birthday boy

 

The earth has been lucky to have Joey in it for 30 long years now.  That’s right….Joey has hit the big 3-0. 

Not only is Halloween the day that Joey was born, it was also the day that we had our first date…11 years ago!  I met him when he was a mere 19 year old baby. 

We were supposed to have a party up at the cabin for Joey and his uncle who is turning 50, but unfortunately the party was canceled due to illness and a canceld plane.  I didn’t really have enough time to plan anything really special for his 30th…and I feel kind of bad. 

Tessa and I tried to make the best of it and made him a birthday cake.  Then, we took him out for Chinese food (his favorite) and went home to carve pumpkins for the night.  Then, we finished the day at Katie and Jason’s. 

Even though, it seemed like an ordinary birthday, I hope that Joey knows how much I really do love him and I’m glad to have him.  I really would have had a party if I’d had the time!

9 years of Joe Joe

I’ve actually known Joey for nearly 11 years.  I met him on his 19th  birthday, he was a young-en.  We have been married for 9 years as of yesterday and in honor of the 9 years, I thought I’d write 9 things that I love most about Joey:

1-  He has unconditional love for me.  No matter how mad he ever gets, or how badly I might mess something up, or how ugly I might look…..he always loves me, no matter what. 

2-  He doesn’t fight dirty.  He refrains from ever saying mean or hurtful things to me just to hurt my feelings.  He rarely stays mad for very long and he usually can remain the calm one in a “heated” situation. 

3-  Joey is frugal and very good with money.  I know that I can always trust him to take care of the bills, etc.  He loves bargains like I do.  (Although he does get embarrassed of my coupons from time to time)

4-  Joey gives REALLY good massages and he’s always willing to rub my feet, put lotion on them, and he even paints my toe nails. 

5-  He makes me laugh.  Hard.  He is very smart and has witty little comments all the time.  Sometimes, I even steal his jokes and use them at work. 

6-  He keeps me up on politics and the issues.  He’s very patient to explain things to me that I don’t understand.  He knows so much stuff!  He also has a great memory.

7-  He is the BEST gift giver ever!  I don’t know how he does it, but he always manages to get me things that I really wanted but didn’t even know that I wanted.  His gifts are also very thoughtful  (but the cards aren’t). 

8-  He is a very good dad.  He is so helpful to me with the kids.  He almost always does the baths with them and makes sure they take care of their teeth.  He is also good for trimming their nails and he’s a PRO at that little baby boogar sucker thing.  He lays with Tessa each night for at least a half an hour telling her stories.  It’s very apparent how much he loves them.

9-  He does nice little things for me consistently, just because he knows that I like it.  For example, he almost always drives because he knows that I don’t like to.  He also always mows the lawn and takes care of car maintenance; also things that I hate to do. 

Ok, there are many more reasons why I love the Joe Joe…..but we’ll stop with 9 for now.  I’ll come up with the “top ten” next year.

I love you, Joey….Happy Anniversary!

Prom Night

I am going to be next year’s junior officer advisor and in being so, will have the honor of going to Prom every year.   Joey is so excited.

This year, we attended as chaperones to see how things worked, etc.  We had fun….yes, even Joey did.  It turns out that Prom is a very fun place to sit and people watch.  We commented on the crazy outfits and crazy dancing. 

We got paid $70 between the two of us and got free pictures.  I think it was a fun date night.  We ate dinner at Rino’s…a VERY good restaurant if anyone’s interested.  And after the dance was over, we went to a late night movie which I slept through (of course). 

Oh, and Joey and I danced too!  twice!

coach for a day

Spring soccer got off to a shaky start because of all the icky weather we’ve been having, but Nate finally had his first game last week.  His official coach was out of town and asked Joey to fill in for him.  He did an excellent job with the boys and I was very proud of him.  All of the soccer moms were so jealous. 

It was amazing how much those few winter months made in the boys’ soccer skills.  They can actually pay attention to what’s going on and they didn’t try to pick the ball up as much.  Nate even scored a goal!  He is a very persistent player.

getting fixed

Joey was “fixed” on Friday and has been wearing a really sexy jock strap and sitting on ice all weekend. 

