Calling You

The boy and I love you and eagerly await your arrival home.

Pizza and Z

So Heidi is in Tampa Florida. She and her mom went there on Friday for her Great Uncles memorial service. I'll get to pick her up at Seven PM on Sunday. Z and Me cannot wait. But since we're guys we had to rock some pie.

I am a horrible father...

Just watch.

Part One



Part Two

Z says Hi to Granny

The boy loves his Granny.

Me & Z

I know it's grammatically incorrect but hey, it's what I do. So the boy and I were hanging out and all of a sudden he decided he needed a little snuggle time with the old man. So Heidi broke out the camera and here we are...

Feet I

Feet II

Milking it...

Hi

Halloween n' stuff

Last couple weeks have been busy but I think we're going to be able to settle a bit before the holidays arrive. Two weeks ago I was able to go see my family in Chicago. My mom is back in Tennessee and my brother Larry came into town for a couple weeks to make some contacts with skate shops in the midwest. Also I was the best man in my buddy Bryon Spaeth's wedding. Drove down to Indy with another good friend who was in my wedding, thanks for your mad navigation skills Dave. Anyway it was a great time road trippin' but man it was a slammed weekend. Drove down Friday mid-day did lots of pre-wedding stuff/rehearsal and having a beer with the groom that night talking through stuff. Also picked up another friend (also named Dave) from the airport at 1.30 in the am. Got to bed at 2.20 and had to wake up around 7.30. Bryon was married to Allison by 12.45 that day. All went well and the Dave's and I were back on the road by 5-ish.

Also had my bro come up to Madison and did some sales calls to the three skate shops here in town. It was really great hanging with Larry and seeing him do his thing. Someday I hope to be the midwest rep for Guy Skinny.

Now onto what you all come here for. Pictures of my son.

Appropriate image for Halloween I think...



Heidi wanted me to artsy fartsy, but it's really hard to do with a point and shoot camera. Actually it's not hard to do, it's near impossible, especially when I'm not gifted in that particular area.



Mom loves the costume. The one wearing it, not so much.



Shouldn't I be a bull?



Moo.

The Boy and I

So I'm pretty busy with some stuff, so I figured I'd just put up a photo parade of the boy and I. I love being a dad even though I'm not as natural a caregiver as Heidi, I like to think I bring some positive qualities to the table.

Zakk: Guitar Hero!

GH pt.2

GH pt.3

Chair flavored kisses

Laughter is good for the soul.

Stretch

Been a long, lonely lonely lonely time.

Yeah, not a big fan of the Led but it fits here...

So things have been a little busy for us. Heidi is back to school, mentoring another teacher and getting used to a new math curriculum and being away from her "little z" all day. I've been working, selling my childhood on ebay, and taking care of z more since Heidi has had to spend a pretty good deal of time at work getting her class ready and getting the new teacher ready. Last weekend we went to Chicago for one day (pitch black and raining both ways) where it rained steadily all day. My sisters front yard was flooded and so were a lot of the roads. Thankfully the RX300 handles all that like a champ.

We were able to hang with Mom, Sharon, Mitch, Aaron, Luke, Teri, Lynda, Barb and my sister Deb who flew in from LA. We don't get to see her often so that was cool. Not only that but she is my birthday twin. We were born on the same exact day 16 years apart. I've always told her I'm the best sweet sixteen gift anyone can get. I'm the gift that keeps on giving. It was great hanging out and talking, staying up way too late (I crashed out at 3 and I'm pretty sure we kept mom up way too late as well).

Despite the crummy weather we had fun. It's crazy with my family we can have a blast just hanging out with one another. We rarely "do" anything besides eat and hang out but we always have a good time.

GS My brothers back from his big show and things went well, still looking forward to getting some of my own gear, even though I'm not "hardcore".

Here's a little video of z appreciating a cool drink of H20...



And here he shows off... oh and that last part is in reference to Lissa's birthday wishes



And some pics...

Hollaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!



Gimme that!



Mom never wants the PDF's to go away...



This thing would fit my giant head if Dad's head wasn't so big.



It was a long day...



The progression of the first day back to school/day care.



Okay, not that I want any gawking, but seriously my wife is hot or very pretty for those whom might find the previous description "offensive". I can only imagine the inappropriate things Michael Scott would say to her. (The Office starts back up on the 25th boo-yaaaa)






He really does love daycare...


honest.

Oh yeah, and I just learned that he's doing sign language at daycare but not for us. We need to work on that more at home. Little stinker.

Walk the Walk

So very cool stuff has been happening lately...

Lynda and Barb treated myself and Heidi to a picnic/concert of the BoDeans last week at the Ravinia. We also went with Mitch and Sharon so a good time was had hanging out and listening to music. The conversation only veered into politics once and I finally shut my yap so we could just enjoy the evening. Thanks again everyone, it was fun.

My brother Larry has started a Skateboard clothing company called guy skinny. Check him out at guyskinny.com He's busting his hump to make a go of it and I think he's got what it takes to make it happen. Hopefully I'll be doing some art for them as well for their line of t-shirts.

Now something very coooooool.

This went on for ten minutes and I loved every minute of it as you can probably tell. Also that's They Might Be Giants: Here Come the 1,2,3's DVD on the TV.



Here we have a little something extra in the basket... and I don't mean the little boy...

I am Geek, hear me geek out over geeky stuff.

Okay so I saw the Toadies on Thursday night and they Rocked My Face Off! What an intense show. Glad I was able to hit at least one concert this summer that I really wanted to see. Never had a chance to see them in their day, and now after 8 years they're back together and on tour. I went with Eric Schwebach and Jason Salas, a good time was had by all. New album drops on the 19th, looking very forward to it.

Movies I've peeped this summer...

