http://happyflamily.com So Happy Mon, 19 Sep 2011 18:47:33 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Lillie's birthday is really the 20th, but we celebrated this weekend so that her cousins could come. She went to the park with them and returned to find her pirate theme party all set up. Sophie made a sign. The house smelled like smoke for a long while... Mommy made the cake... Daddy ... http://happyflamily.com/2011/09/18/lillies-5th-birthday/ It's the first summer that the girls and I have had together and we made the most of it. We had camps and trips, of course. But there was also a tree top library for a week; books hauled up and down in a basket. We had two days of ... http://happyflamily.com/2011/09/06/summer-fun/ Jason was kind enough to come help us deal with one of the big nuisance of our backyard - the pointless pine tree. Jason halfway up the tree cutting branches off... Shad in the tree, taking his turn with the saw... And so, we thought, how often is there a tree ladder in ... http://happyflamily.com/2011/08/01/timber/ Shad's brother's children were in town so Granmolly and I took the kids swimming. Noah and Julia are 9 months older than Lillie, but all together they make a perfect set of triplets. http://happyflamily.com/2011/05/29/out-with-the-cousins/ I spent the entire weekend spring cleaning the kitchen, so I thought I would celebrate with a few before and after photos of the common areas of the home, essentially a great room. The Entry/Dining BEFORE: Removed carpet and linoleum, new light fixture, painted walls, removed a cabinet and got new window treatments... AFTER: More ... http://happyflamily.com/2011/04/10/great-room-pictures/ We finally got a new fence! It's about 7 feet tall, which means that not even Poulo and Shad can see over it. The girls like the privacy for playing in the back yard. In some ways the backyard feels a little smaller, because it is fully walled now, but I ... http://happyflamily.com/2011/03/28/new-fence/ We had a foreign exchange student from Guadeloupe come stay with us. She only spoke French, but somehow small furry animals are the universal language and she and Sophie bonded over bunnies and cats. http://happyflamily.com/2011/03/27/pricilla/ Yesterday Sophie's school celebrated Mardi Gras with the traditional elementary school carnival complete with overpriced pizza, face painting and raffle baskets. The girls (and seemingly every other child there) had so much fun!! Lillie picking the winning duck... Fishing for prizes... Sophie getting her face painted by the teacher... The finished product..it's a snake... Lillie's ... http://happyflamily.com/2011/02/26/mardi-gras/ I was leaving a meeting and a bit late to get Lillie from preschool. As I hurried down the sidewalk, I tripped and landed directly on my face. My knees didn't touch the ground as I fell, my face took the entire weight of the fall. Luckily, Granmolly was still ... http://happyflamily.com/2011/02/10/graceful/ We had one day of wonderful weather this week, we just couldn't stay inside. So I decided to take the opportunity to paint the playhouse - something I'd wanted to do for a while. I always forget to take before pictures, but here is the playhouse as it was with a ... http://happyflamily.com/2011/01/29/playhouse-remodel/