Oh, Sweet Mandy B's

On Monday night Eli slept over at my house so on Tuesday Mom took us to the Bounce place where I had my birthday party. Afterwards we were looking for something sweet to eat.

Enter: Sweet Mandy B's on Webster, just west of Racine. This place makes cupcakes and cookies that you'd trade your children for (exaggeration? slightly). So we rolled up in there and got ourselves some elephant cookies.

Wait, Eli, no one can see you.

Okay, now we're all good.
Wait, Eli, now your elephant is upside down.

And what goes great with elephant cookies, you might ask? Some might say a tall glass of milk. I, on the other hand, am going to go with - a dance party.

This cat singing this song might wait til the midnight hour, but I can't wait that long (and I'm usually in bed) so Eli, let's show 'em our dance moves!

Chip and ScottsDale: Part II

Okay, so remember when I wrote Part I to this post back in March and said there would be Part II coming shortly? Well, shortly turned into one month.

There are some really good pictures from the trip that were on Nana's camera and my Editor finally got them (it's about time, dude) so off we go:

I'll start off with a couple shots of Mom and me

I had a lot of fun with the waitress at the restaurant Papa took us to the first night

Nana and I colored on the back pavilion of the hotel one morning

And we also spent some time in the pool, first waiting for Dad to come down the slide...

And then hanging out with these ducks that thought the pool was their personal pond (alliteration is key to a successful blogger). One of them told me his name was Vincent and he was Reggie's cousin, if you remember Reggie from Part I.

Catching up on the Thomas Friedman book I started on the plane ride out.

Okay, enough reading on vacation, back to the pool where the food was exquisite.

Ten minutes after finishing my grilled cheese (I don't play by that old "have to wait a half hour after eating" shenanigan), here's me getting ready to take my first dive into the pool...

Greg Lougainis, I am not, but the judges liked my personality so I got 10s across the board (even got one from the Slovakia judge, who hadn't given out a 10 in diving since the '64 Olympics.

And then I went riding on a dolphin... oh wait, nevermind.

And this was the last night we were there. There was a big business dinner of Papa's that he took us to. The rest of the folks were mingling while I, as usual, was waiting in anticipation for the food.

Now you're probably thinking, "Wait, did Mabel even make the trip?" Yes, she did, but she was only six weeks old so she couldn't swim, read, talk to the waitress, go to the business dinner, or any of the other jazz I did. I'll tell ya what she could do, though, and that was sleep outside by the pool, and by day two she had that move down.

Mabel, The Rocker | The Duck Blast

This kid's 'do is off the charts. If there is ever, and I mean ever, a time when you think you are having a bad hair day, please just pull up this post. You'd think that we try to style it this way, I swear we don't. No matter if she's slept on it, had a bath or we've tried to tame it in any way we can, this is how it ends up.

On another note, the other day I went out on a boat (the couch) to feed my friend, the duck.

All was going well...

Then, all of a sudden, it was like there was an explosion... I looked all around the boat (my couch) for the duck but he was nowhere to be found...

Then I saw him, in the water (on the floor), another victim of a Cheerios blast.

Some might think this post made no sense, but it's like Aristotle said, "One must look, to see." Actually, he never said that. In fact, I don't even know who Aristotle is, I just heard Shaq talking about him a few years ago.

Not So Secrets

So here's a few things you probably don't know about me, and a few things you probably do:

1. I like strawberries

2. I like to pose for pictures

3. I like to dress up in my Mom and Dad's shoes (like, all the time) and just lounge around the house in them.

4. I like to hike my pants up really high sometimes just to amuse myself.

5. I like to hug my cousin Sophie really really tight.

6. When the boys are wrestling, I like to be right in the middle of it.

(Yep, that's Isaiah's head I'm sitting on - GIRLS RULE, BOYS DROOL!)

7. I like to pull up old photos of myself, just in case you forgot about me when I was little.

Mabel's Two Month Bday

So Mabel Jane's 2-month birthday came and went and no one as much as sneezed. I remember how important mine was.

It's called "second fiddle" Mae, might as well just get used to it.

Anyway, we took some shots of her with Charlie to show you how big she's getting so here you go.

And now here's one of me to compare. So much for us looking similar. As you can see, I had a bit more beef on me and my melon was much larger, but in a very attractive kind of way.

And my hair might have been longer than hers, but I have to hand it to her, hers is awesomer, nothin I can do about it. I mean, my God, it's measuring in around 2.4 inches straight off the top of her noggin. Sometimes Mabel eats and then her hair needs a separate meal... whatever that means.

Opening Day

So you saw how I prepared for the start of the season during Spring Training. Well, the rubber hit the road on Sunday as Opening Day was finally here... and you thought Dodgers/Giants was going to be entertaining?

Coach called Eli and I in before the pre-game stretch and told us we'd be starting at Shortstop and Second Base. I grabbed my new baseball glove that the Easter Bunny brought me and hit the field for the Star Spangled Banner.

In the bottom of the first, with a man on, there was a shot up the middle. Eli fielded it, tossed it to me and I turned the 6-4-3 double play.

A bit later there was a conference on the mound. Our starting pitcher was in a jam so we got together with Luke, the Pitching Coach, and the Manager, Isaiah.

Later, after going 3-for-4 with two doubles, a triple and three RBIs Coach gave me the game ball. Not bad for my first big league game.

Oh, and in case you want to see some photos from what turned out to be a fantastic Easter weekend, where I colored eggs, hung some on my tree, took some great pictures of Mabel and met the Easter bunny, CLICK HERE