Happy Mother's Day!

We had a nice Mother's Day here today - my first one with Ellie on the outside, which makes it much more real. :) After Divine Liturgy there was a program at church where the kids sang songs for the mothers and there were snacks. The mothers all got to go first in line, and it was funny, because they are normally the group that always goes last. The kids could hardly stand to wait for the mothers before the swarmed in on the treats. Afterwards Roger took Ellie and cleaned the kitchen at once, giving me the afternoon off. I took the opportunity to watch a Japanese movie I had TiVoed (a great quick refresher course with subtitles to help out!) and to do some Pilates exercises. Then for dinner we went out to a nice restaurant. Ellie was adorable - we had the table in the window and she kept getting smiles and waves from the passers-by. If you're ever in Alexandria for a nice meal, I highly recommend the Evening Star Cafe - it has been consistently wonderful when we've gone, and tonight was no exception. Plus, we walked there and back, maybe 1/2 mile each way, and it was the perfect way to finish the evening. Well, okay, we actually finished the evening with some World of Warcraft after Ellie fell asleep, but who's counting?

And a new milestone to report: Ellie is now flipping back to front as well as front to back! Yesterday she started this new trick, and today she perfected it. Now we can't immobilize her turtle-style on her back anymore - it gets more exciting every day!

A couple more photos - most of the recent ones unfortunately are in California on the Severinos' computer. I forgot to recharge my camera before leaving, and then didn't have a blank CD to copy them on to. Hopefully we'll figure out a way to get them back soon - help, Leo! In the meantime, here's some funny ones of tastes of real food we've been giving Ellie. She still has one more month before officially eating solid food, but Roger can't help starting to introduce her to one of his favorite tastes: Malta. For those who have been lucky enough not to taste this stuff, it's basically a malted molasses drink popular in Latin America and Africa and tastes like burnt motor oil. Ellie likes it, though. Of course, she also likes cardboard, plastic, and shoe leather - you draw your own conclusion. :)