Date night

Last Saturday, Jon and Erica had a wedding reception in the suburbs to celebrate their wedding that they had the week before in Mexico. Michelle and I were thinking of getting a babysitter and heading out to the party but we thought it might be fun for Samantha to go to the reception. Both of her cousins, Jackson and Jeremy, were going to be there along with a lot of other family. Michelle said she would stay back with Meredith and I could take Samantha to the wedding reception.

Here is a photo of my date and I before we headed out for the night. The reception stared at 6 pm. I was hoping Samantha would make it until 8 pm. You see, Samantha was not having a very good day. She didn't sleep well the night before and she was REFUSING to take a nap. After two hours of fighting it, many tears and meltdowns she finally went to sleep at 3 pm. Well, she woke up at 4:30. We left at 5:15 for the reception...



She also did not sleep in the car on the way out there. Consider me shocked! When we got there, my mom took her and walked her around the place. After a little mingling, we had to take a seat for introductions. Samantha really liked all the clapping as the wedding party was introduced.

At this point though, Samantha would not leave my side. When we sat down, she wanted to sit on my lap. They had hor d'oerurves but Samantha did not want to eating. This is when I started to get nervous. I thought the night was going to end quickly and I was going to have to take a cranky Samantha home.

Then the music started. Samantha didn't want to eat. She didn't want to sit down. She wanted to DANCE! And dance we did. Any time I sat down on the sidelines, she would grab my wrist and say "Let's go dance." We did however take a long enough break from the dance floor to make these pictures for Michelle in the photo booth that was there.

In the end, we had a great time. I got her to put her jacket on and leave around 9:15 or that is what I thought. She was pretty upset when we got to the car. She kept saying she wanted to go back to the party and not go home. I thought FOR SURE she would fall asleep in the car. Nope. We were talking, laughing, having a good time on the car ride home. 45 minute ride home - she was still awake.

When we got home, she was telling Michelle all about the party. She did not fall asleep until 11 pm!

A random thought on the night is the following. I did not have a drop of alcohol but danced and partied more than I would have if Michelle had gone and I did some drinking. Too funny!

I have a short video of her dancing but I am having trouble loading it into youtube. I will post it once I figure that out.

Pre-Game Rountine

I loved this piece from Jalen Rose. As I am getting older, I really appreciate it. It makes you look at someone like Steve Nash or Kobe and think "how the hell are they doing this day in and day out?"

Meredith's First Movie night

Samantha got Beauty and the Beast from Grammy last weekend as a gift and I think it took about 3.5 seconds for Samantha to request that we put the movie in the dvd player and watch it.

I took a quick few pics of Meredith's first movie night. We made popcorn. We grabbed a seat to watch. Samantha and I typically pull out our sleeping bags for movie night.

A few comments about the pictures below.

1. Please disregard the chaos of the living room. It is quite lived in.
2. If you notice Samantha has a princess sleeping bad and I have a black sleeping bag. Once they are laid out, it is customary for her to then take over my sleeping bag and I get hers. That is why she is laying on mine and her sleeping bad is empty.
3. I have gone from never seeing Beauty and Beast to having seen it three times now. I probably should stop counting.
4. Meredith's first movie night was a big success! I am sure there will be many more.

A comparison

So we already see so many differences between Samantha and Meredith. However it seems like Meredith does take after someone.... Here is one pic.



And here is another...

The black and white one is me.

So - does she look like me?

15

As I am sitting in my parents' living room, I am thinking about the broncos's season and what a crazy ride it has been. I am going to sum up my thoughts in bullet form.

1. Let's talk a few min about Mr. Tebow or '15'. It is crazy to me how definite some people think they are about a guy who has started now 16 games. He is only 24. I do love his humility, his work ethic and leadership. The man knows how to win. Only time will tell but I hope is qb of the broncos for the next decade.

2. Did josh mcdaniels have a better draft than we give him credit for? I knew we were a mess with him at head coach but demarius Thomas when healthy looks like a beast. Tebow is playing better and better. Ayers is solid on the d-line. I guess only time will tell.

3. I am really bummed that Brian Dawkins got a neck injury that looks like it might be career ending. The guy has been a great safety his whole career, slowing down with time but has meant a lot to our defense this year.

4. Elway had a pretty good first draft. I guess it helps that we had the number 2 draft pick. I love Von Miller. Too bad he has been slowed by injury too.

5. This team is young except for their secondary. It would not surprise me if champ moved to safety and we get some new corners.

6. We need running backs and a good te! McGahee can not carry the ball as much as he did this year. He won't last. Can we trade for Aaron Hernandez please???

7. I will be rooting hard for them tonight but I don't see them winning this game against new England. Too many injuries and new England is the better team but what they do I know? I am wrapped in a snuggie as I write this!

8. I have been torn on Fox all year but the players love him so I guess that is what matters most.

9. Won the division and won a playoff game so far. already exceeded my expectations....

10. This the first time in awhile I am excited about the future of the Broncos


This is my first blog from my iPhone. I like it!

Have a good weekend.

I love Tecmo Bowl...

and I love the Denver Broncos. This video is fantastic!

Biggest Loser Math

Ok - The finale is tomorrow so I figured this write-up is better late than never. The biggest loser finale is finally a fight between the big men of the group!

I also find interesting is how the breakdown of the season went. This year Biggest Loser was broken into three different groups - the kids, the working age and the retirees. Ok, maybe that is overstating it but they did break the contestants into three groups all by age at the beginning and the show goes into the finale with two of the three represented. You would think that the young group would be the group with two BUT the middle group had two. This might be a testament to Bob knowing how to get people to lose weight faster than the other trainers as the other two trainers were new this season. On to the contestants...

John: Age - 40. Height - 6' 4". Starting weight - 445 lbs. Everyone I know who talks to me about the show wants anyone BUT John to win the show. John does come off poorly on tv but in general, I think he has the most work emotionally to do than anyone else. With that being said, I think this game is his to lose. He is already at 263 lbs. If he gets down to 220, he will be at a more than 50% weight loss. I am guessing he ends at 218 which is only 45 more pounds AND gives him a 51.01% weight loss. Wow.

Antone: Age - 44. Height - 6'5". Starting weight - 447 lbs. Look, he is an ex-NFL player (lot of muscle) and he is an inch taller than John. Also, he is at 293 right now. For him to get close to John, he would need to lose another 65 lbs in the next 3 months before the finale. It can be done but with John being at the same starting weight, a tad shorter, and having a BIG lead already, I just do not see it happening.

Ramone: Age - 27. Height - 5'11". Starting weight - 355 lbs. Here is your dark horse. At 5'11" and being 27 years old, he could get down to 180. Now, he is at 239 lbs right now so that means losing 59 more lbs in the next 3 months or however long the break is before the finale. That is a tall order but he is 27 years old. That helps.

I just do not see John losing. At the end of the last show, John was at a 40% weight loss already! Antone was at 34.5% loss and Ramone was at a 32.7% loss. That is a lot of ground to make up by the finale but crazier things have happened.

I guess we will find out tomorrow.