Mabry Sunday Dinner

Here is our wonderful family at our favorite Sunday restaurant, Cheddars! You can't see but Nathan and the kids are pigging out out on fries with ketchup. Josie is just chillin'.

Josiah's 3rd Birthday - January 21, 2008

 

We had a nice home cooked meal and cake for dessert for Josiah's 3rd birthday. Happy Birthday, Baby!

Our Little Swimmer

 

Annie takes swimming lessons one night a week. She is progressing slowly , but we are proud of her trying every week. Keep up the good work Annie!

Girls' Night Out

Nicole (sister- in law), Sheri (cousin-in law) and Becky (sister)

We had an awesome time at our girls' gone wild- I mean, Girls' night out Friday night, January 25th. We ate dinner at Longhorn and then some shopping at the Gap clearance center in KY. We then enjoyed a movie and some popcorn. We saw "Dan in Real Life" with Steve Carell. (Very funny) It was nice to just have a kid free night (there are 12 kids between the 4 of us). Sheri commented it was nice to eat the croutons off her own salad.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Josie meets Lincoln Falk

We went over to our good friends' the Falk's house and Josie got to meet Lincoln for the first time. He is only 2 weeks old and adorable. I think they will be good buddies in the months and years to come.

A Birthday Blast

We had a great time at Annie and Josiah's birthday party. We held it at Run, Jump and Play and had 20 people come. This place is awesome. It has 2 rooms of inflatables and a big room of huge swingsets. Then we went to a private room for pizza and cupcakes! The awesome part is we had the whole place to ourselves. here are some pics from this awesome time.

Our Little Singers

We really hope that our kids grow up as gifted singers.  It is such a joy to see them each have their own passion for song:

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Jesus Loves Me

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Can't seem to find wellness

I was wrapping up my preparation for church last night at about 11:30 when I heard Annie crying.  I ran to her room to find her covered in vomit.  It was isolated to her and her bed, but it was all over everything.  I carried her to the bathroom and got her in the bathtub.  She was in good spirits and was quite a trooper.

I changed the linens on her bed and after her clean-up bath, I got her back into bed.  I headed off to bed myself, only to have her wake me 10 minutes later having vomited again.  This time, she had been spared, but her bed needed to be changed again.  I skipped that and moved her into the playroom on the couch.  She threw up at least 2 more times and opted to wake us with each event.  Needless to say, no one got very much sleep last night.

Not knowing what was causing Annie's illness, there was no option of taking her to church this morning.  Rachel stayed home with the kids, while I went to lead worship.  It was a good Sunday as our pastor kicked off a new series: "No Christians Allowed."  We did not have services last week, to give our laborers a break.  Not that I don't enjoy advent music, but it was fun to have a more lively worship set.  As a side note, one of our current favorite worship artists is Steve Fee from North Point Church (Andy Stanley).  We really kicked it with "We Shine" this week, and we are adding "All Because of Jesus" (currently covered by Casting Crowns) next week.

Incidentally, Rachel woke up this morning with pink eye.  First Josiah, then Josie, and now Rachel.  The good news is that we have medicine for it.

After church, I went over to the house of one of the young men that helps with our tech crew to play Rock Band on PlayStation 3.  We played that and some Wii before I left at 3:30 to come home.

The weather today was nice.  It was in the 50s, although it was overcast and dreary.  This evening, we took advantage of the warm weather and went for a walk.  We wanted Josiah to have the chance to ride his bike outside (he has currently be confined to the basement).  He loves his bike.  After 2 times around our little block, Annie, Josie, and Mom decided to return home.  However, Josiah was not ready.  We went around our small block another 3 times before he told me he wanted to go around the big block.  All in all, I would imagine that he rode his bike well over 2 miles (while I walked alongside).  We only came back because I knew we needed to take a potty break (he did very well in his potty training today with no accidents).  He wanted to go back out, but it was nearing 9pm.  All in all, it has been a good and busy day.

Lovin' our new camera (and kids)

Our new camera has a special YouTube capture mode and software to easily upload the videos we take.  Here are a couple clips Here's a clip I got today:

I've got more clips coming, but YouTube takes its time processing uploaded videos.

Update:

Turns out that YouTube had processed this video, but I had chosen the "Private" setting, which was a first for me.  Turns out, I didn't know where to find the URL to embed.  Now, I've found it:

Holiday Fest Photos

Holiday Fest

It sure was cold tonight.  We went to The Beach Waterpark's Holiday Fest celebration to celebrate Annie's birthday.  The highlight for Rachel and the kids was the petting zoo.  In the video above, you can see Annie feeding a baby goat.

The highlight for me was the toboggan slide.  This was usually a waterslide that I got to ride down on a plastic sled.  It was short, but it sure was fast.  I only did it twice, because I did not have the energy to climb the steps.

We got to ride the carousel and another small carnival ride they had.  We saw a train display and had our share of hot chocolate.  But, as I mentioned above, the petting zoo was great.  Part of the highlight is that there was hardly anyone at the park.  They were really disappointed with the turn out.  For the entire park, there were less than 50 guests, almost as many workers.

As for the animals we saw: a llama, an alpaca, goats, cows, sheep, rabbits, chickens, turkey, pigs, ponies, and reindeer.  These were all so friendly and wanting to be petted.  In another part of the park, we saw some horses, a donkey, and a camel.

I think Annie and Josiah had fun, but they certainly were cold.  I think Josiah's feet were what got to him.  We had them very bundled up, with sweats, snow suits, gloves, jackets, and sock caps; but it was Josiah's single socked feet with gym shoes that did him in.  We carried him much of the time, he really was miserable at points.

