Catching up-random things=

 Aunt Debbie and cousin Niki sent the girls aboout 20 rubber duckies.  All of which ended up in the bathtub with the toys that we already in there.  There is just a little room left in the tub for the girls to get in- the rest is toys.

 I had planned on getting the girls twin beds for Christmas, but they are still a little young for them-plus I would like to put them in bunk beds if they are going to share a room.  I think they would do better in separate rooms as Leea needs more sleep, but so far they can't be separated.  So when I saw these Dora beds, I decided that would be a good next step!  So much for saving them for Christmas though!  There goes my good idea for Christmas.  Now I need to come up with a different one.
The girls climbed into bed while I was still trying to arrange the room and set the beds up.  I have not taken away their cribs yet until they spend some time in their big girl beds and can sleep ok.

 With 5 or 6 blankets and about the same amount of stuffed animals, the little beds are rather crowded, but they are very close to the floor which is good.  Leeza has already fallen out twice.  They are used to jumping on their beds and having the bars keep them in the bed. 

 The girls are still growing although not quite as quickly as they were.

This is one year of growth.  Leeza grew over 6 inches in one year- pretty amazing.

Swimming =Lesson 3

Sasha didn't swim again until the very end of class where it is free swim.  She got to swim for about 5 minutes in the shallow end, but that made her happy.  Leeza did really good again.  She tries really ahrd and has the movements down, but she is all bones and muscles and not body fat so she doesn't float very well.  She can swim the length of the pool with a float though and can jump in the water and get back out by herself.  My goal was just so if they got in over their heads, they could get out ok.  I think Leeza can do that now.  Since Leeza will know how to swim a little, I can teach Sasha myself.  I can teach one kid, but not two at the same time.

Swimming

The girls have loved to swim whenever we have gone to a water park.  They do not know how to swim however and tend to get into areas with the water over their head.  So I decided we needed swim lessons.  Today was the second lesson.  Leeza has done great.  Today she not only floated, but actually swam(with the instructor supporting her) the length of the pool.  Sasha however has not wanted to go anywhere near the water.  I guess if mama isn't in the water it is too scary.  So today she sat with me during her lesson and spent only the last 5 minutes(play time) in the water.  We have 4 more lessons.  Hopefully Sasha will get in the water before the class is completed! 

Boo at the Zoo

 We went to the Boo at the Zoo tonight to celebrate our Homecoming Day.  The girls got to test out their Halloween costumes,  Since, it was about 75 out, they were a little hot.   Both girls are dressed as monkeys.

 The girls had a great time.  They got to collect candy(which mom had to carry of course)

 They didn't mind the ghosts at all, but didn't like the witches.  Probably because Dora has witches in it

 IT gets dark around 6:30 so it was dark before we left.  Sahsa was really worried about not being home before dark(we always are)

 We went to take the train ride.  Between 5:30 and 6;30, it is non scary.  We had it timed so that we got in line to catch the last train before 6:30.  Just as the train was arriving, Leeza announces that she has to go pee.  THey have potties at the front and the back of the zoo- the train station is in the middle!!  So off we went to the potty.  WE got back in line for the train, but now it was the scary train ride-people jump out of the bushes at the train and they had scary scenes being acted out-nothing extreme unless you are 3.  Leeza started the ride all happy.  I put my arm around her, but she was a big girl and wanted to sit by herself.  Sasha sat in my lap.  The train started off into the dark(the zoo is not open at night so it has very few lights).  after the first person jumped out of the bushes, Leeza and Sasha were in my lap.

 Even though the train ride was scary, everyone had a good time.  There was a tunnel part way through that they had made scary and the girls talked about that all the way home.

 We ended the night by riding the carousel.  Leeza got to ride the big birdy.

Sasha rode the elephant.  It was 8pm by the time we got home so no bath tonight(at Sasha's suggestion) and they were asleep before I could turn the monitor on.  It was a fun day.

Happy Homecoming Day!

One year ago today, 2 little girls traveled half way around the world to find their home.  So much has happened in the year since this photo was taken.  The girls have grown so much and learned so much.  I can't wait to see how much they change next year.

Happy Birthday Sasha!

Happy Birthday to my little girl. Not so little anymore as Sasha turned 3 on the 16th! She has grown so much and is doing so well.  We are in the midst of a Dora the Explorer phase.  They got their PJs a few days early. 

 Saturday started out with the girls getting up to a decorated house.  Lots of balloons and lots of Dora!  We opened presents from Mama before breakfast.  I have learned to spread the presents out as they get overwhelmed quickly. 

