A Birthday

Leah turned 3 yesterday!  It's hard to believe that she is three already.  She has grown so much and it feels like she became a "real person" faster than Noah.  Now Noah just seems so grown up.  But Leah is spunky and brave and shy and crazy and if she were a boy, I'd say she was all boy.  She also loves wearing her princess dresses and shoes.  She has a new love for girl movies now that she has the option of not watching all of her brother's favorites.  The princess ones are growing on him a bit too.

She loves doing school with Noah.  She has picked up so many things just from him.  Her own little personality comes out though when she gets so excited to see people, but then hides behind us like she's afraid.  Wait, weren't you excited to see them?  She loves going out anytime we go out.  She would much rather be out and about than hanging out at home.  She has a newfound fear of the dark, which makes bedtime a little tough, but she's doing pretty good with it.

She's such a blessing and so much fun to be around (minus the times with attitude).  We can't imagine what life would be like without her.  Noah calls her his best friend and tells her when he thinks she's beautiful.  We pray that they will always be close and love each other well the rest of their lives.

Here's a bit of what happened yesterday for her special day....
She woke up and snuggled in bed with mama for a bit before her brother came in and told her happy birthday.  It was literally the first thing he said to her.  He was almost as excited as she was.
She requested a Pop Tart for breakfast (how on earth she new we had a small stash from a visa trip, I do not know).  Then we talked to Grandma and Grandpa Grover on Skype and she got to open presents from them.  Lots of Hello Kitty stuff and she loved it!
Then we were ready to meet up with the team to go to the zoo.  While we were waiting, she had a pretty rough accident.  She was swinging on her belly on the swing and kissed the concrete.  Ouch.  So our trip got delayed 10 or so minute while we cleaned up the blood and calmed her down.
It was a little rough going after that.  She wanted to be carried and was a little whiny, but overall she did great.  She had a puffy nosy and upper lip, but she enjoyed the time at the zoo.  The part with the fish and snakes was open, so we were able to see that stuff for the first time.  But we got there too late to be able to go to the dolphin show.  The zoo has 2 fresh water dolphins and they put on a little show a couple of times a day.  She wasn't too upset about it though.  We've seen it before and it's nothing to get worked up about!
Then we all headed to Burger King for lunch.  I think just about every Burger King and McDonalds in this country has a play place, so the kids love going there.  She didn't enjoy the playing so much since her face hurt, but she played a bit.
Then a nice long nap after a loooong morning.  We just had mac & cheese (this is how you know we love our daughter, when we give her our rationed supply that can only be found on visa trips or when people bring it!) and some veggies.  She loved it of course.  Then the team came back over for some cake and we just hung out and played Uno and talked.
For her nighttime snack, she got to talk to Grandma Shadle for a bit, but the internet wasn't working well so it wasn't a very long conversation.
Overall it was a good day.  For sure, it was a little rougher than planed, but she enjoyed it.  Now come the challenges of nighttime potty training and convincing her to stop sucking her thumb.  In due time, I guess.

Our camera is dying (probably from sand getting in it), but here are a few pictures we've been able to take:

This is Leah (in Venezuela) for her first birthday.

This is Leah's pirate face.  This has nothing to do with her birthday but more of her personality.  Arg!

She helped make her birthday cake.

I'm not so sure about this candle thingy.

After a few tries (and moving the candle closer), she was able to blow it out.  She's so proud of herself.

Here you can see the day-after effects of kissing the concrete.  Her nose is still puffy and bruising a bit.  She has to give extra gentle kisses, but still gives them nonetheless!

She loves the new shirt and the new tattoos!  Thank you Grandma!