Well, it has once again been a while. I thought I would let you all in on one of my better conspiracies and cover ups in recent memory. You see this picture over here was taken this past weekend on Missy's birthday in Chicago. The thing is, Missy was under the impression that we were going to Cape May, NJ to celebrate her final birthday in her 20's AND as a......not.......mother. Um, you get the idea, I hope. That's right, I came up with a grand scheme full of manipulation, lies and deception. This picture is the result.

For my birthday back in March, Missy surprised me by getting our wonderful friends Val and Steve to surprise me with a trip to Maryland for the weekend. Feeling a strong need to get my revenge, I conjoured up a plan to give Missy what she wants more than anything at every birthday and Christmas - her family.

The plan was simple - allow Missy to believe that we were going to go away for the weekend (so she would pack a bag) and that we were heading to Philly for a nice dinner (so we could drive towards the airport without suspicion). The only real complication came when Missy told me what she really wanted to do for her birthday - play cash bingo - WHAT? I couldn't understand her desire to do this. I mean she has all of her teeth, she doesn't feather her hair, she rarely wears outfits made up of flannel shirts, spandex pants and L.A. Gear shoes and has only been arrested on the show "Cops" once. But that's what she wanted to do so I had to create a grand cover up.

I sent out a mass email to our friends letting them in on the plan. I told them that I was going to invite them to play cash bingo but that it was all a cover. Their only job was to reply and express excitement about joining us in an event that would never take place. To their credit, they executed their responsibility to perfection - poor Missy never had a chance.

I laid out the "plan" to Missy and she was very excited. I picked out a nice restaurant in Philly for dinner on Friday night called the Capital Grille (6:45 reservations - we can't be late!), a beautiful hotel on the water for Friday night ($300 a night - no problem!) and a great Bed & Breakfast in Cape May for Saturday night.

Finally, a few exits before we would have gotten off to go to the restaurant, I veered off and told Missy to open the glove box. Inside were American Airlines frequent flier cards to be used on our trip to........ I didn't tell her where we were going until we were eating dinner.......not steak at The Capital Grille but over Sbarro's pizza at that airport. She cried. :)

I want to thank all of my partners in crime, specifically the two main accomplices, Greg (missy's brother) and Katy (greg's wife) who very slyly sent a group of pictures of their kids last week to increase Missy's desire to see them and who emailed Missy telling her that they may not be able to call on her birthday and apologizing because her gift would be late. Beautiful.

My plan of deceit and lies worked to perfection. Missy had a blast.

Well, that's the latest. Hopefully, I will be able to update soon with a little news about our little one.

Thanks for reading.