Our Easter Best

We had a great Easter weekend full of family, friends, good food, Easter egg hunts, and great music and lessons about the Savior. I'll write a little more about it tomorrow. For today, I wanted to share some pictures of us in our Easter Best. I even got an Easter dress this year! Sarah was especially excited because it was the first time she had a big puffy "princess" dress.

It was a sunny and beautiful day, so even though we were standing in the shade it was difficult to get pictures of our children with their sensitive eyes. Sometimes they seem like little vampires, they're so afraid of the sun!

Thank you to Kristin Killpack! She saw us struggling and came over and managed to get a couple real smile/non squinting pictures of Sarah and James:

Sam wouldn't smile for the camera. He was too enamored of the beautiful blossoms falling off the trees like snow:

 Finally, we gave up and went home to get an indoor picture of all three kids together:

Happy Easter!

Figure Drawing Studies with James

James has loved to draw from a very young age (see here (age 2) and here (age 3) for examples from the past). He continues to impress us with his unique perspective.

Yesterday, he was drawing and brought this picture over to me (before drawing the second image on the paper of the lion's face). I also didn't see the little toy that he was using as a reference.

Me: "Is that the back of a lion?"

James: "Yes! It's the back of a lion!"

He was so happy and proud that I knew what it was without him having to tell me. :)

He went back to work and drew the little toy from the front and then from the back at an angle (see below).

I love watching him discover things like this! It's so incredible to think that he looked at the back of his little toy lion and thought, "I can draw that!" And then he did! Complete with little ears sticking out of the top of its head. And I love that he drew the little curl of hair on the lion's face. 

The Dimple

Baby Sam may be a carbon copy of his older brother in most ways, but one thing he has that James didn't (in addition to way more hair) is one adorable dimple on his right cheek. I finally managed to capture a couple pictures of it the other day.

Behold, the dimple:

It kills me. :) 

I'll have to dig up some baby pictures of James and do some side by side comparisons one of these days. They really do look so much alike.

An Interview with...Me!

We've made it to the end of my little series of interviews! I wasn't too thrilled about being on this side of the camera, but I read an article online recently that reminded me that it's important for me to be included in pictures and things over the years even if I'm not comfortable with the way I look.

Unfortunately, my interview ended up being the longest of all of them. I blame Paul for not stopping sooner. Hopefully it's not too boring.

I hope that my family will enjoy looking back at all these interviews over the years. Even mine!

An Interview with Paul!

I bet you thought I was done with the interviews! We thought it would be fun (albeit silly ;) ) to interview us grown ups, too. Today, it's Paul's turn in front of the camera:

I sure love my husband. What a great guy!

An "Interview" with Samuel

OK, so he's a bit young for an interview. I did want to document Sam's current age, though. He loves grabbing onto toys and blankets and his feet and pretty much anything within his reach. He's a kicker, too, as you will see in the video. I was hoping to catch some footage of him rolling over, but no luck. Maybe next time!

I love this squishy little ball of pudge!

I can't believe he's already almost five months old! Sitting up, mobility, and introduction to solid food are all right around the corner! It's all rushing by too quickly, that's for sure.

An Interview with Sarah

Sarah is our little princess. She's full of drama, she makes us laugh daily, and she can definitely hold her own next to her outspoken older brother. I actually filmed Sarah's interview before I did James' because I didn't want anything to influence what she might say. Her answers were much quicker to come than James'!

I just love the look on her face when she realizes she messed up her song. Priceless!

We sure love our Sarah!