Oh The Cakes We Will Destroy

While it's embarrassing to be blogging about a birthday party a month later, I am still going to do it. Why? Because the party was cute, it was at our house, and I love the children! Also it involves our friends Matt, Alissa and Tate who live in Minnesota, so they barely get airtime on our blog anymore.


Birthday hats were in place.


A plethora of delicious party treats made and on the perfectly placed table.


Balloons (Max's favorite colors!) were blown up to extreme. Yes, we would be celebrating Tate and friend's (sorry...I suck with names) first birthday! These two kids were born within mere hours of each other in the same hospital and most likely will become bosom buddies, similar to twins but without all the pesky genetics.


The theme of the party was Dr. Seuss's "Oh the Places We'll Go!". They had a map on our wall that allowed everyone to put up tags where they had been and places they hope to go. It led to a very full map.





Wall 'o Photos. Wall 'o Preciousness.


Below is the cake...more on that later and why it looks like a gigantic clown mountain.


Ah...here they are. The birthday boy and girl and their proud parents.


Many other people came to celebrate, including Tyson and Alpha (who may or may not have been teething that day).


Bros before hos! Kickin it with the boys. Don't worry, the whole party wasn't a junior high school dance...there was inter gender mingling.


Max was there fixin his noggin. He has since graduated from his helmet to head nudity! Congrats Max!


The family. Miss there faces, but now I have this picture when I need a MAT fix.


Tate, like many little boys before him, had his moments where he was done with all the excitement and party action...but he forced a smile at me here.


A long standing tradition (one we may adopt) happened. One ear old babies in diapers on plastic with a cake to destroy. There was some confusion on what they should do.


Tate took a mini dip, but then decided messiness wasn't for him.


Seriously guys? You are always telling me not to play with my food.


Max has not learned that lesson yet and was eager...but his birthday isn't until New Years Eve, so you'll have to wait little buddy.

He's Mobile

Max started crawling this weekend, fortuitously when Papa and Nana Winmill were in town. He really likes to put on a show. I know that having him crawl is ultimately going to be a pain (particularly since his favorite items in the house are all my electronics), but for now I just love watching him scoot around on those knees.

The Greatest Gift of All

Basically we blew out Caitlins birthday to the freaking core. How did we do this? Well, you already know about the party. And you have already seen the video! But did you know that Tracy flew in to chicago and surprised Caitlin for the weekend as well? Holy crap!


Photo proof. Max and Tracy...inseparable when they are in the same city. He is basically obsessed with Tracy and didn't really like sharing her with Caitlin.


We tried to go to a bulls game.


So we drove down to the United Center and found the closest, cheapest parking space ever. We didn't have tickets, but they were playing the Wizards...so we were sure there would be tickets. Wrong. Sold out. How? It's a mystery of the universe.


So we ran back to the car. Max loved being wrapped in a blanket and held by tracy. Look at that face. Instead we drove to Mollie's and got cupcakes and frothy steamed milk. The weekend was basically chill happiness for us all. It involved good foods, chilling and talking at home or on walks, and basically just bonding.

Thanks Tracy for making caitlin's bday so special! See you in Florida or New York!

Where in the World is Jeffy Mulcockalocky?

In the next month I am going to be many places.


Like Texas!



California (daisy dukes, bikinis on top)!



Who knew, I'll be in Utah!



How could I forget my love, my life, my idaho.

With all this traveling, I'm starting to feel like Smitty.

Location:All the freak over

Thuggin' Thirtieth Yo

I have had some major blog constipation lady and feel completely backlogged with Shiz to tell you. Fortunately, I have taken some Ex-lax and I'm ready to dump out some great content!


On Monday night I had one more good surprise for caitlin's 30th birthday - a surprise party. She thought we were going out for dinner and that we'd be leaving Max at a friends for babysitting. I told her to wear something a little gangsta. This made her think dinner was on Howard street...but no. We got to the babysitters house and boooooooom! Surprise! We sang happy birthday (which I have video of, maybe I'll post) and the party was on.


We asked everyone to dress as pimp as possible. Some people took that to the next level by wearing their finest Juicy Couture.


Ryan...he is a man with some serious street cred. Biotches don't know about his street cred. This was a great venue for showing my birthday rap video/love letter to caitlin. Then everybody performed a two-lined or more rap for Caitlin about how awesome she is. How dope is that?


The food was off the hook. We tried to line the table with everything she loves...basically anything involving goat cheese, spinach, caramel, and pumpkin. This carrot cake was so divine.





Max kind of thought the party was for him. Sorry dude...not for another month.


I want to do a public shout out to these two characters, Kelli and Tyson, for letting us crash their crib for the night. Also huge props to my peeps Lindy and Lauren for organizing and making the dream come alive. Finally, sup yo to my film crew Nick and Shannon. Holla my crew!!!!

You Phill Me?

Spent the last two nights in Philly doing market research for work. My cab driver this morning at 5:45am thought it appropriate to talk to me the whole ride to the airport, despite only 12% English language competency. I commend him for the valiant efforts to keep working on it...a lesson for us all to never give up.

Man...We have a lot to experience and report on in the coming weeks. We have two birthday parties that happened, my night hanging out with Nensaballs in Philly, Beef and Feef coming to Chicago today (yes!), and then an amazing week with Judes and Lynn. When will I find the time to blog?

I'll do my best to fit it in...

Location:United plane from Philly to Chicago

This Chick is So Gangsta!

