Rock and Roll

Maggie's new obsession is rocks. She can't seem to stay way from them. Small rocks, pebbles and today large rocks the size of softballs (regular ones, not the Chicago size softball). We walked to our favorite frozen custard place today because daddy wanted a milkshake. Mammy was not too happy we went with out her. After we shared the milkshake (I always share with Maggie), I let Maggie walk a bit out of the stroller and she had to stop a and look at every damn rock we ran into. It was kinda funny. I had to put her back into the stroller after she tried to pick up two softball size rocks. She didn't like that very much but she forgot all about it after she found her cell phone and made a few phone calls and chatted for a bit.

We stopped at the Beat Kitchen to talk to a good friend of mine who had a show there tonight. I called him to come outside and he's like come on in. I'm like, I got my kid fool! I would have gone and see his band play tonight but I was stuck at home while the wife was at work.

We went to the park afterward and there was a huge puddle that Maggie couldn't get enough of. She loves to walk through it and then check to make sure it is still water and then run over to me and touch my hand and yell and right back in the water.

Life with a toddler is very different than a baby. You seem so isolated with a baby because they mostly just lay there. Sure you can take them to the park, but you can't do to much with them. I have a lot of fun with Maggie now that she is a toddler. Sure I had fun with her when she was a baby, but now it is just a different type of fun.

Five for Friday: 5 Reasons Why I Love Grilling.

Hello everyone. It's Friday again and this week here is five reasons I love to grill.

This is what I made for dinner tonight. 

1. I love to cook. Especially over an open fire. Nothing beats a big hunk of meat on over the fire.

2. What better way to spend time to with the family.

3. You can make some amazing things on the grill.

4. Great way to get some friends over to share your grill treats.

5. I love to spend time outside preparing a great meal. I hope to do a lot more grilling in the new house.

Wordless Wednesday

What's Happening Now.

A lot has been happening this week. Hence the lack in posts. We are now finally starting to getting back to normal. I think.

On Monday we wanted to go to Ikea to look at their kitchen cabinets because we have to remodel the kitchen in the new house. We wanted to get some ideas for what to do with it. We ended up finding some great ideas for the new kitchen.

We then had to go to the wife's OB doctor appointment because we were running a little behind. It took forever in the office just to get into to see the doctor. We finally get to see the doctor and she wanted the wife to go to the hospital to get some further tests done. Oh boy. The wife went ahead to the hospital while I took Maggie home so she took a nap. We ended up calling my sister-in-law and she came over to watch Maggie so I could go up to the hospital. About an hour after I came up to hospital the decided to admit the wife over night for further observations and tests.

 We had both had contacted our parents to let them know what was going on. The wife's parents ended up coming up to watch Maggie over night so I could stay at the hospital overnight. The wife said she would be fine by herself, but I wasn't about to leave her up at the hospital by herself. I am very glad the in-law's came up to watch Maggie. They were a lifesaver.

Staying overnight at a hospital is never any fun. The only good thing that came out of it was that I got my homework done. We only slept only about 3 hours each. We were both up at at dawn and never got back to sleep. Some more tests were done Tuesday morning and they decided to let my wife go home with no restrictions. Then it took four more hours to let us go home.


I was supposed to go to Indiana to get some holiday supplies. My wife let me go when I got home. A friend of mine came by and we took off to get there before the place closed. Ha! We hit Chicago traffic and had to put off the trip. We ended up going Wednesday and it was a good trip with great supplies for the holiday.

I made the mistake of trying to get my wife a new phone because her's is not working properly. Her parents couldn't even get a hold of her. So we went to the store and picked one out and now she doesn't even want it. She complained about not having enough room to store pictures on her old phone and other things.The new phone has more than enough memory. She is very stubborn about certain things and this is one of them. This is driving me nuts.
While all of this is going on we were dealing with stuff for the new house. Nothing bad, but it is just one more thing to worry about.

I hope the upcoming week is going to be much better.

Five for Friday: Five Things I Want to do this Weekend.

1. Garage sales. A friend of mine's neighborhood is having a huge garage sale with over 50 families selling stuff. Old Star Wars stuff here I come. There is also a guy selling old cigar stuff I really want to take a look at.

2. Getting outdoors. Hopefully the water park we like to take Maggie to is open. We went there last week and it was closed.

3. Hanging with the family.

4. Sleeping in. Won't happen but I can hope for it. I am getting up early to hit the garage sales early.

5. Spending father's day with Maggie. Don't care if I get any presents or go out to eat, I just want to be with my kids (next year I will have two!). I've been told I am getting a present and I think we are going out to eat. Double fun!

