Are you happy in your heart?

Natalie is sensing a mood around here these days...one that is mostly mine and mostly not all that positive. I made the mistake of looking at the calendar and realized next Thursday it will be one year that our stuff has lived two time zones away from us. It's as if a year's worth of anxiety and indecision and living in limbo has finally caught up with me.

The nice part about living with a toddler is that she really has no tolerance for moodiness that isn't hers. SHE can throw a tantrum any time she sees fit but she has a real issue with Mommy and Daddy not being all smiles all the time. Lately, she's been asking (repeatedly), "Mommy/Daddy, are you happy in yo hawt?" We always assure her that yes, we are happy in our hearts. Then she proudly announces that she's happy in her heart, too. Thank goodness. It's a good reminder to me to snap out of it and she seems pleased to be the one to help me.

So, not only do we have our own little personal pout patrol to keep us in check, but she's also a marvelous mood lifter. This morning, as I attempted to toast her frozen waffle, she said, "don't toast it Mommy, I want it cold." I explained that if I didn't toast it, it wouldn't just be cold, it would be frozen. "That's good. I want it fwozen," she replied very matter-of-factly. Okay then. So, there she sat...gnawing on her frozen waffle and happy in her heart the whole time. She finished the entire thing. Guess we now know we can still make her happy during a power outage!

Trip to Michigan

We were only home for a few days after Tahoe and then we boarded a plane and headed to Michigan for another week away. We're unemployed...why not? We had an awesome time. Now we're out of money and out of miles so we're staying put for awhile!

We kayaked, caught lightening bugs, picnicked on the beaches of Lake Michigan, picked blackberries, feasted on blackberry cobbler as a result (yum), wandered the farm, picked soooo many wildflowers, went fishing (Corey), fell in love with Saugatuck, MI(Kim), played with totally cool vintage Fisher Price toys (Natalie), enjoyed beautiful weather, and even fit in a Brooks family reunion.

It was a great visit. Thanks, Papa Franc, Nana and Auntie Ammy for making it such a fun trip!

Trip to Tahoe

We just returned from a wonderful week at Tahoe. Although there was nothing quite like a week of sweatshirt mornings, bathing suit afternoons and blanket nights to remind us that summer IS perfect somewhere.
Natalie totally loved the beach. She was caught off guard the first night by the sand that stuck to her skin (too much concrete pool decking for this girl lately, apparently) but she soon adjusted and spent the rest of the week (literally) knee deep in the stuff. She joined her Daddy and Papa every morning out to breakfast and they only regretted the invitation once...on the last day of our trip, sadly.
We drove (14+ hours total) and Natalie did great. I think I complained more than she did. I'm not sure how parents stayed sane on road trips before portable DVD players...but I'm sure glad I'm a mommy in this century!!

It was so hard to leave. We really enjoyed time with family and friends and soaked up all the Tahoe sunshine, sunsets and forest air we could. What a truly magical place it is. Thanks, everyone, for making it such a special trip for us.