Such a show off!

It was so cute tonight, Leeza comes in the kitchen, donned in her yellow rain boots and her Kazakh hat, in her angel dress she wore to church this morning. She grabbed my hand, pulled out a lil chair, and said "You have to watch my show", and I grabbed my camera, and, this is what we got. :) I love how she says "Kazadon" instead of "Kazakhstan". :)



She cracks me up!!
After the show, she was hungry so she had some corn pops for dinner-because I am ONE AMAZING MOM. Plus, she did not want the HOMEMADE turkey soup I made from the turkey carcass and I cooked my @$$ off Thanksgiving so don't think she's ALWAYS eating just cereal...but actually she loves cereal so she does it it a lot lately. :)

As she was chowing down, I was just overcome with her spunk and her beauty. She is a lil pistol for sure...but she was pretty sweet today. I taught her lil Sunday school class and when I told her I was going to be her teacher she said "But I LIKE MY OTHER TEACHER"...um, thanks sweetie. At first, she tried to bolt out of the classroom twice and meanly grabbed some playdough out of another lil girls hand. The other teacher looked "shocked" and told me Leeza never acts like that. We went to the bathroom and had a lil "Come to Jesus" meeting and I told her if she can't be nice she will go home and stay in her room ALL DAY. Miracously, she was an angel the rest of the class and the day, really. :)

Happy National Adoption Day

Saturday, November 20th was National Adoption Day. As a spur of the moment decision, I took Sean and Leeza to Busch Gardens. We have our annual passes and free parking, so it was an inexpensive fun day to enjoy the day. Joe went into the office, and visted with his Dad, as he is not a big theme park kinda guy. Here is my faceboook post for the day. :)

Happy Adoption Day-what a wonderful blessing
So much joy goes into the lil girl I love dressing

I love that adoption has changed our all lives
We've met so many great Kaz kids, and husbands,and wives
...
I found my new passion-and met so many AMAZING friends I adore
It's opened my eyes making it impossible to live like before

EVERY child deserves to be loved and cherished and adored
And I am honored to serve on the 2 Hearts for Hope Board

Determined to make a difference somehow
There's so many ways you can help...ASK ME HOW!

God bless you Leeza-you were born in my heart
You're a true gift from God-a masterpiece work of art

We had a perfect day. The weather was AWESOME, it wasn't hot, and the kids were amazing together. Leeza was sweet, and rode the Grover Roller Coaster 4 times and was very brave riding all the rides that she could ALL BY HERSELF. :)
The Christmas decorations were out and the Christmas music was piped thru. It was a really fun day. :)

Don we now our Thanksgiving apparel....

Believe it or not...I only bought Leeza one outfit this year for Thanksgiving-two of the ones she had from last year. Oh wait, I just remembered another one that she will wear next week that's new (but the skirt is multipurpose), and we have a turkey shirt from last year too that I didn't get a picture yet this year.

I LOVE dressing her up for the holidays. Halloween-Thanksgiving-Christmas-Valentines

DON WE NOW ARE GAY APPAREL...falalala la, la LA LA LA

Oh, and I borrowed my dear friend Laura's glue gun and added extra ribbon to her bow holders cuz I didn't have enough room to hang the bows. I have been working on this bow collection for 2 years...and really only added the big flowers this year, plus a few that I bought as a fundraiser for 2 Hearts for Hope that Ann made, so those don't count cuz they were for our charity. :) I am embarrassed a bit...

Leeza's Thanksgiving Performance at Preschool

Oh, I was really proud of Leeza this year. Last year, she refused to stand up with her friends and sing and instead ran and sat in my lap. I wasn't sure how'd she do this year cuz she's so moody-one never knows. She's a mystery! She walked down the aisle holding her best friend-Alana's-hand and they were so cute!




She started off so well...I was so proud and overcome with emotion and was wiping tears away. What an EMO! She sang, she did the motions, she was super adorable. Then..she saw me and waved HI MOMMY! then, REALLY LOUD...HI MOMMY, I LOVE YOU!! It was awfully sweet, but then she RAN from the kids and sat beside me in the pew and told me "I'm going to sit with you now". I told her no, she had to go sing with her friends and if she did, she could have chocolate. She looked at me and said 'Do you have chocolate WITH YOU?" I told her YES, and she said "is it in your purse, and what kind of chocolate" JEEZ LEEZA-JUST GO SING!