Phone Call for Maggie

Maggie loves to play on any phone she can find. Here she is trying to give our cat the phone to talk on. This is   after she walked to mommy and daddy to get to talk on it. I think she is up to six play phones. All scattered around the house.

In other news, Things are moving along with the house. I think the last hurdle we need to clear is the appraisal which is on Tuesday. We are due to close August 1st. Just in time for the new baby. I got a lot of work ahead of me.

Five for Friday: Five of the coolest things I have seen while on the road.

I love to travel. I have been to over half of the states and several countries. I grew up going several places every year. I hope that my children love to travel as much as I do and can't wait to take them places like Colorado to go skiing. I would really like to take them to some of the places I got to go when I was growing up, like Disney World and the World's Fair in Knoxville. I usually flew everywhere when I was younger, now I mostly drive. I was blessed with flight benefits while growing up.

Now I take a lot of road trips. I love taking road trips, they can be very exciting. I have several thousand mile under my belt. I have seen a lot of interesting things on my road trips. Here is five of the coolest things while on the road.

1. Exploded cow. A good friend of mine and myself where driving to Lubbock Texas from Ft. Worth to drop of my friend's extra credit paper at Texas Tech so he can pass a class. We left at about 3am and after we stopped to refuel with some great road treats such as beef jerky and when where getting back on the Interstate there was what looked like an exploded cow all over the entrance ramp in the middle of Texas. Ever see Three Kings? Yeah it was like that. Messy.

2. Blizzard. I on the way to Colorado for a ski trip and we got caught in a blizzard. We ended up sleeping in the car because they closed the Interstate.

3. Rivers. When I left Texas for Chicago, I crossed the Red River and the Mississippi River. Both are cool, the might Mississippi takes the cake. That is a sight to see.

4. Corvette Museum. On my way back from a short nine month stint in Miami, I stopped at the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green KY. We had planned to stop, but we didn't plan on staying so long. We were there for hours. Much longer than we planned. It is that cool. Where else can you see a 1963 Stingray with a split window?

5. The back of a U-Haul Truck. I once was part of a trip from DFW to Boston, with no stops. There was four of us and myself and the now godfather of Maggie spent most of the trip sleeping in the back of the truck. What a trip. I got off work at 11:30pm and hopped in the back of the truck.

My Girl

Here is my girl on the drive back from down state Illinois. It looks as if she is yelling at me, but she is just reading her book. We had a great trip. Lots of Grandma and Grandpa time. I got lots of cigar time in.

Maggie is picking up on so much so fast. I am amazed by how much she changes from week to week. So far this week she is patting herself on the legs for an animal to come to her. It actually worked yesterday on our way back from the park when a neighborhood cat came up to say hello. She has also learned the signs for please and help. She is learning words faster and faster everyday. She is walking better and starting to run a little. She is even starting to throw temper tantrums. She had a good one early today when we were getting her dressed to go to the park and didn't want to wear anything we put out for her. Throwing the clothes on the ground as she saw them, and screaming her head off.

This temper tantrum and other things has brought a new challenge for us. This is how to discipline her. We would like to put her in time out, but she is at the age where she is not going to sit still for any amount of time. So right now we are playing it by ear. If she is doing something wrong we tell her no and try to move her away. My wife used to be a nanny and that has help a great deal, especially with discipline.

The Remote Incident

Today Maggie grabbed the remote while I was fooling with the printer. Usually not a big deal, but I didn't see what she did with it when she was done playing with it. This was about noon. After hours of tearing the house apart and checking places over and over again and me crying on the floor, I finally found it sitting just out of view behind my beautiful forty two inches of high definition viewing pleasure. Of course it was behind the TV. That's where I knew she would put it. This was at 9:30. Just shoot me. Please.

This is Maggie and her boyfriend Gabe. In case your wondering  my wife and her friend has arranged their marriage.  I guess he better behave himself if he wants my blessing. 

Five for Friday: Five things I saw on the road today.

We drove down to my in-laws place today. Good ole I-55.

1. The Wiener Mobile. Made me want hot dogs.

2. Construction. Wait, what? Not on I-55!

3. Maggie sleeping in the back seat. Too cute.

Maggie taking a snooze in the back of the car. Ah the good life. Before I know it she will be driving me around. 

4. My wife reading her book the whole way and pretty much ignoring me. Good times.

5. Rest stops. After what happened last trip I don't think I will ever set foot in one again.


We are here for the weekend in nice hot downstate Illinois. I was bribed today to mow the lawn. It had been over a decade since I have done that, but it all came back to me.  

Wordless Wednesday