"Stop Being A Wimp".

When we all ventured to the Butterfly House a few weeks ago I had no idea it would be such an epic failure. Roz and Ella were quite excited about the prospect of flitting around with such beautiful creatures.

They loved the Butterfly Welcome Center with all sorts of butterfly inspired loot to gaze at (and purchase). We listened to the "Do's and Don'ts" and headed into this rather large greenhouse full of natural light, unusual trees and flowers, trickling water, sweet smells...and butterflies. Everywhere.

"Hold me!"
"I want you!"
"I want Panda!!"
"The big circles on its wings look like eyes - they are scary!!!"

There is absolutely nothing staged about these photos. They were petrified. Our friends Mia and Claire, on the other hand, were in hog heaven. And at one point, it was our bold little Claire who told Ella, "stop being a wimp." Ella was so freaked out it didn't seem to bother her being bossed so boldly.

Michelle was the lucky one. Five of us ladies were trying to get butterflies to land on us and she was the only one!

Katie and I busted the girls out to run outside on the grounds while our friends continued to have fun. It took a while for laughter and smiles.

Pretty girls and goofy smiles.

Blue Eyed Mia!!

That evening both girls were quick to tell their dads how 'oh so beautiful' the butterflies were failing to mention how they were OUT OF THEIR MINDS.

What is most interesting is that during a visit to the zoo last week, Ella was most intrigued with the aviary house. Birds. That fly around. And swoop down AT you. Complicated little things.

On the home front, Ella and our little babies have made great progress together. Mavis and Thomas are getting more opportunities to roam in our home. There is no question that their favorite room is Ella's room.

I scoop them up in the morning and after naptime for them to help wake her. She wants them in her bed as much as possible.

Thomas and Mavis have no complaints about being there either.

She is quite the Mama Ella to her two little ones, that seem to be growing inches by the day.

Today was our first day of Pre-K and more pictures of her excellent first day will be coming at you shortly!!

~H

"Hey Mom?"

"Remember that time I cut my own hair?"

She said this to me 24 hours after doing it.

It was by chance that I realized she turned the scissors on herself. (Have you seen that mop of hair on her head?) I saw these two little clumps on the living room floor and was getting ready to blame Thomas and Mavis for shredding something. And then it all started to compute: the scissors on the coffee table, the hair was at the exact location where she had been sitting, and the subsequent look on her face when she saw it unfolding in front of her.

Another milestone behind us - a rite of passage for every kid her age!!!! Believe me, I'm thanking my lucky stars that she didn't do serious damage to that wonderful head of shiny, black hair.

She has been on scissor hiatus :)


~H 

PS: I have since determined that the hair was cut from the front of her hairline, of course, just over her left eye. She now has a small section of 'bangs'.

All Aboard!

There are fewer things in this world that can make your heart feel like it is going to burst than to watch your child enjoy something. Completely.

Early Friday morning, we packed up the car and told Ella we were heading off on adventure. Period. No other hints. She was a tad disoriented because it was her usual Grandma/Papa day. We were missing work for this adventure??!

It was worth the two hour drive.

"Look at those pistons, Mama!!!"

Yep. We had fun and there were plenty of times where you'd find her wide-eyed and quiet trying to take it all in.

The park had some other non-Thomas fun as well. Who knew there was such a thing as a Venetian swing?

And for the girl who is shy about nearly everything, she hopped on this train ride without skipping a beat, with a bunch of children she didn't know. Take note where she sat - and what she's looking at...

She would look up occasionally but was perfectly content to watch those wheels go round and round on the track.

We even found this funny mirror for a family portrait. See the little girl behind us? She refused to leave so that I could take the photo so we went with it! (Confession: I did kinda want to push her out of the way.)


Our evening ended beautifully with a gathering in the neighborhood with our moms' group families. We didn't see much of Ella that evening because the hosts had a motorized Cadi. She took charge and opened the hood to make sure everything was running properly. Then she boldly asked the older boys if she could drive. The only girl in the bunch.

Josh and Ella.

When the ride ran out of steam, we found her doing this!

She did take a break from hanging with the boys to help Claire on the group painting project. The hosts put out an old bench and asked the kids to paint it however they wanted.

I'd like to thank Mr. Sunshine for the excellent lighting on this one.

What a unique little soul she is. School will be starting in just about two weeks. This is the last hoorah before Kindergarten. I can't wait to see what we learn about her in the next few months. I wonder if Thomas will still be so popular a year from now?

~H

Something to smile about.

We needed a reason to smile on Tuesday. After months and months of deliberation, we felt our girl was finally ready to try the big screen. Thanks to some awesome advice (thanks, D and A) we waited until the previews were completely done before Ella went in. Previews are much louder. It worked like a charm.