Iron Man, near perfect comicbook action/adventure film

The Dark Knight, near perfect comicbook crime/drama film

Get Smart, funny movie, perhaps a little heavy on the "action" for a comedy but I'll forgive it since it was still fun.

Wall-E, I love almost anything from Pixar. And while this movie is toward the bottom of my favorite Pixar flicks it's still an amazingly good movie. The animation is as always a joy to behold but there were live-action inserts that were just horrid and had no place in the film.

Comicbooks I'm digging this summer are Garth Ennis' Punisher, Ex Machina, Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam, Secret Invasion, Invincible and Walking Dead.

Also Teri and Mom were kind enough to buy Guitar Hero Aerosmith for me for my birthday. It was a great gift since I've never owned any of the GH games and Aerosmith is one of my favorite bands. Despite them being a favorite band of mine Zakk Wylde is my favorite guitarist. In fact many of you know that I wanted to spell Zach's name ZAKK. Well Zakk has played a guitar with a black and pearl bullseye on it that he refers to as "The Grail". He doesn't tour with the original anymore but he has his own signature series modeled after it and has other ones with varying colors, black and silver, red and yellow, black and camo. All very cool but the original black and pearl is where it's at.

Here's Zakk shredding on the black and pearl.



Here's my GH controller customized by me. I know, I'm sooooooo cool. Just ask the kids, I'm hip, I'm down...



Back of the headstock



Top side of the neck has a saying I came up with meant to be a joke, but I love it cause I worked in the name of my favorite painter. If you can't read it for some reason it says "You can call me Norman, 'cause I Rockwell" c'mon admit it, that's pretty good.

Something witty and clever goes here to grab your attention.

So got a little update here, got some pics of Zach with his new cousin Giada and some others of him on a "playdate" and other random cool stuff.

Things are pretty busy right now between stuff going on in the Men's Ministry in the Church, Heidi taking a class this week and this weekend going to see the BoDeans, but before we see them, I'll be doing some side work while Heidi chills in the Herrero pool. She earned it though, taking an entire class in one week is no small feat. But that's Heidi for you, amazing.

On to the photo parade, you lucky ducks...

Here he is with his cousin



Shhhhh.... there's no need for words my love.



I am man I eat good



Looks like he's trying to rip one but he's just inherited his Daddy's nonsensical ways of sleeping whilst throwing one's legs in whichever direction strikes our fancy



He loves to splash



Hello ladies, you can call me Super-handsome-man. Stare into my superduper deep blue eyes... that's right, my powers involve being adorable

You can now see Dr. Horrible all together

This is an official spot to see Dr. Horrible in all it's glory. Joss Whedon approved!
Check it out kids! (although it's not really for kids, that's just an expression)

www.hulu.com/watch/28343/dr-horribles-sing-along-blog

Sorry my linky thingy no worky...

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

If you like laughing and have a little time to kill check out drhorrible.com

Joss (Firefly/Serenity) Whedon directs and stars How I Met Your Mother's Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan (Firefly/Serenity/Desperate Housewives) Fillion and Felicia Day (whom I think was on Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I never watched that show).

It's really funny and only on the web until Sunday Act one and two are now live and three goes live tomorrow and then it all goes bye bye unless you get it from Itunes for six bucks or wait for a DVD release. I'm waiting for the DVD myself.

Each act is approx. 15 minutes long and includes lots of funny stuff.

Check it out.

Zach's first birthday, a newborn, 6 Year Anniversary and more!

Okay so the last month has been jam packed with goings on of the family variety.

Heidi's sister Jen had her first child Giada Morgan Grell. Yes for those in the comicbook know she's married to Travis, Mike Grell's nephew. She's a beautiful little girl with the most awesome chipmunk cheeks. I see much squeezing in the poor kids future. She was a hefty 9 pounds 12 ounces (same as me!) and 21 inches tall. We spent a day up in Green Bay a couple of weeks ago right after she was born and then Heidi went up herself the next week to help while I chilled at home with Z.



The rewiring of the house is pluggin' along, I've started to rework Z's fort in the backyard and our neighbor Kay was super cool and helped us totally redo the landscaping in front of the house. An amazing improvement. So lot's of house stuff going as always.

Next up was Z's birthday. I cannot believe it's been a year. Pretty much the entire reason I started this blog was to keep everyone in the loop on how he's doing. He's walking around like crazy (with assistance of course) and with Heidi staying at home with him for the summer becoming a bit of a Momma's boy. He's in for a rude awakening come September. Anywho, he's got eight teeth showing now and more on the way, eating lots of different foods and all the other stuff regular toddlers do. Now onto the birthday celebration! Heidi's Mom and Dad came by for the festivities and boy was Zach a happy dude. He got cake and ice cream for the first time. He kept eating all the while looking at us like he's worried that he's going to get into trouble.






Then we head down that night to Chicago for the Comicon and to see my Mom who's back in town. I hit the Con Friday with Cody and Saturday with Cody and Aaron. Fun was had. Sunday was Zach's first time in the pool. While the pictures don't really tell the story he was loving it and did a lot of splashing, which he now does in the bathtub.







So Monday was Heidi and I's 6th Anniversary! It was a great day, especially since I got off work early as a surprise. But both of us totally spaced our tradition of going to the Allen Gardens (see July of last year) where we got married (this kid is a major distraction from Heidi and I trying to live our lives). So we went the next day and it was gorgeous out. We walked around with Zach and a nice gal took our picture while her friend tried to get Zach to look at the camera. It was a nice night. I also got to hang with my man Eric who is in town from Florida so that was cool too.








We're heading back down to Chi-town this weekend for a little bit as well.

Later.



Joe, Zach, and Addy



Someone's got a crush.