On February 25th-ish, I tweeted that I had a secret. I had been let down a few times after being completely excited about something that winter, so I quickly pushed the hush button. It’s been 8 months, a move, and a installation. It’s time I spill…

We were chosen as a Panasonic Living In HD Family. I couldn’t believe my eyes as I read the letter. I still can’t believe them.

Wow, we are seriously living a dream and it goes beyond this moment.

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He’s been a Cranky McCrankers off and on for the last 3-4 days, randomly shrieking. He’s had a fever, no flu symptoms. His bottom canines have surfaced and they weren’t playing. And now all is well.

This post was written October 28th, 2009.

• Batman and Bones
• Camera Dump 10/21/09: And 1 In The Yard
• Camera Dump 10/13/09: Just Hanging Out
• My Pursuit of Happiness
• Photos From Yesterday :-)

Last Wednesday, Boogie and I went to hang out with some friends at Michelle’s. It was our first time getting together with other moms and their kids with the exception of going on the General Mills trip. It felt like home; cozy kick your shoes off, help yourself to the fridge, let the kids roam free home.

{more on flickr}

Today, we’re doing it again. I’m looking forward to seeing Jaymi (thanks for the nudge), Michelle, Carrington, Sheryl, and Toni (if she stops by) again, catching up with Steph and meeting Jen for the first time.

I’m glad to have them in this new chapter of my life.

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One of my goals for next year is to participate in local events and entertainment. Boogie is older now and I think he’d really enjoy getting out and experiencing the whimsy. Banana Shpeel is coming here in Chicago and I’d love to go as a family. It is a hilarious unpredictable narrative fueled by eccentric dance and slapstick humor. Here’s a sneak peek:

An unpredictable narrative describes our lives exactly and sometimes some humor is thrown in the mix. Surprisingly enough, most of these family friendly humorous moments deal with poop or gas. Take the time Boogie pooped on me in public, but Daddy didn’t get off so easy and other poop chronicles we continue to journal.

Banana Shpeel is probably far more entertaining than our poop chronicles. It would certainly be refreshing to see and boy would I love to photograph the show. I can only imagine the expression that will light up Boogie’s face as he takes it all in. I think I’m going to look for a deal on tickets. I want to be close enough to get good pictures. My zoom lens doesn’t zoom that far, but I want to be frugal. I just may sacrifice photos for a good deal and maybe I can rent a good zoom lens? I shall come to some conclusion.

For tickets and touring info, visit the tickets & info page at the Cirque du Soleil Banana Shpeel website. If you catch a show, tell me how you like it!

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I think I was called to participate in this challenge. When we took the trash to the curb tonight, we noticed a red balloon sitting on our trash can. We thought nothing of it. I just bumped up on this week’s I Heart Faces challenge and low and behold, a balloon challenge.

I took this picture of Boogie and Greg at my cousin’s daughter’s 2nd birthday party back in August. It just may end up in our blog header.

• Batman and Bones
• Camera Dump 10/21/09: And 1 In The Yard
• Camera Dump 10/13/09: Just Hanging Out
• My Pursuit of Happiness
• Priceless Joy From a $3 Mesh Toy Box

Halloween has made it’s appearance and now it is slowly fading away. So what did you guys do today? Boogie’s great grandmother took him to a party they had going on at her school (she’s a teacher) and he had a blast running around and helping with the candy. I’m hoping to get pictures from that. Right now I’m thinking about cracking open the pumpkin and baking the seeds, maybe even snuggling up for a movie.

We’re now shopping around for next year’s Halloween costume so that we can luck up on a deal. This year it was either order a costume and pay shipping or review a costume and give up a year’s worth of sidebar advertising to a company. Um, yea right. Off to “our favorite store” we went. We gave Boogie a choice of costumes; Superman, Batman, and Spiderman. He grabbed Batman and Spiderman. So we held both costumes up and he grabbed Batman. Whatever makes the little man happy.

And now the cuteness…

{more on flickr}

• Camera Dump 10/21/09: And 1 In The Yard
• Camera Dump 10/13/09: Just Hanging Out
• My Pursuit of Happiness
• Santa Bring Me An External Flash, I’ve Been Good!
• My Head. His Teeth.

Hmm, I wonder what happens if…

This is my hooptie hehe.

