Life after the frozen tundra

I love spring. It is always so amazing to see the little flowers come up out of the previously frozen ground, and birds magically reappear and start singing, and trees sprout leaves. This year we took pictures of our tree daily as the buds came out. It's amazing how fast it changes. There is only one day between each picture!

The beautiful tree in our backyard over the last ten days.....





























































Thanks to our budding photographer, Jake, who took lots of these pictures. :)

TV Junkie

I am afraid I am making a TV junkie out of Estee, not to mention my other kids, but Estee is still young enough to control. Anyway, it all started when I needed to shower (you know that thing that adults do daily so they don't stink) and Estee would destroy everything in the house while I was showering. So I decided I would get her to watch TV while I was showering, and give her a snack for good measure. It almost always works like a charm. But the problem is now she asks for TV (wee-vee) when I am not showering. I can usually distract her with some books or toys, or shoes (she loves shoes), but I am afraid she is getting old enough she won't be distracted and I will just give in because I don't want to hear her scream, I know it's hard to believe I would let that influence me. Below I have some good hard evidence that this is becoming a horrible habit for my little 20 month old--and it's all my fault!

She is really close to the TV (wee-vee) just so she won't miss anything. I figured this was OK because she was only interested in Baby Einstein, which makes her smart like Einstein, right?

Until I left Estee with the boys one day and came home to find them all completely engrossed with STAR WARS!!

Look at her pointing at the Storm Troopers!! I mean isn't this suppose to scare small children?? No way, she thought this was the highlight of life hanging out with the boys watching Star Wars. Again, I am afraid this is all my fault--she got my genes--I love hanging out with the boys and watching action movies including Star Wars!

Dan at work

One of the PAs that works in the oto department is also a professional photographer. He came in one day and took some pictures of Dan operating (they were drilling out the bone behind the ear and repairing an ear drum). I thought it was kind of fun to see what Dan looked like in the OR. I'm not sure what I expected he would look like, but I guess I didn't think he would be so, I don't know...sterile looking. I guess I am glad he looks STERILE in the OR. Anyway, it was fun for me to see him busy at work in these pictures.

This is my favorite shot.


In case you just can't tell what is going on here. He is operating on the patient's right ear with a microscope, which is all wrapped up so it's sterile. It looks to me like it would be hard to see what the heck you are doing.

Closing the incision.

Dan operating with somebody watching.

http://picasaweb.google.com/janieward1313/DanOperatingMarch08

Toledo Zoo

This week has been Spring Break for the kids. We loved having nothing to do all week! We went to the Toledo Zoo one day and the weather could not have been better (we don't get to say that much lately!) Everybody had a blast here are some highlights.

Andy checking the map for our route through the zoo.

Don't worry Estee knows what she wants to see! OK, check out her cute little pig tails. Aren't they adorable? Her first time with her hair back, and in pig tails, she looks so big!

Ride'em cowboys. Ride the turtles boys.

The polar bears were giving us quite the show, they would jump in the water and play with this little ball and swim around. It was really fun to watch them, Estee was riveted for quite a while. She kept trying to tell Dan later that day what we saw at the zoo. She kept saying over and over "bear, wa-wa, ball".

Getting a closer look at the Amazon.
Estee with her cute friend Lucy who is one month younger than her--and taller, but Estee has more hair so I guess it all equals out! They are so cute.

Abby and her friend Ellen who both just hatched out of this giant egg!

Oh, wow Estee and Abby just hatched!

Andy, Abby and Ellen

What a fun day at the zoo!