Celebrating Olivia's 13th Adoption Day

Today is the 13th anniversary of Olivia's adoption day.

We started the day by going to see The Christmas Carol at the Guthrie Theater. To get to the theater, you take a steep elevator to the fourth floor.

Once you get there, you can walk to an area that leads to an overlook of the Mississippi River and the Stone Arch Bridge.

It was a beautiful day - warm enough that we didn't have to wear jackets.

For dinner, we had food from the Chinese restaurant.

It was nice to eat at home in a more relaxing and quiet setting.

After dinner, Olivia opened presents.

There is one for each year that she has been a part of our family. All were surprises this year with the exception of the hat that she picked out at Gammelgarden Museum. It's a warm fleece hat with a pretty trim that is perfect for cold, winter days.

Olivia loves doing puzzles and there was one that we found that has different breeds of dogs. It's only a 1,000 piece puzzle (she's currently at 3,000 piece puzzles), but it's sometimes fun to have an easier puzzle to do when the picture is something that you enjoy looking at while you're working on putting the pieces together.

There's a quote on Pinterest that I saw that I liked. I've adapted it to fit Olivia and Sophia:

We have made two people sisters.

Two people will share a childhood because of us.

We have given two people a gift that no one else could: each other.

Sophia and Olivia at the Japanese garden in

San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.

October 2016.