I was having a “moment”  with the children when I agreed to this operation several months ago and have had many second thoughts about it.  Joey has never wavered, however,and has remained consistent in knowing that he only wants two children.  He agreed to three ONLY if we had two of the same sex…just to try to get another flavor.  But, since we were blessed with one of each, I guess we are calling it “good”. 

So….unless there is some sort of “miracle”, it looks like we will not be having any more children.  I’m o.k. with it (I think) but it still makes me feel old and sad to think that we are done.  I guess I can always have kids with my next husband.

bane of my existence

For Christmas, Joey got a t-shirt from his friend Rico that said, “I’m the only one without an Xbox 360″, as he is, the only one of his kind without one.  They all laughed and said that they felt so bad for him.  Then, he would look at me with puppy dog eyes as if to say “don’t YOU feel sorry for me too?”.  I didn’t.  I did NOT like the idea of Joey having access to Xbox live and forming an addiction that would ultimately lead him to wasting even more time than he already does.  I was pretty confident that Joey wouldn’t buy one because they are too expensive, and he is too cheap.

Much to my dismay, his friend (he who shall not be named) decided to give him his old one that was in need of repair.  Instead of just fixing it, like any normal person would do, he just bought a new one and Joey inherited the broken one.  Normally, it takes Joey months, sometimes years of me nagging him to get things fixed or to finish projects around the house.  Let me tell you that it took him less than two days to fix the XBox, rig up the internet connection, and hook the whole thing up.  He was up and running in no time.

Each night, this is how you’ll find Joey.  Sitting on the couch, headphones on, talking very loudly to his friends about video games and staying up till al hours of the night.  I could just kiss he who should not be named.

Rock On

I usually go to bed around 9 pm, however Joey found a way to keep me up until 2 am.  I found him in the living room SINGING to RockBand all by himself!  I thought it was pretty funny.  He promptly challenged me to sind “Black Hole Sun” on the medium setting, as he couldn’t pass it.  I passed it easily and the screen called me awesome a lot.  I kept on singing and Joey played the guitar.  Before I knew it, it was 2 am.  Stupid RockBand.

Is that a giant icicle, or are you just happy to see me?

Joey is six foot three. 

More Strange and Unusual Behavior

I settled down to read a little more Twilight,  (I’m on the 2nd book) when I heard some unusual noises coming from the kitchen.  I called to Joe Joe and asked, “what are you doing in there?”  He muttered something that sounded like “cleaning the fridge”.  I cannot recall a time in our marriage that Joe Joe has done such a thing, so I assumed that I heard him incorrectly.  After I finished reading and napping, I decided to check on that fridge thing.  Much to my amazement, Joe Joe really had cleaned the fridge.  I am reading and Joe Joe is cleaning.  Have you seen any pigs flying?

Birthday Boy

It was my husband Joe Joe’s birthday on Halloween.  Because I’m such a good wife, I spent a lot of the day planning, cooking, and decorating for a birthday/halloween party.  It’s kind of become a tradition to have people over on Halloween.  When we first got married, our friends and family members were mostly single or newlyweds as well.  There were no children at our parties.  It is quite a different scene nowadays. Plenty of kids this year. 

It is clear that in our marriage, Joe Joe is the best gift giver.  This is mostly true because I CANNOT keep a secret to save my life.  I am terrible.  This year, however, I kept the secret very well.  I was very proud.  I saved money and went in with a few family members to get Joey a new HD tv for our living room.  He’s been wanting one of these tvs for a while and I have be “disapproving” of that purchase.  At one point, Joe Joe had agreed to exercise to earn the tv.  It did not pan out.  Well, I didn’t want to just have the tv sitting out, and I didn’t want to wrap that big box, so I decided to create a scavenger hunt.  In omage to my students who have been learning how to rhyme, I made all of the clues like little poems. Just as he was about to open the shed, NTPP (my 4 year old) screamed out, “It’s a TV!”  I was still proud of him for holding it in that long.