Valentine's Day Flowers

So, I'm not the world's best flower buyer. I'm not proud of it, but it's true. This year I didn't do too bad, though, and I actually got Sally flowers before Valentine's Day so she could enjoy them over the weekend before. In our house we have a dozen dried roses from who knows how long ago, and Sally decided to dry the new roses and ditch the old ones. The first mistake came in putting the dead roses within Ella and Caleb's reach. There were dried roses pretty much EVERYWHERE. :) The second mistake came when Sally hung the new 2 dozen roses to dry within their reach. Caleb understood the rule not to touch them. Ella may have understood it, but her little 20 month old impulses are a bit too strong to be overcome by Mommy's rules at this point. :) The following is the resulting mess. Some people count in order to calm themselves down before getting after their kids when they disobey. We tend to just take pictures. She looks so sweet and innocent, doesn't she? She's actually saying "cheese" in this picture. She has recently started covering her cute little face with her hands and standing very still when she gets caught doing something she knows it against the rules. Ha! The girl is a doll.

Our Life in Videos

It's definitely not complete, but the next videos are a good intro to what life is frequently like. We don't tend to take too many videos of ourselves, just the kiddos. Maybe we'll try to do a bit more of that.

This is a cute one of Ella, but Caleb shows a bit of his little personality, too. He's always joking and teasing a bit. Tonight I was swinging the kids on our swing set (it's a bit old but they love it...good enough for residency :) and I started tickling them as they would swing up to me and away. That's when Caleb started saying, "Daddy, you are a Jarker!" I couldn't quite figure what he meant. At first I thought he was calling me a jerk, and I got a bit worried that I'd actually taught him that word. And then I realized (and he confirmed) that he was saying "Joker." Phew! The kid has a great vocabulary which is nice because he's the one teaching Ella how to talk, it seems. She copies pretty much everything he does now. It's really cute. They're going to be awesome big siblings. :) Also on the swing, I asked Caleb what he thought about having a new baby join our family. He proceeded to tell me, "I'm gonna hold it. I'm gonna feed it." Sweet big brother in the making. :)

Ella pretty much loves anything messy. This last Saturday we started refilling our garden boxes with compost to attempt to get a decent garden this year. She was out there the majority of the time scooping up dirt with her little shovel and spreading it pretty much everywhere but inside the box. Just before I recorded this, she was laying in the dirt. Oh well, she loves helping. You kind of gotta encourage that. :) We love our little girl.

A Romantic...at 3?

We visited Joe's brother Ross & his family in the middle of January (which happened to be Caleb's 3rd birthday) to attend the blessing of their new baby. As we left their house to go home, 3-yr-old cousin Anna walked in wearing her new Snow White dress. Caleb stopped, dropped his pirate sword and slipped off his hat, and asked her to dance. No kidding. And then they danced. It was so sweet :)

And Joe recorded the dance...

I guess he's really learning something from watching all those Disney movies :)

We think our children are hilarious :)

You may have wondered what happened to our posting. Well, we currently have a problem with our computer's memory being completely full, so we can't upload pictures to post! This is frustrating, because we don't want to just keep writing stuff without pictures to illustrate. Hopefully we will solve this soon, and not too expensively :S

Anyway, I am intending to post some random video or other to go along with the title of this post--as soon as I can get one uploaded, or find a good one already on here--but for now I'll just explain.

Joe and I enjoy sitting together in the evenings from time to time just looking at pictures and video clips of the kids, on his phone or on the camera. We laugh and laugh! We really think our kids are so funny :) and it sure makes being parents that much more enjoyable. We watched a clip the other night of Caleb playing in a box, and he didn't come out and didn't come out...and I guess you might have to see it to think it is funny. OR, you might still not think it is funny, because you are not us. :) In my view, my kids are the cutest, funniest kids ever--I am guessing all parents feel that way about their kids; and heck, I used to think that about my nieces/nephews before we had kids, so I guess it is all about the family bias :)

Hopefully I can get that box video clip up soon!

