Stay Calm

How do you calm Ana when nothing else works? Take her clothes off.

She isn't the only one in our family who prefers less clothing...

Mother's Day

So, so thankful to be a mommy!


(Thank you Sarah for taking our pictures!)

Ana's 1 month update and other news

Ana is already a month old! I took her to the clinic today to be weighed and measured. She is 22 1/2 inches long and up to 11 lbs 13 oz! She is a wonderful baby. She loves to be loved and cuddled, and she gets plenty of that all day!

My big girl Eliana is keeping busy crafting, loving her sister, finishing up the school year, and playing with friends. She's a great big sister to both Abraham and Ana. Today while I was cooking supper she made me this Mother's Day gift... it's a pipe cleaner twisted into a heart and mom.

And our fun little boy Abraham... I got emotional the other day because all of a sudden I realized he wasn't my baby anymore. He now sleeps through the night and goes to sleep on his own. Don't get me wrong, these are wonderful developments, but I now realize that all those hugs and cuddles will have to happen at different times of the day.
He's switching up his nap time, not needing an afternoon nap everyday now. So, just like his big sister he takes a book (or 10!) to bed and "reads" them, sometimes falling asleep and sometimes not. Yesterday he was reading the manual for his carseat in bed. As I was leaving the room he said, "God protect us. God help us. Mom, I'm reading God. Be quiet." :) This is a fun stage.

I remember somewhere around 2002 I was praying that God would give me people to love. I felt like I had so much love in me that I wanted to give, but not enough people close enough to give it to. I'm so thankful for my family to love. These three kids give me SO much joy... not to mention Franklin. 

I'm feeling super blessed to be a part of this Family Five Leaves.

Anastasia Joy Tafili

Our sweet Ana was born on April 9, 2014 at 10:37pm. She weighed 9lbs and was 22 inches long. We are so thankful that she's here!

When Abraham and Ellie were born, we had pictures up on the blog instantly. With Ana it has taken 3 weeks. I can guarantee you that we have just as much joy and excitement having her, and so far she is an absolutely wonderful baby! I think it's just that it takes all our time to be joyful in our family now... we don't have time to share that joy with everyone else. :)

We are so grateful that Ana is in our arms now. 

Happy Valentine's Day

This year Ellie helped me make the heart shaped cinnamon rolls. So fun to have a big girl...and looking forward to watching our big girl love our new little girl. :)

The cities

We stayed at a beautiful guesthouse in the cities. El fell at a friends house and scratched her nose pretty bad. 

Abe liked using his binoculars to look for airplanes out our window.

Opening ceremonies

Ellie decided during the opening ceremonies of the Olympics that she'd support Russia. So she made herself a flag and drew "r"s on herself (backwards because it was in a mirror). She made me an American flag since I'm supporting the USA. Abe was happy to pose with it.