The Happy Place

August, Part 1: HP & Felicity's Birthday

2009-11-21T23:35:00.000-08:00

Just days before Felicity's birthday, we moved into Happy Place.

Ariel named it. We'd been living in my brother's bedroom for three weeks, and when we finally got a place of our own, Ariel refused to leave without a fight for three days.

"I want to stay in my happy place!" she would scream, flailing as I dragged her out the door for some necessary appointment. It was an offer of Taco Bell on the third day that was finally met without protest, but rather a suspicious glance and cautious, "Okay..."

The name was convenient, because when I said "home," Ariel always had to ask which home. To her, we had four homes: our old house, Grandma's house, the beach house (where we had gone that first weekend), and now our new place. Making the "Happy Place" title official made it a lot easier to tell her where we were going next, a question that she has asked pretty much constantly since learning to speak.

Of course, an official name deserves a place of honor, like the dining room wall:

Felicity's birthday came quickly, and while I had little time or energy, I wasn't going to let it slip by uncelebrated. Mom hosted, and I baked a cake. M&M decorations disguised my inability to do anything tedious (well, that is, anything in addition to the mounds of paperwork I was dealing with).

While everyone was arriving, Felicity amused herself by doing gymnastics on the couch and playing peek-a-boo with anyone who dared look at her.

Ariel was eager for the cake!

Felicity put forth a valiant effort blowing out the candles, though in the end it was a cooperative achievement.

Anyone who knows Felicity well will not be surprised that she cared much more about picking off and eating individual M&Ms than about the cake itself.

What comes after cake? Presents, naturally! Preferably while snuggling up in Mommy's lap.

She even tried on a shirt from Daddy - that is, tried it on her legs...

Few things are as exhausting as a party. Can you blame her? I was jealous, personally.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this day special!

July: Reading Nemo

2009-11-21T23:31:00.000-08:00

I missed a precious photo last time...

Huh.

2009-11-08T11:47:00.000-08:00

A: I don't want to wear my boots!

J: Why not? Can you tell me what you don't like about your boots?

A: I don't like... a chicken about my boots.

J: .....

A: Chickens peck you.

July

2009-11-05T22:17:00.000-08:00

On July 17th, 2009, our lives changed forever.

It was a Friday, and we spent the weekend at a beach house with my parents and some friends, who coincidentally had already had the trip planned. It was a good opportunity to get away and be surrounded by family and "family." The girls fell asleep on the drive and napped on the couch while we unloaded our things.

After a weekend away, we came back and lived at my parents' house for a few weeks. It was important to mom and I that the girls had plenty of fun things to do to help keep things upbeat. One of the things that we did was put the kiddie pool out in her backyard.

Ariel loves popsicles!

Well, that's pretty much it for good pictures from July, post-exodus. I'm not coherent enough to do August at the moment, so... more to come!

Just Getting Started

2009-08-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

Gimme a few days...