The BACON EXPLOSION!

Do you like Bacon? I mean REALLY like Bacon?? Then check this out!

http://www.bbqaddicts.com/bacon-explosion.html

My daughter the rock star...

If you've never witnessed it in person Keira loves to dance! If there is a song on TV or on the radio that she likes she'll stop anything she's doing and start dancing. One of her favorite songs still is a short clip they play on Boomerang. Boomerang is a sister station to Cartoon Network that plays all of the old cartoons that we grew up with Scooby Doo, Tom & Jerry etc. The clip is a newer piece of animation that I think is great! It's a version of the Josie & The Pussycats (or Josies & the Pussycats as Keira calls them) theme song where they travel through music history, the song changes with each era of music. The top vid is Keira dancing to it with her favorite guitar, the lower is the actual television clip. Give em both a spin!

Growing fast...

I haven't updated this collage since 2005. I figured I blow the dust off of this little project and update it. My Grandpa Rudy had sent this Christmas decoration to us back in 2004. When I got it put together it worked out that Keira was sitting next to it so I took a picture. Almost every year since I have been taking her picture next to this decor every Christmas. For some reason I missed 2006. I think my Grandpa would've liked seeing Keira next to it every year, so I'm going to do my best to continue to take this shot. We'll see how it goes. Any way here it is updated with the 2008 photo going back to 2004.

Bringing in the New Year

We're having a quiet one this year. Just playing some Xbox 360 and Wii games with Keira until midnight. Here's a clip of her getting a strike bowling on the Wii and me rocking out on Guitar Hero World Tour! Happy New Year to all of you! Hope 2009 brings some positive change our way! Go out and spend some money at Safeway & Whole Foods so I can stay busy :)

Christmas Gathering 12/27

Trying to get your friends together I have always compared to launching the space shuttle, timing is everything. Well last night we were able to get the Glinski and Hilgendorf families all together at our place for dinner and gifts. Here's a nice group photo I talked them all into taking. I think it came out pretty good of I do say so myself. From left to right: me, Christie , Jerry G., Keira, Stephen G., Joshua G., Jill G., Johnny G., Harvey Jr H., Heather H., Chelsea G. (back), Lori H., Ashley H. Harvey H. Now there is a good chance that I got Heather and Ashley's name reversed but in my defense they're twins! :)

Christmas Day 2008

Well turns out Keira made the "good" list this Christmas. Santa hooked her up! The cookies and milk left out for Santa were eaten up and the apple slices for his reindeer were gone as well. Keira was amazed to see this and it was the first thing she went to look at when she got up. Hope your Christmas was great as well!

Alas poor Frosty we knew him well...

Days 6 & 8 saw the end of our frozen friend. By Day 6 Christmas Morning Frosty had lost his head from the rain and rising temps. Day 7 I missed taking a shot of him for some reason. Day 8 (yesterday, shown in the lower right) he is now all but gone. This was taken pretty early as well since it hit 60 degrees yesterday. All that remains now are his arms laying on the lawn. Out of respect for Frosty I chose not to take that picture. He had a nice run. Crazy to think that on the 19th we got dumped on with 10+" of snow and by yesterday its all gone.

Christmas Eve 2008

First stop was Christie's Mother's side of the family. Where we learned that her cousin Johnny is now engaged to long time girlfriend Theresa, congrats! Keira was excited to open a few gifts and then we were off to Christie's Father's side of the family.

There we had some dessert and laughs. Brooke was celebrating her first Christmas ever and many a wrapping paper projectiles were launched!

The Chronicles of Frosty - Day 05

Well today was going to be trouble for Frosty and sure enough he needed an emergency head transplant! It's in the 40's right now and raining. Which is bad news for snowmen. I couldn't exactly let my daughter see this mess. So he was fixed and re-packed with some new ice.

Keira's gift to Mom & Dad

Keira made this for us today at pre-school. How come when I was growing up the only artwork we made with our hands was a turkey? Hope you like it, enjoy!

The Chronicles of Frosty - Days 03 & 04

So not much happened to our boy Frosty yesterday. This shot (above) was taken off of my camera phone. It was too cold to run in and get the real camera out. I think Frosty will get over it.

So today Frosty is getting some new hair courtesy of Mother Nature. 1-3" of new snow is coming down as we speak. Well, we're not really speaking to each other, but as I type! I think it may be rough waters ahead for our boy. Tomorrow's forecast calls for 45 and some freezing rain!