Tropical Pork Chops - Yum.

I get in such a rut with cooking dinner each night, and I really do have plans to do some "meal planning", filling out a calendar with at least a week's worth of meals at a time, so that at least I won't have to think of something to cook each day. (That is the hardest part, usually.) Hopefully I'll do that soon.

But in the meantime, tonight I pulled some pork chops out of the freezer and realized I did not want to cook them in the same old way I always do. So, I checked with our old reliable friend, AllRecipes.com, and found a dish I had ingredients for, more or less. And they turned out YUMMY. If you are interested, check the recipe out here: Tropical Pork Chops

Isn't the Internet great? I can't believe how easy it is to find anything, anything--I often forget that, such as when I'm wishing I had a recipe for the most delicious lemon bars I have ever tasted, made by a girl I knew in college but whom I cannot find on Facebook or anywhere. Maybe I'm getting old, but it really wasn't that long ago that we didn't have such amazing, wonderful, and convenient technology at our fingertips. Just amazes me. Wow.

I guess those are my thoughts for now :)

Gardening!

Digging in the dirt is good for the soul :)

The kids & I have been sick all week, and we are all starting to get a little stir-crazy from being stuck at home! In fact, by Tuesday we were getting a bit of cabin fever, so Caleb & I took advantage of a sunny afternoon while Ella napped, and we went into the backyard for some sunshine.

While there, I started pulling weeds out of our overgrown garden boxes (which we haven't planted anything in for...close to 2 years I think!). It felt good just to dig in the dirt :) And the great news is, we found lots and lots of worms! I'm pretty sure those are good for the soil, so I am looking forward to some good garden produce :)

We will be simplifying from the garden we planted 2 years ago--last time, we did everything good I could think of: tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, butternut squash, bush beans, climbing beans, carrots, asparagus, cabbage, onions, potatoes, cucumbers, etc., etc. Most of it didn't do too well, I think because I was afraid of fertilizer and so I neglected to use any. At all.

This year, Joe wants to just focus on tomatoes and beans, and we are throwing in a pepper plant and pumpkin plant, because our sis.-in-law was kind enough to give us one. I also want to add butternut squash (because I love it & didn't get to taste any last time), and zucchini (because of an amazing Zucchini Chocolate cake recipe from my mom), but we'll see if there is space. We took out the boxes that were just behind the house, I can't remember why. Now we just have the ones along the fence, like so:

This is Day 2 of clearing out the weeds.

Notice the overgrown (invisible) box behind me?

Still gotta clear that out...

Some Randoms

The following pix are from moments in December that we never got around to sharing. I found them tonight, and wanted to share.

Ella is one cute little 19 month old! Her hair is one of the cutest and most crazy things about her. :) This was a day when Sally enlisted one of her friends to help teach her how to do Ella's hair. It has been really fun. I (Joe) have even learned a thing or two. Nothing impressive, but at least I try and occasionally I even get two thumbs up from Sally. It's kind of like when I dress Ella. I'll usually pick at some random things I haven't seen her wear before and try to mix and match. Then I send her scampering across the house to find Mommy for her approval. Most of the time that trip ends with Sally laughing and sending Ella back for a new outfit. She loves looking cute and changing her clothes, so it works out. They both put up with my funny attempts at trying new things. Just like the hair, though, on the rare occasion I get a satisfying gasp of approval from Sally, amazed that I actually succeeded making our Ella look cute for the day. I love being a Daddy.

                                               

Below is a family stamp party...another one of Sally's random fun activities she comes up with for the kids. Again, butcher paper on the table and tons of ink and stamps and fun. The kids loved it. Ella was the first to stamp her hands and arms, and Caleb, of course, followed suit a bit. Mostly they just had fun seeing Mommy's random collection of stamps.