Overall, we had fun, and it made for a great birthday for Annie.  On top of The Beach tonight, she got to go to Chuck E. Cheese's this afternoon.  We will have a combined party for Annie and Josiah in 2 weeks.

Here's looking at you

I ventured back to the office today, its been almost 2 weeks.  Don't get me wrong, I've been working, but from the comfort of my home office.  After getting settled in, I received a call from Rachel at 11am.  Turns out, her car won't start.  She was just about to head out to pick Annie up at school.

I knew this might be a problem.  The kids, specifically Annie, have gotten to the point that they can reach their dome lights and have a habit of turning them on...and leaving them on.  I've had to jump the car twice in the past month, one of those times was last night.  I jumped it and drove it up to the gas station and back to the house.  I hoped it had charged enough; apparently not.

I took off to pick Annie up at school and then home to jump the van.  I did not want to send Rachel out with uncertainty as to whether it would die again.  So, I traded vans with her.  I then proceeded to take our 2004 Nissan Quest up to Advance Auto Parts for a free battery test.  The test results came in, and I needed a new battery.  $90 later and I was driving away with a new battery.  Incidentally, I had great service at AAP, and I would recommend them to anyone in need of a battery.  I took my time browsing around their store while an associate completed the free battery installation.  This worked out for them, because I found a few other items that I "needed."

I had one more errand to run while out, which is actually the purpose of this post.  As I've mentioned before, our camera is not working.  We've already missed out on the holidays and much of Josie's infancy.  On top of that, today is Annie's birthday, and we need pictures to remember it.  So, I stopped by Sam's club on my way back to the office.  Sam's does not have a great selection, but I found one I liked: Casio Exilim Ex-S880.  The shot taken above is the one and only picture I've taken thus far.  The photo was taken in the rearview mirror of the car while I sat in traffic on the way back to the office from Sam's.

I hope we get a chance to really get some use out of this camera tonight as we head to The Beach Waterpark's Holiday Festival.  Our good friend Liz Zeigler will be watching Josie for an hour or two while we take the two oldest.  It is bitter cold, but we plan to bundle up.

We're off to see the Wizard

As I've mentioned before, we went to lunch with Granny and Papoo on New Year's Day. They took the opportunity to go ahead and give Annie her birthday present then. Annie loves to dress-up, now she can be Dorothy.

My apologies for the picture quality, this was taken by my phone, since our camera is on the fritz....

My Eyes are Limited

Today is a big day for Annie as she hits the big 5. That's right, it's her birthday. On top of that, it is her first day back to school, which means that we do our school morning ritual. This starts with me getting ready and waking her up before 8am. This morning as I entered her room it was still dark (thanks to the curtains). I slipped into bed next to her and sang her Happy Birthday. She woke up slowly. When I went to turn on the light, she squinted and looked at me as she said, "my eyes are limited in the morning." I found this to be a profound (grown-up) statement from a now 5-year old.

My little princess is growing up so fast. I pray that my eyes won't be limited to her needs, and that her eyes can be opened to pursue her passions.

I'm Cute, Too

Do you think I'm cute?

Happy New Year! (Christmas Highlights pt.2)

Today we made use of another of our Christmas gifts, the membership pass to the Cincinnati Museum Center. We were lazy this morning for having been up late last night, and then we left to meet Granny and Papoo for lunch at the Hitching Post in Norwood. After lunch, it was off to the Museum. We started out by hitting the Ominimax showing of "Sea Monsters." This was good, and the kids enjoyed it; however, I have my own opinions about the legitimacy of these creatures living 82 million years ago.

After the show we checked out the Holiday Junction exhibit, which was part of the Cincinnati History Museum. Finally, once exhausted there, we headed downstairs for the Children's museum. Thanks to having had a pass for this past year, the kid's know their way around this museum. We really did not have too much time to spend there (1.5 hours) after all the other stuff we had done. However, we had a blast. The museum closed at 6, which is when we took off for home.

Due to the lack of nap, we put the kids down (willingly) at 8:30. We're about to knock out ourselves. We're so grateful for our Museum passes. On top of that, we have passes to the Cincinnati Zoo. In addition, Granny and Papoo added Beach waterpark passes this year; our hope is to hit their holiday celebration before this week is over. Finally, add our gift to ourselves of King's Island passes, and we will not be without something to do all summer. Thanks to all who make this possible for us.

Christmas Highlights

Christmas has come and gone once again. We had our share of stress this month as each kid went through some sort of illness/virus. It put Annie out for 5 days, and Josiah for around 3. Josie caught Josiah's pink eye and received 4 immunization shots at her 2 month check-up. The shots resulted in a fever that raised considerable concern. As we enter 2008, Josie is just about over pink eye, and the rest of us are healthy.

We are grateful for all our Christmas gifts, but I wanted to highlight a few that we've been excited about this week:

Josiah's New Bike

(My apologies here for lack of photos, our camera has been on the fritz. It is a priority for us to replace that later this month.) Grandma Jo Jones got Josiah his first bike. He is crazy about it. It is a Diego-themed bike that is blue and black. We've spent some time clearing the basement out so that the kids can play down there. the first thing Josiah now says upon waking is "I want to go ride my bike."

The bottom scooter

I don't know the technical name for this device, but it is a "scooter" that you sit on and propel by steering with your arms. The steering works off centrifugal force as you turn back and forth. Part of the allure again here is the work we've done in the basement, which is where the scooter has gotten its use.

The storm door

Mom and Dad (Mabry) got us a great gift in a storm door for our house. With the cold outside, it has been a great added insulation; however, we've used it more by leaving the front door open and looking out the glass storm door to the beautiful (cold) world.