This is GREAT!!!

A lot of you have probably seen this, but in case you haven't--it's a classic. This has to rival some of the Moutsos greats. Although the Romney kid probably didn't have to deal with the police after this one.

If you missed it, this is a video of one of Mitt Romney's sons prank calling him.

Disclaimer

OK, so I realized that those pictures of Max might be a little misleading. He really does like to wear pants, and we really do put them on him when we go out. However, we have noticed a greater tendency to have an "accident" when the pants are on...therefore the pants stay off!

For the Gwammas

The quotes from Max correspond to the pictures.

"I wanna go play in noe."
"Look at my new hat, Mom!" Max informed us that was his "lots a hair."



"Look Mom, I put my inderwears (yes that's what they are called) on all by self!"
"It's Guido and bay (baby) Beckham"
"No I'm not Max, I brother!!" He says to Perry as she gives us her first smiles! Yay! I think Max has officially changed his name in his head. Word to the wise: don't argue with a two year old--it gets you no where...FAST.

In Jeff's Defense

I tease Jeff all the time about using our blog as his personal editorial column, but I actually have to support him on this random rant. Let me begin by telling you a story: One bitterly cold Saturday morning (weeks before Jeff ever heard of the song in question), I reluctantly had to take the journey to the grocery store. Over a 15 minute drive later, I arrived at the closest decent grocery store to our house in Buffalo--decent meaning I don't feel like I have to sterilize everything I buy there. Upon pulling into the parking stall the Canadian radio DJ announces to me that Ms. Sparks's new single is up next. "Oh Goody," I thought, the gloomy cloud over my head lifting (I really hate grocery shopping), "A new song to break up the monotany (sp?) of the radio." Not wanting to exit my vehicle just yet, as the heater had finally warmed it up just in time for me to exit, I procrastinated the task at hand (did I mention I hate grocery shopping?) and let my ears try out the latest Idol's first "hit", a term I now believe is used a bit too liberally. Now, I have to admit that at first listen, the sound of "Tattoo" intrigued me. I enjoyed the beat, although typical, the heartfelt first verse, vocals were great, and I even liked the chorus--that is, until I heard, "You're on my heart just like a tattoo. Just like a tattoo, I'll always have you," then I cringed. Honestly! Who comes up with these lyrics??? Just like a tattoo? Was there nothing else that is semi permanent (that's right, tattoos can be removed now, making the line even sillier) to conclude that simile when writing this song?? I thought lyrical rock bottom had been hit when I heard Fergie's, "I miss you like a baby misses his blanket," which was even worse than her slew of spelling bee songs. Thank goodness she proved her point--she can spell, even if it is only made up words.

Of course, we mustn't blame Jordin. After all, she's only the voice and prop. She doesn't write, play, or probably have any say whatsoever over her career right now (A major reason why Idol winners almost never make it big.) She probably was given a handful of songs with equally lame lyrics to choose from for her first single and, giving her a huge benefit of the doubt, chose the lesser of all evils. Needless, to say my trip to the grocery store had no silver lining. Maybe I'll go get a tattoo, so I'll always have this experience with me.

I am mostly a talk radio guy, but the other day I was driving around and I thought that I'd put on a few tunes. The first station I turned to was a popular mix station from Toronto. As I listened to the song that was playing I remembered why I had left the FM dial in the first place:

"You're on my heart just like a tattoo--just like a tattoo, I'll always have you."

Is this what it's coming to? WOW! I don't really have much else to say.

Back into things

We have been having a much needed break. Thankfully, I don't have to back to school until the 14th, so it has been nice to be at home helping out with the kids! Here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks:
This is Max opening his jammies on Christmas Eve. Thanks Grandma Charlotte!!
Perry also loved her new jammies. It's so hard to find things that fit babies as little as Perry, but these fit perfectly!
I left Max alone in the tub for a few minutes and when I came back this is what I found...He's always surprising us with his creativity!
This is Perry's "kissy face." I think she gets it from her Aunts!
Max opening more presents.

We had a great Christmas! Abby's sister, Annie, came up from Washington D.C. and stayed with us for a few days. It was sad to be away from all of our family, but at the same time it was nice to be able to have our first family Christmas.

