3/12/09
Man, time sure does go by quickly.  Sorry I've been ignoring this site.  I think we're going to turn it into a regular blog so it's easier to post to it.  Check back in a couple of days. 

12/3/08
We were decorating our tree tonight and took some snapshots of the girls.  Right before we took this they were enjoying one of their favorite treats, Chili Cheese Fritos!  Click here for more photos.



11/6/08
Happy Birthday Amelia & Abigail!!!

10/13/08
We had a little family trip up to Ledges State Park over the weekend and took a couple of snapshots.  It's been a while since we've posted any photos so I figured I'd post some.  If you've been to Sabrina's Facebook page some of these may be a repeat, sorry.  She always wants me to put photos up so she went and got her own deal.  Are you on Facebook?  Look her up.  One other thing, taking photos of two year old twins and trying to get the right pose is like trying to push a shoe string in straight line, impossible.  

10/10/08 - 10 Reasons Why I Love My Wife

1.  She puts up with me and all my crazy ideas!
2.  She is the best mom in the world!
3.  She puts the girls and I first. 
4.  She never complains.  Seriously.
5.  She's beautiful, actually she's smokin hot!!!
6.  She is the best cook in the world!  She makes the worlds most delicious Italian sausage sandwiches and the best burritos this side of El Rey.
7.  She does a ton around the house and never expects any praise.  She cleans the house everyday after the girls go to bed knowing it's going to get messy all over again in the morning.  I tell her just to leave it because it's going to just get messed up again but she doesn't listen to me.
8.  She's smoking hot!!!
9.  She loves me unequivocally.  It's crazy to think that someone could love me as much as she does.
10.  She gave the two best gifts on this earth, our little girls Amelia and Abigail.
11.  I love her the most because who she is.  She doesn't pretend to be anyone else or something she's not.  She's down to earth.
12.  Okay, reason number 12, SHE'S SMOKIN HOT!!!

10/9/08
Happy anniversary to my wife Sabrina, I love you babe!

10/6/08
I'm not one who usually wears my political opinion on my sleeve but I received an email from a friend last week and thought I'd share it. 

545 PEOPLE By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason.

They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing.

I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash.

The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House?

She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.

If the Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ .

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.

Make sure you vote on November 4th!




9/25/08
A lot has happened in the last two months. Both of the girls are using the potty now.  They aren't 100% on it but for the most part they'll tell us when they need to go.  We bought them pull-ups thinking we might be able to get them to start using big girl underwear but they loved pulling them off so we went back to regular diapers.  They still have their own language!  They're saying 30 different words now (yes, we wrote down every word they're saying on a note pad and counted them).

Sabrina has got them sleeping in their own bed now!!!!  Yes, you heard me right.  She took the initiative two weeks ago and it's working great.  Even though they're in their own bed now I really miss them sleeping with us.  They're growing up so fast, it's hard to believe they are almost two years old. 

The girls are also big-time copycats.  I don't know if it is a competitive thing or what but if one girl does something, more than likely the other one will be doing it five seconds later.  It's so funny to watch.

8/8/08
Happy 8/8/08 day!  We've got some exciting news.  Sabrina put the girls in the most alike twins contest at the Iowa State Fair yesterday.  Out of 15 sets of twins, the girls took fourth place!  Woohoo! The girls said they would like to thank the Iowa State Fair, their mommy & daddy and all of their family and friends.

On top of that, Abigail made a poopy in the big girl toilet today!  We've been working with the girls telling us when they have to go and Abigail did it this morning!  They also don't like having it sit in their diapers so they want us to change their diapers as soon as they do it.  I think we might be getting rid of diapers in the near future!!!

7/22/08:
Well the girls have all of their teeth for now and are starting to say a couple of more words .  They really do have their own language.  I recorded them talking with my phone the other day.  I'll have to put it up on the site so you can hear them jabbering. 

The girls got to experience two 4th of July parades this year.  They are both candy grabbing experts now.  Here's a picture of their candy bags at the Ankeny parade.



Here's some more photos from the parade:









6/17/08:
A lot has been happening in the Casteel household.   The girls are doing fantastic!  they just about have all their teeth in from molar to molar on top and bottom.  Both of the girls have one canine tooth left to finally come through and then they'll have a full grill.  They're still only saying a couple of words but have managed to learn quite a bit of sign language.   I know I've said it before but it is truly amazing how smart they are and how they learn new things.  Of course they still have their own language between the two of them.