Of the three, this was my favorite moment. I got home post-call (after being at the hospital overnight), but I had slept a bit at the hospital. Sally had a few things planned for the day (I forget what exactly), so we did some quality Daddy and the kids at the zoo time. This is the train that circles the huge park next to the zoo. Caleb LOVES it. He always asks to go and I rarely give in. So this time I caved, and we went. It was a chilly 20 minutes, but they got so excited about everything from dead trees to stray cats in the park. Below Ella was most enthralled with my iphone as is obvious by her cute little stare. Caleb is just the king of photogenics. He loves flashing that smile. On that note, a funny story that happened yesterday...

...we were at Sea World for the first time EVER as a family this weekend, and we were riding a Sesame Street ferris wheel. So of course, being the typical Dad, I'm trying to take pictures (I don't do it incessantly like I'm tempted...I try to put it away sometimes in order to just enjoy the moments together :). So I hold up the camera and say, "Caleb smile." He then rewards me with the biggest frown possible. So I follow suit and frown huge to make him laugh, snap the picture, and right at the last minute he flips his frown into the cutest grin of all time. Classic Caleb. So now I look like the grumpy one in the picture. He got me good. ;)

Caleb's Breakdown

I just wanted to share a cute moment from getting ready for bed tonight. Sally made her homemade chicken pot pie for dinner (did I mention she cooks pretty much every night? Probably, but she does. I'm a lucky guy), and afterwards she had to run off to a play that one of her girls from the youth group at church was in. So, the natural thing to do was try to get the kids in bed ASAP. :) They were both so tired. Ella has been rubbing her right eye all day, and it was starting to look irritated. She has eczema that flares up now and again, so I decided to give her a bit of Benadryl tonight to stave off the itching so she can sleep. Caleb wanted to help me, but I was a bit concerned about teaching him to give her medicine. So I told him no. The sweet boy lost it. He cried and cried. I tried to just hold him and explain why it was important that only Mommy and Daddy give Ella medicine in order to keep her safe. He just kept crying. At one point, he turned to me and walked over and hugged me as he sobbed and said, "I just need to go to bed!" in his cute 3 year old voice. That just made me laugh. At least he knows what he really needs. The best part was, he and Ella didn't fight bedtime at all. A good night for tucking in. One point for Daddy. :)

Nighttime Misadventures

No pix, but funny stories from tonight. One for each kiddo.

So, I'm sitting here typing the last post, and I hear Ella crying (she's been down for about an hour). It's one of those sleepy cries that means she just wants a binky. I grab one, walk in, find her face in the dark and stick the binky in place. As I get ready to leave, I pat her on the back and notice she doesn't have a shirt on, which is odd because she was dressed in a sleeper when she went down. Then I pat a little lower and find a bare, wet baby bum. Yup, diapers off, crib is covered in pee, and little baby is falling back asleep, happy with her binky. No, I didn't just leave her there. :) Sally tag teamed with me, and we got her all dressed again. She is quite the sneaky little 18 month old. Ha.

Caleb's happened before going to bed. So, I tell them a bedtime story every night after reading a book and prayers and before a bedtime song or two. Caleb always helps me with the stories, so I usually will stop mid-sentence and let him fill in the blanks so he gets to guide the story a bit and use that run away imagination of his. Ella is a bit too young to care at this point. Usually, Caleb's line goes something like this: "And then there was a DRAGON!!" He loves dragons.

As a preface to this story, I did a two year mission as a 20 year old kid in Germany; I tell him about it occasionally. Tonight's story started like this:

Daddy: Once upon a time there was a little boy named Caleb. And one night Caleb's Daddy knelt by his bed and told him a story about his mission.

Caleb: And Caleb said, "No, let's do a other one."

Ouch! Guess that wasn't what he had in mind for a story tonight. A dragon showed up very soon after that. My kids crack me up.

Other Christmas Traditions

We do family night every week on Monday night (unless I'm on call, in which case we switch nights) which usually consists of eating dinner followed by a lesson, activity and treat. The lesson consists of talking about some aspect of the Gospel or being good or something that will be good for a 3 year old and 18 month old. Let's just say, I'm occasionally good at keeping their attention but most often the lesson usually goes something like this. 

