May Mayhem

May was a busy month for the Martindales!  On May 1st, we celebrated being home with Olivia for one year.  

Olivia also went to the beach for the first time.  It was a great trip with several of my family members.  (Philip was on a bicycle trip to France during this time.)  Olivia did great at the beach.  The girls played well together and enjoyed building sand castles and playing in the ocean.  This was our first beach trip with multiple children.  We had a 5 year old, a 3 year old, an 18 month old, and an 11 month old.  It was busy, but oh-so-fun!

My dance teacher growing up had her last dance recital in May.  Ansley and I traveled to Camden for the occasion.  It was such a special night full of many memories!

The end of May was super-busy with Ansley's preschool graduation and dance recital.  Thanks to all of our family for supporting us through this exciting time! Our little girl starts Kindergarten in August - oh my!!

Thanks for reading!

April Adventures

In April, we had our last adoption post placement report for a little while.  This is where a social worker came to our house to observe Olivia in her "element," and to interview us.  This report was sent to China for Olivia's file.  We have had several of these done since we've been home, and we will update again in one year.

Olivia's first GOTCHA DAY was on April 21st.  I'll never forget that day.  I enjoyed spending some time reading the blog from our trip and remembering back to what a life-changing trip it really was.  Olivia really has come a long way in one year.  It's amazing.

At the girls' day care every year, they have a FUN RUN – Olivia didn’t quite know what to think, so I carried her around the track.  She loved the popsicle afterwards!

We also started swim lessons in April in preparation for our family beach trip in early May.  The girls both did really well.  

Until next time,
Jill

March Madness

(This was written back in March.)

Happy Spring, everyone!  

I thought that the title of this blog post was appropriate for what my life feels like right now….sheer madness.  It's fun, but it certainly is crazy!!

March was no different.  We started the month out with a bang!  Olivia had bronchitis.  Bless her heart; she was pitiful.  You can definitely tell when she doesn't feel well.  We are so fortunate, however.  This is only the second time that she's been sick in a year.  Praise the Lord!  In the midst of Olivia's sickness, Philip and I both had to travel to different locations, and we had snow/ice!  Thank goodness for Grammy, Beth, Su, and Da!  We couldn't do it without them.  My Mom and Beth were in charge of Olivia, and Su and Da had Ansley.  I traveled to DC for work while Philip traveled to DC to exhibit his wheels for the first time at the Handmade Bicycle Show.  The week was a success, as crazy as it was.

The weekend I got back, I bravely took the girls by myself (What was I thinking?!?) to Oak Hill to see their middle school performance of "Beauty and the Beast."  (Philip was still out of town.)  It was great!  The girls did really well.  I knew Ansley would, but Olivia was (as always) the wild card.  I was very proud; she was really into it!  When Belle came out in her yellow dress, Olivia said, "Belle!"  The people around us got a kick out of her.  

Also in March, Ansley and I went to Camden to witness my Mom receiving a very well-deserved "Lifetime Achievement Award" given by the Camden/Benton County Chamber of Commerce.  She works so hard for others, and I am so glad that she was recognized for her giving heart.  It was a wonderful evening.

 My aunt and uncle (It's so great that they were able to be there!)

 John, Beth, Vicki, Jill, Suzanne, Mom, Steve, Joe, Jenna, and Ansley

The family who was able to attend

As most of you know, Ansley is a huge hockey fan.  She had the chance of a lifetime (in her opinion) to get to shoot a puck on the ice after a Predators game.  (She was able to do this as part of the Kids Club.)  She loved it and even got to meet Gnash after she shot the puck!  Definitely a memorable night for her.

Olivia is still as crazy as ever…..sweet, but crazy.  She is up to probably 50 words now.  One not-so-funny thing that happened this month involved sushi/guacamole.  As I've mentioned before, Olivia LOVES sushi and guacamole.  One night, we had gotten her some sushi from Kroger.  For those of you who've gotten sushi like that before, you know that they include a little dollop of wasabi on the tray.  Well….before we knew it, Olivia had eaten the whole scoop of wasabi.  Her face turned bright red, and she started spitting the wasabi out as fast as she could saying, "HOT!  HOT!  HOT!"  She clearly thought that the wasabi was guacamole.  She loves hot, but I can tell you that she will never make that mistake again!

The last week of the month was equally as crazy as the first week of the month.  A very close friend and her daughters came to visit us for their Spring Break.  It was also the week of my dance performance at Vanderbilt.  They arrived on Tuesday afternoon.  I had a rehearsal that night, dress rehearsal on Wednesday night, and the performance on Thursday night.  Yikes!  I felt terrible that I wasn't able to spend more time with them throughout the week, but they were flexible and didn't seem to mind.  On Friday, I took the day off, and the girl's school was closed, to we spent the day doing fun activities:  Pfunky Griddle, Adventure Science Center (with everyone else in Nashville), movie “Home”, pizza, dyeing eggs, and decorating cookies.  We had so much fun, but the Mamas were tired!  The next day, we attended the Easter Egg Hunt at church, ate lunch at Chick-Fil-A, and our friends were on the road back to the DC area.  Here are a few snapshots from our fun!

This was Olivia's first Easter.  We enjoyed several activities – Easter Bunny, real bunnies at Phillip’s Toy Mart, and Easter Lunch with family.

This time last year, we were feverishly packing and getting ready to meet Olivia.  It seems like only yesterday, but in some ways, it feels like Olivia has been with us forever.

Thanks, as always, for your support!
Jill