stripe onto his Jui-Jitsu belt! We are so proud of you!

Our Labor Day weekend started out beautiful with a sunny Saturday afternoon. Zachary's Grandfather Popi came over for a visit. We pulled out Zachary's pool and he just had a good ole time splashing around. Matt and I dipped our bare feet into the edge of the water while Zachary shimmied around making waves.


After some time we turned on our hose to the $1store sprinkler. Zachary didn't know what to think of it at first. But, with a little help from his Daddy he got comfortable with the idea of running (mostly around it) in the streams of water.

Zachary had a blast running in the sprinkler!

A fun day was had by all!

This post is to let all of our loved ones know that Matt is starting a side venture as a novelist. His first short novel is now available for purchase as an ebook through Amazon and Barnes and Noble for the Kindle or Nook platforms respectively. Even if you don't have a Kindle or a Nook, you can still read the book on the PC or a smartphone by downloading the Kindle or Nook applications which can be found at Amazon or Barnes and Noble and are free applications.

The novel is titled SHADOW OF THE MASTER and is a collaboration between Matt and his late mother, Nancy. She had written the basic manuscript back in 1981 and shopped it around briefly, getting no bites back then. So, it got packed away and, to some extent, forgotten for many years. When she passed away in 2009, Matt asked his dad if he could find the manuscript and if he would object if he did some editing and revision and went the self-publishing route with SHADOW. He had no objections so Matt recently set about finishing the new manuscript.

SHADOW OF THE MASTER is a short novel that provides a new and unique perspective on the life and ministry of Jesus Christ through the eyes of a stray dog that takes up with Jesus and the disciples after He shows the dog kindness. It is biblically based and written in such a way that readers of all ages can enjoy and appreciate it.

Matt is also working on his first full-length novel, an excerpt from which is included at the end of SHADOW. He hopes to have the novel completed and published by late spring of 2012.

Matt can be followed on Twitter at @mattmillerauthr. He can be reached by email at matthewmillerauthor@gmail.com. His website is http://www.matthewrmiller.net.

To view or purchase the book through Amazon, click here
To view or purchase the book through Barnes and Noble, click here

The man, the legend, the runner---Zachary!



Having fun at Monkey Joe's!

Zach, Julia, and Poppi went to the Mall of Georgia today for Zach's weekly Gymboree session. Below are 2 videos of Zach and Poppi's adventures on the MOG carousel afterward.

Recently my Father Glen, handed over a CD of some of his recent pictures. Here is a sampling of the adventures of Zachary as seen from the lens of his Grand Father Bop-bop's camera.

We have been so lax in posting new pictures on our blog! We apologize for those of you who may be checking in just to be disappointed in no new news. However, we have been very busy and today we can't wait to share! A few weeks ago Zachary turned 2! It was an exciting celebration, the entire family got into the festive spirit! The men decorated during Zachary's nap time.

The theme was -surprise, surprise-- ELMO! Zachary was decked out in his Elmo attire for his party.
My sister created the birthday banner (at the top of this post) & the invitation. She did such a fabulous job! She just blows me away with her talent! Thank you Camie!! I plan on keeping the banner for future birthdays and just changing out the age and the Elmo figurine with what ever character is the "IT" of the year.

Matt wrote a rhyme for the inside of the invitation:
There is a little boy named Zach
Who has a party to pack.
He fell under the spell-mo
of a creature called "ELMO"
And he and the red guy
invite you to come by
to pass along your birthday best!

I did my best to create a ELMO cake. I was very pleased to hear Zachary yell out "MELMO" when he first saw his birthday cake. Here's a picture of the cake AFTER Zachary had his hands in it.

To my surprise Zachary did not want to get too involved in the Elmo cake. He didn't want to get dirty! And, he wouldn't start eating until he had a fork in hand. He did get a little messy...I was waiting for a messy picture to commemorate his first birthday at home.

Happy Birthday our adorable son!!

Two new videos of our boy Zach. The first one shows us his burgeoning multi-tasking abilities:




The second one shows him getting his dance on:

Here are a few more moments captured from our recent beach vacation. Zachary loves the ladies! He is such a flirt. He knows how to turn on the charm (even at his young age). He loved playing with all his cousins. He just blossomed around the younger generation!

Chloe' & Zach

Chloe', Zach & Maggie

Maggie, Zach & Caroline

Bop-Bop & Zach

All Smiles

Daddy, Zach & Mommy

Daddy & Zach

Bop-Bop, Maggie, Zach & Caroline

Chloe', Zach & Kasey
Finally Zach started to like sand!

Yummy, Spaghetti!!
Last night we visited with Zach's Grandfather Poppi. And, he made us his Miller family famous spaghetti recipe. It was Zach's first time eating spaghetti. He couldn't get enough of it! Of course we took pictures to document the mess we knew would ultimately occur. Zach loves noodles!

(We dedicate this Blog Post to our dear devoted blog reader and friend Tracey S!)

We have finally recuperated from our beach vacation this past Fourth of July Holiday. We had a fabulous time with family relaxing and shopping! However, the trip drained us in other parental ways. And, unfortunately we returned not feeling well. Zachary had an ear infection and I had a bad sinus infection.

The Sunday we returned there was a cartoon in the local paper that captured our trip perfectly. Essentially in the cartoon, the parents brought their children to the beach for a vacation and after all the crying, tantrums, hauling toys, chasing kids, cooking, cleaning, packing, etc the two parents looked at each other and declare they needed a vacation to recuperate from their vacation!

We certainly had all the help in the world on our vacation but being parents now for only 2 months (at home) we are still learning how to adapt. We are loving every second of it but our stamina is still not up to par for the energy of a toddler. My mind constantly swirls with thoughts of safety concerns, possible behavioral issues and the constant movement a toddler...Every day I still have that grand debate- to take a nap when Zachary takes one or stay up and be a Zombie by dinner time!


Our 4th of July beach trip was participated by thousands of other vacationers! And, most of us were on the interstate the same day! Our normal 6.5 hour trip took us 10 hours! Luckily my sweet cousin Chloe' drove the majority of the way with us & she was beautiful distraction for Zachary! Chloe' and Zach made video's with my iphone in the back seat. And, she read books to him and played with Zach's toy cars! He immediately fell in love with Chloe' and adoringly calls her "cocoa".

Zachary experienced 2 "firsts"! His 1st- 4th of July Holiday and his 1st time at the beach! I was prepared enough to think forward to photo opportunities! Luckily Party City had me covered with props and Old Navy for appropriate festive clothes!!!

Zachary's first day at the beach set the tone for my relationship with the beach the rest of the trip. He did NOT like it! He kicked, he screamed, he caused a scene! He hated the sand, was scared of the water and no amount of consoling encouraged him to relax. After that first day my parents took Zach down to the beach to introduce him slowly to the sandy shoreline. By the end of the week he was content to sit in Nonnie's lap at the point where the water reached her toes. I did make it down to the beach to witness his grandparents accomplishment.

The waters in the gulf were so clear that Matt purchased a snorkeling gear. Most of his time at the beach was spent with his head in the water floating around the fish and seaweed. One day he convinced me to give it a try. It certainly is a magically eco-system with it's own bright colors and twinkling sunlight.

Enough jabbering...on with more photos!

We have a lot more pictures to share however blogger is being very slow uploading. So we are going to take a break from this post and we will put up more pictures later.