Dad: Caleb and Ella, did you know Jesus loves you?

Caleb: Yeah.

Ella: [runs off giggling and starts playing with a toy or trying to leave the room which causes Mommy to run after her].

Daddy: Jesus wants us all to be nice to each other.

Caleb: [now he runs around the room making wierd noises and starts trying to climb on things and jump off them. Mommy again intervenes.]

Daddy: Caleb, how does Jesus want you to treat Ella?

Caleb: [no response, totally ignoring me]

Daddy: Ella, say Jesus. 

Ella:  Chee!

Daddy: Caleb, say Jesus.

Caleb: [still ignoring Daddy]

Daddy: Okay, time for dessert. :S

At least we're trying. :) The activity after the game usually gets more responses from the crowd and then dessert is always the biggest hit.

The pictures below are some family night activities that happened in December.

Caroling with friends and family at a nearby nursing facility, followed by homemade hot chocolate made by me with my mom's (AKA Grandma Jo's) recipe. Good stuff! Marshmallow's and candy canes made it even that much better. 

This is the most random but cool tradition that Sally came up with this year which I'm sure will last for years to come. She made salt dough ornaments during the day and that night we painted them. It was an awesome night. The lady on the left is a single friend of ours' from church. Caleb and Ella didn't make it to the end of the activity before dessert was required but below you can see some of their budding art talent. 

A few thoughts about Sally. First, it is so cool watching her do crafts with the kids. I think most adults (or maybe it's just me) get an idea in their head as to what a craft is supposed to be or what an activity is supposed to be and then try to force the kids into doing it their way in order to teach them. Not Sally. She throws individual bowls of paints and paintbrushes and ornaments in front of the kids with butcher paper all over the table and sees what happens. She's really good at letting them explore their world and try things out without hampering their creativity. It's really fun. Ella, of course, had to taste the pain right off the bat, but after cleaning that off her tongue things went really well! :) Second, Sally loves trying out new things. She heard recently that salt dough ornaments were a new fad (coming back, I guess, because we definitely had a ton of them on our Christmas tree growing up with our pictures on them and painted by us, too). After scouring some blogs, she came up with a plan and we were all trying out something new that we'd never done before. Maybe the tradition in our family will be doing a bunch of random, crazy things we've never imagined doing every Christmas. I can't remember if she mentioned it, but she also made all the gingerbread houses that we decorated that are posted earlier on this blog. I think that's pretty cool. Of course, I am biased.

Third, Sally is actually a really good artist herself. It fits with what I just said about her. About 6 months before Ella was born she decided to pick up her art skills again, and she found a community education class for water color painting. She got all the supplies and started painting all of a sudden. She was good, too! I love the spontaneity in which she lives her life. It keeps things exciting for me and her but more importantly for the kids. They have an awesome mommy. :)

Christmas Party

So, our congregation at church does a family Christmas party each year, and this year, I got asked to head it up. To put it in perspective, each Sunday we go to church with about 80-100 adults and about 150 kids under the age of 12. Crazy! The Christmas party is awesome but also a bit time consuming to organize. Thankfully, it went great. I actually really enjoy putting together stuff for big groups of people. Instead of getting stressed, I get kind of excited. This one went great. I got put in charge about 2 weeks before it was supposed to happen, so the whole thing was a bit thrown together. Despite that, our little Nativity play and reading of Luke 2 was probably the cutest thing I've ever seen. Mostly because Caleb and Ella got to got out on stage as little sheep with a ton of cotton swabs pasted on paper ears and tails. The effect was actually pretty sweet! Sally is quite creative when it comes to things like that. The kids love doing crafts with her because of it. The funny part came at the end of the party after Santa had come and gone, and Caleb was sitting in Santa's chair and a friend of ours came up and let me know he had an accident all over the chair (and his cotton swab tail). Oops! The poor kid has been doing really good with potty training but in the excitement of the party both he and we (Sally and I) had forgotten to take a bathroom break. Thankfully someone had a couch cleaner at home and took the cushion with them and got it back for Church the next day. Good times. The picture below is of us eating dinner at the party. 

