CELEBRATIONS!

First off, I would like to congratulate my son Michael for getting inducted into the National Honor Society at Monmouth University! He is graduating this year and we are hoping he continues on one more year for his Masters (fingers crossed). He has done AWESOME throughout his college years. He majored in History/Education and has made the Deans list in Honors School most of the time. They had a real nice celebration for the inductees. Congratulations Michael...we are all SO proud of you!

Also, I had everyone down my house for mother's day. My brother-in-law brought tons of DELICIOUS seafood AND he did ALL of the cooking for my mother, sister and I. I posted a picture of him and my sister having fun with the HUGE crab legs!

Olivia is doing so good and will be turning 3 in July. She is going to go to pre-school in September. Doctors say she is growing so well. She is 25 percentile both height and weight. My family just loves to spoil her and she LOVES every minute of it!

FEW FAVORITE PICS!

Olivia can't get ENOUGH of the snow.....she LOVES it and HATES to come in! New Jersey just got alot of snow and looks like we're getting another big one Tuesday night......yipppppeeeeee!

Renae

Yeeaaaaah.....SNOW!!!!!!!!

WOW did we get the snow here in Jersey! I LOVE when it snows and couldn't WAIT for Olivia to be able to play in it.....so we did. She LOVED it and did NOT want to come inside.

We are going to Grandma and Pappy's house tonight to celebrate Christmas with my sister and her family since they are going back to Pittsburgh this year for Christmas. So, I'm sure she will be out again tonight sled riding!

Renae

ONE YEAR AGO TODAY THE JUDGE IN RUSSIA SAID "YES"

I can't believe it has been one year ago since our court date. I remember STRESSING and wondering if that day would EVER come! These are a few pictures of us after court at the baby home....what a happy day!!!!

Renae

Olivia's First Trick or Treat day!

Hi everyone!

I hope everyone enjoyed their halloween with their little ones. Joe had to work late, so my sister and I took Olivia to my mother's house to trick or treat for a little while and then we went to the church for "Trunk or Treat" night. What a GREAT idea this is.....people at the church line up their cars in the church parking lot and open up their trunks, which are all decorated for halloween. The kids go to each decorated trunk to get their candy. My son, Michael was the "hayride" driver and Olivia had such a great time with her big brother. Once she got the concept of getting a piece of candy and putting it in her bag, she couldn't WAIT to get more! We already had the Steeler cheerleader outfit, so I figured we would just use that as her costume for this year.

I am going to post some pictures of our trick or treat day/night with her Aunt, brother, grandma and pappy.

Renae

OUR LITTLE CUTIE

Hi Everyone,

Olivia is doing really doing good. She has early intervention twice a week and has started speech therapy one day a week. Her development has really come a long way! Her speech is definitely behind, but she is REALLY trying hard to talk. The therapist said that Olivia definitely "gets it" but she just has to put it all together. She is one lovey-dovey little girl and has SOME personality. She couldn't be more perfect for our family!

I just want to share a few updated pictures of our sweety pie!

Enjoy!

Renae

BIRTHDAY PARTIES!!!!!!

Hi everyone! We just celebrated 3 very special birthdays! We just celebrated Olivia's first birthday party, she turned 2 (July 19th). My sister just turned "40" on the 20th and my son, Michael, just turned "21" on the 22nd. I thought that was SO cool that Olivia's birthday was so close to theirs. So, we just had one big birthday party at our house. We had such a great time!

My mom made Olivia's first birthday cake, it was so cute and SO good. She made the cake with the sesame street characters around it....soooo cute and Olivia loved it. We put the cake in front of her to see if she would dive in, but she didn't even want to touch it....go figure. She got alot of cute clothes and gifts, but I would have to say her favorite was the car. The little plastic one with the roof over it. she got 2 of them and we use one for outside and one for inside. She LOVES cars and tractors...no girly, girl here!

I posted a few pictures below of Olivia with her grandma and pappy, my son and Olivia and my sister and brother-in-law. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIM, MICHAEL AND OLIVIA!

Renae