Fifteen Years Later

Got to hang out with some of my buddies from high school and their families (and just happened to be 15 years after graduating high school). 

Growing up we all lived within a mile of each other (in the country this is close 🙂). 

Here we are with all our kids. 

10 Years!

Today we celebrated our ten year anniversary. 

Usually we would have liked to celebrate with a trip to somewhere with a beach, but with little man only being 4 months old, figured we’d postpone a trip until next year. 

So our every-five-year-picture-in-a-picture was a boring shot in our backyard. 

 

And as a tradition, I didn’t buy any gifts or a card (as cards are an expensive waste of someone else’s words) but wrote a poem in Melody’s book of cards. 

Happy 10 Year Anniversary!

Did you know that we’ve been married for 521 weeks / 315 million seconds?

Time for a poem to celebrate 🙂


Ten years ago it was a day

straight from heaven

We got to celebrate with our

friends in 2007


Nine years ago we 

adjusted to married life,

we lived on a college campus

as husband and wife


Eight years ago we 

bought something new

a new car for us

that definitely wasn’t blue


Seven years ago we

moved to the city

that place in Galena

sure was pretty


Six years ago we

moved out ‘west’

so far I can say

I like this house best


Five years ago we

took a trip to paradise

the hiking and the beaches

certainly were nice


Four years ago we

went to Spain and more

lugged suitcases around

and wished to stay on the first floor 


Three years ago we

got ready for baby one

before kids, remember

how much we could get done?


Two years ago we 

had fun with our first baby

oh that time was a delight,

but she was such a crybaby


One year ago we

were in Spain on a fun trip

we explored a lot on planes,

trains, busses but not a ship


Now it’s time to 

celebrate year number ten

I can believe how much

has happened since then


Junk stores, blogs, and 

speaking gigs oh my

I’m excited to see the other

things that will make the years pass by


Thank you for being 

on this journey with me

maybe on our 20th

we can spend it in Hawaii


Community Weekend

We’ve been saying for awhile that we need to form relationships with people who live near us and this weekend we got an opportunity to do that. 

On Saturday morning, my wife hosted a group of moms who came over, with their kids and let the kids roam free in our backyard. 

Then, in the evening, we hosted a block party for our whole street. I’m ashamed to say, we met some of neighbors for the very first time, even though we’ve lived here for nearly seven years. 

Of the 21 houses on our cul-de-sac, we had seven families stop in throughout the evening. It was a lot of fun and we will have to do it again. 

We are going to be intentional about getting to know more of our neighborhood and spend at least part of a weekend each month hosting neighbors at our house.   

Boys Pic

Just got home from Nashville and too tired to write a post about our weekend trip. 

Here’s a shot of me and the little guy at brunch. 


(He wasn’t this smiley the whole 5+ hours home, but we only had to make one stop!)

That’s Not What I Asked

Today on our way to Grandma’s house, we made a quick stop in Whole Foods for some yummy snacks and a potty break. 

Since it was raining out, I asked her to get in the car and take her rain coat off so I could buckle her while in the car and not get soaked. 

And then, this happened:

Bonus Day with the Kids

On my first day back to work today, our baby sitter shows up with a 100+ degree fever. 

Not wanting to risk our kids to get sick, I sent her home and we found a friend to come and play Barbies for a few hours with our daughter, while I tried to work with our 3 month old son. 

I was able to be about 80% focused while he slept (since I kept glancing at the video monitor) and about 50% focused while he was awake. 

Luckily I had gotten up at 4am to start working, so I was able to get five hours of “catch up and see what’s happened since I left on paternity leave”

Still fun to hang out with this smiley boy:

Back to Work

Today is my last day of my 12-week paternity Automattic generously gives new parents. 

These last few weeks have been awesome but I’m thrilled to be going back for several reasons. 

Adult conversations 

On Monday’s, Tuesday’s and Thursday’s I have been watching the kids from 6:45a until about 5:00p. Typically during this time, it was me and the kids. Conversations revolved around Barbies and her play kitchen. 

I Miss WordPress

On average over the last three I’ve spent about 60 minutes on the computer. I had to find nuggets of time to record my weekly podcast. 

Goals and Projects

I’ve had to postpone my goals and project and few things were checked off my to do list (mainly because of the lack of computer time). I found that instead of doing household projects at the end of the day, I’d try to catch up on my email or other small computer tasks. 

By going back to work, my goal is to finish everything computer related before dinner time, then work on home projects after the kids are asleep. 

Sure I’m going to miss all the fun mornings walking to the park, playing Candyland at lunch and all the other joys of being a stay at home dad. 

Thankfully, I get to work from home and our kids will be here with our nanny, so I can be active in their lives each day. 

It’s a joy to be a dad and send time with these kiddos: