Cami's 1st Birthday

On Saturday Cami turned 1, so being the incredible parents we are we threw her a birthday party that she won't remember and where she didn't really know what was going on. Basically a weeks worth of work for a 3 hour photo op, but what a great photo op! We had a small party with just family (If you can consider a Rowe family gathering small) Her cousins came over and we had games, and cake, and presents, and a good time. I've decided that kids parties are a lot like fireworks, lots of time and expense in making it happen for about 15 seconds of pay off. Still, she seemed happy and we hope all the kids enjoyed themselves. Here's Cami on her Birthday morning. One year older and wiser too!

Her Birthday party theme was " A Bookworm Birthday" Carrie made the book with the worm cake herself ( very good) and I frosted the cupcakes ( Very bad)

Cami, just figuring out what this Brithday Cake and singing thing is all about.

Here she is enjoying a well smashed cupcake.

We cleaned up the basement and had games downstairs. This is my niece Ashlyn taking her turn on "Pin the Bowtie on the Bookworm" With Claire, Aubrianna, and Ethan looking on.

Story time during the party. BTW, we asked the kids to dress up as their favorite character from a book. Nice outfit Mom Rowe!!

Blog Therapy

A few hours ago I just watched Penn State's football season go down in flames. I'm trying to look on the bright side, because they will still probably win at least a share of the Big Ten title and go to a BCS game, most likely the Rose Bowl, which has a great time slot on New Year's Day. But, mostly I'm completely depressed and I'm thinking I might not see them win another National Championship in my lifetime. No matter how hard I root, or how much stuff I buy, no matter how good recruiting or what ever is...it's just not ever going to happen. I get a few highlight films from the eighties and that's it...I love my Lions, but It's hopeless, I just can't think about it anymore.

So in an attempt to lift my spirits I'm trying a little blog therapy, just a few short bursts on anything not related to football, just to remind me there is more to life. So here it goes.

1. I've lived in a lot of different places and been fortunate enough to travel all over this country during my lifetime. I mention this because I'm sure that I can say without a doubt the state of Kansas has more vanity plates per capita than any other state in the union. I don't know if it's cheaper here, or if it's a weird cultural thing that I haven't realized yet, but every other car in this flippin place has a vanity plate. They aren't even significant things like last names or college affiliation, mostly it's stupid stuff like , "IGOT12" or "2Fst4U" . It really is crazy, has anyone else picked up on this.

2. If that's Eggland's best then Eggland really has to step its game up.

3. I know that Barack Obama's daughter is allergic to dogs. I still don't know what he means by Change.

4. If Crusoe doesn't figure out that he has everything he needs to build a raft and get out of there within the next 3 episodes I'm out. If he gets caught in a storm, or they come up with some other similarly stupid reason to keep him on the island, whatever, just make the attempt or I walk. This is my final offer.

5. In the Cook vs. Archuleta "who has the better career" contest I am awarding round 1 to Mr. Archuleta. His song , "Crush" isn't in my wheelhouse, but it is very catchy and the sort of thing he should be doing. David Cook's new song sucks. It sounds like he found a guitar riff he liked and then made up some words as he went along. It's truly garbage, but his voice sounds great recorded and I have high hopes that he'll get a better song to work with in the future.

6. This Christmas, "High School Musical 3" is holding the handgun and parents everywhere are emptying their pockets and putting their hands in the air.

7. I live within 2 miles of the best Red Robin in the United States. On a Friday night they were properly staffed. We got our food fast and fries Red Robin hot, "If you've been then you know Red Robin fires have their own level of hot, with the crispy outside and the insides the just about to burn your mouth, but they don't quite burn your mouth so you talk yourself into eating a few more with some Campfire/ Fry Sauce thinking they will soon cool down but they never do and you wonder if they are too hot or not for the first 15 minutes of your meal." Good service, and they even let us take a few cups of the campfire sauce home because we like it so much and we were willing to embarrass ourselves slightly by asking. Great experience, and I'm glad we've got them so close by.

