lately (long with lots of pictures)

Thought I'd share some of our latest.

Benny showed up one day with this (very faint) black eye (his left - it's okay if you don't see it.) He didn't complain about anything hurting or about him "bonking" somewhere. Who knows?



Then there was this scratch above his left eye. He didn't even complain about it. It just showed up. Again, no idea where it came from. I'm just glad he's not hurting his eyes!



Benny loves for Lilia to wear her shoes. They're still too big for her, but they're awfully cute! He also gives her a hat any time he and Andy are wearing them. Benny recently found this little hat that came with the blessing outfit we used for him and Andy and it's the perfect size for Lilia now (it's size 0-3 months - she and Benny have always had abnormally-proportional heads to their bodies. Andy on the other hand...).



A favorite game of the boys right now: sliding down the couch cushions.



One of my favorite pictures right now.
All biases aside, I am mother to some of the best kids in the world. :)



Another favorite game of the boys. I think this one is called "Flip-flops." They prop the cushion up against the couch and flop down on it.
Lilia likes to come over and join in on the fun (the boys are great and stop playing rough when she gets too close).




The whole ensemble from "Flip-flop" day.
Spencer says it looks like he was dressed by a blind man.
(the 24-month shorts he's wearing barely fit around his waist.)



playing "with" her brothers.


I found these two pictures on the camera one afternoon. Benny and Andy had taken pictures of each other.
Andy really was enjoying himself!


Andy is still mastering the art of capturing a whole subject.


At the end of last week I got ambitious. I had been wanting to try to make a dress for Lilia for a little while and I just decided to do it. My projects need to be limited for now because I'm not letting myself buy more fabric for now. I have a big collection that I bought for a quilt that still needs to be quilted and bound. Until I finish the quilt I need to pull from that stash for any projects I work on.
Using a new dress (from three pictures above) as a loose pattern, I came up with the dress below. For a first try I am really happy with how it turned out. It wouldn't hold up to any close scrutiny, but it sure looks great on our beautiful little girl!




As you can see in the last couple of pictures, Lilia is turning into quite the ham!
Also, if you click on the last picture to make it big and look closely, you'll see that Lilia cut her first two teeth! They were a long time coming, but they made it.