Nurse Ella

On the way home Ella was asking to watch Jon & Kate Plus 8, because she wanted to watch the episode where Jon gets his hair transplants. This is nothing new at all. Ella is amazed about the surgery Jon underwent & watches intently everytime she sees it. I do not promote letting kids watch surgery on tv for the fear it might create...But, when we tried to hide it from Ella she only got more and more intrigued until we finally broke and let her see it. I don't think she fully understands what is going on so that helps out with the gross factor. But, now she likes to take fake knifes and pretend to poke daddy in the head like she is giving him transplants.

So I asked Ella if she wanted to be a doctor since she loves to play doctor & loves the sight of blood and guts. "A(b)solutely not," she replied. When I asked further questions I learned that the reason she doesn't want to be a doctor is because she wants to be able to give people shots. I told her that doctors give shots, but nurses give more shots than doctors. "Well I am going to be a nurse," she declared. "I want to give lots of shots," she said. I should probably explain to her that nurses give shots cause they have a desire to help people heal not to merely hurt them. Geeze.

Such a simple question can tell you so much!

Last year Diane Sawyer did an interview with a very inspiring man Randy Pausch. Randy is the man made famous by his 'Last Lecture' that took YouTube by storm. If you haven't watched this video I highly suggest you do; Randy's perspective on life was very refreshing. I guarantee you will come away from that 'lecture' with a new appreciation for the life you have.

Anyway, one of the things that grabbed my attention in his interview with Diane Sawyer was a ritual he had with his kids. As he tucked them in bed at night he would ask them just one question, "What was the favorite part of your day today?" The answer might be silly, original, or typical, or the answer might be one that blows you away. The point is, you will never know until you ask.

After watching that interview I made a point to start asking Ella every night this very question. Although we spend nearly all our time together, I would still have many days where I felt like we never connected throughout the day. This was my 'connecting' time. As with alot of things, I slip in my habits and started forgetting to ask this question.

Last night, Randy and his question popped into my head. We had a very active day yesterday, playing outside in this wonderful weather with Ella's best friend all day long. I asked Ella this question last night thinking I would get the typical, "My favorite part was playing at the park with Taylor all day!" And, of course she did say this. But, then she said her other favorite part was climbing up in that big chair all by herself to eat lunch (big chair=bar stool). She said, "It was pretty scary, but I did it!" She was beaming with pride. She had never sat in one of those chairs before so I guess that really was a very important thing in her own mind.

God gives us such a gift by giving us children! While adults can slip into mundane habits and start to take little things for granted, kids have such a different, refreshing prospective on everything. Each day is a gift in their eyes. Each day is filled with learning, and they are constantly filled with enthusiasm.

While I know the answer Ella gave is not life altering, I did realize there are many times we go through our day thinking we know exactly what the other person is thinking. But, do we really? Maybe we should all start asking each other this simple question everyday. I think it could be a big relationship builder!

Signs of Spring

Nothing says, "spring is here" like bunnies, daffodils, & kites. Yesterday gave us the opportunity to experience all three. We were blessed with temperatures in the mid-70's yesterday, and we decided to take full advantage of it.



Joe & Betty's neighbor has a pet bunny that she brought over for the girls to see yesterday afternoon. Ella was anxious to see 'Crockpot', but Addie was a little more hesitant.

The girls enjoyed the daffodils that Grandma Kunkel has planted. If we would have stayed much longer there wouldn't have been any blooms left, because Addie's favorite thing to do is pick them all off.

Isn't Matt "purty" with the flower Addie gave him? It added a nice flair to his look doing yard work. Yes he will kill me, but I couldn't resist.


Yesterday was a perfect day for kite flying. We bought Ella a Barbie kite & Addie a Sesame Street kite. Grandma & Grandpa went to the park with us to practice flying them. Addie was in total amazement of it, but Ella got mad and thought we were going to break her Barbie kite. She made Matt reel it in and forget it. She said it wasn't for flying, but rather for hanging in her room....sorry Ella not happening. After the girls got bored Grandpa took them up to swing and Matt and I stood there flying our kiddie kites for quite awhile...too bad I don't have a picture of him with his Barbie kite for blackmail :) (Ella didn't like it too much that we went against her wishes, but she got over it.) I quit paying attention of one second and my kite went flying out of my hand. Matt got a good kick out of that yelling, "Run Forrest, Run!" as I made an idiot of myself chasing it up the hill and into a tree. Surprisingly enough that cheap little $3.50 kite survived being pulled down out of two tree limbs. It still flies just perfect.

Addie's Chuck E. Cheese Party 2/28/09

We celebrated Addie's 2nd birthday on 2/28 with our friends & family at CEC's. It was a very chaotic environment to celebrate in. Regardless, I think the kids managed to have a very good time. This is one of Addie's favorite places, so I think it was very fitting to ring in the big 0-2 there. I have added a link to some more pictures of the day. Thanks to everyone that celebrated with us!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016981&id=1328632420&l=e031b

Will you accept this rose?

Daddy brought all his girls home a dozen roses for V-Day, and yes we did accept them graciously. I broke the thorns off and let Addie have a little sensory fun. She loves the feel of the roses, and she would hold them up to her nose and take a huge sniff, then go, "UHM!!!" Funny how they gets such amazement out of the simpliest things in life.