2 Years Old

Max had no fewer than three Birthday parties when he turned two last month.  I have photo evidence of portions of the celebration.

In Winfield, he had cupcake party.


The Cake

Two years old!

He was able to blow out the candle

Pretty happy

Feeding the ducks is a Winfield tradition

Maddy, Kate, and Ella were in attendance

He's a good helper in the garden

We played outside the whole trip

Cousin Laura dropped by for a brief birthday celebraish later that week.  Mitch came bearing gifts as well.

Reading the card

A bit confused by the newspaper wrap

A Jayhawk!

He got a bubble machine.  We use it pretty much every day.

He loves it

Max got a bounce house as well.  He hosted the whole family on the morning of his birthday.

Mitch came for a test run a few nights before

Ella, Isaac, Tim, Harry joined Max in jumping

And sliding

It's all just too exciting

Max and Ella

It was a donut party.

Cousins

More candles

Ella

Digging in

The aftermath

He got a set of clubs from Gaga and Papa

Did I mention how exciting all of this was?

We also got back to the Zoo.  Good times.

Train rides

Ella on the carousel

Max on the carousel

Ella, Max and Mommies

Ella and Max

to the Movies (Best of 2011)

I saw a lot of movies this past year, but for the second year in a row one movie in particular stood out above all of the others.  That's not to say it was a bad year for movies.  I thought it was a pretty strong year overall, though I did think is was a weak year for what passed as popular.  Five of my ten favorite were nominated for Best Picture so that might even be a little harsh on the 2011 film year.  I've outlined a few thoughts on everything I watched, including my ten favorite.  Check it out and let me know if you agree or disagree.

As a reminder, I'm not a movie critic--only a movie fan so even as some of my commentary may indicate one movie is better than others or best in some respects it actually only means I liked it better.  I should probably call the list my ten favorite, but ten best sounds more official.

back to the Border War (the final chapter)

So, this is a pretty good one making the rounds:

It's not a surprising revelation though the reminder I'm sure is infuriating to Mizzou fan.  You see, this cuts to the core of the Border War rivalry.  As a Kansas fan I see a comparison like this and chuckle a little, sure.  But, I don't measure our success against Missouri.  We most often measure our success against North Carolina, Kentucky, Duke, UCLA and more recently programs like UCONN and Michigan St.  Perhaps Indiana if we're really slumming.  Success against Missouri is understood.  Part of our birthright as Kansas fans. 

On the other hand Mizzou fan sees this type of comparison and gets angry because he does attempt to measure himself against Kansas.  Mizzou fan's success and failure starts and ends with how it compares to KU.  Have an awful year?  No, not really because Kansas lost to Bucknell.  Was this season a success?  Well, we did beat Kansas once, so yes indeed.

Mizzou fan also gets angry at something like this because that's what he does.  Mizzou fan does not get excited for big games.  He gets angry.  I've seen it dozens of times.  Mizzou fan can not enjoy the modicum of success that is infrequently hung upon him.  Part of this is the infrequent nature of the success--you know, never being there before.  But mostly he's just mad because KU is better than him.  He knows no other way to measure himself and when you think about it that way his only alternate to anger is depression.  Anger is a part of depression in fact.

Lest you think that I'm off base here or even think that this only applies to basketball, let me make a clear point.  This applies to football as well.  I was there for the Armageddon at Arrowhead.  Missouri was victorious, however, there was little celebration.  Mizzou fan came in angry as always since KU, a football program he looks down upon (for odd reasons given the similar levels of historical success), was in position to have a better year in that the year of Missouri's best season ever.  He left relieved more than happy, not fully able to enjoy the glorious victory due the anger built up in anticipation.  Just a couple of weeks later Mizzou fan found new heights of furious when KU was tabbed for the Orange Bowl in 'their' place.  KU, of course, went on to win that BCS game--a thrill Mizzou fan has never enjoyed since his team has never even reached such heights.  It was their best season ever and if you ask Mizzou fan about it you will get one of two responses:

1)  Unbridled anger over KU playing in the BCS game
2)  Rationalization of the success of that season based on their victory over, wait for it, KU

No success or failure in Missouri athletics can be enjoyed or lamented by Mizzou fan without an eye on KU.

