We have a smiley child. 

She is smiley. That's just how she is.

 Happiness is what defines her, and for that we are all so very fortunate.
We have our smiley days, and then  our very smiley days...
and then days like this one where she simply could not wipe the smile off her face, as hard as she tried.

 The Q knows how pretty she is, and she is capable of coy glances, when she thinks it's in her interest.

 But for heaven's sake, don't call her pretty to her face. 

She hates it. 

To her, "pretty" is an insult.

 She is an octopus (not a pretty octopus, just a "plain" octopus). She is a turtle. She is a snail. She is, according to her, anything but a "pretty girl".

 So however she may flirt and cavort, don't call her pretty.

 She is a sportsman. She is an adventurer. She is a GYMNAST. She loves her Buzz Lightyear. He is her "boyfriend". But also, she has more than one boyfriend. Her first was Sportacus from LazyTown. Her second (and most beloved, to this day) is Liam, son of a family friend, adopted from Korea and a good 6" shorter than Q. Her 3rd is Buzz.

 But, lest we forget, she is just Q, our snail, our octopus, our little athlete.

 She is also occasionally Señor Bossy Pants.

 In honour of the royal wedding, Q wore this...

 ..although her only reaction to the event was to point to the prince and say "daddy!"

 Since the afternoon was gray and chill here as well,  we went to the contemporary art museum.

 Always a favorite place to spend some leisure time during inclement weather (or clement weather, for that matter!)

 The cafe and roof gardens have just about the best views in town (not to mention a lovely tea menu!)

 Connect four, Q's favorite game at the moment.

 Funnily enough, they were screening the royal wedding in the cafe, although Q was oblivious to all the pomp and circumstance.

 Sometimes an afternoon of doing nothing in a lovely setting is exactly the right kind of afternoon.

 When spring gets rococo...

 It's a rare spring in Colorado when all the stages of flowering trees are able to bloom, without a hard snow taking out any of them. This year was one of those springs. We had the white trees, the pale pinks, the pears, the apples, the peaches, the crabapples all blooming at once.

 An extravagance of riches.

 And I suppose even Q couldn't resist the headiness of flower season.

 On the way to the movies one evening, she looked rather like a flower herself.

 She purloined all of mommy's bracelets to accessorize her extravagant outfit.

 At our favorite Korean restaurant after the movie, for some genuine Korean barbecue.

 Q playing drums with her silverware while waiting for food.

 Culinary paradise.

 Spring has been very up-and-down this year, as spring will be.

 But since we had such a very early false-spring (when did it start...January?), so that it feels strange when we get cool, blustery days in the last week of April.

 This, needless to say, was not one of those days. This was a day that felt like early summer although the trees had not yet begun to leaf.

 Our little barefoot climber on her favorite climbing rock.

 A kayaker making hay while the runoff from the Rockies begins to rage.

 Q's view of Daddy.

 Sandy feet and sun-warmed shoulders.

 Q's view of us both. She is uncannily good at framing a shot, for a three-year-old!