She was nervous and spent most of the time with her hands on her ears while waiting with me for previews to be over. Larry (lover of the previews, secured seats and gave me the green light text when they were done.)

The movie was all about planes. She was thrilled, gave big belly laughs with eyes as big as saucers. We needed it. It felt good to get lost in a movie with kids giggling all around us.

Apparently we needed to giggle more. On Thursday, Ella and I scooped up Roz from the hair salon after her quick cut so that Katie could enjoy two hours of bliss without a child. I enjoyed two hours of bliss with the four year olds, and then let them photograph me.

I regained control of the smart phone when the swimsuits came out!

 

Roz's swimming abilities have skyrocketed since this spring. She is fearless. Ella, on the other hand thinks swimming means sitting on the edge of the pool.

 But she did blow bubbles for me without any coaxing. Baby steps...

We had a huge Friday. HUGE!!! More on that later.

Today was another picture-perfect day. Apparently it was good cat napping weather as well.

Our freshly bathed and barely dressed Ella gazing out at the sunset tonight.

Ella has been in bed for an hour and is still singing and talking. Off to drop the hammer on the party she's having up there!

~H

Master Bentley

Baby Bentley.

There's no easy way to write this or lay it out there or make it pretty. My boyfriend Bentley died on Monday, 17 months to the day after his brother Blake.

He won't be there to greet me at my parents' house. And he did. The minute he heard my voice his ears perked and he came. These last months his hearing was completely gone and it would take my walking into the room for him to perk up. My parents will even admit that he was partial to me: I his mistress, he my master.

Since my parents moved down the street at Christmas, Ella and I have enjoyed staying at their house with him from time-to-time so that he didn't have to be at the kennel. Did I mention how much I hated for him (and his brother) to be boarded? I did. I would spring them early more often than not and live out of two homes just so that they would be comfortable. I was a freak that way and it became a joke, really. Thank God Larry and Ella were always so understanding about my relationship with these boyfriends.

Over the weekend, we started preparing ourselves and Ella of the inevitable. It helped me to talk it out with her. I was honest and tried to explain that a body being tired and being older doesn't necessarily mean death...but that in his case it did.

"How does God get Bentley to heaven, mama?" "Is God here now to do it?" She asks excellent questions, that girl.

"He will be with Simba and Blake and Jack and Una now." She is also listening and holding onto our earlier conversations.

I'm amazed at how the death of a pet can bring a strong, practical person to his or her knees. It defies all explanations. But if you've been fortunate enough to have a four-legged being in your life, you get it. You really, really get it.

I took these last photos of him a few days ago, because I knew. He knew. I hope he felt that last ear rub I gave him as he drifted off. He loved that the most.

~H

A weekend in review.

What a glorious weekend of weather and fun. More than once, I thought of how much it reminded me of our time in Kunming - perfect temperatures, full sun and no humidity.

We enjoyed chocolate ice cream.

Ella, Grandma and Papa enjoyed their Friday at the zoo. Here she is engaging in quite the stare-down.

We enjoyed a kid-free night on Friday while she spent the night with them. We started our Saturday morning out perfectly with breakfast and art in the garden.

We met KatieRoz at the Festival of India. Although Ella was not hip to trying any new foods (Roz sure did!!), Larry and I are still thinking about the feast we had.

Her preferred way to travel.

There were BIG cat naps that afternoon. I know I should have been outside enjoying the weather and working in the yard but I had these two on me. I could not deny them. Thomas is more likely to curl up as close to my face as he can get. Mavis is more content to find a patch of sunshine and stretch out on the floor. They are doing really well adjusting to their new forever lives with us. We are too :)

We spent Saturday evening with our Number one guy - Thomas! He is three now and it is so sweet to see the girls 'mothering' (translation: bossing) him as more of an equal rather than Baby Thomas. It was a beautiful evening and were thankful to be included in the celebration.

After Ah-men, we headed to a coffee shop to take in some tunes provided by Larry and band. Ella and I brought our electronics. I worked on (yet) more photo edits from my friend's wedding; she surfed YouTube for panda and fish videos. We even danced a bit to her favorite song. Live music is so much a part of her life that I found her singing the lyrics WITH them during one song. Of course I made too big of a deal about it and she got all bashful on me. Way to ruin the moment, Mama.

And this morning glory greeted me at our back door this morning. Wow.

It went downhill from there, people. Ella had a check up at the dentist at 9am. It was 'kid day' which I thought would only serve to help her anxieties. It. Did. Not.

She screamed and cried and hyperventilated in the exam chair. She kept Panda pressed firmly against her mouth when she wasn't freaking out. We left without having her check up done. Next step might be going to a local pediatric dentist who specializes in these fears. Now if I could just talk Larry into being the one to take her next time!

~H