I Was Tagged - Guess I'm "It!"

Okay, so I'm pretty new to all of this bloggy-talk. But apparently there is something called a "meme" - I don't know what it means, but I guess it's what I'm about to do. Sarah (Rose in the Making) "tagged" me in her post, so here goes!

3 Things Meme:

3 places I go all the time:
- Wal-Mart - definitely my #1. In fact, I think Ella thinks that if you can't get it from Wal-mart, it can't be gotten. We get everything there.
- Church
- The Mall. Definitely still getting my fix after living so far from any major shopping for so long.

3 people who email me:
- Carma - she's amazing that way. Me? Not so much.
- My sister-in-law Dana - The Morgan updates always bring a huge smile to my day!
- My Bible Study Leader

3 favorite places to eat:
- El Rosal in my CA hometown (can you say "WITHDRAWAL?") I almost miss their burritos as much as my family.
- Olive Garden
- Fuddruckers

3 places I would rather be right now:
- With one of my college friends, having some "girl talk" (yay! get to do that soon! Can't wait to see you Rebo!)
- Visiting my family in CA
- On a cruise with just myself and my handsome husband.

3 Projects I'd like to get started:
- Packing up Ella's winter clothes
- Getting our file system set-up and organized
- Re-organizing Ella's room and closet

3 people who will do this: Hmmm. Well, only if they want to, I'll say Jen VM, Michelle B, and Carma. No pressure though! (:

3 TV shows I could watch over and over:
- The Office
- Seinfeld
- Sex and the City

The Return of the Rubber Chicken

This post is for my mom - since she gets a kick out of seeing Ella with her rubber chicken.

Last summer, the rubber chicken was in a wedding gift (roasting pan) that Dave's niece Jennifer opened. Ella happened to be right there, "helping" open the gifts, so quickly claimed the chicken as her own. And so the love affair began. She played with it constantly, and even needed to have it next to her when she napped. Well, when the time came to leave Wisconsin, we conveniently "forgot" to take it with. The next time we visited - a few months later - Jennifer made sure that Ella and the chicken were re-united, and this time she would not let us leave it behind.

But the rubber chicken was an outdooor toy. Considering the fact that it was fed grass, dirt, leaves, rocks, water, and whatever else could be found outside, it wasn't allowed in the house. So the winter went by, and the rubber chicken was neglected. Until this past Sunday that is. Ella spotted it on the shelf in the garage, and was happily reunited with her rubber buddy. Yes, we have a strange child. But she sure does make life fun!

So mom, these pictures are for you! (:

Finally! A SUN-Day!

Temperatures around 70 degrees are a whole new experience when they directly follow months and months and months (and months - or so it seems!) of FREEZING and snowy winter days. That's what we had this Sunday. And boy, did it feel NICE! (:

But I think Ella loved it even more than we did. She was pretty excited to be outside, soaking up the warmth, and playing with sticks, rocks, bark, kick balls, her tricycle, and.... her rubber chicken.





We were pretty excited to break out some of the spring wardrobe. Thanks mom/Beppe for the tulip clothes you sent in February - Ella FINALLY gets to wear them!

Now, let's just hope this weather sticks around for a while.

Survived the Big 5.2 of 2008!

We survived the big Midwest earthquake! In case you haven't heard, the Midwest experienced an earthquake yesterday morning. I (Dave) heard about it at work and didn't think much about it. Then at night when I read one of the headlines in the local paper I found out that the tremors were even felt in our city and I thought "That's crazy! The epicenter was so far away from us. These people are nuts!" But then I read the article and saw the time of the earthquake and immediately my memory was jarred.

I was up early yesterday morning because I needed to finish up a presentation I was doing at work. At approximately 4:38 am the cat was sitting next to me on the floor and all of a sudden his eyes got big, he perked up his ears, and was staring at the door. I watched him and then I heard a "crack" and thought "Hmm, that's weird." I even looked over at the door and wondered if someone was outside. Then I just decided to dismiss the thought as nonsense. But ... little did I know that I had just survived my very first earthquake!

