HAPPY HALLOWEEN & BIRTHDAY !!

Not only is today Halloween but it is also Aunt Lynn's birthday. Of course, what else would a little girl adopted from China be for her fist Halloween but a ladybug!

Olivia was so cute in her ladybug outfit. We went trick-or-treating around home on Sunday and at first she seemed very overwhelmed and confused as to what we were trying to accomplish. But, it didn't take long for her to figure out all she had to do was stand in the doorways, pick out whatever candy she wanted and move along to the next house. After the first few houses she caught on though and was practically trying to run to the next front door. She seemed absolutely amazed that she could just take some candy and leave, and people just handed out those sweet, chocolate, chewy goodies. She is really learning what a "sweet tooth" is.
Today we got dressed up again to stop in to see Aunt Lynn at her work to give her candy and a balloon to wish her a happy birthday. Aunt Lynn then took Olivia all around her workplace to show off and trick-or-treat. Again it took Olivia a little time to figure out what was going on but finally started to loosen up after getting a really good cookie with purple frosting and a sugar buzz.
I'll be trying to add some more Halloween pictures but for now......

Happy Birthday Aunt Lynn and thanks for the fun morning and all the Halloween treats!!

Taking It On The Road

My niece, Michelle, has a parenting class at her high school and they have been talking about adoption. Michelle happened to mention that her (favorite-sorry Lynn) Aunt had just adopted from China this year. Well, the teacher asked if I would bring Olivia in and give a presentation to her classes on the whole process we went through. At first I was a little hesitant but decided to do it and it turned out to be fun.
Everything is still very fresh in my mind so it was easy for me to put everything together. I also took along a lot of our souvenirs to set out for the kids to look at. I even took along our DVD's of Gotcha Day and of the orphanage visit for them to see.
We did this yesterday morning, Tuesday, October 23rd. There were two classes, one right after the other and Olivia was perfect. Grandma Manning went along to help which I am very thankful for. I had a lot of things to take into the school and Olivia was very comfortable sitting by her Grandma while I gave my hour long presentation, twice. She did venture away from Grandma and Michelle a couple times though to wander around looking at all the things in the room. She also liked to hide behind my legs and peek out at the students.
She was so good. She never cried or whined the entire time. Some of the students didn't seem too interested (it's hard to tell with teenagers) but most of them paid attention and a couple even asked some questions. The girls all said she was so cute and she gave them a lot of smiles. At the end of the second class they even got to hear her say "Ah-Da! She was fascinated with all the students in the hallways and we even ran into her older cousin Ryan among all the students.
Michelle seemed to think I did a pretty good job and the teacher also video taped one of the presentations so she can show it to some of her other classes. She promised to make a copy for me so I can be my own critic on how we did.
Thanks Shelly for thinking of us and asking us to do this! It was a lot of fun!

Big Shot

A couple weeks ago Olivia got to see where her Dad goes to work everyday. I took her down to see him at work and some of his cooworkers got to meet her for the first time.They had been asking for me to bring her in for a visit.

She loved the pictures on his desk but was a little shy around all the new faces looking at her but managed to flirt a little too. Her favorite part was, of course, the computer, the telephone and the calculator. She thought she was a real big shot sitting at his desk.

Steve then took us out to a really nice lunch. It was a real treat for all of us.

Testing More Pictures

Here are a couple more pictures just to see if this new site will work. If so, I'll keep adding to this one. Enjoy!

Our New Blog, October 2007

Trying out the pictures.

I've created a new blog with the idea that the old one was getting bogged down with old archives, pictures, etc. I was having a lot of trouble just posting anything and had given up on loading any pictures.

Hopefully this one will start off fresh an I can continue on with our saga of "The Olivia Files".

Keep checking back with this new address www.oliviapitz.blogspot.com. At least it is shorter than the old one!