Music anyone?

I have discovered that Olivia LOVES the piano. She can sit there for 30 minutes or so just happy as can be. And she will scream at me when I take her off of the piano bench. Who knows... maybe some day she will play.

She also loves any music with a really strong beat. Hip Hop is a favorite. Whenever those cars drive by with the really loud base thumping she starts wiggling and bouncing around with a huge smile on her face. Matt entertained her at Best Buy one day by pushing back and forth next to a stereo with rap or hiphop or something like that playing. (I do hope that isn't a sign of things to come......Yikes!)

Funny girl!

Katy is soooo patient. She has so much hope that Olivia will share her food. And of course Olivia is always willing to share much to Katy's delight!

Geocaching with friends

My friend Aliza and her daugher Emma went with Olivia and I geocaching today. We found three caches! Here are a few pictures of us.

Pigtails!

Olivia had her first pigtails! She amazed me! Olivia sat really still while I combed her hair and put the pigtails in. She knew she was cute! Of course there were a few tears right before the photos and you can still see them on her cheeks. She was mad because I took the comb away from her.

Taking a bath

I thought I would show a couple of pics of Olivia taking a bath. She used to hate baths until she spent a week at Uncle Joel and Aunt Shaleign's place. I don't know what they did but now she loves to get into the tub. She gets so excited when we go into the bathroom and she tries to crawl into the tub whether her clothes are off or on!

Hello from Cairo

Well Andi has been asking me to post for a while, so I thought I would take a few minutes today. My travel schedule continues to keep me very busy. Since September, I have had trips to Bangkok (and a side trip to Singapore), Rome, Madrid, Tirana (Albania), Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), Cairo, and now I am sitting in Nicosia (Cyprus). I will be here in Nicosia for about a week and a half and then it's home for the rest of the month.

Cairo was a real treat. I have wanted to visit Egypt for a while, so I was glad to get the chance. The pyramids were amazing as were all the rest of the sites. I had two extra days between my conference in Cairo and when I needed to be in Nicosia, so I took a side trip to Luxor, which was well worth the trip. I am also really looking forward to my trip to Israel in April.

Rome was a great trip too. Since I was in charge of the conference, I was able to time it to coincide with our anniversary. Andi was able to meet me there and meet many of the foreign service nationals that I work with in my project. Rome was fantastic...as you would expect. with all the historical sites that we have all heard about. We also did a side trip to Pompeii...which was fascinating. It's rough when you have to make a project decision to hold a conference in a place like Rome...but I suppose someone has to do it, right? Oh, I can't forget to mention all the beautiful art and sculptures in Embassy Rome--we had an art tour of the embassy. What an amazing place to work! A special thanks to Sha & Joel for babysitting Olivia for the week.

And I can't forget my quick trip to Singapore-- Just a few days to visit with the old folks! And then on to Bangkok for work.

Oh and I can't forget that in September we also threw in a quick trip to Washington, DC for training and a Labor Day trip to a lake in North Carolina with our neighbors.

Well, work continues to go very well! We continue to keep the progress moving quite well. We have increased the pace for this fiscal year and should be able to complete the project by March 2008--which would mean we have completed about 95-100 embassy conversions in 2 1/2 years--as compared to the 28 my predecessor did in 3 years prior to my arrival. With a 70% reduction in costs per conversion, I'm proud of what we have been able to do--yes some federal employees are looking at cost efficiencies.

Well, I am definitely looking forward to a few weeks home for Christmas. Andi's family will be coming to Charleston for Christmas too, so it should be a fun filled holiday... After the holidays, things get started really quickly. I have trips already scheduled for Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Accra (Ghana), Maseru (Lesotho), Seoul (Korea), Hong Kong (China), Tel Aviv & Jerusalem (Israel)...and that's just for January to April. So next year will keep me busy, busy too!

Well it's getting late, so I'd better close for now. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Take Care,

Matt

It's my belly button!

Yep... Olivia discovered her belly button today. We talked about it and she kept sticking her finger in it all night long... such a silly girl!

Geocaching

Just thought I would add a link to one of my favorite hobbies... Geocaching! This is a great family activity and it is relatively inexpensive. (Although you need to make an initial investment by purchasing a GPS.) Check it out! Our geocaching username is "Diploduo" if you want to see some of the caching that we have done.

I would love to do more geocaching but Matt doesn't have much time to do it with me. I prefer not to go it alone. It is always nicer and safer to have company along for the adventure. My most favorite geocaching location was Rome, Italy.

I am really excited for Christmas this year. Casey and Shaleign (my brother and sister) and their families are coming for a visit. We plan on doing a lot of caching. Sha promised at least one cache per day and I am holding her to it!

Halloween

Here is Olivia in her Halloween costume! If you can't tell she is a spider. The girls with her are Kailey and Tayler our next door neighbors. They went with us to our church "Trunk or Treat" party. We had a Halloween party at the church and decorated the trunks for our cars for the "Trunk or Treat" portion. The kids came around to each trunk for some treats! It was a fun night... I even won a cake at the cakewalk! Yum!

Simple Pleasures!

I just had to share this photo of Olivia! I was trying to clean up the kitchen when I turned around and found her pleased as punch that she was sitting in this metal bowl. She was soooo happy about it! It just made me realize how little things make her so happy and how her happiness brings so much joy to my life.

Olivia is also trying to climb these days. Anything she can get her leg up on she climbs. Today she managed to climb up onto the coffee table with assistance from another toy to give her boost. She was very proud of the fact that she made it up there. I was shocked and once again amazed by her creativity. Now how do I keep her off of the coffee table??

It's a beginning!

Enspired by my sister-in-law Amy, I thought we should have a blog spot as well. What a great idea! This will be a good way for us to update our family and friends about our life.

This past year has been exciting for us! We adopted our little girl Olivia. She is a cutie! She turned one on Aug 12, 2006. This is her birthday photo. Olivia keeps me very busy while Matt is away at work. She walks like a pro and she is into everything.... and I do mean everything. Her favorite toys are the remote control, the telephone, or cell phone.

Olivia's latest cute thing is honking my nose. She pushes my nose (or squeezes it tightly) and giggles if I honk at her. She thinks it's hilarious. I think it kind of hurts!

Matt is currently in Spain and soon he will be heading to Albania. Hopefully he will contribute to the blogspot and tell you about his travels. His girls at home miss him terribly. We expect him home for a brief stay on November 8th.

Well, enough for my first blog. I will do my best to update frequently!