These Days

It's been so long since I (Jake) have posted a blog that I nearly forgot the login and password! We just started getting our digital photos organized (emphasis on started) so there are more than enough pics to post for this - words are harder to arrange for me at the moment. On October 27 Ruth and I celebrated our 11th anniversary together. Up north at a family friend's cabin. Let me tell you - if we didn't have children (and thanks again mom and dad for watching them!) - we probably wouldn't come back! As Ruth would attest to, I would say that being married for 11 years feels about right. For some reason I don't necessarily feel like time flies or is dragging. For example, Ayla is nearly 5 1/2 and Zeke is nearly 2 1/2 and while it is remarkable to me that they are that "old" now, it seems like they should be that old. But enough about my perceptions of time - of which is why it's probably better that Ruth write a post soon after me! These days: Ruth is still biking to work - this morning it was 26 degrees and frosty - yet at 5:00a she biked into Madison (7 miles each way). She had to go in extra early today because the current President of the United States was making an appearance literally up the street from her job. Regardless of your political tendencies, it still is neat to have the President that close - she watched him speak from the hotel. Not quite her Johnny Depp run in but still... I am still doing nothing related to exercise - although my brother apparently thinks I'm going to run Berbee Derby (5K) on Thanksgiving morning with him and his wife. They are southerners so we'll see how they feel when it's 15 degrees out that morning! :) Ayla is rocking Kindergarten. Whatever that means. She is a school kid though. Sure she has some trouble with the idea of going some days but it's more because she misses mom and dad than not wanting to be there. Currently she spends much of her free time at home re-playing school with her little table created worksheets and her easel doing lessons. She is also a notorious card maker - which is both sweet and clutter causing! But mostly sweet of course. If she's not doing that she's usually arguing, laughing, screaming or running over her little brother. Little brother is getting heavier. He's officially at that point where he's even starting to be a lug for me to carry around - so I have no idea how Ruth manages it, sometimes while making dinner. Zeke is one moment so independent - capable of playing on his own in any number of ways - trains, airplanes, mixers, blenders (see previous post if you're wondering why we let our son play with a blender) - and another moment terrible two. He pulls the "I want it, I don't want, I want it, I don't want it". Always a joy. But he is mostly still a sweet boy. I just gave him a haircut today - I had to bribe him with a hershey's kiss. Of course we just went trick or treating last week - Ayla was a jaguar. Her and I walked out the door only to have Zeke start banging on the storm door saying "I want to get candy!". So Ruth and Zeke went too (Zeke in a skeleton outfit). We ran into Ruth's sister's family (3 more kids) and her parents for a few house stops together. It was fun! Otherwise moving on toward the end of the year fun - hope all is well with everyone who reads this! I posted some pics but will see if Ruth will post some more soon.