Vince and I wanted to have Ella's Birthday outside. We invited Dagmar (mail lady) & Madeline ( a new townie). We figured if we have a couple of sons, those 2 women would make excellent wives for them. So what better way to get them used to our family other than having 'em over every chance we get?

Vince put out the buffet while I went in to get Ella from her crib.

Everyone sang Happy Birthday. Ella jumped out of my arms and turned into a toddler.

I wish I could keep her as an infant forever. Now the learning begins for both me and Vince and for Ella. I gave her Smart Milk right away and sat her on her potty chair.

Ella didnt learn how to potty on her own just yet, we'll have to practice that a lil more. But as soon as she was done, I started teaching her words so that she could start learning how to talk.

Poor Ella, she was burned out by now. I was exhausted so I went to bed. Vince stayed with Ella in the nursery until she woke up.

Vince took Ella to her highchair and fed her. He started teaching her to walk right away. I was sorry that I slept through her first steps.

Ella was quick at learning how to walk and talk; now she's everywhere and constantly after me or Vince for attention. For that reason we dismissed our Nanny and gave up on fufilling our aspiration meter to spend the rest of Ella's toddler days with her.

After we put Ella in her crib for the night, Vince and I went in the hot tub to relax a bit b4 turning in. I was on my way to the kitchen for a drink and notice a single rose sitting outside the front door.

It was from Vince. The note read:
Dear Damara
Romance bloomed between us
As this single flower shows
And as I think of you, my sweet
My longing for you grows
Vince
I brought it in and set it next to the bed.
For Ella's birthday, we wanted it to be just us. We spent enough money on her first birthday. Maybe we'll throw her a grand party when she becomes a teenager. I was called Vince over so he wouldn't miss out on Ella blowing out her candles. He was outside talking with Harmon Ollie Jr.

This is the new look for Ella. She's a spitting image of her Dad.

Out of the 4 bedrooms upstairs, Ella picked the room that had a door leading out to the balcony. She wanted to paint the room purple to match her bed.

Vince and I went up to kiss Ella goodnight and tucked her in. We told her that the Headmaster would be over tomorrow for dinner. Being excited, Ella took it upon herself to wake up early, changed her apperance and made her own breakfast.

Ella has a lot to learn about cooking. She left her muffin & began exercising until she thought it was ready.

When Ella checked on her muffin, she was disapointed to see the black smoke rising.

My daughter definitely isn't shy. She went out and greeted our paper boy, Derek.

When Vince and I finally woke up, we saw Ella napping on the couch. We thought it would be fun to take her out to lunch at Oresha Family Dining.

Ella was so excited when we arrived, she couldn't wait to try the food and met new people.

Vince sat with Ella for lunch. Vince had some fancy cake and Ella tried the ribs. I wasn't very hungry so I mingled with the other guest.

When they were done, we gathered to play a game.

Ella started talking to her "distant cousin" Caleb Ollie (Son of Ava & Robi Ollie).

I wanted to be back home for 4:00pm to start preparing for the Headmasters arrival. But b4 we left, Ella wanted to take her picture in the photobooth.

Ella started dosing off in the car and even got a lil cranky when we reached home.

I told Ella to run upstairs and into bed to catch up on some rest b4 the Headmaster shows.
I prepared chilli con carne to start for dinner with the headmaster. When it was close to time for him to show up, We all got dressed in our formal attire and waited.

Ella heard the car pull up and was the first to greet him

Our mistake was to call him over to start dinner. We realized that giving him a tour of our home might be the best way to start out the interview.

He wanted to play poker and so Vince and I followed him to the top level of our pool house. We didn't give him a chance to sit. Our main focus was to schmooze him as much as we could b4 time was up.
In the end we had 74 out of 90 points with him. All of a sudden he disappeared and so did our time/point box at the top of the screen. It was like meeting him had never happened. So we'll try again tomorrow. I found Ella asleep on the sofa. I brought her up to her room and kissed her goodnight.

When morning came, Ella was the first to get up again. She saw a couple of kids walking in front of the house, she couldn't resist the urge to greet them. First was another "distant cousin" Max Ollie (Son of Amanda & Neil Ollie).

I went out to check the mail and sent her in to change her clothes.

Vince surprised me with another love note.

From her bedroom balcony, Ella noticed a pretty red-headed girl walking toward the house. She greeted Vanessa Tellerman and invited her to play for a while.