Halloween Facts

Cami's first Halloween was a great time, made better because it fell on the same night as the Rowe family fall festival. Here are a few pictures, followed by a list of things I've determined are facts.During the Rowe family fall festival Carrie's Dad gives hay rides around the yard with his tractor. Cami was a little worried at first, but once the hayride started she absolutely loved it. She stood and clapped for the last few minutes so you could tell she was really impressed. ( For those who don't know our sweetheart, standing and clapping really isn't as dramatic as it seems. Those are two of the four or five things she does when she gets really excited, so she wasn't so much moved as she was very joyful and trying to find a way to let it out. She also stands and claps for "When you're happy and you know it." )So after the hay ride was over we had to snap a few family photos because she was in SUCH a good mood after being in SUCH a bad mood the hour before. Who knew a cart full of hay could bring someone so much happiness.

Here Cami is trick or treating in her stroller. She rolled along with her cousins as we went around in grandma and grandpa's neighborhood. Which brings me to my list of random and unrelated facts.

Fact: I have absolutely no problem going up to a house to trick or treat when my daughter is less than one and both myself and the owner of the house know the candy is really for me. At the first few houses we went to this sense of slight awkwardness / shame didn't come into play because we hit the door at the same time as the 13 other cousins, so it was mass panic and we were able to "smash and grab" without the homeowner thinking twice. However as the older kids pushed ahead at a faster pace, and we were left with the younger children in the back of the pack, we would have to go to door individually, and caught and evil eye here and there. I will endure that evil eye and any snide remark they may share with their spouse for a piece of candy. Everyone has their price and now at least I know mine.

Fact: BBQ is a right not a privilege. On Wednesday night I had a sudden thought that grew into a mild obsession ," I need a rack of ribs." Needless to say within 24 hours I had my ribs. Maybe it was that I was trying to eat a little less and the forces of BBQ would not let me go on a pseudo/secret diet for one second longer. Maybe it was the great deals we got on Soup and Hot Dogs that causes me to choose to have Soup and/or Hot Dogs one to many times. Either way, I haven't had a fix'n like that in some time. In the end we ended up getting some of " Big Bubba BBQ" a smoke shack 3 blocks from our house because We've wanted to try it and Gates was too far away at the time of said BBQ attack. Overall a quality rib, not quite as juicy as gates but with a nice smokey flavor. Their pulled pork and smoked sides were good as well. Overall a solid meal that took care of the craving.

Fact: You should never blog about food on fast Sunday

Fact: Obama is going to win. I've moved past the ," Oh please don't let this happen" stage of the election and moved on to the ," I wonder if I should take out my 401k to invest in guns and food storage" stage. You know you've got some great candidates for office when your biggest concerns stop being the economy and abortion and start being " Is my tent big enough" and "How much generator do I really need". What makes this year's election so tough is how the media has just out and out stopped serving the people. There has alway been bias...but this bad? They have gone out of their way to make Sarah Palin seem stupid and underqualified. They have drooled over Obama because of his good looks and his ability to speak. Getting a report on how the election is going from any media outlet is like asking a Ford dealer which Chevy to buy. I usually end up choosing Fox news because if the media has deciding to be bias then I might as well choose the bias that I like right? It's a dangerous road we're on, an unquestioned dictator, media that serves only as propaganda, and culture that doesn't allow the questioning of leadership. Prop 8 loses in California and we're heading for really tough times. Just Saying.

Fact: Penn State is playing for the national championship if it wins out. Look, it's a bad system. However it is working out for my team for once so I don't care. Yup there are some really good teams that have one loss in the Big 12 and SEC, but they will not leapfrog and undefeated PSU team no matter what the computer polls do because the human polls will never deny Joe Pa one last chance. There are some people out there that think this is a point to be argued, it's just a fact and if you don't like it it's too darn bad. Folks that argue that it should be th BIG 12 champe vs. the SEC champ no matter what Penn State does are like little kids at bedtime. They may complain, scream, try to bargain , but at the end of the night they're in their room at eight. Sorry Ohio State ruined you on the Big Ten, but that's just too bad because you're going to get the Big Ten in the championship game again. Argue all you want, Facts are Facts.

For the record: Penn State, Florida, Alabama, Texas, USC, and Oklahoma are all probably good enough to win the title this year, but on any given day any one can beat any of the others. Too bad we don't have a playoff to sort that out for us. At the end of the day, Texas beat Oklahoma and Florida plays Alabama, so that takes that out of the mix. If the system was tweaked even a little bit we'd have a four team playoff that included the Big 12 champ, the SEC champ, Penn State, and USC. That's all the playoff I'd need, that's a true national champion. I don't ask for much.