A year ago we were in the Pittsfield hospital getting to know little Ema as our newborn, wrinkly baby. Now, though we’re always getting to know her, I can glance at her little face or notice her movements and pretty much know how she’s doing. A lot changes in one year!  We enjoyed celebrating her birthday with her aunts, cousins, grandparents, and even her great grandmother and aunt Dale from Long Island came to visit. She didn’t ‘dive’ into the cake as most would picture a one year doing, but rather picked up a piece, examined it, and tasted a little to see if she’d like it. Here are some of my favorite pictures of Ema over the last two days!

   Ema at the pool- and she loves those sunglasses!

  

Ema the Traveler- flying from Indiana to Massachusetts. She just discovered the tray in the this picture.

  It’s a small thing- but I was excited to make her birthday cake- so here it is… with the #1 sitting on top. Maybe next year she’ll be able to blow it out alone.

     The day before Ema’s birthday was the official oath ceremony for Hrvoje’s naturalization process. It was the final step to become an American citizen! We drove two hours to Worcester, MA in order to have him sign in at 9am. Then we waited until 12:30pm… yes, 3 1/2 hours for the judge to come (thank Jodie for watching Ema at home!). In that time about 725 people were registered and seated (all their paper work in order), so that when the judge arrived the theater/auditorium was packed with people from all over the world who were joining Hrvoje in becoming a US citizen. The entire process took about 20 minutes as they raised their right hand and repeated the oath, then we all said the pledge of allegiance. People cheered and waived their little American flags, but that was all the emotion in the room. I thought it would a beautifully moving ceremony… and it may have been if it was a smaller group. The best part was riding back home with that citizenship certificate in hand. What a long process we’ve been through to get to this point- after years of visas, then the green card hoops to jump through…. Hrvoje did an amazing job researching and with the paper work as he’s completed the entire process by himself (I’m so proud of him). It’s hard to believe the paper work is over- and today we applied for his US passport. When that comes in the mail or when Hrvoje votes for the President  then it will be a reality. Here’s our recent American citizen….