Washington DC

I have a pretty fantastic job. Because of it, I have been able to travel a fair amount. So far, I have been to Seattle more than a handful of times, New Orleans, and now Washington DC. Not bad for 3 and 1/2 years of teaching. Here are a few pictures of the trip.




They caught us!




The capitol building.




In front of the constellation. A civil war era ship!




Changing of the guard at Arlington national cemetery.







WWII memorial






View from the Lincoln memorial.

Less Time = Cleaner House??

Yep, it is all there in the title. I am finding that having more domestic responsibility and less time means I keep the house cleaner. I am not sure when this hit. It was probably last night after returning home from Musikarten somewhere between keeping Adelyn occupied in her highchair, cleaning up the utility room, and pulling magnets from the inside of the washer (thank you my little Tasmanian Devil). When I am fully in charge of the house I cant seem to let things slide. Some how some ridiculous work ethic kicks in and things start getting done.

I will give a couple examples. There is an obvious need to have all bottles washed every night. Woe to you that doesnt have a clean bottle with which to feed your child. "Well that is easy enough" one might say. Of course, it is easy. My problem is that because I HAVE to wash the bottles I HAVE to wash everything. Then when all the dishes are clean. I have to clean the counters. And then there are crumbs on the floor. So I have to clean the floor. This translates into a kitchen that has been abnormally clean for the last five days straight. I am just glad I haven tried to start organizing anything.

Next lets look at the whole laundry issue. We use cloth diapers so it is imperative to was the diapers every other day. If I happen to forget then I have to use my wife's shirts and dresses as necessity calls. (Luckily for her I have yet to forget) Unlike the kitchen the laundry is a neat singularly packaged task. So I ask you, why do I do ALL the laundry? In five days I have done my own laundry (4 loads). I have done Annaka's laundry (3 loads). I have done diapers (3 loads). I have done Adelyn's laundry (1 load). I have done blankets/sheets/towels (2 loads). The answer is... something is WRONG with me!

Something is terribly terribly wrong with me. It may be that because of various mixture of drugs from my leg injury or it may be that I have simply lost my marbles. I cant recall hitting my head lately... but would I remember it? In any case the longer Naomi is gone the cleaner I seem to be keeping the house. Now you might reason that the absence of Naomi allows me to direct more attention away from her and to more domestic things. To this I say....well it is a thought (chuckle). I do know that nothing outside of the house is getting done. This is not horrible as I have already gotten the house ready for winter. So perhaps all is not lost after all.

In any case... I will visit the doctor soon and get this checked out. Hopefully it is not contagious.

Blessings

Ca

My deer know!

This morning after being woken up by the girls and realizing that I would have to wake up in about 15 minutes anyway started getting up and ready for the day. For some reason I had only one of our shades up. On my way past the window I glanced out and what do you know? Yea a nice looking 3-point buck walking up my road. Now it is currently out of season and wouldn't they seem to know it. I sat and watched as the 3-pointer nonchalantly walked past me munching on the frosted grass. I also noticed that there were two other deer along for the stroll as well. Turns out there is not only a 3-pointer but a little 2-pointer and a smaller 4-pointer. Apparently the deer are smarter than we thought. (I saw a single 2-pointer the day before as well.. broad daylight out in the middle of my field.)

Cheerio magic!

My typical day starts with getting Annaka ready to goto the babysitters. Since this last Friday I have taken on a second charge. With Naomi on vacation I now lovingly care for Adelyn as well. I will typically run around the house trying to keep both girls happy with breakfast, while preparing for work, making a lunch, and ensuring an overstuffed backpack full of items tailored to care for small children for approximately eight hours is properly plump. If this is a non-typical day then today was a non-non-typical day.

Our normal babysitter was not able to take the girls today. So on the schedule is our back up (the oh-so-wonderful Ratnali). With arrival time to be around 8:15 I took the girls to the office for a little while before taking them to her house. We had a nice little time playing around with the office golf balls. Annaka was also slowly working on her breakfast of Cheerios and blueberries. When it was about that time... off we went. I was starting to feel like a pack mule. I was carrying Adelyn in her snowsuit, wrapped in a blanket, the bulging backpack, and Annaka's juice and Cheerios. Once reaching the car something had to give because I had no way to get the car unlocked. I handed the juice to Annaka and placed the Cheerios and blueberries up on the top of the Highlander. I stuck it right at the end of the SUV, right in front of its spoiler. I also made a mental note "Caleb... do not forget those are there!...sincerely Caleb".

Annaka is placed her seat and buckled. Adelyn is placed in her seat and buckled. Caleb is placed in his seat and buckled. Off we go!... Ok we are there reverse the previous events. Adelyn is taken out of her seat along with the backpack. Annaka is unbuckled and gets out of her seat... Wait, am I missing something? Oh yeah, I need to get the Cheerios... OF THE BACK OF THE CAR.... OMG! Amazingly enough they were there! Even though we drove through town and mostly up hill, that little plastic Tupperware full of cheerios and blueberries was still there. Ah well, what an eventful morning.

Now I am at work. Man this coffee is good!