Today we met over at the Sweet Tooth Fairy to celebrate Mayci's birthday. After-wards we went for a quick swim, then headed over to see a sneak peak of the 24th of July parade floats. We love being able to see all the floats up close.

How many babies could you fit in your family room?

Ella: Mom, This is such a big empty room. Why is it empty?
Me: Eventually we will save enough money to buy some furniture to put in here.
Ella: Or some babies. Think of how many babies we could fit in this room. We could put so many babies in this huge room. Let's fill the room with babies.

Apparently we have different plans for the Family room.

Friday Fashion tips by Lily

Fashion tip by Lily: It's okay to mix flowers & colors as long as you're smiling cute. P.S. Ballet slippers go with everything!

First Grader

Ella started First Grade today. It's hard to believe that she's already in First Grade, especially since Kindergarten ended a week ago. She spent her summer vacation moving into our new house. She has two teachers this year, an English teacher and a Chinese teacher. I peaked into the Chinese classroom this morning and I really wanted to stay. There were so many cute little Chinese things in it. I just love oriental packaging & products. I think Ella's going to love it too.

Update

We have not moved yet. Lucky for us, we were able to stay in our rental for a few extra days. Unlucky for us, we packed the toys almost a month ago.

July 3rd

Last night we went to the Sandy Parade. We got lots of candy.

Lily thought we were going roller-skating and dressed accordingly.

We played with cousins from both sides of the family.

Then we watched fireworks. This picture makes me laugh.

My friend Bacon

Lily: Mommy, I wike Bacon.
Me: You like Bacon?
Lily: NO! I wanna see Bacon.
Me: You want to see Bacon?
Lily: NO! Bacon my friend.
Me: Megan? Your friend Megan?
Lily: Uh huh! I wike Bacon.

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