Busy Busy Busy!!!

Wow, Leeza has been a very busy 2 1/2 year old. We have been constantly on the go, so much so that I haven't updated her blog in almost a month! HORROR!! I feel bad because I do this blog for her, and for me, to help us remember her fun filled adventures! I even missed April 5th, her 31 month update! So, this will be a big post. :)

Oh sweet Leeza Grace, at 31 months, you are just a happy, energetic, free spirited, sweet, loving lil girl. This morning, you saw a picture of Sean on the kitchen table and told me "Mommy, look that's Seanie! I looooove Seanie, he's my brutha!" The other day you ran into my room yelling..."Mommy..you...are......AWESOME!!!" You make me smile. :) You are very generous with hugs, kisses, and I love you's lately...and I love hearing how awesome I am too. :) You are becoming fiercly independent, and with that, comes an increase of frustration when either you can't do it, or, we're in a hurry and I don't have time to let you. :) I am really trying to JUST WALK AWAY when you have these mini drama meltdowns, as I know it's just your job. Often, I just take you to your room and let you cry it out there. Sometimes it's long and ugly, most often, its' short and sweet and you come tell me "sorry mommy" with hugs and kisses. Friday night, at Sean's football game, you were climbing on the playground before the game started. I told you "wow, good climbing Leeza! You told me "yeah, Eeza ROCKS!" yes,you do, Eeza, yes YOU DO!

You are a real night owl and it's really hard getting you to sleep at night. SO....We eliminated any planned nap times. There are days you fall asleep in the car, or watching Sesame street, but we no longer plan naps. We are also rarely home, as the weather is perfect right now, so we are always playing outside. We are lucky to live so close to the beach, and to a vast array of parks and playgrouds. You have turned into my social butterfly, and you LOVE other children. If there is a kid at the park, or in the Chick Fil A play area, you will play happily for hours. If no kids are there, you aren't as happy. :) I love seeing you running and playing with other kids, and how you think you can keep up with boys who are much much older. Last week, you were following these two boys around who were probably 7 or 8. They said 'EWWWW A LIL GIRL IS FOLLOWING US! SHE HAS COOTIES". I was cracking up. :)

Ok, enough about you and chasing boys...here is what we've been up to, besides our daily trips to the playground, beach, park, library, and Chick Fil A. :)


A lot has happened since March 22nd in Leeza's life! We had our spring break, the obgligatory Easter bunny pics, Easter, we got sLeeza's preschool pictures back, our first trip to the beach this year, and a fun day out with Thomas! :)

First of all...we had a GREAT family vacation for spring break March 26th-April 2nd in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Leeza got to see snow for the first time (well, that she remembers..don't think she recalls her snowy days in Kostanai) and she got to go tubing and snowmobiling. She had a blast..the faster, the better.:) We did not sign her up to ski as the group lessons for her age don't start until 3 1/2, and I am not a strong enough skiier to take her and worry about myself. She did go to "daycare" for 2 days, and had a total blast. The "teachers" there described her as "chatty", happy, and curious. She also had a reputation from our shuttle drivers as "the girl with the cool jeans". :)

She had so much fun walking in the snow, and just hanging with Joey, Jillian, and Sean. I just love seeing life thru her eyes. Everything is so exciting. :) I will say, however, that she was a bit of nightmare on 3 hour flight to Denver. She was not keen on sitting still, refused to sleep, and kept trying to kick the seat and pull on the seat in front of her. UGH! I brought tons for her to do, and tons of snacks, but my bag of tricks was NOT WORKING! Thankfully, she did tons better on the flight home.:)

We even got to see some other cuties from Kazakhstan while we were there! Alina and Sabina, ages 5 and 3 1/2, and their brothers Brian and Scott, were in Steamboat with the parents, Kristin and Cary. They live in Tampa, and we saw them almost a year ago when the girls first came home. :) Leeza had a blast playing with them, while Sean got to sled down a giant hill in their backyard! SO FUN!







Leeza LOVED tubing and had a blast snowmobiling. She is so brave. The girl knows no fear. I hope this continues as she gets older.:) She seems fairly athletic so I hope she likes sports, as I can tell she is a girl who needs to be kept busy busy busy! She also LOVED riding "on the bus"...the shuttle that took us everywhere. :)













When we got back, it was Easter weekend! Leeza had a blast on Easter!! She LOVED seeing what the Easter bunny brought.:) Leeza is so funny..if the eggs don't have money, or chocolate, she is NOT interested. :)

Saturday morning, we had to go get our obligatory Easter bunny pics. I found this darling dress for 8 bucks at a consignment shop and Leeza just looked like a princess in it! :) We went to the mall, then we had to to go Sam's, and they had an Easter bunny too. It was a really scary pink buck tooth bunny..but he got a big smile from Leeza! The cute mall bunny didn't get a smile. :)







Easter morning!!













We got Leeza's spring pictures taken for school on March 18th. They turned out so cute! It was amazing to see how much she's changed in 6 months since her school pictures in September! She looks so much more grown up..plus she has some hair now! :) Even though I take her picture everyday (yes, overkill, I know!), I love having her school pictures too, and kinda cool cuz they captured her at 2, then again at 2 1/2.





Compared to September 27th, last year, just turned 2 on Sept 5th. :)





Spring/summer weather was here in full force when we got home from Colorado. Leeza and Ryan had a blast at their first trip back to the beach on April 7th. We had a big moment too. Leeza was running in the water and the sand dropped off and Leeza could no longer touch and went face first into the water. I was right there, but waited a moment to see what she would do. MY GIRL STARTED SWIMMING! She swam to where she could touch again. I was so proud of her. She was freaked, but she did it. Swimming lessons paid off in spades. I am so ready for our pool to get warm so we can start swimming lessons again. Leeza is so much more verbal, and so much stronger than last summer, I look forward to seeing her progress!







This weekend, I took Leeza to "Day out with Thomas" in Parrish,Florida. It's so weird to me, I took Sean to 'Day out with Thomas" 10 years ago, when he was 2.He just turned 12, and now I am taking Leeza. We met Ryan and Karen and Mike, and OH MY GOSH, it was such a blast. We totally lucked out with the weather, as it was overcast and a nice breeze. There was so much fun stuff to do. Leeza had a blast. Leeza and I wore matching dresses. :) We got lots of compliments..but the ultimate, was that we got to score a ride RIGHT BEHIND THOMAS even though we were one of the last in line. As we were boarding, they pulled us aside and told us to go under the tape. :) I feel sure it was our matching Thomas colored dresses. They thought we were really useful engines too! :)