Our Little Chatter Box

This shirt is definitely fitting these days. There is lots and lots of "Ella chatter" in our house. When we got dressed this morning, getting ready to go to Ella's friend Peter's house, we had an amusing conversation:

Me: Do you know what your shirt says Ella?
Ella: "B" "O" "X" "Chatter Box!"
Me: Yep! That's what you are! Are you going to tell Peter what your shirt says that you are?
Ella: Peter can't play with a box. That's goofy and funny momma.


Later, as we were driving, Jars of Clay was in the CD player. Their CD "Redemption Songs." "I'll Fly Away" came on. Ella started singing along. Funny how those words were so appealing to her. It was almost like a kids song - about flying. But then kinda odd too, since it's really about death - well, life after death - but, you know. She loved that song. I think I played it about 5 or 6 times as we were driving today. She was really blaring it out the last couple of times. It made me smile.

We also had a made-up song sung today. Original lyrics by Ella Grace VB: "Snow! Snow! Go A-way! Come again another day! The fountains want to fill with water, Sno-ow, sno-ow, Go a-way!..." Oh, and just for the record, it was raining today, not snowing. But Ella is fascinated with all of the fountains, waterless since winter began, that now are full and flowing.

Tonight, we visited another little friend of Ella's who is in the hospital. Her name is Cady. She is 3 years old and has been having seizures - I think around 50 total in the last week. It's such a scary thing for their family, and there are so many unknowns. She's been in the hospital since Monday, and they are still trying to get the seizures controlled. When we were there, she was pretty lethargic. Had kind of a blank stare. Her mom and dad said she had been like that all day. Her "spark" and "smile" was gone. They were pretty sad about that. After being there for a little bit ("Dora the Explorer" on the TV in the background), Ella blurts out "Swiper No Swiping! OH MAAAAN!" All of a Sudden, Cady's face changes, and she lets out the sweetest giggle. Her mom bawled. And said "Thanks Ella, that's the first time she's smiled all day." A little "RX Ella" was what she needed, it was decided. From then on, lots more smiles and giggles followed - coming from BOTH girls! (:

Yes, I am definitely thankful for my little "chatter box." Life most certainly would not be as awesome without her.

http://www.last.fm/music/Jars+of+Clay/_/I'll+Fly+Away

BOO!

Ha! I bet you're surprised to see me! It's been a while. As my sister Annette mentioned, we've been having "fun in the snow" for a very long time now. (what's even sadder is that we actually have). I guess when she called to make sure we were okay, I knew it was time to get back on here and post another entry. Yes, we ARE okay!

Ella is as crazy and rambunctions as ever - her stitches are really starting to heal, they've almost all dissolved - yay! And her hair is starting to grow a bit in the bald patches - another yay!

So my family has been pestering me for pics. So here you go. Just for you! Although, believe me, it was no easy task getting these. Ella is anything but cooperative when it comes to having pictures taken. There is just way to much fun to be had running around or making goofy faces.

So, to start, here's what our Easter looked like - Yes, you guessed it - Snow! Our friends Gerrit and Michelle and their family - Tessa who's 5, and Nathan, 1 - came up for the weekend, and we had a wonderful time! Lots of playing in the snow, playing Settlers and Euchre, and catching up with each other. They were our first official visitors since we moved here, and we couldn't have been happier to have them over!

Here are the dads and the girls, getting ready to play in the snow. Tessa went sledding for the first time!




Nathan wants to play outside too!



Then, the following weekend, we had more company - Dave's dad, sister Ardell, and friends Susie and Bea came to town. The ladies stayed with another friend in town, and "Grandpa" stayed with us. Ella absolutely loved all of the attention and activity. She was Grandpa's little buddy when they first arrived - bringing him books to read, and making a spot to sit right next to his. They were quite the pair!



One of the must-visit places on their list was a restaurant called "The Pannekoeken" - specializing in Dutch food. We have two locations here, so we dined at each one, making sure everyone had their fill. Ella thought it was pretty funny how they ran really fast, and sang about pannekoeken when bringing them to the table.


Here's a picture of Ella I took on the Sunday after Easter. You can see what her stitches look like fairly well here.


Here's another picture - I took this just last Friday.


Ella terrorizing/loving the cat:



And lastly, a pic from this past Sunday - look! NO SNOW on the ground! YAY!!