Before I begin this post, I wanted to say that in response to my last one, the surprise was taking Melissa to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra on the 23rd. We had an incredible time! If you’ve never been, make an effort to go some time, it is the experience of a lifetime!

After a wonderful time spending Christmas Eve with Melissa‘s family we came home, opened our jammies (which is a tradition in our family – to give each other a new set of jammies on Christmas Eve) and read the Christmas story from Luke Chapter 2 to Caleb before putting him to bed.

We got up bright and early at 7:30am to get Caleb up and fed so we could get going with our Christmas morning presents. Without going into details of all that we received, we shall just leave it as we had a fun time opening everything! My wife is so sweet and really got me some wonderful gifts – but the purpose of this story is to tell you about one gift that I gave her in particular. Many of you may already be familiar with The Pioneer Woman who has an enormously popular blog and has written a cookbook and many other things. Well, my darling wife had asked for the cookbook called “Pioneer Woman Cooks” for Christmas and being the loving and wonderful husband that I am (wink) I of course got it for her Santa got it for her. The following pictures tell the remainder of  my story.

Opening the cookbook for the first time

Caleb playing with some new toys while mommy reads the cookbook

"Um... Mom? Why'd you stop playing with me?"

"Mom... Mom...Mom...Mommy....Mommy...Mommy..."

"...Mommy?"

"Um... AHEM... Little Person down here!"

"Uh Dad? Mom's ignoring me!"

"Ooooh! A book for me?"

"BAH! This doesn't teach me how to make cinnamon rolls!"

At Last, what he really wanted

"Not again..."

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In all fairness that entire sequence lasted about 2 minutes and Caleb was happily playing the entire time. I just couldn’t resist the opportunity for some great captions!

All in all, we had a wonderful Christmas and I will be posting more fun photos shortly. Have a great evening everyone!

Today I’m taking my wife on a date. Parents of young children need to catch this idea. No matter how busy life gets with parenting and school, and activities and all the other numerous things we fill our lives with, we can never forget to date one another. I believe one of the leading causes to the breakdown of the family unit is that after kids, parents start to ignore each other and begin to make their kids the central focus of their lives. This is important as our kids demand much time and energy – but we must never forget that our spouse must come before our children or we risk not only hurting our marriage but even hurting our children as they look to us to properly model healthy relationships.

Remember when you were first dating your significant other? How you’d make every effort to impress him or her and how you were always finding creative ways to spend time together?

Picture of us when we were dating.

Why don’t we do that now? For us men, it’s so easy to fall into the trap of feeling like we’ve “won” our wive’s hearts and now it’s time to focus on providing for her and our family. That is a deadly snare. Yes providing for our family is important but in a poll conducted a couple years ago the pollsters asked women what they would prefer – A husband who was hardly around but provided a significant income and huge financial stability and the ability to buy and do many things, or would they rather live at a lower income level not getting as many financial freedoms but have a husband who is home with them more often and willing to spend his time with the family and with her. What do you think the result of that poll was? Over 75% of the women responded they’d rather have the later. Security is very important to women, but what is even more important is a present husband and father.

And today, I’m going to be that. I’ve been planing a special day for Melissa and I for a couple weeks now. Nothing huge, but just some time before Christmas for us to spend some quality time together. Since she of course reads this blog I can only reveal that it will involve a little drive, food, and a fair amount of walking. But it will be a blast. Hopefully the gorgeous weather we are having will hold and although it’s cold it’s clear and beautiful.

Have you dated your spouse in the last month? Leave a comment with your reply and or thoughts on the topic. Have a wonderful day all of you!

“Upside Down Boy!” Caleb’s momma happily says as she plays with him. The delight in his eyes sparkle and that grin that we love opens wider and wider. In a single moment is captured the essence of boyhood – to have fun and be rowdy!

I remember my formative years and the countless hours spent wrestling, tickling, playing with foam swords, and so many other rowdy games with my dad and how much fun it was! Already I see myself in my son. Not only do I see the resemblance in looks, but also in persona. He is easy going, loves easily, and wants to push every button and play with every electronic gadget within reach! Well, let me tell you it delights my heart to have a little boy like Caleb. He reminds me to stay a child at heart – to remember that life isn’t always about paying bills, working to provide for my family, and other seemingly mundane activities. It’s about finding joy in the simple things, a simple game of hide-and-seek, a wink from my wife, or being an “Upside Down Boy”!