I think it happens around spring every year. I get bored of my blog - just the look, thankfully!
Usually I get someone to freshen it up for me. However the girl that did it for me last time, just got home from Uganda with her two beautiful boys and has a little note on her website saying she's rather busy - I can just imagine!
So last night I decided to take matters into my own hands. To be honest, blogger makes it really easy these days to change stuff up and make it just the way you want it. The only thing I was missing was a header.
I've always loved a photo header. So this morning, when I found my Lilah Grace downstairs marching around wearing one of my winter hats and the adult size 3D glasses, I just had to snap a few shots of her. I opened the collage tool in Picnik (love that program) and made myself a new blog header.
And the part I love best, I can change it up as often as I like!
Oh, and my little gal is feeling much better again! She's got her 'sassy' back! *grin*
My baby girl was sick yesterday morning. Her first 'sicky' since we brought her home from China.
* Yes, that's 2 years and 4 months! *
Just before breakfast she complained of a sore belly and then she got a sharp pain that made her squeal and she wretched up some saliva and froth, after which she pretty much lost her colour and her lips went white, which kinda freaked me out. She lay in bed with me for about an hour and then we got up and had breakfast together. She seemed fine for the rest of the day, other than looking tired, pale, heavy eyed and a bit lethargic. Poor baby.
So after all that, I thought it would be best if we took it easy for the rest of the day and just have fun with an easter craft - even though it would seem a wee bit early for easter!
A few days ago, I noticed that a few eggs in the fridge had just about passed their expiration date, so I boiled them up and let Lilah go to town with the food dye!
She literally drenching the eggs with the dye and then she would give them, what she called, 'little baths'. She asked me for a pot of warm water and a pot of cold water, so it would be the same as the hot tub and the swimming pool! Although, she doesn't say it like that, she calls the hot tub and the swimming pool, the hot tub and the cold tub. I love her little translations! Since she was having so much fun bathing them, I also gave her some soap and a straw, so she could give them bubble baths! She must have played for over two hours - splashing them around and whispering away to herself and the eggs.
I think it's more than obvious from these pictures that she was in her glory... (and you might not notice it, but I can totally tell from these pictures that she wasn't at herself.)
My beautiful girl LOVES to laugh. Recently she's been making up words, pulling silly facial expressions and doing some crazy antics - generally everything she does is geared to make me laugh! And if I laugh, well she is just hysterical with laughter! I adore how she throws her head back and just lets it all out, all that joy.
A few of the things I prayed for in a child, is that she would be loving and kind and happy.
She is all three.
I am so blessed to be her Mama.
A laugh is a smile that bursts. ~Mary H. Waldrip
The most wasted of all days is one without laughter. ~E.E.Cummings
A good laugh is sunshine in the house. ~W.Makepeace
Some pursue happiness, others create it. ~Author Unknown
[ the flickr set is here ]
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{ see more black & white pictures at 'The Long Road to China {and back}' }
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Last night, after Lilah said her nighttime prayers, she was telling me all about her story from Sunday School. It happens to be the Easter story. Here is the story in her own words...
"The Lord Jesus died on the cross for our sins. And then He was in the tomb. And then Mary came to find him and He wasn't there! And you know what? The stone was rolled away! And He rose up into heaven!" (She was doing all the hand effects for rising up into heaven and her eyes were huge in the amazement of it all.)
I said, "That's true sweetie. And THAT is a huge miracle that the Lord Jesus was raised again after dying and that He went up into heaven."
We chatted about it for a minute or two and then I said to her, "Do you want to know another miracle? The Lord Jesus told us to go to China and get you. He gave you to us. That is another huge miracle."
She smiled and nodded.
Then she said to me, "Do you want to know another huge miracle Mama? The Lord Jesus gave you to me, that is another huge miracle."
I nodded, smiled and said to her, "You are so sweet."
I said, "Goodnight my little miracle. I love you."
She replied, "Goodnight my big miracle. I love you too. See you in the morning."
If our Lilah girl isn't running around spelling her name out loud, she's writing it down on paper.
She has practically went through a colour block pad, writing her name on every single page! She has recognized her written name for a long time now. Then she used to copy it, after I wrote it for her. But she has it mastered and memorized now and knows each of the letters that make up her name.
She also recognizes a bunch of other letters. I had started showing her lowercase letters and a friend (teacher) told me she would be taught uppercase letters first. So I made a change, and of course, confused Lilah in the process!
The first letter she ever learned to recognize and write was C for Colin! (That's her Baba's name!) Then she started recognizing L, but she would always say L for ME, rather than L for Lilah - which makes me grin! Then she started recognizing M for Mama. And well, it has progressed now and she knows a lot of her letters.
As much as I don't like to admit it, I think she's ready for Junior Kindergarten!
Here are my contributions to the eleventh month of Project 365.
March was another busy fun-filled month. I certainly enjoyed photographing my way through the past month, maybe that's because it's officially spring and finally starting to warm up a tad. Or, maybe it has to do with buying a new lens this month! It certainly helped a lot and gave me the little photography boost that I needed! I was even excited about taking pictures and learning the new lens.
It's hard to believe that I only have another 30 days left of this project. I'm trying to figure out what I'll do next? I'm not planning on taking on another daily project right now, but I'd like to take on a weekly challenge or something. Let me know if you're participating in or if you've heard or seen any fun ones. Here's a few I've seen and heard of, and some I've even participated in...
Lisa from 'The Long Road to China {and Back}' does a weekly Black & White Wednesday challenge, which is great - I'm going to try joining in with her a bit more. Also, another of my favourite blogs, 'And Lily Makes Three' participates in a crayon box challenge called 'Project 64 - Out of the Box', which looks like a lot of fun. And then there's 'I Heart Faces' and their weekly challenge, which is a bit more of a competition though.
Lilah loves loves loves raspberries.
Or maybe it's the way she eats them, that she enjoys the most. Either way, we're going to have to find a raspberry farm over the summer and pick ourselves some of these yummies.
Speaking of the summer season, spring has been dragging it's heels and I'm not the least bit amused! We are SO beyond ready for it. Today, after gorging on those summer raspberries, we took a little walk down to the river to feed the ducks. (Or should I say, feed the gazillion seagulls, which turned into a seagull flying-diving-squawking fest! It was rather entertaining to say the least.) The sun was shining, and now we just need some green, oh how I miss the green leaves and grass and colourful flowers! Lately, while out driving, I've even caught myself daydreaming about how the trees look full of leaves.
This weekend, all being well, it's supposed to be a sunny 10°C and I couldn't be happier!
