HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Happy Mother's Day to all the great mom's out there!
We had a great Mother's Day, my first "official" Mother's Day. Olivia and I posed on my new wicker love seat for our front porch. We all spent the afternoon and early evening at Grandma and Grandpa Manning's house. We had a great afternoon with fabulous food and everyone was there so we all got to visit. Even my Aunt Helen and her son Dave were able to make it. Olivia had a lot of fun with her Great Aunt Helen and laughed so hard while she teased her.

We also got a nice picture of all the women together for this special day.
The four of us were not able to be with everyone last year because we had just arrived in China to pick up Olivia. It's hard to believe that was a year ago.
We are so grateful that things turned out so wonderful for us. Olivia is such a great little girl and we are so lucky to have her.
The news this morning told about a 7.5 earthquake that happened this weekend in Chengdu which is very close to Chongquing and Fuling, even the same province of Sichuan, which is where we got Olivia just one year ago.

We can be so thankful to be home with her safe and sound and have such a wonderful addition to our family. She really had a great time with everyone yesterday and was so very tired by the time I got her in her crib for the night. Today we can recover and take it easy after a very fun weekend. Thank you Grandma Manning for a great day and for everything you do for us during the whole year!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

How We Love To Pose

The first anniversary of GOTCHA DAY is only one week away.

Happy Birthday Aunt Nancy!!

Aunt Nancy turned 29........again......today.

She and Pat took off of work to celebrate her birthday like they always do and Grandma Manning, Olivia and I met them for breakfast and celebrated with them. Olivia brought her a bouquet of flowers.

We had a really nice time with good food and two hours of visiting. Even though Olivia has come down with the sniffles and runny nose she was still in a good mood and socialized as usual.

She even got very cozy with her Uncle Pat. I had taken my latest batch of pictures along and she had to study them very closely with him (even though she had seen all of them a few times already). She is such a flirt!!

She can tell me almost all of the letters of the alphabet and can spell her name out. Now we are working on numbers and can almost count to five and always has to yell out YEAH! when she is done. We can't wait to get together with everyone for Mother's Day which is just around the corner.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANCY!!

We hope you had a great day!

Another Eleanor Visit

Yesterday we had another visit with Marilyn, Alan, Eleanor and now Wesley.....Eleanor's new baby brother.

We had seen them back in January when Marilyn was still pregnant. Wesley was born on February 6th so this was our first time meeting him. They are all doing great.

Grandma Manning came along with us and we started the morning by meeting Marilyn and Eleanor at the Betty Brinn Children's Museum in Milwaukee. It was really nice and the girls had a lot of fun. They have a section that is just for children 3 years and under which was really nice. Their favorite part was going down a plastic slide.

Olivia loved it but after about 1 1/2 hours of playing she could barely get herself up the steps of the slide because she was so tired. (No pictures from the museum, I didn't want to drag the camera along). We left there at 12:00 noon and then went back to Marilyn's house for lunch. There the girls ate a great lunch, played, we got to see Wes and visit for a couple more hours. We had gifts for the new baby but we didn't want the girls to be left out so I bought them each a "Mr. Potato Head". They both really liked playing with those and it kept them occupied while Marilyn opened the gifts for Wes. Afterward they ate brownies together and played some more.

Olivia is really stretching out. She was almost a full head taller than Eleanor. They are both progressing at the same rate though with talking and learning. Olivia was even saying "Elnor" (she still refuses to say Jenny though).

The time with them goes by so fast but by 2:00 pm the girls were totally exhausted so we had to say our goodbyes and head for home. Olivia got to nap on the way home and we are looking forward to warm weather and getting back together with them at a park or beach next time. We will also be planning a dinner out again with everyone to celebrate our first GOTCHA DAY! which will be coming up in less than a month, May 14th.

Little Helper

What a gorgeous weekend finally. It was great to see and feel the sun. It was time to clean up the motorcycle and Olivia liked helping because she got all wet and could play in the "bubbos".

She turned 22 months yesterday, April 20th. She has changed so much in the last year. She really enjoys being outside and I think she will keep me very busy this summer. We are looking forward to camping and hiking and getting outside as often as possible now that the weather is getting warm. I think she will be a big "help" when it is time to start planting flowers, mowing the lawn, etc..

Spring Cleanup

Time to get the rakes out and start cleaning up.
I put Olivia to work but all she managed to do was to hold the rake while I took her picture. She is easily distracted, especially when it comes to cleaning up.
At least the weather is getting better and we can spend some time outside. She loves to blow the bubbles outside. I also gave her sidewalk chalk to play with and balls to kick around. The best though is following me around while I work on the plants in the yard. While I throw the old dead stuff in a pail to get rid of, she is behind be pulling it out and carrying it around, spreading it back on the yard. She likes to "help" with that. Oh well, as long as she is having fun.
The fresh air sure tires her out and gets her ready for a big afternoon nap.

Come on summer!!

Sisters Goofing Around

Jenny and Olivia love to get dressed up and pose for pictures, one of these days I will have to have someone take a picture of me with Olivia once. I'm always on the wrong side of the camera.
Blazer has been adjusting very well to being the only dog now. Although he is getting very spoiled by all the attention he is getting since he gets to spend a lot of time in the house. But, with warmer weather getting closer everyday, he will start to shed all of the hair very soon. Then he will not be able to be in the house anymore and will have to get used to staying outside again which he won't like. For now the kids enjoy using him as a big, fluffy, soft pillow. He is not real excited about that but still loves the attention and puts up with it very well.