LIFE with LEXIE

Can you find MY cherry blossom among all the flowers? She's wearing her favorite pink camo shirt so it might be hard to spot her.


Lexie and I are fortunate enough to have a cherry tree in our back yard and spring is my favorite time of year partly because of how beautiful this tree is when it blooms. And boy is it blooming right now.


As you can see she got brave enough to just hold on with one hand and blow her pinwheel. She's quit the daredevil these days and she has the scabs & bruises to prove it.


Here she is in profile. She rarely sits still long enough for me to actually plan a shot. Usually I'm just glad she isn't a blur. I guess her sitting in a tree she can't climb down has an advantage.


I love this one too where she's trying to figure out how she can pick a flower without letting go of the branch. She's starting to wonder what she's doing up there.


And by this shot she's decided she wants down. I think sitting still for 3 minutes is her max in the last few months.

Now this is more like it. She very proudly is riding her trike! A few spills and false starts and she was off. It is definitely the toy of the week. Of course the fact that is pink is a plus in her mind. Did I mention she likes pink!!!!!!

It was set up so that the 40+ families could get to know each other for the first hour while enjoying goodies and the playground at the community center. It was great to exchange stories with a few parents about our experiences in Kaz and the children's adjustments once they where home. It was nice not being an oddity when someone asks me about my child. Normally it's someone subtly (or not so subtly) trying to figure out what nationality Lexie is, when I'm asked where she's from. But with this group of families they where just wondering what region she was born and if it was where their child was from. And exchanging baby house and agency information was also great. My only complaint was that the social part was way too short. I really didn't get a chance to meet nearly enough families.

But Lexie jumped right in, big surprise, and met "Big Girl Jane" right away. Soon Lexie was following her around everywhere. Here she is during the group picture with her new best friend Jane (who is 4 1/2) in the blue dress to Lexie's left (picture right) and Meeka (I think was her name) the adorable girl with curly hair pulled up in a ponytail to Lexie's right who just turned 4. Aren't they cute!!! Unfortunately my camera hog daughter decided to be shy and nervous and didn't want to do the group photo. Here she is feeling insecure.

And here she is seconds before they took the group photo running OUT of the picture. So she won't be in the picture they have on their site about the gathering. But as you can see we were there. She just found that one shy moment she has been blessed with and decided to express that.



After the pictures they started the presentation about what their organization does for the orphans of the world. It's simply wonderful and rather pennant. For the full explanation (and if anyone would like to donate to this amazing cause) their website address is http://www.spoonfoundation.org/. In a nutshell their mission is "to improve the health of international orphans and adoptees by providing them with the nutrients they need to grow and thrive." They are working with a number of renowned International Adoption physicians including Dr. Julian Davies from the IA Clinic at the University of Washington where I take Lexie. He was the key speaker for the day and a wealth of information on both the need for these children to receive vitamins to help supplement what they receive at the baby houses as well as the need for adoptees to receive proper nutrition once they come home to the states. Plus the Kazakh moms who were so moved by what they saw while adopting their children in Kazakhstan that they started this foundation where there to explain more about their plans for the growth of the organization and their dreams for the improved health of all children who unfortunately have been sentenced to a childhood growing up in an institution no matter how well meaning the caregivers at the baby & children houses are. So take a minute to go to their site and maybe donate a little something to a cause that is as basic as better nutrients for orphan children.


Okay I'm off my soap box (for now) and on to say that after the presentation we had a chance to enjoy a little more fun on the playground before heading home. Lexie LOVED the old fashions merry-go-round.



The older Kazakh kids on the playground that were also enjoying some last minute playtime before their long ride homes, were very sweet with Lexie and didn't go TOO fast. And it was too fast for Mommy but not for Lexie!Of course we couldn't leave the playground without taking a ride on the swings. And she really liked the big yellow swing.

Sunday morning Lexie decides this is the proper attire for breakfast. Then it's time to get dressed for church and for Lexie that means a dress. She settles on this one even though the green is what she always asks for these day. Once we go outside to get in the car when she sees the sunshine, well I think the pictures speak for themselves.

As you can see she loved dressing up to go to church. Any dress now is a princess dress and I have to say she wears them well! Before that was waking up to the Easter basket full of candy. She quickly discovered it was there for the taking and take she did! Since the only candy in this house is a reward for potty training purposes, I think she was a little concerned that she'd have to do something for these treats.



When I didn't say no she grabbed and ran. Very smart girl! Then when we started the egg hunt (inside since it rained all day) and she discovered there was candy in the eggs well she couldn'd pick them up fast enough and then open them up to grab the candy and shove it in her mouth. What was the Easter Bunny thinking?!?





