Monday Links v.2

The cousins with Grandma and Papa

Hope you all had a great Mother's Day weekend.  We went to Cleveland this weekend where my family lives.  It was a good/busy trip as my wife's whole family was there as well for a baby shower for her cousin.  To make it more interesting the in-laws all stayed at my parents with us...talk about family time.

This weekend I went to a museum with EJ, celebrated EJ's & M's birthdays, was used by my kids and their cousins as a human jungle gym, ate at a restaurant that may or may not be owned by the Irish Mob, golfed (horribly), went to the pre-baby shower party, had brunch with my mom, and got to see a friend.  Needless to say it was a busy weekend but fun was had by all.  We drove back early this morning (Monday) which will hopefully result in the kids going to bed early so I can do the same.

Anyways, on to the links:

I like this post about working moms.

One blogger went out and did a product review of his wife as a mom.

Disney finally puts out the movie "Brave" that has a princess that isn't over the top girly and then they go and do this.

Neither of my kids used binkies for that long (thumb and finger suckers) but when they did I'm glad I was ahead of the curve.

Men! Do you need to get something for a special woman in your life?  My sister-in-law has some cool stuff (well at least most women I know think it is) over on her site.  Oh and she also blogs about all sorts of things too (like family visiting).

Mother's Day photo

Me, EJ, wife and sister. EJ wanted to match her mom.

Happy Mother's Day!

I am lucky.

I have a fantastic wife who is a wonderful mother to our kids.  

I have an amazing mother who has helped me become a better parent. 

I still remember when I was little playing checkers with my now 93 year old grandma and sitting on the davenport with my other grandma eating pizza. 

I am lucky.

I have these special women in my life. 

I love you all.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there I'm sure your kids are lucky too. 

Music That Doesn't Suck

Happy Wedne...errr, Thursday!

I saw Rodrigo y Gabriela at Summerfest in Milwaukee a few year ago.  Their high energy show was something to see.  I highly recommend seeing them if you have a chance (July 24th in Chicago would be a great father's day present)  What they can do with their guitars is amazing.  Bonus today since I am a day late in getting this up you get the NPR Tiny Desk version so you get a couple extra songs.  Enjoy...

Monday Links

Hi everyone.  It is a beautiful day here in Chicago.  Kids are napping and I am sitting outside typing this.  Nap time for EJ is starting to go away so I need to treasure this time now.

Made pizza with the kids Friday night.  I put some pictures below.  They don't do justice to the mess we created, it was great.  Saturday, I went to MCA Day Chicago.  It was a charity celebrating Adam Yauch (aka MCA) of the Beastie Boys who lost his battle with cancer last year.  The reason I went was to support a very good friend and his family's foundation that funds research towards head & neck cancer.  Oh and She's Crafty an all female Beastie Boys cover band was headlining it.  One of the other acts performing was a bluegrass band that covered a couple Beastie Boys songs that were surprisingly good.  The highlight might have been the end of the night ending here.

Some parenting ideas I may or may not use.

I heard about parents in Brooklyn that don't use diapers a couple weeks ago and I don't think I could ever do this.

I love The Onion. I just hope I can be as successful as the guy in the story

A SAHD reality tv show?  I'm sure it will shine a great light on stay at home dads and dads in general.  I guess there are two other shows in the works on other channels.

Way to go Yahoo!  Hopefully this will start of a trend and many other companies will follow suit.

How was your weekend?

The help loved putting the ingredients on (and eating them)

A little pizza dance party.  Is EJ doing the running man?

Success?

EJ's answers

Thank you everyone for your questions.  These answers are all EJ's, all comments I made to her during her answers are noted.

Q: Why is the sky blue?

A: because some men on the roof painted it.

Q: How is one of the four major food groups, macaroni and cheese, made?

A: I asked her on Monday.  She kept telling me she needed to think about it more.  I asked her again that night and she said she needed to sleep on it.  I asked her in the morning and  she said she was still thinking about it but today she would know the answer.  I asked her Tuesday night before bed and she sat there a second deep in thought and came up with this answer.

You put it in a pan with butter and peas.  I know because we make it sometimes.

Q: EJ What do you want to be when you grow up?

A: An airplane driver (easy one already knew that, duh dad)

Q: Please describe a full recipe for baking bread including all ingredients and steps

A: Can I think about it for a little bit? Me - how long? EJ - about 20 minutes (2 minutes later) I think I know now.

You mix some onions and butter together and put them in the oven for 20 minutes. 

Q: Why does Cora (our dog) have four legs and you have only two?

A: Because she is a dog. (after I pressed) Because we go faster than dogs by going to sleep and eating healthy food.

Q: Why do we have bugs?

A: Because they want to eat our food. (I repeat her answer and she raises her hand) Because Red Eye Tree Frogs eat them.

Q: How do you make a sidewalk?

A; That's a hard question.  The truck (cement mixer, her favorite truck) takes the cement and puts it on the ground and then you wait for it to get hard and that makes a sidewalk (wow...kind of surprised about this one)

Q: Where does food come from?  How do they make it?

A: The baker...they bake it

Q: How do you make cookies?

A: You put beer in it, not the bottle, just the beer, crack eggs, sugar and powder (wife says "you mean flour" EJ turns to her and says "I SAID POW-DER") mix it together put it in the oven and then eat it.

That was easy

Saturday night without the kids

Yes I know it is Thursday and I am talking about what I did last weekend, sue me.

Sunday morning my wife and I were signed up to run in a 5k in our neighborhood.  The best part about this plan?  Fitness?  Accomplishing something?  Nope, the kids stayed at our friends house since we had to be out the door early and I wasn't going to push them in a stroller for 3.1 miles while they asked me all sorts of questions (Daddy why are you wheezing?  Daddy, why are you clutching your left arm?  Daddy, why are you laying down? Oooh, oooh, Daddy, Daddy, an AMBULANCE!!!!).

Saturday night rolls around and right before we drop the kids off I walk into our bathroom and step up to the plate...hmmm...my left foot is wet.  Finish my business and have this conversation with my wife.

Me - Hey did you notice the water around the toilet?
Her - Yeah I noticed a couple times and just cleaned it up.
Me - Why didn't you say anything?
Her - I thought you missed or something

Now this really got me going...she was questioning my aim???

I take a look at the toilet and confirm it wasn't my aim (still a deadeye) that was the problem...just a simple leak. (that could have been fixed earlier)

Drop the kids off at our friends house (thanks E & D!) and what I thought would be a nice relaxing night without kids turns into a trip to Home Depot on a Saturday night so I can fix the toilet.  My wife volunteered to come and we pick up what was needed and some stuff that wasn't needed and start to head home.

Wife - Think we can stop at McDonalds and get a sundae?
Me - Ahhh that's why you came along.

Got home. Ate sundae. Fixed toilet. Went to bed.  At least we didn't have enough time for Bed Bath and Beyond...

Photo of a kid because really isn't that why you are here?

Music That Doesn't Suck

Happy Wednesday!  Warm weather always makes me want to listen to the Backspin Channel on Sirius (old school rap/hip hop).  This is one of my all time favorites.  Enjoy...