It's Raining, It's Pouring

Olivia was singing "it's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring"..... She must have learned that song at summer camp.
It has been raining here a lot. But I don't mind. I LOVE the rain! Of course this comes from growing up in the great Northwest. As a little kid I would listen the rain running down the gutters of my house and it was a comforting feeling. I miss it. I love the sounds outside when it rains. Water splashing, draining.... and I love the smell.
Rain in Moscow is similar to rain in Vancouver, Wa. Steady, sometimes a drizzle. Nothing like rain in Texas where it is a massive downpour and flooding everywhere. The rain here makes me feel like I am home in Washington.
Enough of this nostalgia! Time to go curl up and read a good book!

Okay... I had to add to this. This morning around 6:00 a.m. we had a TEXAS sized thunderstorm. Woke up both kids (and Matt slept through it!)

Computer girl

I am so amazed at Olivia! When I went to South Carolina in November of last year she didn't know how to use a computer. She would sit on Packa's lap and watch videos on YouTube with him like the Wiggles. Then while in Charleston I took her to the library and she played a couple of computer games there with my help. She didn't know how to use a mouse. Couldn't seem to figure it out. Now... 8 months later she is turning into a computer junkie. She uses the computer like a pro and bring up her own games. She navigates until she finds what she wants and there are fewer and fewer problems when she's on her own.
She is a sponge and she picks up things sooo fast! Sometimes I just wish she would slow down. But then again it makes me so proud to see her develop so quickly! I love my little girl!

Baby Tales

Olivia informed Matt and I that she has a baby in her tummy. (She has had a baby in her tummy ever since I had Samantha in mine.) It is a girl and she is going to name her Chonky! What a name!

Hi Grandma & Grandpa

Can't get enough of my two cutie pies! They are growing so fast. I wish I could slow down time just a little bit.

Sisters

Aren't sisters great?

Olivia has been a great big sister. She helps Mommy & Daddy out a lot. And she spends a lot of time entertaining Samantha.

Samantha adores Olivia!

Here are a couple more shots of my favorite girls!

New Beginnings

I guess I am as my sister-in-law told me once... the worst blogger ever! I posted and then stopped for 2 years! Oh well.... I guess I can start again. No pictures this go-round. But I promise to add some.
A little history... I got pregnant after 3 tries of IVF in 2007/2008. We moved to Moscow, Russia in August 2008. Went back to Charleston, SC to have our little girl. Her name is Samantha Abigail Simiskey and she was born 20 Jan 2009. We are back in Moscow and Packa and Grandma Loui are here for a visit! Samantha is 5 mos. old. Olivia is now 3 (almost 4.) She loves being a big sister!
We love our girls sooooo much!

Olivia at Halloween 2007

This is Olivia and Grandma Loui. Olivia is practicing her trick-r-treat skills before heading out for the real thing!

Sorry about the direction of the video. I accidentally had the camera turned sideways and so the video turned out that way. Just turn your head to the left or tilt your computer screen to the right!!!!

This is a video of Olivia at her first attempt trick-or-treating. The man at the door is trying to give Olivia more than one piece of candy. She keeps taking what he gives her and handing back the other piece. They do this a couple of times before he gives up and she leaves with just the one piece. It was pretty funny!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Update!

It has been forever since I updated so here goes. We are all doing well. I am working at the library. Olivia is in daycare and doing well. Matt continues to travel about half of the year. (Or at least it feels like that much.)

I did IVF (Invitro Fertilization). The cycle failed and so we are going to try one more time. We of course were disappointed but often it takes more than one try. I just pray that one more try will be all we need because that is all we can afford. Thankfully my job provides insurance that pays for about 70% of the cost! So we will perservere and please any prayers would be welcome!

At the end of October Matt will be heading out once again. I can't seem to remember where he is headed this time. But I do know he will be gone for two weeks. Olivia and I will survive as usual. We sure do miss Matt a lot during his work trips. Olivia asks about him all of the time. I tell her Daddy is at work.

She is growing like crazy! She is now two years old and she acts like it too! Her vocabulary has really increased and occasionally she throws in a sentence or two. She amazes both of us all of the time. Her favorite group is the Wiggles. She dances with them all of the time. We are going to a Wiggles Concert in November. She is going to LOVE it!

Well, I guess that is enough for now. I will try to continue to post. Amy reminded me that I am the worst blogger ever! Thanks Amy!

Have a great day everyone!

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!