life according to the diaz's: It's been awhile...again

I promise I try to make time to write about family life, but boy, does it get busy! Time is flying and I'm not always sure where it's going. The everyday routine of waking up, school, dinner, a little time to play with baby girl, baths, and bedtime come all too fast with each passing day. There are days that I long back to maternity leave when I was blogging about Elena's every move with each passing week. I find myself wishing I had the time again to write down all that's happening, but the reality is that time moves on. There are just not enough hours in a day to get everything in! But, life is good and Elena is growing up beautifully before our very eyes. This little blessing of ours will be 3 in just a few short weeks. Just thinking about this almost makes me tear up! Where has our baby gone? Just today, Elena told me that she's not a baby anymore...she's a big girl. Honestly, music to my ears, but at the same time, a dagger to the heart. I find myself missing that baby...Thank God she still loves to snuggle and for me to feed her every once in awhile. Elena is getting so independent, though, and watching her grow into an independent toddler is amazing. She continues to practice "reading" books, saying all her letters and numbers almost up to 20, matching colors, doing puzzles, helping me cook, going potty on her own, making dresses out of play-dough for her little dolls, among many other things...all of this she actually enjoys doing on her own, and Juan and I love to just observe her play and think. It's incredible.
Over the last few weeks, Elena has truly become a Frozen fan. We listen to the music in the car, we watch the movie several times a week, and Elena finally got her first Elsa and Ana dolls as a Halloween present from her MawMaw and PawPaw. It's so much fun to watch her sing the songs and get so excited to see her favorite characters on the screen.
Elena also LOVES to play on my ipad. She has several games that she likes to play and she's making progress on her ABC Mouse classroom. A quirky thing about Elena and her ipad is that she likes to watch "how-to" videos. She gets on YouTube (on her own...hilarious, I know) and watches videos on how to build towers with Legos and how to make things with Play-dough. Could this be a glimpse into her future career? Hmmmmm....
We all had a fabulous Halloween and Elena got a bucket full of candy for Juan and I to eat. We definitely enjoyed most of the candy. Elena took the M&Ms, but that was about all she wanted. I will be sad one day in the coming years when she won't appreciate Juan and I eating all of her Halloween candy...haha.
So, we have been able to enjoy a fabulous fall season so far and we are looking forward to all the birthday and holiday fun in the coming month. I can't wait to see Elena turn 3...it's going to be a wonderful day!