Tricia put on a great party for me the other night for my birthday, and I’m very thankful. It’s not very often that I get to hang out with 22 people who hold me in as high esteem as free booze and appetizers. We had a good old time with 2 Hold ‘Em poker tables and a craps table too. We passed out 50 chips at 8:00 and counted at 10:30pm giving people plenty of time to hit it big or go bust. The top 3 counts were 387, 338 and 226. Congratulations to the 3 winners who are not related Mr. Papagiorgio. For anyone not remembering National Lampoon’s Vegas Vacation, Rusty pretended to be a high-roller by that name and promptly won enough for a Lambourghini.

Kris runs the craps table

Dad explains the finer points of poker while losing his stack to the ladies

Tensions mount at the living room poker table as Christine builds her dynasty

All the fun took place 3 days after my real birth date (April 2nd) where my kids got me a professional waffle maker.

Over the weekend, we took a short family jaunt to New York City for Tricia’s 33rd Birthday. We stayed with my college roomate Dana Deskiewicz in his awesome pad in Hoboken. It was a terrific weekend to take in all of the holiday festivities. From the Empire State Building to the tree in Rockefeller Center, we packed it in. Mason and Anna did awesome. I can’t believe their little legs still work after all of the walking we did. Explore the Google Map below to follow us on our two and a half day odyssey. Be sure to click all of the icons for pictures and stories of what we did.

Here’s a larger map to navigate our trip more easily!

Check out more pictures in Tricia’s account of the trip.

Yesterday was Mason’s Star Wars birthday party held in the Jedi Training Center at our house. 9 of Mason’s friends and his sister Anna went through rigorous Jedi training exercises conceived by Jedi Master Tricia after she used the force to channel Yoda’s training methods. The Younglings demonstrated their weapons and lightsaber skills, physical abilities via an obstacle course, and mental abilities by pinning the Lightsaber on Yoda.

Afterward, Darth Vader (played by none other than my mom) made an appearance to test the newly trained students’ ability to resist the temptations of the Dark Side. Mason’s real birthday is December 22nd, but we are so glad we were able to dedicate the time and effort to his birthday prior to the busy holiday season. It seemed like everyone had fun.

I’m now officially an uncle. Lilyan Mae Short was born today at 8:58am, weighing in at 6 lbs. 9 oz., and measuring 20.5 inches long. My sister, Lindsey and her husband, Mike are in high spirits but tired. After a grueling early morning procedure to have the baby flipped from breech, the Docs decided to perform a C-Section. There will be plenty of new experiences for them as they enter into the adventure called parenting. Congratulations guys!!!

It was strange enough when I became a dad for the first time, but for some reason it seems even more strange to be an Uncle Kris. I’m very excited though. It’s wonderful to have a little one in the family again!

Of course Tricia scooped the story before I did, so check out her entries:

• The birthday party complete with video
• Our pre-birth bets
• ‘Cousin’s’ first announcement

Time for Uncle Kris and Aunt Tricia to start stockpiling the loud and obnoxious gifts. Children’s drumsets…the gift that keeps on giving.

Sunday was Anna’s first birthday. She had an awesome time at her pool party at Lietime Fitness. It was a red white and blue, All-America theme. We floated hundreds of beachballs in the pool, and served Popeye’s chicken and apple pie for dinner. The best part of it all was watching my Anna take the right of passage into the chocolate cake addiction that is a Rzepkowski birthday. Nice job honey! And yes…you can have a brown chocolate cake at your wedding.

The big 2-9. My Grandma and Aunt are coming into town from Buffalo and South Carolina respectively, to celebrate and see the kids. Can’t wait to see them. Gotta go to the airport now. Yipeeeee!

It’s the big 2-9. We went to the Melting Pot on Saturday for an awesome fondue-fest. I had no idea that I could actually spend 3 hours eating dinner. Every bite was yummy, the atmosphere – romantic, and all without the kids for the first time since Anna was born. Tonight we’re doing presents and ice cream cake to top off the birthday extravaganza festival weekend as Tricia reminds me it should be. Happy Birthday!

Anna Lucy Rzepkowski, born August 29th 10:25 AM, 6lbs. 14 oz.

Although it is much better said by Mason:

Check it out

It always amazes me when you have kids, you stop calling your own mother Mom and start calling her Grandma. Happy Birthday!

Yesterday I turned 28 years old. I’m not yet ready to reveal what I want to have accomplished by the time I’m 30. I’m still working on that.