My Little Casanova

Ezra: Here's a flower {ie: weed} mom. You need to put it in your hair 'cause that's what girls do with flowers.

Me: That's what girls do, huh? And what do boys do with flowers?

{after a few moments of brow-puckering concentration}

Ezra: They give them to girls to put in their hair.


Smart little guy, that one.

Scarlett Caroline

Name & Meaning: Scarlett Caroline. *sigh* I love Scarlett's name. It's just so fun and dramatic, yet classic sounding. It sounds like a heroine in a novel...oh, wait, it is a heroine in a novel. That would be Gone With The Wind :P No, we didn't name Scarlett after the book. I just loved the name and (surprisingly, so did Spencer). We get GOBS of people asking us if we did (especially since we have a daughter named Georgia too), but it's still worth it to use such a fabulous name. It's old-fashioned without being musty...just perfect. As for Caroline, we love, love, love the name and even considered using it for a first name, but we didn't want to have two "state" daughters and I was a little worried about Caroline becoming too common. So, we decided to bump it to the middle name. As Spencer's mom's name is Carole, we liked having the family connection in honor of her. Not to mention it's a head-nod in Brother Neil [Diamond]'s direction (I'm referring to Sweet Caroline for those of you non-fans).

Age: 4 and a half months.

Nicknames: Scarlie, Scar, Scarl (thanks, Spencer for those last two :P), Miss Scarlett (my mom likes to do that one in the voice of Prissy from Gone With The Wind), The Littlest, Little Miss, and occasionally Lettie.

Favorite Activities: Nursing, talking to Ez and Georgia, eating her hands, rolling all over the room, and watching TV (really...I'm not proud but I'm not going to claim it doesn't come in handy).

Favorite Foods: Boob Juice (although we did let her suck on a pickle the other day and she was lovin' that).

Least Favorite Foods: I'll get back to you on that one in a couple of months.

Favorite Music: Anything her brother and sister dance to if that means she gets to watch.

Favorite Toy: She's a fan of her ring moose and any part of my body she can get ahold of.

Favorite Item of Clothing: None. She MUCH prefers to be naked.

What Makes Her Happy: Being held. If Scarlett had her way, she'd be held all day, every day.

What

Makes Her Sad: Being put down and when I (dare) to switch her from my boob to a binky.

Funny Words or Phrases: None yet (obviously), although she's the cutest when she gurgles, spits (a recently discovered skill) and talks. Ezra especially loves to hear her. He's always taking out her binky and telling me, "Scarlett doesn't want her binky, she wants to talk."

Georgia Marie and This Is Me Being Fabulous

Sometimes the stars align and I am the mom I always wanted to be. Today was one of those days.

(translation: EZRA DID THIS CAKE WITH HIS MOMMY)

Ezra got to pick the mix (yes, it was from a cake mix, I'm not entirely perfect), the frosting, the colors we wrote in, and what was written. I even gave in when he insisted we frost the cake right now, hence the pockmarks. I truly am THAT fabulous.

Onto Miss Georgia...

Name & Meaning: Georgia Marie. I adore Georgia's name and always have. It's the most common first name out of my kids, but it was well worth it in my book. Georgia was always my favorite state growing up, despite the fact I've never lived there or even been there (or maybe because I've never lived there ;)-it just always seemed so southern-bellish and refined to me and in my mind, the name always had that same feel to it. As for her middle name, Marie, it's on the very common side, but it's my middle name and my Aunt Janet's middle name and I've always thought it was very pretty...so we used it. Spencer, in particular, pushed for Marie more than I did, for some reason...I suspect he was just sick of talking about names.

Age: 21 and a half months (1 year, 9 1/2 months for those not used to Mommy-speak)

Nicknames: George, Georgie, Miss Georgia, Georgie Porgie, Middle Little, Georgia Me, Missy Doo, Jorge (pronounced a bit like Horhay), Princess (those last two are Spencer-specific), Spoiled Diva (that last one is me-specific...just kidding...kinda).

Favorite Activities: Playing with cars, reading books, getting into my makeup, putting on necklaces, playing with her best frenemy (see Ezra's post for definition), her cousin Ella, and drinking water out of my contact case.

Favorite Foods: French fries, cake, ketchup (in Georgia's world, it's an entire food group), milk, juice (like Ezra, Georgia also drinks all day long), pancakes, chocolate, and any other kind of candy you can think of.

Least Favorite Foods: Cheese, cottage cheese, chocolate milk (odd girl, I know) and...that's about it. Despite her small size, Georgia actually loves to eat.

