Two New Houses for Ella!

How many people get two new houses for their fourth birthday? Yesterday, Ella did!

Emily and Bob made their move to their new home on Ella's birthday; and Ella received a very cute Fisher Price Loving Family Dollhouse from her Grandma, Grandpa, and Great-Grandma Woehlke.

Most of the boxes of stuff were moved on Sunday by a lot of hard-workers--Andy, Brad, Kelly, Betty, Tom, Bob, Mark, and Mary (Em and I unpacked a lot!).

Yesterday five incredibly strong Spanish-speaking young men shrink-wrapped, loaded, and unloaded 2 truckloads of furniture in only 4 1/2 hours! It was quite amazing to watch. The only casualty was a couple of holes in the walls going up the stairs in order to get their king size four-poster bed up the stairs (quite an ordeal). Bob finally gave permission to mar the walls since it was a brand new bed and there was no other way!

Ella and Sophie quickly made 4 new neighborhood friends who kept them occupied most of the afternoon, (including a swim in a nifty new blow up pool).

By the end of the day, beds were made (ready to fall into), the kitchen was pretty well settled, the living and family rooms pretty well settled (except pictures on the walls), lawn was mowed (Tom brought over his 2 mowers and he and I made quick work of it), bushes in the front were trimmed by Tom, the cable guy had come and the TV, telephone, and internet were hooked up, and vases of flowers from their extensive flower gardens made the place look settled. Then a wonderful barbecued rib dinner (a la Brad), a "princess" birthday cake (a la Grandma Woehlke), and the dollhouse arrived.

There was a perfect ending to the day as "Princess" Ella waved goodby to me from her "turret" bedroom as she was ready to go to bed after a long, fun, exciting day!