Marichu made last minute plans to have the Dabbaras come over for Thanksgiving dinner. So, we spent the day cleaning the house, shopping for groceries, and cooking. Actually, Marichu did most of the work since neither Sophia nor I was feeling very well, and we ended up taking a 2 hour nap in the living room.

   The kids helped by making a very hearty yet not very heavy (that’s what happens when only fresh ingredients are used) "stone soup" base on Sophia's teacher's recipe. Everyone had a great time. It’s too bad that I couldn’t eat much due to my upset stomach, but I manage to down about 3 bowls of that stone soup!

   The next day, as it has become a tradition for us, I brought out the kids' Christmas trees for them to decorate. It was very exciting for Isabel since this would be the first year for her. And it's so wonderful to see all 3 of them diligently focusing on a common objective and happily sharing the ornaments with each other without any whining, yelling, or fighting! :-)

   It was fun, but it was even colder than the morning! I had to wear gloves! The kids got way more candy than I would've like them to. They now have enough for several weeks worth of snacking. I guess "weight gain" officially starts with Halloween and rolls right into Thanksgiving and then Christmas.

   It was cold!!! There was frost everywhere. I tired to take an extreme close-up photo of the juniper shrub in front of our house, but this was about as good as I could do with the 15-55mm lens. I should've used the telephoto lens -- perhaps next time.

   My Dad left for Washington D.C. yesterday after having spent the past two months with us. Isa had become very attached to him. She even cried for 10 minutes after we left the airport. During the day, the new camera I had ordered arrived, and I was able to take the following photo of Isa with her grandpa. She’s growing up fast! She can now say, “grrranpa,” which brings my Dad much joy every time he hears it.

   Oh, about the camera – it’s a Canon Digital Rebel XTi, and I love it already. It’s truly amazing how a good camera can take such wonderful photos without much skill on my part. Notice the white roses to the right of my Dad. The second photo was taken with a 70-300mm telephoto lens that I bought as an addon for the camera.

   Wow, it’s been almost 2 months since my last blog entry! Yes, I’ve been extremely busy – even more than usual because Marichu’s school has really started to take off with new enrollments almost every week. They should be at full enrollment by the time the Academic Year starts in early September. I’m so proud of her!

   Unfortunately, the trade-off is that I’ve had to spend more time with the kids (taking Joseph and Sophia to summer camp/school in the morning and babysitting Isabel occasionally) and on housework (I don’t know if it’s guy thing or it’s just me, but I just can’t get myself to do the dishes and laundry on a regularly basis). Still, we manage to get through it all but not without yelling at each other once in awhile.

   And how quickly Isabel has grown! She’s so active! She just loves climbing up the play structure in the backyard and going down the slide. She can do that over and over and over again. She’s also recognizing and saying a handful of words. She knows bird (“bord”), flower (“flowa”), airplane (“pla”), please (“pees”), thank you (“tha”), and a few others that I can’t think of right now. Marichu is a little bit concerned that Isa only knows and can say far fewer words than Joseph and Sophia could when they were her age (18 months). I really don’t know what to think. I guess we’ll just keep trying to get her to say more words, and if she doesn’t start saying at least some of the words clearly by her 2nd birthday, then I’ll be worried.

   One thing that Isa is really good at is telling us that she has soiled her diaper. I don’t remember Joseph or Sophia doing that so early. Marichu is actually putting her on a potty seat! I would be amazed if Isa becomes potty trained before she turns 2. At this rate, she just might!

   It’s been several weeks since my last blog post because I’ve been way too busy (again) at work and at home, so there's plenty for me to write about retroactively.

   On Feb. 10th, the movers delivered all of our household items that hadn’t been moved into our townhouse back in September. We had a very busy weekend unpacking as well as moving everything from the townhouse. Then, on Feb. 15th, we finally spent our first night in our new home! We were exhausted that night, and it was very obviously in the way Joseph and Sophia slept. :-)

   …mostly at work, but also at home. So, unfortunately, I haven’t been able to keep up with my twice a week workout schedule, and my pants continue to get slightly tighter around my waist. Joseph recently started with his Boys & Girls Club basketball league, which has practice every Wednesday and a game every Saturday. His team is called the Ravens. I’ve made it a ritual of taking him to practice after work on Wednesdays. Sophia comes along, too, and she loves just sitting and chatting with me while we watch Joseph practice. It’s definitely a very special time for me and them. On Saturdays, the whole family goes to the ProClub for about an hour of swimming, which is turning into another special ritual for us. Since I don’t have enough free time to work out, I play basketball with Joseph whenever I can just to get some form of exercise. I keep wondering where I’m going to find the extra time when Sophia starts playing soccer or doing ballet or when Joseph takes up karate.

   Isabel has started to crawl, and I think she’ll start walking in a couple of months. Wow, how time flies! I finally transferred the 200+ pictures from my camera, which were taken during the past few months, over to my laptop, and I’ve uploaded some of my favorites below. Joseph and Sophia are growing up fast, and at least once a week, I sneak into their bedroom after they’re asleep to take a good look at their angelic faces. I hope that that will help me remember them as “my babies” for a long, long time.

   This weekend, we decided to take it easy since I had another pretty busy week at work, and my wife had a very busy week at home after my Dad had gone back to Washington D.C. last Monday. So, instead of doing more touristy stuff in Seattle, we took the kids to the ProClub for some swimming. My wife had taken the kids there for the first time earlier in the week (and they had loved it), but it was the first time for me (and I loved it, too). The place is amazingly huge – supposedly the biggest fitness club in the U.S. Fortunately, my employer pays for my membership and provides a steep discount for a family membership. I’m planning to start working out over there at least twice a week.

   Last weekend, prior to my Dad leaving, we took the kids to the Museum of Flight, and they had a blast. I had a blast, too, by riding with Joseph in a flight simulator that can turn 180 degrees front to back and spin a complete 360 degrees. Joseph was laughing and giggling almost the whole time (about 4 minutes), and I got a bit dizzy from all the turning and upside-down flying. Back in the Bay Area, we used to take the kids to the Hiller Aviation Museum a few times a year, and they liked it, but this place was much bigger in comparison, and I think the kids were somewhat in awe of all the cool airplanes -- they even had an SR-71 Blackbird!