Smile*

You make me smile like the sun,
Fall outta bed
Sing like a bird,
Dizzy in my head
Spin like a record,
Crazy on a Sunday night
You make me dance like a fool,
Forget how to breathe
Shine like gold,
Buzz like a bee
Just the thought of you can drive me wild
Oh, you make me smile

* Lyrics to Uncle Kracker's "Smile"

There once lived a princess...

... who quickly grew into a beautiful into a beautiful soul. The only thing that seemed to grow quicker than the little princess was her heart.

The princess possessed a special kind of magic that allowed her to love bigger than big.  She ruled her kingdom with one motto:  I love everyone and everything.   When most would run from a bear, the princess would stand brave, ready with a great big bear hug of her own.  Though it was typical for a prince to win the heart of a princess through acts of bravery, perhaps by slaying a dragon our two, she chose to defend the majestic creatures. Her heart would be won by love.  Some say she had the heart of a bear and a dragon soul, but I think she just had the ability to see kindness where others would not even try to look.

The princess was very polite and patient. She held a certain kind of confidence that told those around her that she knew the day would come for her to be great. If a challenge presented itself to the princess, she seemed to know that eventually she would conquer it. Having this foresight gave the princess a great deal of peace for she knew that life was too short to worry about the small things standing in her way. 

The princess had an old soul and whenever she smiled, she would do so with her eyes. No doubt the kingdom was a more cheerful place because of her sunshine.

Enchanted

Addie's Letters to Mommy

Happy Father's Day

This Father's Day, the girls made Daddy a couple paper tents. They open to a list of reasons why they love their Daddy.

In the middle of Addie's, it says "Happy Father's Day" and her reasons for loving Daddy say:
- Your a bear with me
- You tickles me
- You like the Broncos
- You tuck me ind bed

In the middle of Ellie's, it says "I love you! Happy Father's Day!" and around the edges, it says:
- I love my Daddy because...
- You make me smile
- You taught me how to read and write
- Best of all you gave mommy a sperm so that you could have me as a child

I'll give you a moment to wipe up the coffee you just spit out.

Isn't she beautiful?

I love how much she's enjoying playing guitar and it makes my heart sing watching her confidence and talent grow.

I Love Longmont

While I was waiting for Ellie to get out of her guitar lesson, I had the opportunity to wander around Main Street and stumbled upon picturesque scenes that made my heart sing. Enjoy...

Ellie helps Mommy save the world

I was a little late in saving the world this year but I had a good reason. This year I decided to have Ellie play a part in my donations. I wanted to be a good role model for Ellie in the area of giving back to the community, but how is that possible if she doesn't even know about it happening?

So here's what I did... I wrote down the charities I had in mind:
- school for kids who are blind
- home for people visiting their kids in hospital
- people who can't afford their own clothes and toys
- children who are abused by their family
- orphans who do not have mommies or daddies
- hospital that helps find a cure for exzema
- blind people who need a dog to help them do normal activities
- children with cancer
- children who live in poverty with no home, clothes, food
- mommies who need help finding jobs to take care of their family
- saving children who are slaves

Next I askedher if she thought I was missing anything. She added a couple to the list:
- rescue wild animals who are hurt
- humane society to give pets a good home
- children's hospital

Then I took 50 raisins to represent the money I had available to donate. I told her to split up the raisins between all these wonderful charities. It took her about 3.5 seconds to split up the raisins evenly among the piles.

I told her that would be a great way to split up the money but I asked her which she thought was better: helping a lot of causes a little or helping fewer causes a lot. Without any hesitation, she gave some consideration to prioritizing the charities and quickly knocked about half of them off the list of options.

After her next round, I asked her if she made her decision and she said "No, wait" and proceeded to narrow it down even more.

Afterwards, I asked her if I could reshuffle the raisins just a bit so that I could add some charities that were particularly important to me. And so, here are the results!

It was fun to watch how Ellie thought through this process. I loved that she had a few charities to add to my list, and I was surprised to see how quickly she eliminated some of the ones she added. When I asked her why she removed some charities, she always had a good answer. The people finding a cure to eczema are doing a great job and she is fully confident they can do it without more help. People have better chances of finding solutions than children. Blind people are brave even without dogs. Animals may need a good home but so do children. Children with cancer are the ones who need the most help.

I love that Ellie is getting involved and was excited to help me decide the best way to help save the world.

Ellie's 2nd Grade Treasures