Favorite Music: The Backyardigains theme song (she loves to dance around to it), hymns and primary songs, random songs from my blog, and the music on her toy cell phone, which she also thinks is dancing-worthy.

Favorite Toy: Necklaces, toy cell phone, cars, and anything that belongs to me.

Favorite Book: Her puzzle color book and Goodnight Baby. She's also a big fan of Princess Lillifee.

Favorite Item of Clothing: Shoes...really any of them, whether they're hers or not. Hairbows are also a fave.

What Makes Her Happy: Daddy, eating chocolate, hanging out with Auntie Steph, a fabulous makeup brush or great necklace (hmm, maybe she's more like me than I realized...).

What Makes Her Sad: When Daddy goes to work, when she can't have any more candy, when she can't go outside with the boys because it's too cold.

Funny Words or Phrases: "No, I will!" (said with a cute Southern accent), when she calls Scarlett, "Honey" and Ezra, "Ezie," she calls her pull-ups "princess panties," and says "eww, dwoss [gross], icky," usually said after she has an accident (or I try to put a dirty-ish bib on her) and right before she says, " 'nother one," insisting we get her new underpants.

Ezra Emil

I saw this on a blog I love and couldn't help but copy it (thanks Emily!). Today I'll tell all about Ezra, in a few days I'll do Georgia, followed by Scarlett. Hope you enjoy!

(yes, you've seen that picture on here before. I've just been a loser picture-taker lately.)

Name & Meaning: Ezra Emil Lifferth. Out of all of our kids, Ezra's name is the most steeped in meaning. We knew we wanted to do an E name for the first and Emil for the middle in honor of Spencer's great grandfather Ernest Emil (aka E.E.) and Spence's younger brother, Eric Emil. I adore Ezra's name-it's such a strong, steady name shared by many great and spiritual men. I love the fact that Ezra will have not only E.E. and Eric to look up to, but also Ezra Taft Benson and the great biblical scribe and priest, Ezra. Plus he shares his name with a (little-known) book in the Bible-how cool is that?

Age: 3 years, 4 months

Nicknames: I call him: Ez, little bug, Ezra Emil (I know it's his full name, but I often use it as a nickname, not just when he's in trouble). Spencer calls him: buddy, little critter, buckaroo, buckaroon-macaroon, Ez. Georgia calls him : Ezie, Ez.

Favorite Activites: Building things from blocks, playdough, and pokey blocks, playing with trains, singing, throwing things, drinking liquid of any kind, reading books, and playing with his bestest frenemy (ie: friend and enemy), his cousin Greyson.

Favorite Foods: chicken nuggets, french fries, cereal, rice and bread with butter (ok, really safe margarine 'cause everything's better with blue bonnet on it), chocolate soy milk, regular soy milk, vanilla soy milk, juice (did I mention my kid drinks all. day. long.) and Philly Swirls.

Least Favorite Foods: sandwiches, soups, onions, tomatoes, meat (obviously chicken nuggets aren't counted as meat in his book...he might actually be right :P), and any of the other countless foods he's never tried but insists he hates.

Favorite Music: the Veggie Tales song (broccoli, celery, gotta be...VEGGIE TALES!), hymns and primary songs (his favorite hymn is How Great Thou Art which he insists is called, Oh Lord My God), ABBA, and other random songs like Zac Brown Band's Chicken Fried, Tim McGraw's Last Dollar (Fly Away), Katy Perry's Hot 'N' Cold, and much, much more.

Favorite Toy: Trains, balls, and his buildable marble track.

Favorite Book: The ABC Sing Along book. Before that it was The Little Engine That Could. Anything by Dr. Seuss is always a sure bet.

Favorite Item of Clothing: flip-flops (he was ecstatic when it was warm enough to wear them today), his cousin Greyson's sandals (he covets them), and any shirt with a sports-related picture on it [insert eye roll here].

What Makes Him Happy: cuddling, especially if there is a book involved...even better if there's a sippy too.

What Makes Him Sad: when the wind blows through the trees, turning them into "scary trees," the dark, and when Georgia beats up on him. (I'd like to say I'm kidding, but I'm so not. seriously.)

Funny Words or Phrases: "It hurts like the dickens," "The Grinch...he's creepy," "I need my sippy/milk/juice. It makes me feel better," "How could you do that to me!" (usually said with much wailing and gnashing of teeth), "MiMi-she's crazy," and (my personal fav) "Mommy, you're my favorite" (even though I'm really not).