He who plants a tree plants a hope.*

Meet Baby Dogwood!

We've planted a great many things in our time together but Sunday was our first tree. There is something really wonderful about such an undertaking. It made me think about roots and milestones and growth and love. (Big surprise there after we mourned so horribly the loss of our two old trees late last year.)

Ella and her Daddy-O were an awesome team.

 It didn't take long for her to realize that she could be doing this on her own.

VERY hard at work.

And it wasn't until I was editing photos that I realized that in this next shot, Ella is running with a metal pointed shovel, a tool she felt necessary to complete the job. I must've been caught so off guard at her willingness to be photographed that I threw caution to the wind!

On another note, we've had two "man overboard" situations with Panda in the last three days. In a late Sunday afternoon trip to the grocery store, I realized P-Man was not on board while we were loading groceries into the car. There are 25 aisles in this store. We found the poor guy lying in a heap in aisle 21 after retracing our steps in aisles 1-20. I was in a cold sweat. Ella's fear mounted at every turn. And then again this morning, P-Man stayed behind in Daddy's car after Ella was dropped at Grandma's. A dozen phone calls and a trip downtown later, we are happy to report Ella and Panda are reunited and the tears have stopped. Thanks to Papa for being the best courier service EVER!

There are days when it takes more than a village, my friends.


~Lucy Larcom, "Plant a Tree"