The Crazy Nut!

These days it takes a special occasion for me to get dressed and made up enough for a really good photo opportunity with Libby. Most of the time I head to the gym first thing in the morning and then walk around the rest of the day with sweaty hair pulled up in a clip. On the few occasions this year that I have really wanted to have my picture taken with Libby, she has proven to be quite the crazy nut making it impossible to get a pretty princess smile on her face. 

I've tried everything  - including bribery - ha! - to get her to smile, but no -  she just keeps on making funny faces. To make it worse, she smiles really pretty as if she is going to do it right and then just before the click of the camera she makes one of her funny faces.  

The following photos are not posted so you can see me a hundred times (boring!).  I have posted them in this order for you to see just what I'm talking about when I call her

.... THE CRAZY NUT!

This (above) was the most "normal" look we got out of her today. But she was just getting started....

It looks like she's crying or scared, but she's just trying to get her hand out of my hand so she can be silly (or, maybe a better word would be rebellious!)

Completely silly has begun.

Full on.... still going...

Silly lips.... and she just kept going, but it would be silly of me to keep posting them. 

So - here are some from another try on a completely different day...

I mean, really, can't we just smile and get the photo!!!!

Oh, no. That wouldn't be as interesting or memorable. 

Her silly faces say way more about who she is than the perfect photo would. 

(That's what I keep telling myself so I can feel better about the situation. But really, my smile hides some incredible frustration with the crazy nut!)

And...

She does this with her daddy too!

Still maddeningly silly!

Oh... but with her precious friend, Maliah, she'll smile pretty any day....

And here are some other adorable moments in the perpetually fun life of Libby:

Here she is showing off her "Cars" fishing rod that she practices casting in the back yard.

The other day Libby was so tired that she fell asleep in mid-draw.

And here, finally, is a sweet smile. Of course, mommy and daddy are not in the photo

 so it doesn't count.

And lastly, for our readers she presents a "Bubble Pie".  Because simply washing dishes would be way too boring and productive!

Who Brings the Spring?

Every morning on the way to the gym Libby wants to talk about God. She usually starts the conversation by saying, "Mom, let's talk about God." And then she'll ask why he made this or that. Today Libby's first question was, "Momma, who brings the spring?" I said, "Well, Jesus does because he is in charge of nature." Libby then asked, "Does he push the spring?" as she moved the palms of her hands away from her body straight forward to show the act of pushing. Trying to keep this simple I replied, "Yeah, kind of. Jesus pushes the spring toward us and then it comes." 

We have not talked about Easter or the cross in quite a while and Libby is not in school or mom's day out or even Sunday school (since we have house church) to hear about it. So her next comment was a surprise as I realized that she was correlating the spring with Jesus' death on the cross. She said, "Mommy, tell Jesus not to nail himself again." (meaning, to the cross).  Wow, how that mind of hers works!  I explained to her that his death on the cross was a once for all act that will never have to happen again and I reminded her that Jesus rose from the dead and won the war against death.

Thank you, Jesus, for being the perfect sacrifice. I am so glad you are alive and well so you can push in the spring!