Ni Hao

Ella only has 4 days left of school, then she’s out for the summer... that is if you can call a week off of school “summer vacation”. She will start 1st grade a week after school ends. CRAZY! We are getting excited though. Ella is enrolled in the Chinese program at her school which starts in 2 weeks. She will have an English teacher for 1/2 a day & a Chinese teacher for 1/2 a day. Her Chinese teacher will only speak Chinese. I have to admit that I am a little bit nervous about it.

We have a book club in our neighborhood that I attend (whenever I can). This month the book we are reading is "Wild Swans." It didn't sound like a very interesting book, but since I knew that Ella would soon be learning all about the Chinese culture, and since I know very little about the Chinese culture; I decided to check the book out from the library. I figured I'd skim through it, and learn more about it from Book Club (since I have very little time to devote to book reading these days.) I made the mistake of reading the first chapter. Right from the start this book is very captivating. There are so many interesting things that I didn't know about the Chinese culture. Everyone in the book is changing their name whenever they want. How cool is that? It's also very interesting to read about the Chinese culture through the daughter of parents who are both members of the Communist Elite.

Luckily I found the book at a Yard Sale for only $1, since my book is due back to the library, and I'm only half way finished; and I probably shouldn't read anymore until after our house is finished.

I've been letting Ella watch Kai-lan videos on the internet to get her excited for the Chinese program. It's working. She can relate to Kai-lan. Kai-lan, like Ella, is obsessed with Dinosaurs.
Lily has gotten into the show as well. She has learned to say "Hello" in Chinese.
I wanted to show off Lily's Chinese speaking skill's right away.

Me: Lily, show Grandma that you know how to say "Hello" in Chinese. Can you say "Hello" in Chinese?
Lily: Hello in Chinese.

Ha ha, she really knows how to say it; I promise she does.

Surprise Party

Justin threw a surprise party for Emily tonight. There was swimming, food, movies, & more. Happy Birthday Emily; we had a fun time at your party.

On a another note, Tyler smashed his finger HARD with a hammer today. It is very smashed and swollen, and I'm very sad about it.

Accomplished

It's amazing what you can accomplish in 24 hours; especially when you're desperate to accomplish the impossible.

Starting at midnight, we finished packaging just over 40 orders... and although we still have lots of orders to fill, it feels great to get rid of so many packages in one swoop.
This morning while Tyler laid flooring, I packed up most of the boxes that Lily had unpacked the night before, while I was getting Ella ready for her dance recital. Then, I started packing the boxes that Lily had unpacked while I was repacking the boxes she had previously unpacked... repeat scenario several times. Then I got smart. We loaded the car up, and took all the boxes over to the new house. Technically we aren't supposed to move in until we have our occupancy certificate... so if the inspector finds out, and cares, we may end up moving the boxes out again before we can move in; but that would be much easier than re-packing everyday. My nephews helped me get the job done fast. We moved quite a bit over. Thanks to everyone who helped us today, we are ready for carpet & the finish guy on Monday... well, we will be when Tyler gets home late tonight. In the meantime, I'm going to finish re-packing all of the boxes that Lily unpacked this afternoon.

We are so close to moving in. All we have left after today is, carpet, finish guy, plumbing, re-tile the shower that we ripped out this week, install garage door, finish grouting the girls bathroom, finish putting pendants on chandeliers, finish hanging lights, install cabinets, cut & install counter tops, figure out what to do with our bath tub, add one more coat of sealant to deck, and install the deck railing. (Not to mention pack & move 2 businesses while keeping them up and running.) Okay, so we have a LOT to finish. Maybe you can all visit us when we move into our moving van next week; we'll park it at the nearest Wal-Mart.

Dance

We took a nice break from packing & house building tonight to watch Ella, Katie, & Brielle dance.

They all did a great job.

Afterward, we enjoyed Sm-ores at Emily's house.

It was a nice little break... but much too short. It's midnight now, and we're just starting work for the day. (Only 2 more weeks until this madness ends... we hope!)

A very happy Un-Birthday to...

...Lily!

Dear mom,
I was kind of sad last week when Ella was opening all her birthday presents. I wanted to open one too. It occurred to me that all these boxes that have been piling up lately... the one's you call "moving boxes" are all for me. Thank you so much for all the nice gifts. I opened them as soon as I realized there were treasures waiting inside for me. Thank you for all your nice crafting supplies. I really loved playing with all your jewelry beads, until they all got lost and scattered in the carpet. It's okay though, there were so many other fun "gifts" for me to open, clothing, sheets, papers, more crafting supplies. They weren't wrapped as cute as Ella's gifts, but I didn't mind. Not only were all the gifts fun to open and scatter about, but these gifts, that are stacked up in every room, make perfect ladders. Now I can reach my clothes again. You know, the ones you moved up high in my closet so I wouldn't change 3+ times a day? Now I can resume dressing in my usual manner.
Skirts.
Pajama tops.
Snow boots.
It's too bad you took the spray paint away from me before I could paint you a cute picture. I'm pretty sure you'd have loved the pink couch I was planning to spray for you.
Anyhow, I just wanted to thank you again for a very merry Un-birthday! Hopefully I can find time tomorrow to open the rest of my "gifts."

Love, Lily

Arrggh you ready for a party?

We had a princess pirate themed birthday party for Ella today.

My sister, Emily hosted the party at her house, since we are packing up, and our house is a mess.

Emily also made cute cupcakes & cake pops for the party.

Trisha wrapped Ella's gift in a cute treasure chest.

The guests got some gold coins and treasure to take home.

We ate yummy food, colored pictures, played games, read stories, and bounced.

Ella loves her friends & cousins.

She got a ton of fun "treasures." Thank you everyone who came, and thank you Emily for hosting the party at your house.

Money well wasted

We weren't planning on doing anything for Ella’s birthday tonight, but Tyler decided he was sick of working 16 hour days.
We decided to try out the new pizza place in Draper. When we first walked in and saw the price, we thought for sure it would be a huge waste of money... but 4 and a half hours later, pizza, salads, desserts, games, prizes, candy, bumper cars, mini-golf, and the happiest little kids ever... it turns out that we wasted our money well.

Happy Birthday Ella!

Lily makes breakfast

There's nothing like waking up to a delicious breakfast. Today's menu: Waffles topped with sprinkles & a little pepper.

Dat Bedda?

Tall piles of neatly folded laundry stacked in rows, sat peacefully, as I worked to put them away. Before I could reach her, Lily tore through the piles of laundry grabbing armfuls of clothing, towels, and, socks. She then proceeded to distribute them carelessly throughout the room.

Lily: Dat bedda Mommy? I help! Dat Bedda?

Blue Slurpees

Ella: Mom, what flavor is my Slurpee again?
Me: Blue Raspberry
Ella: Guess what it tastes like.
Me: Raspberry?
Ella: Not even close.
Me: What does it taste like then?
Ella: Blue flavor.

Pottery Barn told me to paint Ella's room green

We were planning to paint Ella's room lavender, but after I found Ella's old bedspread she used in our last house, we decided to paint her room a color that would match. I went to Pottery Barn's website to look for color inspirations, and was surprised to see that they still sell her bedspread (shown above.) The green room it was in looked fun, so I decided to paint Ella's room the color that was listed in the picture (even though the actual paint chip is a color that I would have never even considered.)

We had a pizza party in her new, green room last night. It's very bright... but I like it (I think). I do hope, however that the green almost radiation glow that shines through the cracks of her door disappear after our carpet goes in.