So, back to sing she went but then she came back a song later and asked "Can I have cookies instead?" :)



and here is the ONLY CHILD WHO RAN OFF THE STAGE AREA. Yeah, that's my kid.


At the Thanksgiving feast afterwards, she played with her food, stabbed the lady next to her with her fork, and tore up her paper placemat, so she didn't get to have any dessert. Yea, lucky me. I must get told at least 3 times a day "she's a handful". yes, she is. BUT I LOVE HER ANYWAY!!

Lil Miss Attitude!

I love my daughter to pieces, I truly do, but man oh man, since turning 3, I have a real headstrong, high energy, doesn't take no for an answer lil diva on my hands!! She is a PIECE OF WORK! She has mad endurance and I am thinking she is going to be one heck of a future triathlete. I do work hard to keep her busy and active but nothing seems to be enough. She will sit down and focus though and read books, so I am not worried about ADHD , but she is just a high energy lil girl and she is HEADSTRONG!

I start to feel validated when people we meet always comment "wow, she is sure is busy" and "Man, she is a lot of energy" and "She has some attitude". Yes, i know she does, I know, i know, i know.

I adore this lil dress I had made for her. I wanted a Christmas dress that showed the real "reason for the season" and one of my favorite ladies (that I met on ebay last year of all places) made this and I am so thrilled with the way it turned it. It's so perfect for any time of year, and so she wore it to Sunday school yesterday. She may have attitude, but hey-she's cute , right? :)
God help me raise this child to her potential without breaking her spirit! I admire her tenacity and her will, but it's very hard sometimes to be her mommy!! She wants what she wants when she wants it and is VOCAL AND DEMANDING! I am now reallly really realizing how easy I had it (and have it) with laid back Seanie. :)

I took her to church last night too because Sean's youth group had a parent meeting. I took her to get dinner (provided at church)at set her plate down and she told me "Ok, mommy, you go now. I will be fine, I will eat my dinner and play with these girls. Give me a kiss and you go". Well, ok then missy!! :)

Trick or Treat 2010

I love Halloween! It's so much fun, and our neighborhood is a blast. Everyone sits outside in their driveway and it's such a fun atmosphere. Once again, like last year, Leeza walked over 2 miles. She and I went as "pink M&M's" and Sean was Paulie D from "Jersey Shore" with this Jersey shore wig and his "Gym, Tan, Laundry" shirt. :) Jillian came over, and was a scary witch, and Joe put on his "slasher wig" to pass out candy. Fun was had by all. Leeza was all about the candy, but if it wasn't chocolate, she'd give it back. Sigh...she needs some manners. I am working on her manners but she is defintely a strong willed girl with some MAJOR ATTITUDE! I am finding I have to really change my parenting style with her.








At once house, a man answered the door with a scary mask on. Leeza points her finger, steps in their front door, and tells him 'HEY! YOU ARE SCARY!" He takes his mask off and apologizes, and she proceeds to "drill him" for 5 minutes, asking him if he was a pirate, and if so, where was his sword, then berating him for the scary skeleton hanging in his entry way and demanding to know "why the skeleteon didn't have feet". They were highly amused with the bossy Pink M&M and told me that they were pretty sure they just met the next President of the United States".

Leeza defintely doesn't know a stranger-and loves to play with kids. She walks up to kids at the park, introduces herself, and asks them to play. She loves to play with Sean and his friends, and last night, at Sean's fall festival, she was inventing games and getting kids to play with her. I have to say-as difficult as she can be-I admire her tenacity. She is the most confident child and does not have any problem with getting what she wants. I admit, it can be maddening (and very very embarassing) as her mother, but man oh man, I can only imagine she will be a force to reckoned with. If she is like at 3, what about as she gets older? YIKES!

Here are some pictures from the night. We had a blast, and Leeza has asked everynight "why it's not still Halloween, because, it's dark outside". :)



Spencer and Craig, two of Sean's buddies, were M&M's too...but I still think Leeza and I were cuter. :) My Halloween started off early..my BFF Jill and I ran a half marathon that morning-both dressed as pink M&M's. It was fun and a great way to start the candy fest with a lil 13 mile run. :)



Joe's rockin the "Slash wig"


Paulie D has an attitude!!!


The boys did a cute job with our decorations I thought. Leeza liked them. :)