Whew! Another Milestone Behind Us

Jenny was confirmed this weekend so all the planning and preparing for another party is behind us.


It turned out to be a very nice day. The weather even cooperated. It was warm with just a little chill in the air but that kept things comfortable. There was no rain and no bugs which really made it nice to be outside all day.

The church service was very nice and it was great to have so many relatives that were able to make it there and share it with us.

It is hard to believe that Jenny is entering high school next year and Olivia will be starting preschool.

We had a really nice crowd come out to the house after church. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and the food. Jenny was very happy and thankful for the way her day turned out.

Olivia the party girl, of course, was thrilled that we were having another party at our house. She got to sit with her grandparents for the whole church service (which was really nice for Steve and myself - THANK YOU!). And then she was having a great time mingling and socializing with everyone all afternoon. She is quite the social butterfly and this time, for whatever reason, she decided Pastor Bauer was going to be her main victim.....I mean "focus" for the afternoon. She followed him around, sat on his lap, had to eat lunch with him, show him her room and chatted his ears off almost the whole time he and his wife were here. She is so funny. It is nice to see her so friendly with people and happy to talk and run around visiting with everyone.

She went the whole day without a nap and still seemed to have energy at night.

Thanks again to everyone that made Jenny's day special and for sharing it with us. We all had a great time and hope you did too.

CONGRATULATIONS JENNY!!

GOTCHA DAY 2010 !!

Three years ago today we were in the heart of China becoming parents to an 11 month old little girl as she was placed in our arms for the very first time.

I can't believe how fast the time goes by. This fall she will already be going to 4-year-old preschool.

Thank goodness for pictures and videos because now the whole adoption process, planning, preparing and the actual trip is just a blurr.

Three years ago Olivia was a small, exhausted, scared baby girl (with very short hair) and bronchitis.

Since then she has blossomed into a healthy, energetic, very intelligent, loving, happy, beautiful young girl (with very long wavy hair).

She has brought nothing but joy to this family and continues to do so every day.

For one reason or another this year has been even more hectic than I can remember it being 3 years ago. We have Jenny's confirmation this weekend with a party on Sunday but I didn't want to be to busy to celebrate Gotcha Day at least a little so we will just have our favorite home-made Chinese dinner with stir fry, egg rolls, pot stickers, tea and of course, fortune cookies.

Ironically, Olivia is the only one in the family that doesn't like Chinese food so I'll probably end up making her favorite cheese pizza for her to eat!

She and I will probably make a cake or cupcakes today also to celebrate........I know she will eat that (or at least the frosting)

Happy Gotcha Day Olivia!

We Love YOU!!

Happy Mother's Day 2010

We had a very nice Mother's Day at Grandma and Grandpa's house. It is always a good time and a lot of fun, not to mention the good food. Everyone was able to make it and we spent the whole day there. Olivia went without a nap and when we were finally home getting ready for bed at 9:30 pm she still wanted to read books of course before going to sleep. So we read our usual 3 books and then she said "can I just stay up a few more minutes?" So I Said when the next commercial comes on you have to go to bed. Well, she never made it to the next commercial, she almost instantly zonked out on the couch and I ended up carrying her to bed. She was one tired cookie! But she had a great time and always gets excited about parties!





She is getting to be very independent right now and even had to sit with Chad and Ryan to eat. No more high chair or booster seat or sitting next to Mom. She is big girl that can eat with her cousins. (And, she actually ate much better than when I try to get her to eat).

Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy 29th Birthday Aunt Nancy.....Again!

I thought Aunt Nancy was 29 last year but she insists she is 29 this year. It was her birthday on Sunday so we went out for dinner on Saturday night to celebrate. It was noisy but we had a good time and good food. Olivia lives for going to restaurants so she was happy.

It was just a small group of us this time but she made the rounds and we all enjoyed ourselves.

Happy Birthday Aunt Nancy and we look forward to celebrating your 29th again next year!!

Impromtu Get-Together

Olivia's Aunt Lynn and Uncle Jody are hosting a foreign exchange student for just a couple weeks and we got to meet her last night. Veronica is from Italy and is staying with them, shadowing Kaitlyn with school, soccer, and all the other activities they are involved in.

Things have been really busy but a bunch of us were able to get together at Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner. Veronica is a really nice girl. She speaks English very well and it would be nice if she was here longer and we had more time to get to know her learn more about her country.

But we were glad we at least had the opportunity to meet her. Olivia warmed up to her as if she was just another one of her cousins.

Veronica will be making her "US Family" an authentic Italian spaghetti dinner on Friday and then will be heading back home after this weekend.

Veronica and Kaitlyn seemed to get along like sisters for only being together for these short couple of weeks. I hope they keep in touch with each other after Veronica goes back home.

Great Playgroup Friends

We had a great playgroup at our house on Monday. Although the weather could have been better it was good enough to get the kids outside to play and run off some energy.

Olivia, Mckenna, Emma and Cody got to play in the sandbox, playhouse, ride the bike and eventually were running around playing tag. Cody can almost keep up with the girls.

After posing for some pictures they discovered how steep part of our yard is and learned how to roll down it. It's funny to watch them try to learn something new that seems so simple to us but it was hilarious watching them try to roll down on their sides without rolling into each other or into the neighbors house.

I think we really wore them out this time and look forward to our next play date. Hopefully the weather will be even better!

Happy Easter 2010 !

What a great, but busy, Easter!

We started out our day early, as usual, with an excited 3 year old checking to see if the Easter Bunny came.

It took some time but Olivia (with Jenny's help) found all the eggs and Easter baskets. She was pretty excited when she looked in the entry way closet and found her basket with toys and waaayyy too much candy.

Then it was breakfast and off to church. After church we got home in time to have a little lunch and then it was off to Bob and Cindie's house.
The Pitz side is always fun. We don't see them real often so it is good to get together with everyone and party.

We had an egg hunt outside and took some pictures then went back in for their mid-afternoon dinner.

From there we had to pack everything up and head over to Aunt Lynn's house for more food, egg hunt, wonderful presents for Olivia to open from her Aunts and Grandparents and a great time visiting with everyone on the Manning side.

We ate so much all day it was nice to take a walk and take Olivia to the park nearby where her cousins were tossing a frisbee around for a while.

By 8:30 Olivia couldn't hardly function anymore so she gave everyone their goodbye hugs and kisses and we headed for home.



About 10 minutes from home Olivia fell asleep for the night. As we got home we pulled her out of the car and Steve placed her on the couch while we unloaded the car and brought everything into the house.....Olivia never woke up. Then Steve and I worked on changing her into her P.J.'s......Olivia never woke up. Then Steve and I got all the ponytail stuff out of her hair and he carried her to her bed. Olivia never woke up.

We were all very tired and Olivia was whining and crying through the night from being over-tired but was up at her usual 6:30 am Monday morning, ready to go again. All-in-all we had a great Easter and it was wonderful to get together with our families from both sides even if it was hectic.

This is what happens to a 3 year old after toooo much fun, toooo many presents, toooo much candy and noooo nap.

(We can't belive how fast she is growing and how long she looks on this couch!)