Joe's Catch Up Post

So, I have not done my fair share of blogging recently (or ever), so I've been thinking I should do some catching up. Be prepared. :)

It's amazing to me how easy it can be to entertain kids if you simply give them your time and attention. These two love playing in the car. Attention is definitely needed in the car, though. :) I asked Ella if she was ready to drive the other day and she nodded "yes" quite solemnly. Funny girl. 18 months going on 16 years. We're really in for quite the ride with her. Oh, and while I'm talking about her, check out her new hair-do!

We dropped her off at a friend's house with Caleb the other day (their daughter is biracial, too, and has hair just like Ella's) and when we got back we found her looking cuter than we left her. She loved playing with the little curls on top of her head. :)

Caleb loves forts and books. The new favorite past time is pulling down ALL of the books at once and then sitting in the middle of them and looking at them. It is amazingly quiet when he goes at it. It's awesome! I love seeing my boy read. He can't really read yet, but he still loves books.

My two favorite times of day with the kids are when they wake up (on the days I'm lucky enough to be at home) and when I come home from work. In the morning, they're both snuggly and sweet. Caleb has started curling into a ball as I hold him and saying things like, "Ohh, Daddy, your warm!" He says warm like "arm" with a "w" in front. I love it. When I get home there's just a lot of screaming and cheering and running around. It's like a surprise party every day. Dad's have it good. It's like you're a celebrity everyday when you arrive. Little Ella just starts babbling and telling me about everything and grabbing my hand to have me follow her. I'm in love with my kids. I couldn't be happier...except with one more. :)

Caleb and Ella love taking my iphone and playing with it. The other day I think Caleb had opened every app on there. He is very entertained by it all. Sally also found a way to keep him entertained (above). The phone has cameras on both sides so you can actually look at yourself as you take pictures. The quality isn't quite as good, but both Caleb and Ella LOVE seeing themselves real time. You'd think a mirror would be just as cool, but somehow the phone is way better. Probably because if they break it, it's WAY more expensive to replace. Gotta love how kids gravitate towards things that are expensive to replace.

The calmness of this scene doesn't happen all that often. I love seeing my family all chillaxed watching a movie. We just recently started family movie night on Fridays featuring classics like Cinderella, Peter Pan, Cars 2 (it was more of an epic failure for our family, though. Ella requested Baby Einstein on the laptop 5 minutes in and Caleb ditched it for "Meet the Robinsons" after 30 min. Oh well.), Tangled, etc, etc. Name a cartoon and I'm sure we'll hit it. Caleb loves movies. Sally is pretty amazing at limiting him to one per day lately. She even does occasional "No movie" weeks to detox from the mindlessness of staring at the TV. That's a hard one, though, because it requires A LOT more effort on her part, and pretty much no breaks while I'm gone (which can be a lot is I'm still a resident in training).

 Fall 2004

 Spring 2005

Fall 2004

Have I mentioned how amazing Sally is? She is. I like this blog better than other ones we've done because I feel like I need to go back in time a bit and fill in who we are since you've never met us. One of the things that I loved most about Sally when we met was how kind she was to me. It sounds kind of funny, but I don't think I'd ever met someone who was so nice to me. After having dated a few other people in my life and then meeting Sally, I realized that I was a pretty sensitive guy and that I needed someone who would be truly kind and understanding. Sally made me feel like I could open up my heart completely, and she would still love and accept me. On top of it, she still believes in me and encourages me to be better. None of this "I love you just how you are; never change" nonsense. She sees me for the best I can be. It has made me a truly better person. You know what the most amazing part of realizing that she was the kindest person I have ever met back 7 years ago is? After those 7 years, she has lived up to that realization. I am one lucky man. 

Sally LOVES the ocean. She has pretty much set the ultimatum that we must be within a half day drive from the beach wherever we settle down for good. I'm good with that, too. We love family beach trips. We've started at least biannual beach trips, now, and hopefully we'll increase that to more frequent or at least longer trips in years to come. The best part of the beach...hmm, I don't know if there is a best part. Sally just loves it all. We bring our kites and half beach tent and lunches in a cooler and boogie boards and shovels/buckets for sand castles. Sally is always a bit embarassed because she thinks I look like a hobo hauling all this stuff from the car to the edge of the water. I really do look like a hobo, too. I love it. :) Maybe the best part is just being in a beautiful, relaxing place with my favorite people in the world. Yup, that pretty much sums it up. I love the ride home, too, when the kids crash in their car seats and Sally and I sit and drive and hold hands, chatting about this and that and future beach trips and how great life is. Actually, the last ride home was pretty much the opposite of that peaceful seen because Ella had an eczema flare and was miserable. Poor girl. Thankfully it's under control now. But usually, the drive home is great. :)

My girls are CUTE!! This is one good looking picture of the two of them. This sub place was awesome. It's over by my brother's house where the kids had spent the morning. Talk about problematic at lunch time, though. See the fountain drink machine in the corner? It's this new and improved thing that has about 160 different drink flavors. It's crazy! But also awesome. You can guess about how much lunch Caleb and Ella had there. They basically just drank soda for the hour we were there. You're only a kid once, I guess. :)