I have a secret.

Mum mum, can I play in peace?

On a mission.

Big boys still cry.

{more on flickr}

• Batman and Bones
• Camera Dump 10/13/09: Just Hanging Out
• My Pursuit of Happiness
• Santa Bring Me An External Flash, I’ve Been Good!
• My Head. His Teeth.

Excuse the noise, I’m holding out for noiseware next month!

• Batman and Bones
• Camera Dump 10/21/09: And 1 In The Yard
• My Pursuit of Happiness
• Santa Bring Me An External Flash, I’ve Been Good!
• My Head. His Teeth.

Since we’ve moved in September, we’ve felt much better about the place we call home. We are comfortable with our increased living space, the location is perfect and we are still close to family. Now that we are settled in a home that we will be in for years, we’ve been considering having parties and get togethers at our place. We even considered having Thanksgiving at our house. Ehhh maybe Christmas.

Sunday, I got a little party planning practice in by inviting my mother, aunt, and Greg’s grandmother for finger foods, facials, and manicures. It wasn’t anything big, but it was relaxing. For dinner, I made fried chicken drumsticks, fried okra, buttermilk biscuits, and cucumber salad. I set out cupcakes and Nature Valley Nut Clusters for snacks -- lots of finger foods! We enjoyed each others’ company and I will definitely do something like this again. It’s always the simple things that we appreciate the most.

This holiday season, Viva is encouraging people to get “closer to their food” by ditching the forks and knives and serving finger foods to family and friends. What are some of your favorite finger foods? How do you keep meals and parties clean? Do you use paper towels? Answer either question for a chance to win $50! This giveaway will run through October 28th, 2009 7PM CST.

This post was sponsored by Viva Towels. For fun, fork-free recipes – including videos – and snappy entertaining ideas, get over to the VIVA® Diva Café!

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Boogie and I have always been best buddies. He makes me smile and laugh, I make him smile and laugh. The perfect father-son relationship, you know? But there must’ve been something I did back in May of 2008, that he absolutely did not like. He had a mission: poop on Daddy by any means necessary!

Sheena and I were out grocery shopping at Walmart, and since Boogie was only a month old and therefore not able to sit up in a grocery cart yet, I carried him around in a baby carrier. He didn’t make a peep the whole time; in fact, I think he slept during the entire trip. Once we arrived at checkout, my shoulders began to ache. So, I asked Sheena if she could wear Boogie while I checked everything out. She agreed, and I handed him over to her.

I then began to load all of the groceries up on the conveyor belt and, I swear, it couldn’t have been any more than a minute later when…

*SPLAT*

I looked over my shoulder to where Sheena was standing and there was poop. A LOT of poop. All over the floor, Sheena’s shirt, Boogie’s legs, and the baby carrier. And the look on Sheena’s face was priceless. I couldn’t help but to laugh ’til tears. If I hadn’t handed Boogie over to Sheena, that would’ve been me with the pooped up shirt and shoes.

But little did I know, that poop had my name on it.

A couple of days later, I was getting ready to change Boogie’s diaper and still laughing about the poop incident that had occurred at Walmart. Now, although Boogie was only a month old, I must’ve changed his diaper 100 times, and each time was incident-free. Never got any poop on my hands, never any piss tee tee in my eye. But this time was different…

I unstrapped his diaper and pulled the front flap down. I grabbed his legs to lift so that I could pull the diaper from under him and…

*SPLAT*

There were no warnings. No signs. Nothing. Out of nowhere and completely unexpectedly, he shot a shart bullet straight into my stomach (with no shirt on). I just sat there speechless. I couldn’t believe my eyes. What did I do to deserve this? Meanwhile, Sheena got a huge laugh out of it at my expense. I guess I deserved it.

To this day, I still don’t know why Boogie had a poop vendetta against me, but I now change his diaper from behind a poop-bulletproof glass!

Sheena wrote about this incident last year, and I just wanted to share it from my perspective and for new readers we’ve gained since then.

• The Day You Pooped On Mommy At Walmart
• Cherishing The Poop Chronicles
• Breaking News: Our Cell Phones Have Been Stolen!
• Is My Milk A Laxative? BEeeRrrrAaaNT!
• Daddy Meets Babytalk Magazine