 They can now open presents with a lot of skill.  Here is yet another Dora DVD.

 I carefully labeled the presents for Leeza and Sasha with large Ls and Ss so they would know which was theirs.  They of course immediately opened each others presents, but no one seemed to care.  Everyone did know it was Sasha's birthday this time and understood what a birthday was.  Sasha was very happy adn told everyone she met that it was her birthday and she was 3.   Leeza was OK with it being Sasha's day-probably because she got gifts for her 3 1/2 birthday too.

 I captured the clothed doll.  Sasha toook all her clothes off and ignored the extra cloithes I bought her and carried the doll around naked.  She also has undone one braid so the hair is pretty wild right now.

 Birthday breakfast was served on Dora plates. 

 The cake was really neat.  It had Dora driving down a hill and Diego driving over a bridge.  Sasha did really good blowing out the candles.

 Sasha likes cake and ice cream.  Yum

Leeza had more fun playing with the cars.  She liked the ice cream, but doesn't care much for icing or the cake. 

After breakfast, we went to the bank and opened the girls their first savings accounts.  Then we took Frosty off to the doggy hotel to spend the weekend.  We opened more presents from Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Debbie and cousin Niki later.  We opened up presents from Kelsey on Monday.

Sunday morning we took off to Utica to spend the day at the Grizzly Jacks Grand Bear Lodge.  We stopped at a McDonalds half way there and played on the playground for a while.  WHen we got to the lodge, we went over to the amusement park.  The train was broke down so we rode a bus which made Sasha happy.  Sasha went on 5 rides this time as she was now tall enough to go on other rides.  Leeza went on the carousel, but didn't want to do any other rides.  The last ride for sasha was a kiddie rollercoaster.  She wanted to go on it and got in the car and got strapped in and was all smiles.  The ride started very fast and the smile went away.  It made 2 laps of the track and by the end of the second lap, she was starting to look like she was going to cry, but the ride ended and she got off and was fine.  Her first rollercoaster ride!  My little girls is growing up so fast.

 Our room had a nice view of the woods and the outside of the wter park.  The girls liked to run  out on the balcony in their panties.  Leeza is wearing her watch from Grandma and Grandpa.  She didn't take it off for about 3 days.

 In the very back of this photo, you can see the top of the playground.  We went there, but it was wet from rain so we didn't stay long.

 This is the stop for the pet taxi to the pet kennel!   I thought the sign was cute.

 The resort was decorated for Halloween.  They liked the little pumpkinhead boy.

 I tried to get them to stand in front of the witch for a picture, but no go.  they were not going to go too close to her.

 At night in the lobby, they have a mechanical bear that comes to life and tells a story.  The girls thought that was the greatest thing and talked about the bear for days.

 This is the entrance to the playground area.  It was cold and wet this morning.

 The walkway back to the hotel.  After the amusement park, we went swimming.  They played on the slides for a long time, then the wave pool was turned on.  The waves were really big and would just crest over Leeza's head and she would go under for a while and come up smiling.  They both love the water.  Monday we drive back home.  We stopped half way at the McDonalds on the way back and they did really good on the playground.  They are still a little small for the Playlands, but both made it all the way to the top.  Sasha went up the climb and down the slides. She was very proud that she could go all the way up on her own. 

Finally, the energizer bunny wore down.  After 2 days of no naps, waterparks, playgorunds presents etc, Sasha was sitting at the dinner table Monday slowly falling asleep.  I thinkshe had a good birthday weekend.

Varoom

The girls got part of their birthday present a little early.  I've had these for a while, but wanted to wait until they could steer at least a little.  They had a really good time driving them around the back yard.  The garden, bushes and fence did not have such a great time, but nothing amjor was destroyed. 
Leeza did really good.  It only took her a little while before she understood that she could put it in reverse when she was stuck.  So it was forward then back then forward then back.  She figured out how to turn, but didn't get the concept of returing the wheel to the straight ahead position after the turn was complete so she sort of drove in an arc.  Overall though., she did really good for her first time.  She is really good at figuring out things like this and how to do things,  The trucks are really hard to turn the steering wheel when they are stopped so the steering is pretty tough anyway.  Sasha was content to drive until she ran into something and then call for mama to come and turn her around and then hit the next thing... repeat...  She did get it in reverse a couple of times, but she would rather wait for mama to fix it.
I took some video of the first few minutes of them driving then I was running after them the rest of the time.  I forgot to get any photos of them riding so I took some later of just the trucks.