The Chronicles of Frosty - Day 02

After watching Frosty the Snowman last night Keira became very concerned about the well being of the frozen friend she created in the front yard. So I thought hey, let's see how long this guy actually lasts. Well Day 02 finds Frosty in good shape! He received an 1" of new snow overnight. Also the freezing temperatures were to his liking. A base temperature of 4 degrees at the time of this post with a wind chill factor of -30 degrees has our white powder friend looking good. Stay tuned...

Winter Wonderland

So now that we have significant snow on the ground there was no way we would be able to keep Keira out of it. She made her first snow angel today (3 actually). She also added another snowman to her list. She named this one "Frosty" since we watched the cartoon this evening. She's worried about him melting, but with temps in the 20's and more snow on the way I think he'll be around for a while.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

Ok so maybe I wasn't dreaming of it but we got it anyway! 10" of snow came down on us yesterday, easily the most we've seen since we moved back here now 8 years ago today. Apparently we going to be getting more up until Christmas.

Picture with Santa, check!

Finally! Coming up on Keira's 5th Christmas and we finally get her to take a picture with Santa Claus! This year we kept it much closer to home at Macomb Mall in the 586. No appointments needed to see this Santa and the line went pretty quickly. I think Keira was still a bit doubtful about this whole Santa thing. Although she didn't hesitate to tell him she wants a brand new Barbie Jeep for Christmas (the Power Wheels type) ha ha. Merry Christmas to all!

Halloween 2008

This Halloween was a lot of fun. Christie and I both had half days from work. In the early afternoon we took Keira in costume to a parade at Toys 'R Us where they did a lap around the store and handed out goodies to the kids. Although, Keira wanted nothing to do with Geoffery the Giraffe in costume. In the evening I put up the finishing touches to our Halloween decor and handed out candy. Christie and Keira went out Trick Or Treating and she came back with a full bucket of candy. Good times! Hope you all had a great Halloween!

Carving Pumpkins 10/30

Is there anything better than carving pumpkins? If you answered yes, then please comment and tell me what's better! Anyways, Thursday evening Keira and I carved pumpkins for Halloween. This year Keira got a bit more confident with the process wanting to finally clean out her own pumpkin. She loves going crazy on them with a sharpie although we tend to not use that art for the final cuts. The final results are in the bottom right of the collage, she made the small one and I did the large Oogie Boogie.

Keira's Pre-School Halloween Party 10/30

This past Thursday October 30th Keira's Pre-School held their Halloween party. Christie was able to work from home and get some great pictures of the events. Keira's costume this year was Princess Jasmine (are we running out of princess' yet?). Christie sewed the cape with the help of my Mom earlier in the month when they were here. At school they had a little parade and sang songs. The shot of Keira and the little witch is classic. The shot of Keira with her new friend Emma as Princess Aurora I like as well.

Take your daughter to stores you've designed day.

OK, so it's not a real day on the calendar. I remember when I was a kid around Christmas time my Mom would load up my sister and I and we would drive up to my Dad's work for their Christmas party. My Dad was always happy to have us there and introduce us to everyone.

Well, now that I'm a Dad its a little tougher to explain to Keira what I do at my job. Its easier to now show her the stores I've worked on. Since every WFM has a stellar prepared foods area we always wind up eating at these stores when we go. So given that she refers to these stores as "Daddy's restaurants".

The best feeling in the world was giving her a tour of Rochester one day after the install crews had ended their shift. The store was still under construction as I walked her through it she asked "wow Dad you built this store??" I explained to her that no, Daddy was only responsible for working on what the store would look like.

The upper shot is of her at Rochester October 5th when my Mom & Dad were here as well. It was cool to show them what I do as well! The lower shot if of her having lunch with me in the dining area at West Bloomfield. She loves their hearth oven pizza!

Keira's 1st Day of Pre-School

Today Keira had her first day of pre-school. I was able to work from home and Christie had the day off. Keira was really excited to go, she had already been to the classrooms before when Christie went for registration. She couldn't wait to get dressed and get all cleaned up to go to school. Pretty crazy, she's growing up really fast. You couldn't ask for a better fall day as far as the weather goes. We took a couple of pictures outside and then we went in and met with her teachers, then dropped her off. We picked her up in the afternoon and she showed us her new fishy tattoo. Her first day at school and she's already getting ink done.