I think the ending of the Border War will be good for Mizzou fan.  Hopefully he can learn to behave as a passionate college sports enthusiast, similar to hundreds of thousands of other collegiate sport fans.  Without a fixation on Kansas sports he will be able to enjoy successes and failures (lots of failures!) in proper context.

In actuality though, after the ass-kicking his squad takes tomorrow in the holy Allen Fieldhouse, Mizzou fan might just stay angry for ever.  It's in his nature.

to the Oscars (2012 predictions!)

Who's ready for the Oscars on Sunday?  I'm excited even as they always (ALWAYS!) disappoint.  I've saw more of the 2011 movies than I had seen in any other recent year thanks to a few theater trips, but most of the films I viewed were via Netflix.  I haven't seen all of the Best Picture nominated films, but I've seen the ones I wanted to see.  I even invoked my 'Blindside' rule and watched one of them (The Help) which appears set to win awards even though I was pretty certain I would hate it (one of my other rules is not having to invoke my 'Blindside' rule more than once a year--sorry War Horse and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.  The Academy could help me out here by doing a better job in the Best Picture nominations).  I'll save analysis on that viewing (and others) for my upcoming Best of 2011 post.  I have two more films on my viewing calendar prior to releasing that definitive list of what was good last year so I should get that post up this weekend prior to the telecast.  In the meantime, I wanted to put out my Oscar predictions and Oscar hopes.  I intend to do a lot better this year (I was beat by the only entry in my contest last year....).  Budget cuts have prevented me from guaranteeing a prize to the winner this year, but I hope you'll compete with me in the comments and perhaps I'll come up with something for who picks the best.

to Sesame Street, other odds & ends

It's been unseasonably warm in Kansas City.  We're currently on pace of a record LOW snowfall.  Quite the change from last winter.  On the downside, Max wasn't able to get out and play in the snow too much.  He did get to make a snowman with Sue after our only snowfall that had enough for such activity.  On the flip side of that coin, of course, we've been able to get outside a bit more often this winter than usual.

His baseball card pose

Sometimes the actual baseball is too small

This was a home run I assure you

His tee doubles as a golf club

Quick break for a slide

We recently were able to go so Sesame Street Live with cousin Ella.  Good times.

There was quite a crowd for the 'preparty'

They got to color and such

Sitting in Big Bird's nest

Mostly Max just liked this button

Abby is his favorite.  I can not state that emphatically enough

At the preparty

Found our seats

Mommy and Max

Ashlee and Ella

Daddy and Max

Quick snack

Max and Ella

The opening number

Both Max and Ella enjoyed the show.  Max was mesmerized for a good thirty minutes before he snapped out of it.  It was surprisingly passable for the adults in our group as well although I will never understand how Elmo emerged as the most popular.  His voice is entirely insufferable, right?  I mean, come on youth of America!  Let's focus on some of these other fine characters.  Anyway, I digress.  Lindsay had to remind me we were there for the kids and this post is not really about how unequivocally awful Elmo is, but I had to get that off my chest.

Max also recently got a chance to play drums with his cousin, Ryan.

A regular Charlie Watts

He plays drums, guitar, flutes, and harmonica at home, but this was something.  Ryan had about 100 drumsticks and after each amazing 'song' that Max banged out, he requested a different one.  Quite a concert.  Wouldn't have been possible without Max's assistant, Ryan.

Max is turning two next month so I'm tentatively planning to add a lot more pictures over the next few weeks though it is still to be determined how many of those make it up here.  It's also Oscar Week so stay tuned for my Remarkably Ill-Timed Best of 2011 Movie List and perhaps another Oscar Prediction Post.