Daisy, originally uploaded by moggman_42.

My cousin-in-law Brett (married to Katie Durigg) is becoming quite the portrait photographer. This is a particularly excellent picture of their dachsund Daisy I admire.

Ella plays with Daisy

Ella and Chaley hanging out

We’re rounding the bend towards Labor Day and it’s amazing to see how quickly the Summer passed by.  We had a lot of fun over the past few months and we are continually surprised by the new things Ella does each day.  Last night we took a walk at a local recreation area.  Ella was so excited to get to the playground that she practically begged us to turn around and take the shortcut towards the swings and slides. It was only a brief time ago that we could even get her into a swing–let alone create any movement by pushing her.  Yet, last night I had to literally pry her off the swing so we could finish our walk.  As Brian and I took turns propelling her forward, Ella exclaimed “I’m happy Mommy!”

Ella is almost 2 years old and we are working on potty training.  Last night we went to the store to buy some “princess” underwear and we also have “princess” pull ups.  I hate to admit that Disney got to us but it seems to be a motivating factor for potty training so I can’t complain too much.  Ella seem so to vacillate between wanting to potty (she will loudly exclaim, “it’s my potty training!”), but then she also refuses  to go to the potty at other times.

The most amazing element of Ella’s development has definitely been her language acquisition.  As is the case with most little girls, her verbal skills are excellent.  Some of Ella’s fun statements:

• “Couch down” aka I want to lay on the couch
• “This is my Mommy” or “This is my Daddy”
• “Want some?”
• “This is really nice”
• “Shoes on”
• “Perry, no”
• “Inside, Perry”
• “Mommy, I’m stinky” or “Whew, I stink!”
• “Baby Ben” (the little boy that Mom is watching now)
• “Baby Moses” (a play doll that goes into a wicker basket)
• “Ella’s bike”
• “Charlotte and Bean” (she hears other people call us by our names)
• “Hi, Grama/Papa Sturtz or Wade” (she pretends to call them on her play phone)
• “Potty, Mommy”
• “Sheesh”
• “Daddy’s Funny”
• “Perry treat”
• “I’m messy” or “It’s a mess”
• “It’s hot” or “It’s cold”
• “I’m cleaning”
• “I help Mommy/Daddy”

Maybe it’s because I just completed my performance review at work.  Maybe I’m especially reflective as I fully embrace my 30′s.  Maybe I’m just bored. Anyhow, over the weekend I took the StrengthsFinder personality test.

Who needs another personality quiz, right?  Well this one is pretty cool.  This is the 2nd version of this particular personality quiz/analyzer from the Gallup organization.  I really like this one because it is focused on all the things you do really well and it offers specific ways to nurture your strengths in your life rather then telling you to change to fit another person’s idea of who you should be.

You have to buy the book to do the test.  It is $20 at Barnes and Noble, $12 at Amazon. Or you could get the book at your library.  Anyhow, Brian and I both did the test over the weekend. Maybe it just hit me at the right time but I just found it really powerful in helping me more explicitly define what opportunities I will ask for at work.

Here is my assessment (pdf download)

Here are two interesting links about Steven Curtis Chapman and the loss of his adopted daughter.  It is very moving to listen to Chapman talk about the decision to adopt his little girl.

1) Healing After Tragedy: Chapman Copes With Loss of Daughter

2) Our tragedy and God’s love for orphans

I love making little video slide shows but sometimes they can take so long to actually create.  Well here is a fun little way to get the same (or better) results in a fraction of the time.  I think this is a great way for the average slide show lover to be able to share more photos with family and friends!

The service automatically integrates with other photo sharing site like Flickr.  So I just logged into my Flickr account and grabbed a few random photos, picked out some music, decided which images I wanted to feature and Voila!

Here is my test.