Sunday Photo.

I could snatch them up, take a private plane to a Montana ranch and settle into a tiny little house with a fireplace... live there forever... have some animals... sew them quilts... bake bread every day...


Grace: She got my make up out today. Spread it out in front of her and made some real decisions. Colors, textures, brushes. She had all the girls pick nail colors and cheek shimmer and lipstick. She looked beautiful with her painted face. She does everything for me. She carries Tada around like her own. And after all these years, from 18 months to 7.8 years old... she still pretends she's a puppy.

Ruby: She emoted a lot this week. Screaming, crying, stomping, glaring. I scold her and when her big chunky tears begin to fall I have no choice. I hug her and I hold her. There's no choice involved. My arms open and my hands pull her to me. She has incredible power.

Lillie: Today was another one of those days, we loved and we lost. So many battles with her as the victor. At one point Jake had to run away from her. Run down the hall. Her demands were just too unreasonable for him to satisfy. She's a tyrannical queen and at the end of the day, our beaten hearts swell with adoration of her ferocity.

Matilda: She learned to clap this week. She thinks she's the trickiest thing. She also sniffs loudly through her nose (pictured above). It's her way of saying, "hi". She waves "bye, bye" and tries to pull herself up on everything. That trick ends with head bonks, poor little babe. The older girls go to bed before her and Jake and I spend some baby time with her at night. We exclaim many many things but mostly, how much we love that little thing.