By this time it's a free for all and Lexie has definitely become Easter's biggest fan. She was dancing and singing and hopping like a bunny all over the living room as she found one egg of sugar high after another. Mommy did finally start saying no and opening the eggs to remove some of the candy treasures. But she really didn't care. The hunt was as much fun as the candy at this point!





I think her favorite hiding place of all was her princess umbrella. The Easter Bunny just knew she couldn't go too long without dancing around with it anyways so of course he hide one in there. She thought that was a hoot and couldn't stop laughing. Silly bunny!!





Then it was time to get ready for church. She did manage to sneak one more piece of candy before I could get her out the door. I was surprised that she was so good in church again with all that candy but maybe she had a drop in her blood sugar level. Either way Mommy got to pray and so did the people around us.



Once we got home she asked me if I could hide the eggs (as you can see here) but I knew it was way past nap time so I agreed to hide them while she was sleeping. You know she was tired since she was fine with that arrangement. Even after hiding them three more times it was a lovely day. Luckily when she woke up on Monday she didn't think to ask me where all the candy was since the Easter Bunny clearly came back that night and took it all away. That Easter Bunny is smarter than I thought.

The day before Easter was a busy day for Lexie and Mommy. We started out with the community Easter Egg Hunt that Lexie and I had helped stuff the eggs for a couple of weeks ago. I don't think she connected the two events though. She insisted on bringing her little basket and since the kids are only supposed to "find" six eggs that worked for me. They divide the hunt up by age and she was still with the youngest group of 3 and under. So we met up with Eric & his mom. Eric is the 18 month old of a friend from work Dana & his wife Nydia. Lexie decided that she was definitely in charge.


Poor guy. He didn't stand a chance. But I have to tell you once we were lined up ready to go and they sounded the horn, all bets where off. Eric took off on his own and Lexie really didn't get what the rush was all about. But once she was in the middle of things she figured it out. Of course the "finding" all 2000 eggs in this 20 by 30 foot area for the 100+ kids in this group took under a minute. Talk about a mob!



Her favorite find was a piece of candy without the egg. I think that was when she realized that she wasn't just looking for colorful eggs but that there was candy inside! And after eating the spoils of the hunt it was off to meet the big man himself - the Easter bunny.



I was surprised that she went right up to it and more surprised when she hug him. When we were walking away she said "Mommy, bunny was a lady." I guess the huge mess holes cut out for eyes didn't fool my almost 3 year old. Not to mention the fact that the head was not connected to the body. I just hope she doesn't have nightmares because of it.

So I have to put this in here to show how much she's grown since last year. I can't believe what a difference a year makes!!!!

After a trip home for a much needed nap we returned for the hugely anticipated train ride. On one of our after daycare jaunts we went for a walk around the train tracks but they were all "sleeping" so she was really excited to finally get to ride it (I guess she doesn't remember last years ride.)

Did I mention this is a miniature train? Or are they just called little?!I'm not sure but I do know they are Live Steamers running on 7 1/2 inch gauge track with over 5000 of it laid in the woods of the park where 1 1/2 to 3 3/4 inch scale trains run. Okay I took that right off the pamphlets they give out. The trains are owned and operated by this wonderful local club which runs them starting on Easter weekend through the fall for 2 Saturdays a month and they are just great. They take it all very seriously but have fun at the same time. We were told not to take pictures while we ride because you might lean out and fall off but of course I couldn't help myself.



She really had a ball and we where Choo-Chooing to warn the animals in the forest. On the second run she decided to look for the Easter Bunny (not the lady) and maybe some hidden eggs through her Mickey Minoculars.


She was all up for a third time around but it was getting cold and there were eggs to be colored at home. She did managed to get a pink train whistle/bubble maker out of me. I can't tell you how sorry I am for saying yes. Me and the dogs and probably the neighbors too.

Last thing on the to do list for the day was of course coloring the eggs. As soon as she saw me get the craft smock out she knew this was going to be messy so she could hardly wait.




The stickers where a big hit but seeing the eggs come out of the colors was I think a big surprise. Just simply old fashioned fun. Too bad she hated the taste of them and I couldn't agree more. I'll have to bring them to the office on Monday to see if there is anyone that didn't end up with an extra dozen or two of hard boiled eggs. Here she is with her finished products and that darn train whistle. Hopefully the Easter Bunny will bring her something new to distract her tomorrow.

Happy Easter!!!