Dec 2011

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. :)

Doggie

Cadee, our cute lab-mix doggie, is getting a new home tonight. We enjoyed her for the past 8 weeks or so--she is super-smart, cute, energetic, and sweet, but she just seemed so bored here, poor thing. Our kids are just not ready yet to play with her in the way that she needs. And then there was the dog hair. I've tried to keep up with it, but it has just gotten worse--Our next attempt at a pet will be a non-shedding dog! :)

I am glad we had her--each time we've had a pet, we have learned something new about ourselves and about pets. And Joe and I both like the idea of having a dog--a buddy for the kids to play with and love, when they get a little older.

When I told the kids this morning that Cadee would be leaving tonight, Ella didn't understand or care (she just turned 18 months :), but Caleb got sad for a few minutes and just sat on my lap. He seems to already be over it, but I'm sure there will be a few sad moments in the next several days. I am glad that the kids liked having her around so much--all the more motivation to find the right kind of pet for us someday!

A couple random pics of the doggie--

Ella enjoying a movie while hanging out with Cadee

Thanksgiving Day, we went to the park while waiting for the turkey to cook

Eating ice cream cones for family night--Cadee loves to be wherever we are :)

A visit from Gramps & Grandma Jo!

Joe's parents are currently serving a mission in South America, but they were able to come back to the states to visit Joe's oldest sister who just had a baby, and on their way back to their mission they stopped in to see us! The kids LOVED it--they sure love Gramps and Grandma Jo!

Christmas Fun 2011

I have to say, I am enjoying the Christmas season more this year than I think I ever have in my life. I think one of the well-kept parent secrets is that it is WAY more fun to watch your kids getting excited over the holidays than it was to be a kid yourself! :)

Some of the happenings...

As we put up Christmas lights on the house a few weeks ago, Caleb ran around the front yard, yelling, "It's Jolly Christmas! It's Jolly Christmas!" (Not sure where he got that, except maybe from that song, 'Have a holly, jolly Christmas...') He was one happy kiddo :)

Getting a tree: The kids had a great time wandering around the "tree lot" in the grocery store's outdoor plants section that was converted to Christmas trees for the season.

They especially enjoyed taking a ride on the tree carts. And drinking hot cocoa at home afterward :)

Playing songs on the piano with Daddy and singing Christmas carols: The kids LOVE playing on the piano when Joe does, and they also love to dance around when he plays fast, happy music.

Some Christmas music fun - and Caleb in his pirate getup :)

We also took the opportunity to go Christmas caroling at a local rehabilitation center last week for our Monday night family activity, and the kids enjoyed shaking hands with the residents/patients afterward, and of course drinking hot chocolate with the friends who sang with us.

Decorating gingerbread houses: My mom made us gingerbread houses to decorate almost every year at Christmastime, so this year I decided to continue the tradition. My first homemade gingerbread turned out great, and it wasn't as hard as I thought it might be! We had Uncle Peter, Aunt Lindsay, and cousins Joey & Kimball over to our house for the traditional decorating and eating of the candy :) as well as watching movies & playing games. It was so much fun!

Daddy helping Caleb on his house

The finished product!

We've also put up decorations together--which started the day before Thanksgiving when I was desperate for something to do to entertain the kids while Joe was sleeping post-call; made Christmas countdown chains; made paper snowflakes for the kitchen window; decorated the tree (& re-decorated it, as the kids keep taking the ornaments down to play with... ha!); & played Christmas music as often as we can!

Family Movie Night! and Caleb's pretending

We are trying to start a tradition of having a Family Movie Night on friday nights--and from the picture above, it looks like the first one, Thanksgiving weekend, was a hit! Popcorn included :) We watched Bolt, and Caleb LOVED it.