We took the girls camping for the first time last month and it may be awhile before we take them again.  Everything was fine until about 12:00am when both of the girls started screaming uncontrollably.   Abigail only screamed for about 45 minutes and Amelia screamed for almost two hours.  Sabrina took Amelia in the truck so the whole campsite wouldn't hear her but I could still hear her in the tent and we were about 15 feet away!  We don't know why they were screaming but we aren't going to be in the situation again anytime soon.

The girls love going to the zoo.  They are to the point where they love to look at the animals now.  They try to make the sound of an elephant but it sounds more like a motorcycle.  They also love slides right now.  We have a park a block away and the girls could spend all day on the slide.  Abigail has figured out how to climb back up the slide!  She is such a monkey.  

Our March for Babies walk was a success.  Altogether, our team raised over $4,200!  Thank you to all of you who donated to the cause.

Below is a picture that Auntie Nani took.  I'll try to get more pictures up on the site before the weekend.

4/10/08:
I finally have the California photos up.  Hard to believe it's been two months since we've been there. We miss everyone and can't wait to get back there.

The family is doing great.  The girls are working on saying new words everyday.  Their first official big girl word was "Mailman."  I know, insert joke here right?  Sabrina feeds the girls lunch everyday at the same time and the mailman always delivers the mail during lunch.  Well, about 3-4 weeks ago, the mailman came and Sabrina as usual said "Mailman is here"  Abigail blurted out "Mailman!"  Sabrina's jaw dropped!  She called me out to hear her new word and she said it several times.  It's crazy what words they pick up on and which ones they choose to repeat.  

3/20/08:
Hey everyone, Sabrina signed us up for the March of Dimes, March for Babies walk coming up on May 3rd.  The idea of the walk is to support lifesaving research, services, education and advocacy that help premature babies get a healthy start.  We have a goal to reach $250 this year.  If you would like to donate we would appreciate it!  You could go without Starbucks for a week or two and donate it to a good cause.  We have a site you can go to for donations: Click Here.  Also, if you're lucky enough you'll be getting an email from us too! :)

3/14/08:
I went to a tradeshow the other day and attended a class on classroom technology for the future.  The speaker started the class with a video and it made me think about a lot things.  Now that I have kids I have a vested interest in how they're taught and more importantly, what they're taught.  I've included the video below.

3/9/08:
As many of you that have kids know, every day you celebrate something they've done for the first time.  Today we get to share with you the first time they've done something new!  Well, I guess it wasn't something they've done this time but something that they got to experience for the first time.  Today, the girls had their toe nails painted just like mommy.  On top of that, daddy was the one doing the painting.  Mommy was painting her nails and the girls kept wanting to grab the bottle.   So I took action and grabbed the bottle and started painting!

3/3/08:
Happy Birthday Cousin Joey!

2/25/08:
Happy Birthday Sabrina!



2/16/08:
We made it back from our first vacation with the girls!  Amelia and Abigail earned their wings for flying their first time.  The girls weren't too bad for their first flight (we had a total of five connections).  However, their second flight was a different story.  Amelia wouldn't stop screaming on the airplane.  Talk about every minute lasting an hour!  I don't know what we were thinking taking two fifteen-month-olds on an airplane.  Once we landed in California all was well, at least for the most part.  We were able to see a lot of family, although the girls wanted to run around when we were around five or more people, which was every day.  So while we got to see a lot of family, we didn't get to talk much with them.  Sabrina and I have decided for any vacations within the next four years we're going to drive rather than fly.  :)

We especially want to thank Cousin Michael, Rosie, Brianna and Andrew for letting us stay at their house and being so generous to us.  Brianna and Andrew were more than helpful with the girls and even shared all of their toys for the girls to play with.  I don't think I've ever seen a five year old kid let another kid play with his toys without fighting over them.     

I should have the pictures of our vacation on the website soon.  I took over 1300 photos so it is going to take some time to get them up.  We did something everyday so if we weren't taking photos of family, we were taking pictures of all the fun places we went to.  I'll have more details when I get the photos up.  

2/11/08:
Happy Birthday Uncle Keegan!

2/10/08:
Happy Birthday Grandma Cindy!


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