Leila loves puffs

Yesterday Leila was having a snack of "puffs," which is definitely her favorite (see her reaction to finding puffs in her Easter basket in this picture).  Upon removing her tray, after she finishes any finger-food snack, we always find a little stash down in the bottom of her booster seat that she dropped. Yesterday I scooped up a little handful of these misplaced treats, along with a spare Cheerio from breakfast, and offered them to her in my palm. She considered them for a minute and went straight for the Cheerio, which surprised me considering she has always demonstrated a strong preference for her puffs. She grasped the Cheerio between her forefinger and thumb and with an emphatic gesture deliberately threw it on the floor.

Easter Pictures

I'm hoping this will work. I posted some Easter pictures on Facebook. You should be able to see this album even if you are not a member of Facebook. To see them click here. (Someone please let me know if it works. :))

Suffering

This past week has been a bit of a blur for us as we have been grieving with a close friend who suddenly lost her husband (31) last Wednesday morning. We are grieving over the loss of a good friend, while our hearts are broken for his precious wife and 3 young children. We long to "do something," while knowing that the best thing we can do is to be faithful in prayer and in friendship day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.

I have been reading much on the subject of comforting those who are suffering and understanding what they need in their time of tragedy. I found this article on a friend's blog this afternoon. It is well worth reading.

More Things Not to Say to Those Who are Suffering | CCEF

Ammendment:

Here are two more links from a friend's blog.

Grief 101
Grief 102

Sweet Siblings

I decided it was time to get caught up on pictures. So I recently made an appointment to have Benjamin's 4 year, Talia's 3 year, and a sibling picture taken. I finally decided on outfits that (generally) matched for the sibling picture and the separate outfits for Benj & Talia's "alone" pictures. Despite a crazy day Monday (I took Talia in for another ear infection and spent 2 hours with Benjamin waiting for her prescription that evening at the pharmacy) I had everything ready the night before and was feeling pretty prepared.

Tuesday morning Benjamin, due in part to his late night out, slept in until 9:00. He came the the kitchen just after we had started breakfast. As he climbed up in his chair all of a sudden it hit me: I had completely forgotten to give him the haircut he DESPERATELY needed! There was no way I was going to let him have his picture taken looking like an overgrown bush, but there was also no way I was going to let another 2 or 3 months go by without getting these pictures done, which would happen if I canceled this appointment. Therefore, there was only one choice: cut Benjamin's hair before we had to leave the house at 10:45. I sped the kids through breakfast, put Leila down for her morning nap, and started in. Fortunately it was one of my faster haircuts and all went smoothly. We finished with about 20 minutes to spare for getting dressed, finding shoes, putting clips in the girls' hair, and getting everyone in the car.

I had intended to have the older kids do their separate pictures first before we did the sibling shot to give me time to feed Leila and give Leila a chance to observe things for awhile before throwing her into the mix. Unfortunately, when we arrived I realized I had forgotten to adjust my plans for clothing accordingly and they were wearing the outfits for the sibling picture. We decided to just go with it. Leila did NOT like being set on the floor with a big black box in her face...at all. At first she was stoic, then she was grumpy, then she began to just outright wail. We got a couple of shots while she was still stoic, but soon decided to abandon that effort for awhile and go on to Talia.Talia, despite being drugged up on Benedryl, managed to pull out her Talia charm for a couple of beautiful shots full of her happy little personality. Every time we go to this portrait studio she always LOVES to sit in this white rocking chair. As soon as it was our turn to go back she made a bee line for the chair, pulled it out and took up her perch. She did NOT want to leave that chair to sit on the floor with her brother and sister. So when it was her turn we asked the photographer, could she please have her picture taken in her favorite chair. She was so pleased!
This shot just makes her look way too grown up. When did this happen?
Benjamin is always ready to ham it up for the camera. He loves everything to do with going to the picture studio. He was really thrown for a loop, though, when the photographer wanted him to lay on the ground. He just could not take that seriously, for some reason. We got some hilarious shots of him making goofy Benjamin faces.And then he came up with this charmer:
Of course if Talia got a chair then so should Benj. Seth remarked he looked like he should have been smoking a cigar.Finally, we decided to give it one more try with Leila. After sitting in Daddy's lap for awhile she seemed to be in a better mood. Seth thought she might like sitting in the chair better than sitting on the floor. It was hilarious trying to get all three kids to look at the camera, smile, keep their hands down, and stay close enough to each other all at the same time. But the effort yielded some fun results:
I LOVE this shot
This was another fun one, simultaneous kisses. :)
I'm glad to say we really had a good experience. Of course, it never would have worked if Seth hadn't been able to come help me direct this three ring circus. (Thanks, Babe.) I'm glad we made the effort, even if it was quite an effort. :)

Christmas in February?

Why not? I'm just going to claim that when you've spent the last 2 years of your life helping your husband through his dissertation you can do Christmas anytime you want. :)

Talia's 3rd Birthday

Did you know that "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" has 34 letters? Seth does, having created a banner bearing this exclamation for Talia's Mary Poppins themed party.
Movie-inspired party elements included: "sidewalk" chalk art (on poster board laid out on the kitchen floor, Kentucky weather not permitting the decorating of an actual sidewalk), tea-inspired breakfast snacks, and a carousel cake. Talia really got into the spirit of our "Jolly Holiday," accessorizing with her party finest.

And we're back...!

As a few have noticed, posts here have been slim in the last couple of months. The many events and explanations for my absence may be the subject of another post, but if I wait until I have time to "catch up" in order to go forward I may never get back to blogging! So, onward I go....

Next up: Talia's birthday!