Weekend with the Nephews

After the nephews' basketball games last weekend, we decided to bring them back into the city for a slumber party. We invited over Uncle Bryan and Mary for a pajama party/make your own pizza party. We had a blast. We played games, watched UFC PPV, and the people old enough did an American beer tour. All in all it was a great time but my Sunday at noon, I realized why I do not have three kids. Wow was I tired!

Here are some pics from the weekend...

This is us talking to nana and papa on skype.



So Jackson and Jeremy like playing this game where I throw them into the corner of the couch. Michelle got a couple action photos.




Here are a couple pics of them making pizzas. Jeremy wanted to put fries on his pizza. The idea caught fire and four different pizzas had fries on them. I did not try it but I heard it was really good.



Who knew Bryan's pajamas were shorts???



Below is up finishing up chutes and ladders. Jeremy already won. Michelle won Sorry and Jack won the card game Garbage.



It was a great weekend and we loved having them in.

Grandpa's influence...

So, over Christmas, Grandpa Vic showed Samantha how to pull out the Tupperware from shelves. Now it is one of her favorite things to do and she is very efficient at it...

Thanks Grandpa!

Click here to view this video

Ummm...should you be driving?

Let me be honest. I thought the pictures were hilarious. Then I began thinking about the future and all of a sudden the pictures were not as funny. Something tells me this pic will become a reality a lot faster than I ever would have thought! Joke is on her though...this will probably be her car when she turns 16...

Happy 11 months Samantha!!!!!

Survivor All Stars: Good vs Evil

First off, let me say that Samoa does not seem like a good place to be stranded. This is the 2nd season in a row there and it looks brutal. It rains a lot and it is does not look overly warm there. Not a good combination.

Ok, after last season, I was ready to call Russell the greatest survivor player of all time. He was that good. I am really glad he is back for a couple reason. I think he is really good and it shows how much better the players are already. Before he was a wolf among sheep. Now he is a wolf among wolves. Is he the strongest? We shall see.

I wanted to wait for the 2nd episode to write this. James is a monster physically. If he is upset, get the hell out of his way. Who is going to talk back to him? really??? Preview for next week looks awesome. James is beating the crap out of people in a challenge. I think he handled the situation poorly last night but he was right. Stephanie should have kept her mouth shut and everyone should have listened to JT.

I think JT has a shot at winning this thing. I think he is going to play a sneaky game on the heroes side of things. However, the villains are kicking ass right now. if this keeps up, a villain will win.

This brings me to Boston Rob. I am amazed at how much his swagger and personality shines even amongst some of the best players. He could be around for a while but I think Russell will get him off the show pretty quick. Russell knows he can not keep him too long.

Pavarti, Boston Rob, Russell and JT I think have the best chance of winning. Pavarti is great at hanging around and striking at the right time. Just wait and see.

In the end, I am loving this season and loved the idea. Way to go to Survivor on making it 20 seasons!

Big Hurt

The greatest hitter in White Sox history retired last week. I can no imagine the hype this guy would have had if he had been a Cub. Jay Jaffe wrote a great article on his career. Frank Thomas was the best hitter of the 90s. If you compare Thomas' numbers to Pujols' numbers at a similar point in time (i.e. frank thomas at 6000 plate appearances where AP is at now), they are really similar. I really think what hurt Frank Thomas was the strike season. I mean he was at his peak. The White Sox were looking great then boom. Strike happens and people stray away from the game for a few years.

He is top 15 greatest hitters of all time and never been linked to PEDs. I think the Hall of Fame voters make a statement with the Big Hurt and he goes in 1st time with a big percentage. He deserves it.

He was one of my favorite players to watch at the plate. I hope he enjoys retirement!

So long Big Hurt!

Preview: Survivor All-Stars...loving it!

Is grape the new cherry???

So, I have been pretty busy at work lately and I have also been sick for 2 weeks. That is not a pretty combination. So I apologize for the lack of blogs but you should be used to it by now.