I think one thing that Caitlin doesn't like about me is the fact that I don't know how to express myself and my love for her very well. I'm pretty shy with words and I certainly can't find the right ones to let her know how I feel.

But I am a great rap artist and its through that art that I can truly let her know the way I feel about her. So I made the following rap video to let her know 30 things that I think are amazing about Caitlin.


Boo - I love you. Happy 30th just one more bleepin' time.

MOOOOOOMMMMMM!

Happy Birthday Mommers! You are turning 30 today...are you kidding me up in here? I can't believe it! I am so lucky to have such a coooooool, mature, funny, kind, PATIENT (sorry for my tears and poopy dipes and the occasional other naughties I do), loving, pretty, and dedicated mom. I have to say that my life so far has basically been non-stop posh and fun. Dad likes to take credit for that, but he's a fool. You make it happen and I love you for that.

I hope you have basically the awesomest day. You'll be lucky if dad doesn't screw up the presents! I tried to give him some ideas but my darn mouf don't work yet!

Anyway, super love you and I hope your first birthday with me in your life is the best one!

Love,

Maxers (aka gootz, mittoo, and baby)

Let's Hear Those Sleigh Bells Jingling

A lot has been said and written about Sleigh Bells this year. They had a ridiculous amount of hype (well, at least for an independent band) and then an album got released with equally favorable reviews. I bought, listened and enjoyed, then repeated like 3,000 times since the album came out. Here's the deal. There isn't anything particularly amazing about them that deserves critical acclaim. What they got is the perfect combination for my happiness. They got bangin' bass drops, catchy and deep guitar riffs, and silly yet awesome singing from a cool chick. That's all it takes to make me love you. So Sleigh Bells, I love you. Also, Caitlin loves you, so that makes listening to your album even easier and more enjoyable.

With mixed live reviews from friends, we knew we had to see them for ourselves. What???? A midnight show on a Wednesday? We decided it was still worth it. Our neighbor woke up and came down to sleep on our couch at 11:15 so we could head out (thanks Kathy!). We got there at midnight and there was a line around the block...a strange site at 12:15 at night. We got in and settled in at our spot about 15 feet from the front. We decided to not fight for the front because I had been super sick and skipped LCD Soundsystem the night before. The opening dude made me laugh and I really enjoyed his wacky music and strange stage dancer. But ultimately I was just ready to see what SB had to offer me.

Sleigh Bells came on at 1:15 and proceeded to fly through their 35 minute album. They were fun, they loved their audience, and they sounded great. I couldn't ask for anything more from them. They played a new song that I really liked. They drove the crowd wild with Infinity Guitars and Kids. The sold out crowd responded the whole hour with love and were satisfied when they exited at 2am. So was I. If you don't listen to Sleigh Bells, try them. If you did and didn't like the album, try again with less expectations for the best band of the decade and you may find that they are just a lot of fun.

Swim Fan

Max is really starting to love the pool scene, which I appreciate cause I could swim all day if permitted.


Luckily the hotel pool was nice and warm so max was nice and comfortable. He has progressed to kicking his legs when he is in the water.


He loves to be thrown, and it's extra safe over water so I can go extra high. He will just laugh and laugh.


Mom was teaching him how to do the front crawl...he was more interested in slapping the water.


For dinner we went to Ann Arbor's all vegetarian restaurant, it it was amazing. I wish we had this place in Evanston. It was not expensive and ultra delicious.


We had some of the best sweet potato fries I have ever had.


The gorgonzola mushroom soup was money. We also had these butternut squash enchiladas that blew the mind. I found Ann arbor to have some great food. That was basically our trip. Caitlin and max went to a kids museum that max loved, an art museum, some shopping, saw the campus and law school. It was great to be together for a fake vacation.

Ann Arbor is Ann Awesome Place

First, I gotz to let you know that went to Ann Arbor to take part in a hospital immersion program through my work. This involved me shadowing nurses all over, from the critical care unit to surgery to cancer clinics. It was great to finally see my company's business in action and talk to some of our customers.

It was a three day program, so Caitlin and max came and stayed in the hotel with me! The first night after my day in the hospital, we went out to dinner. First we got Max ready for the cold weather.


Holy crap he is cute. I had to take more pictures.


Um, dad? When are we going to go have some fun and leave the hotel?


What? We are going to Zingerman's Famous Deli for dinner??? awesome!


Dad, I'm ready. Let's do this. Wait, let me take off my shoes.


I took this picture so we wouldn't forget what floor we parked on. Remember kids, we parked in Itchy Lot.


Downtown Ann Arbor was pretty dope. It kind of reminded me of a more wealthy Boise with a more prestigious school attached to it. U of M is a pretty amazing campus, of which I have no photos.


But I do have pictures of our dinner a Zingermans! This is a very famous deli, similar to Carnegie Deli in both size and price.


Homemade breads, cheeses, sauces, etc. Already better than Carnegie.


Caitlin got a chicken salad sandwich on a bread that can only be described as celestial. Truly from heaven. You should have seen her smile after taking a bite


I got a pastrami with Swiss and two pickles.


Yes pickle, you will be mine. My sandwich was beyond bomb.


You know what else I liked? Boylan soda on tap, with both full and diet options of black cherry and orange cream.


Max had yogurt. It's basically his favorite and he has very little interest in other spoon fed foods.


Thank you Zingermans...you proved once again that each town has at least one gem you can count on for awesome foods. We went home and swam in the hotel pool and tried to get Max to sleep. This was the only hard part of bringing the family with me. Sleep was tough, but it got a little better by the end.

Location:Your Moms Ann Arbor