Tulip-time

Each spring we make our way up to the tulip fields for a celebration of Gwenn's birthday, and as a welcome to spring. This year was fantastic, with lots of pretty blooms, moderately nice weather (meaning it only rained a bit) and lots of fun. We had a great time, and everyone was nice and tired by the end of the day.

Pierced Ears

Well, last night was our big night. Ella got her ears pierced. Since then no one can touch her face, brush her hair, and get too close to her - since she has pierced ears and she wants to be sure there are no germs getting too close. I've tried to explain that it's ok, but so far no luck. I'll update with pictures later today, but in the meanwhile, I had some more Ella pics to have up here!

Hippie Chicks

Thanks to Schmarr, who is on my team and got a bit crazy with her tie-dye last weekend. Thanks so much for these great shirts! They LOVED wearing them this weekend!

Lilypie

Thanks to a new mom who joined WCC today, I have learned about Lilypie - a great online company that is creating customized tickers for bio and adoptive parents!

http://lilypie.com/

Ella pics

Like me, Ella prefers to be BEHIND the camera - which is why I have such a tough time getting ahold of great pictures of Ella. In addition, somewhere she has learned about the "Asian camera gene" and now tells me she likes to take pictures because she is Chinese. Not, of course, because it's cool to take pictures...

1st Lost Tooth

Ella lost her first tooth today. Very big deal, quite traumatic, and thankfully she has recovered. There were many tears, but thankfully oragel works just as well on loose teeth as it does on new teeth for baby sisters. We numbed up the tooth, and I got to quick pull it out. It took all of 3 days to go from "just loose" to out. That's efficiency. If I told Ella that it was supposed to happen in a day, she'd probably will it to happen that way.

We are now awaiting the tooth fairy. We had quite a discussion about how the tooth fairy knows which child lost the tooth, but then when we realized that she could see who was missing a tooth, it was a lot easier.

Pumpkin Patching it

We had a great trip to the pumpkin patch. thankfully, there were no repeats of last years ER visit when Ella suffered an allergic reaction to Remlinger Farms. Equipped with our EpiPen Jr. we headed out, and had a great time. Lucy was confused by what on earth we were doing out there, but finally got into things...

Gotcha Day - 5 Years

I can't believe it, but today is 5 years since I was able to take my little sweet Ella into my arms! Hard to believe - this weekend we will have a gathering of the families that I travelled to China with. What an amazing group of people that I went with - and all have the most fantastic children.

Well, Ella was 11 months old, and she will be 6 next month. It's so amazing how fast this time has gone, and what an amazing girl Ella has grown into.

Ocean

We love going to the ocean, and the girls had a great time. It was windy, cold and a bit rainy - and we had a fantastic time! We flew the kite, made sand castles, and collected shells. Our new au pair, Viivi, came along and had a great time I think - the girls are really getting to know and enjoy her!

We'll try to get down one more time before the nice weather is gone for the year.

For Gwenn & Ella

Hi Girls,

I wanted to let you know I had a fun time shopping for you yesterday. Gwenn, I got you exactly what you asked for - and Ella, same for you! I love you and miss you, and cannot wait to see you again.

Today I'm going to a Forbidden City, and tomorrow to the Great Big Wall... I will be on my web camera for you tomorrow afternoon, and I'll try one more time before I leave for the day.

Love you,

Mommy