Anyway, I was beyond frustrated with my sickness so I went to the doc yesterday at lunch. I have a sinus infection. He gave me two different antibiotics to take. The first one is a pill once a day for 10 days. Fine. The second was cough syrup.

Now, back in my day cough syrup was always cherry flavored. I love cherries and to be honest I always liked the taste of medicine. Well, the syrup I got yesterday was purple in color and tasted grape. I was shocked. I am fine with it. Having bought Samantha multiple medicines already, I have noticed that grape seems to be most prevalent flavor. When did this happen? I thought cherry was old standby. I guess not in the 21st century.

On a sidenote, I am throwing a preview of tomorrow's blog at the end of this one.

Preview for tomorrow's blog: The Big Hurt

What a reaction!!!!!

I would have loved to be partying down there that night! WOW!

TGIF!

The weekend might be overly full. I might not be able to sleep in either day. I don't care! IT IS FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!
WOOHOO!

A lesson learned from parenthood

I am in general, a healthy individual. I get a physical every year. I workout on a regular basis. I usually watch what I eat. I drink too much from time to time...but in general, my physical is usually really good.

Why am I talking about this? Well, if we were looking at...hmm..lets say a 5 year history of my health prior to March 19, 2009, I bet I was sick MAYBE twice a year. I bet it was an average of about 1.5 times a year.

Well, since Samantha has come into our life, I have been sick about once a month! She is a walking carrier of disease. It is quite impressive. I have been to work one day this week. Monday I was off because Samantha was sick. I started getting sick Tuesday night and was really sick on Wednesday and am still fighting it today.

I do not remember reading that I should expect to be sick once a month...I guess it is just another lesson learned. I think there will be a lot more to come!

What is your one food???

So, I was thinking about food last night. This is what us fat people do. I was trying to think of the one food that I love the most. What is the one food that I am not sure I could live without? It really came down to two foods: peanut butter and cheese. Now, I am not talking about the Jiffy crap. I am talking about natural peanut butter. When you open the jar, you have to mix it up because all the oil is on top. The only ingredients are say it...peanuts!!! (ok - less than 1% salt too...) That is REAL peanut butter and I LOVE IT!

I swear the only reason I eat a banana is so i can put mounds and mounds of PB on it with each bite. I love to have it with ice cream. I even bought powdered PB to mix in with protein shakes. I am not sure I can get enough peanut butter.

What is your one food?

this blog was really close to being about cheese... mmmm, cheese.

Happy Wednesday!

Monday - New weekend???

So, due to being ridiculously busy at work, I had to bail on a FUN weekend in Cincinnati. I was really bummed out but in the end duty calls. I worked basically a full day Saturday and almost a full day Sunday.

Well, as the weekend continued, Samantha got more sick. By middle of the day on Sunday, she was running a fever around 103. After talking to the doc and stabilizing her temp, we made an apt for the doctor on Monday mid-morning. Well, Michelle has a meeting in the morning, so I had to take her.

I ended up putting a few more hours of work in Sunday night (after bowling) and took Monday off. Monday morning Samantha woke up a much better and happier baby. We went the doctor and he thinks she had hand, foot and mouth disease. The doc also thought we had seen the worst of it. Great news!

Well, on the way home Sam fell asleep. Lets say it was 10:45. We got home. I put her in her crib. It was time for me to do some work...Well, at noon, she started crying. I could tell she was still tired. So I laid with her on the couch. I though maybe an hour and she will be good.

Well, she proceeded to sleep for three hours! I laid there locked on the couch with a sleeping baby on my chest. I did not move, go to the bathroom or eat lunch. When she finally woke up, she and I were BOTH hungry.

Anyway, I ended up playing with her until it was time to get Michelle. In the end, Monday turned out to be my weekend. I can not complain except...

Why is my throat sore and my nose stuffy????

Uh-oh.

Oh and this morning Samantha woke up happy and no temp for the last 30 hours. She still has a bad cough but for the most part is A-OK.