He is at such a fun stage, where he likes to pretend he is a character from whatever movie he has recently watched; or even that he is whomever we have visited most recently, such as a favorite cousin. And sometimes he says, "I'm Daddy," and then gets some papers and either heads for Daddy's desk and says he is going to study, or heads toward the front door and says he is going to the hospital.

End of a crazy week

This week has been a stressful one. There was just a lot going on. But y'know, it still amazes me that putting my kids' well-being & happiness ahead of everything else--ahead of church responsibilities, specifically--makes everything work out in the end. And I am a happier mommy :)

Just cute to me :)

Joe plays the piano very well, and he loves to play Christmas music, especially happy, upbeat music. And the kids love to join him :)

Sally's Thoughts on Joe--Super Daddy :)

Tonight, as I was eating my dinner while Joe & the kids, having eaten theirs, played in the living room, I quietly enjoyed listening to the hysterical giggles of the kids enjoying time with Daddy. And I thought about how wonderful Joe is--what a great father he is! Caleb and Ella just adore their daddy, and they both rush to the door every evening when he gets home--as does the dog :)-- Caleb screaming "Daddy!" and Ella screaming something that is sounding more and more like "Daddy" every day!

It is the sweetest thing to hear the kids almost punchy with laughter (it is getting close to bedtime, so that could be part of it;) as they play with Daddy--he wrestles with them, spins them in the chair, tickles them, and they all chase each other around the living room. The kids also try to show off their new tricks of the day for Daddy--and I can tell that they are just thrilled with the attention he gives them.

Despite all this, we definitely each have our difficult moments & days. A few nights ago our night was rather long, when Ella woke up crying; the dog wanted to be let out; and then Caleb walked out of his room wailing sometime between the dog and 5 am. Thankfully, Joe heard Caleb crying in the living room, because I certainly didn't. We both ran to his aid. He'd had a bad dream & just wanted Mommy, so we took him to our bed & he slept a bit while I held him; then last night, when Caleb came in sad again, Joe snuggled him back to sleep and returned him to his bed, despite how tired I know Joe was. I really appreciated that. We make a good team :)

I am so grateful to be married to such a loving father, especially one who tries to be a better person/husband/daddy every day!

Just being silly

Playing pirates!

Visiting Daddy!

Joe is on-call at the hospital today, which means he is there from 7 a.m. today until 10 a.m. or so tomorrow. We miss him a lot when he is on-call, so today, while driving home from an errand, we stopped at the hospital to keep him company for a little while. He bought lunch for us to share in the hospital's cafeteria, and the kids had a wonderful time seeing Daddy. After we ate, since he still had not been paged to head back to the ICU, he walked outside with us and we let the kids play for a few minutes on the grass, wall, etc. It was rejuvenating for all of us to get some daddy-time!

Getting ready to go, just being silly at home

Waiting for Daddy to buy lunch

Waiting. "Daddy!"

"Dadddddyyy!"

Having lunch! I don't know why we don't do this more often :)

The Pumpkin Patch

October 22, we met up with Joe's brother & his family at a local Pumpkin Patch! The kids loved it--a little train ride, a haywagon ride, bouncy houses, and a pony ride, plus lots of pumpkins to see!

Ella was the brave one to ride the pony :)

Caleb riding & loving the train with his cousin

We got this pic really quickly on our way out,

after everyone was pretty tired :)

Let them love sand

I have a hard time letting go and just letting my kids get dirty. When we were at my parents' home in Salt Lake City the past couple weeks, they ran and jumped and played all over--it was wonderful! But every time we got close to the sandbox, that was all Ella wanted to do! I felt like I had to gear up for it--the sand always gets everywhere, always--in hair, in the clothes, even in the diaper! That's just how it is. As I watched her sheer joy, scooping up shovelfuls and dumping them in a bucket, or on the ground, etc., I realized I need to just let go. Here's hoping I'm making progress in that direction :)