Buffalo Buckeyes

We have BIG NEWS, to be delivered in two parts:

Part 1 - The Bad News: We've reached the end of this blog's lifespan.

Part 2 - The Good News: We're starting a new blog, Buffalo Buckeyes, to take the place of this blog. Head on over there, and prepare for more of what you've come to love, only MORE AWESOME.

Lisa and I will be posting pictures and updates, as usual, but we'll also be sending brief notes and pictures from our phones, so do subscribe to the new blog (via email or in a feed reader), bookmark the main page, and stay tuned!

(Note: The archives here will remain online, for those of you who are at all nostalgic.)

More Sisterly Love

The following exchange & the ensuing picture-taking took place last night.

Lisa: Matt, go upstairs and take a picture of Rebekah sleeping.
Me: Um, ok.

Here's attempt #1:



And here's the much more successful attempt #2:



And that's how they stayed until morning. Gotta love sisters who get along (most of the time, anyway!)

Cry, Eat, Repeat

As Bethany once said, sometimes it seems all babies do is cry & eat. Along those lines, here's a lovely before & after of sorts:

Porch Silliness

Bethany decided at some point that this is how she'd like to sit on the porch. Doesn't look terribly comfy to me, but hey, I'm not four years old.

Puzzling!

The love of puzzles is something Bethany comes by naturally (from her mother), and she always manages to amaze us with how fast she puts them together!

Sick Days

Rebekah got sick Sunday, and she didn't really feel like her old self until midweek. Here are a couple shots that are fairly representative of her Sunday night/Monday:





She was a trooper, but man, she did not look like she was having a good time. Naturally, we're glad to have her cheerful self back again!

Good times at Trinity

Bethany's pre-school held a fundraising auction last weekend, and a good time was had by all:

Bethany & Rebekah did some coloring,



Abby hung out with Great Grandma,



And afterward, we spent some time on the playground:

Lovin' on Abby

In case you were unsure, Bethany LOVES Abby.

You be the judge

Sometimes, it's hard to decide if Abby is expressionless or slightly startled. Just sayin'.

Play-doh

This is a pretty representative sample of what it's like when the play-doh comes out in our house:

Playing with Dice

I made some origami dice the other day, and Beth & Jonas had a good time with them (Bekah mostly destroyed them, which is why she doesn't have one in the pictures below). Not sure why they all decided to close their eyes for the pictures...







...but maybe it has something to do with the impish looks on their faces:



"Who, us?"

Houston, we have a teenager

And just like that, I had a vision of my future:

Leaping (or Lying?) Lizards!

Admit it: sometimes it's too tempting to mess with babies who are sleeping. At least, it is for my wife:



Rebekah, on the other hand, was wide awake and enjoying herself very much, thank you:

We all scream for Ice Cream (& Aunt Mary)!

We all went and got some ice cream with Aunt Mary last week. Somehow, Aunt Mary didn't end up in this picture, but she was there, and boy were the girls glad to see her!

She'll make a good mommy someday...

Bethany knows how to take care of her "babies". She combs their hair,



and yes, she even, um, "feeds" them.



You can just see the pride in her eyes!

The Birthday that Never Ends

I'm a tad late on this one, but we had Bethany's final birthday celebration on the 17th. There was a small turnout, but 4 year olds don't care about that kind of thing, and they had a great time gathering & comparing loot,



playing "Twister",





eating cake,



and just being together!



I'd call that a success!

Quote of the Day

Bethany received a couple birthday cards in the mail today. This was our conversation while opening them.

Bethany: I got money in this one!
Mommy: Wow! What do you want to buy with that?
Bethany: Princess soup.
Mommy: You already have princess soup.
Bethany: Then Cars soup!
(Next card)
Bethany: I hope there's money in this one, too.

Seriously - this girl is only 4? Happy birthday, Bethany, the past 4 years have been amazing! I love you!!!

Awesome April, Days 6, 7 & 8

(Day 5, of course, was made awesome mainly by Bethany's party, in case you're confused by the missing day)

Day 6: After Lisa got home from work (a development that, while necessary, is still something of an adjustment for mommy), we all took a trip to Home Depot to pick up some gardening supplies. Once back home, we set to work getting one of the little garden areas behind our house ready for planting. I think we might have a gardener on our hands in Bethers!

Day 7: Tuesdays often mean dinner at the Sirgey house, and Awesome April's Day 7 was no exception. Even Uncle Mike & Aunt Mary showed up! The kids got a bubble bath, and after dinner, we all indulged in some ice cream from Dairy Queen!

Day 8: After Lisa got home from work (notice Awesome April events cannot truly begin until the whole family is together!), we took another shopping trip, this time to gather supplies for Bethany's Sleeping Beauty birthday party Saturday. Between the Dollar Tree and Tops, the girls thought we'd been on quite the shopping spree!

Running, Crashing, Driving

The weather is really starting to turn around here, so we spent some time hanging out in the backyard/driveway today. Bethany and Jonas got out plenty of energy just running up and down the driveway





before deciding they'd rather meet halfway, in a somewhat violent fashion:



Rebekah, on the other hand, spent most of the time moving from one vehicle to the next:





As usual, a good time was had by all, including Abby, who spent the duration of our time outside asleep in my arms!

Pop-Beads Necklaces

Sunday afternoon/early evening, while Bekah & Abby napped, Lisa & Bethany broke out the pop-beads and had themselves a good old time



Quite a pretty pair, those two girls of mine!

Bethany's Birthday, Part 1

Sunday marked the first celebration of Bethany's 4th birthday (officially, the 19th, if you're keeping score at home). As you can imagine, there was plenty of ripping through presents:





And there was even some "showing off" of presents:







One of Bethany's favorite presents this year (so far, anyway) has been her new Disney Princess scooter:



The scooter came from Uncle Mike & Aunt Mary, and as usual, required some assembly by Uncle Mike:



Both the older girls also very much enjoyed the Disney Princess CD player (starting to sense the theme yet?)



And of course, what birthday party would be complete without cake...



...followed by a sleeping Uncle Mike!



(my apologies to Aunt Mary, who Lisa is guessing will not appreciate that picture)

Needless to say, a good time was had by all, and we're looking forward to Bethany's Sleeping Beauty themed party this Saturday--pictures to follow, naturally!

Awesome April Day 4

Our camera spent today on our kitchen counter, but that doesn't mean we weren't busy! Today's fun included:

1. A trip to Target to buy a brand new vacuum cleaner. Yay!
2. Bethany and Daddy going to a birthday party with a very cool nature walk.
3. Rebekah, Abby, and Mommy going to Bounce Magic!!
4. Abby meeting A.Shirley & U.Rick.
5. Baking chocolate drop cookies.

Perhaps tomorrow we'll have some pictures for you.

Awesome April Day 3

Another awesome day in the Lafferty household. Today we:

1. Took advantage of our zoo membership and had a very COLD outing. Thankfully, the rainforest exhibit is nice and warm.



2. Had a very weird picnic lunch in the van, mainly because we didn't want to eat outside.



3. Went to Forest Lawn Cemetery and saw Frank Lloyd Wright's "Blue Sky Mausoleum". While there, we also found our first letterboxes of the season.



4. Celebrated Easter with my family, including having the kids find eggs and their Easter baskets!





5. Watched "The Princess and the Frog."

And we and the kids are spent! More tomorrow!