I need to take a break. Max has just banished me to time-out for not listening and I need to go there "right now!"

OK I'm back. After Christmas we went to Erie, PA for New Year's Eve to spend some time with the Olsens and the Browns. It was a lot of fun to have a break and see our friends. We were planning to have a big family sleepover, but unfortunately Perry isn't quite up to it yet and we ended up leaving, but not before we rang in the new year the old school way--with pots, pans, and wooden spoons! Sorry about the broken spoon, Alesha.


Happy New Year to all, and we hope that all of you have a wonderfully prosperous year.

LOU HOLTZ??!?!?!?

I am currently watching the Utah vs. Navy bowl game and maybe I slipped into a dream, but I swear I just heard Lou Holtz say that Utah is (in his words) "The best non-BCS talented team in the country." WOW. Apparently you don't have to be ranked or even win your conference to be "the best non-BCS talented team in the country." Either that, or you don't need to have any idea what you are saying to be an ESPN analyst! Well, it appears that the latter is correct. He just followed up his first stupid comment by talking about what a great job Dr. Young is doing at the U, followed by some mumbling, puttering, and trailing off before Rece Davis rescued him by cutting off his mic and jumping in. Oh dear Lou...Oh dear...


Wow! The game just ended as I was typing this. That was an intense finish.

So I'd love some input on this...I was having a hard time knowing who to cheer for in this game. On one hand, I want the Mt. West to get some good publicity (fat chance with that ridiculous TV deal), which would certainly be the case with a good showing by the red team. But on the other hand, I just can't bring myself to cheer for the ewetes! That's how bad I hate them! I ended up pulling for the Midshipmen of Navy. Any thoughts?

PICTURES!!

For some reason reason I like taking closeup pictures of funny faces. This is one of my favorites.





My personal favorite. The Philosopher deep in thought...

Let's just say it's been a rough couple of days! Grandma went home, Jeff had a big final, and Max is, well, just being his "go go go" self. Abby's postpartum has hit rock bottom!
No, really-some friends brought over a congratulatory bottle of Martinelli's and we thought we'd take a few funny pictures.

We had the biggest snowfall of the season the other day, and Max was excited to get out and help shovel the snow! I'm hoping that is a habit he will not only keep, but expand to lawn mowing, fence painting, and all that other stuff dads like to pin on their sons!

For Rich or for Poor

I read a blog that said the couple is a D.I.N.K couple (Duel Income No Kids). It reminded me of how nice it was to have money. It also made me hopelessly laugh when I realized that we are a D.K.N.I. couple...Duel Kids No Income!!!

Patience?

Abby doesn't like me posting my thoughts on here, but heck, blogs are more than just myspace for families, right?!

Have you ever wondered why people get on an elevator and repeatedly push their intended floor's button as quickly as they can? Does it actually work? Did the elevator engineers get together and install a little feature that makes the doors close more quickly for the rapid pushers? Or is it simply that it just makes it feel as if time is going faster because instead of awkwardly standing there with a stranger, you are assiduously engaged in button pushing?! The same thing is true of crosswalks. Somebody once told me that if the crosswalk button is pushed over and over the light will think that more people need to cross, and therefore change faster! The more people there are, the more important it is for them to cross. Wow! What a traffic light! I wonder what number the threshold is to cross from non-important to important. Hey, maybe it's a neat idea--an "In case of emergency" number of time to push the button. But I have to think that we, being the important people that we think we are, would always be in an emergency!

OK, I haven't figured out how to make the pictures nice and neat yet. If anyone can help me I would appreciate it!

In the first pic. Perry was really mad, but since it's such a classic picture of Max I had to include it!

The second pic. (left to right) is Max getting ready to take Clementine for a walk. He loves walking the dog and he loves snow. Put the two together and he's in heaven.

The third pic. is Tessa and Beckham Brown and Max and Perry. The Browns came down Saturday night and we had fun taking pictures of all the kids.

I love that fourth pic. of Perry. Abby thinks she looks like Max when he was a baby, but I think she's cuter than he was!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

After all that fuss we decided to name her Perry Marie (cool, huh Josie!) McIntier. Thanks for all of the name suggestions. Some of my personal favorites were Nathina, Gustina, and Cinderella.

