What's that?

(Hippie-Chick Ella with Roz)

All day long. The girl doesn't miss a sound in our creaky old house or what goes on in the world outside. She is especially aware of helicopters and planes, glad when they've flown over by announcing, "All gone, it's OK". And birds?! She is imitating the blue jays, robins and sparrows without trouble. Perhaps the 'boodies' (birdies) morning songs are contributing to her painfully early rising between 3:30 and 4:30 this past week.

If I haven't mentioned it before, Happy New Year is currently incorporated into every conversation. When she's on the phone having her pretend chats, she says it half a dozen times before ending the call, "...Ummm. Ok. Bye-Bye." She is Happy New Year'ing it up in the car seat while we toodle around the city. I guess our Chinese New Year celebrations had some impact.

The weather forecast is looking promising this weekend. We have sparkling new Ella-friendly gardening tools just waiting to get dirty. We are hopeful she'll take them out for a maiden voyage. She's been practicing her yard-work skills with my mom. I'm certain she'll have a thing or two to teach us.

Yesterday was miserable outside so we packed up the girls and headed to the Mall to blow the stink off.

I found this series of photographs to be the sweetest of the day. They say a lot, I think.

First, Roz is leading. And Ella, although willingly clutching Roz's hand, appears to be giving off the vibe, "Would you slow down?!" Roz is on a mission.

They are happy. I mean, they've got an incredibly long hallway all to themselves, lots of shiny floor, cool lights. What more could they ask for?

They are ornery. It wasn't until this last shot that either turned back to look at us as if to say, "Oh, you two are still here?"

May you get lost enjoying what YOU like to do this weekend! H, L & EML