Less than one minute old.


Perry was looking for something to eat from the moment she came out!
And check out that babe!! Would you believe that she just gave birth?!?!


Perry and Grandma Charlotte!






Taking a nap.

WINTER!!!

First snowfall of the year! The weather had been surprisingly pleasant and then all of a sudden-WHAM!! The wind started blowing like crazy and the temp. dropped to the low 20's! I think it's going to be a long winter! As Max so keenly stated: "Kinda cold, kinda windy, don't blow away!"

Halloween and Thanksgiving

For the family, and those who care...

Amanda, Abby's sister, came for Halloween and we were the three blind mice. Funny, huh.




Max was a fireman for Halloween. We took him to the fire station where they do a free haunted house and all of the firefighters loved it!! Max just wanted more candy for his "punkin patch!"

It was really fun to go trick-or-treating with him. He was a riot!











We had Thanksgiving with our friends the Moeller's. This is Max eating with Parker in the first picture, and Anthony, Kristie, Abby, and Jeff in the second. No, the girls did not out-eat us boys! Kristie and Abby were both about 2 1/2 weeks away from their due dates when we took this picture. It was sad to be away from our family during the holiday, but it was nice to be with our friends. Oh, and P.S. Jeff won a very intense game of phase 10 (just wanted to make sure everyone knew.)

I'm happy to report that ______ ______ McIntier joined our family safe and sound at approximately 8:30 PM on Sunday. She weighed 6 pounds and 7 ounces and everything went very well. Both mom and baby _____ are doing great! I will post some pictures and things when we get home from the hospital.

Any suggestions on names? We were going to name her Perri, Perry, or Perrie, but now that we've seen her we are not quite sure!!!

Jeff

At school we are having an "End of the Semester" party. No religious affiliations this season.

How long will it be before somebody seriously asks all of the people named Christie, Christian, Chris, Christine (or any other variation) to change their name to something a little less offensive!!!

While we are on the topic of not offending anyone this _____ season I'd like to add a few terms to the list that should probably be changed:

1-"Black Friday"

2-The song "I'm Dreaming of a WHITE Christmas"

I mean seriously, can't we all just have an integrated holiday season?

3-"HO-HO-HO" should be replaced with "NO-NO-NO-you ARE NOT allowed to sit on my lap anymore!"

You know the funny thing about Christmas...Our two friends--Bob, who is Buddhist, and Abdul, who is Muslim (neither believe in Christ) told Abby and me that they always celebrated Christmas when they were growing up. Keep in mind that Bob grew up in China and Abdul grew up in Ghana, Africa!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Who said bigger isn't better?

We wanted to occasionally post a few pictures on here to give you a glimpse into Buffalo life. We were driving around town with Amanda, Abby's sister, trying to give her a taste of the gem that is Buffalo and we stumbled upon this beast while stopped at a traffic light. We only wish that we could have seen them get this thing on the roof!

Common Misconceptions

I recently made a friend out here who just moved to America from China about three months ago to go to school. We were talking about our different cultures and things like that, and I told him that I was from Salt Lake City, Utah, and that I go to the "Mormon Church" (He didn't know LDS, etc.) When I told him this he immediately said, "Oh, I know! You have many wives!" Despite all of my attempts, I could not convince him that I only had ONE wife! For some reason he knew more about my marriage(s) than I did! So I decided to play a little joke on him. Abby was having a playgroup at our house with five moms and seven kids...you can probably see where this is going! I brought him over to the house and when we walked in you should have seen the look on his face! Talk about priceless!!! I am happy to report that once he realized how absolutely insane it would be to have five wives and seven kids in a tiny two bedroom cracker box apartment he realized that he had been wrong. Funny how he had to see how irrational the idea was before he would believe me, isn't it. Typical graduate student!
-Jeff

Palmyra

We live about an hour and a half away from Palmyra, NY. We were able to go right when all of the leaves were changing colors and it was absolutely beautiful! I can't think of a better time to visit the Sacred grove than in the Fall!
The B/W picture is Max in the Sacred Grove, the middle picture is the Palmyra Temple, and the third picture is the Smith Farm. When you come to visit us, we will take you there!