A whole half

Eight years ago today, I took this picture of my adorable baby boy.

Today I took this one, as we ate celebratory donut holes with his classmates.

Still adorable, still my boy... not so much baby anymore!!

January Would've Been Kinda Boring if it Weren't for Cub Scouts!

Thank goodness for Cub Scouts. It's been so cold and snowy that we pretty much only leave the house if we have to, and since O has some kind of activity or meeting or outing each week, it's helping prevent complete cabin fever. So how'd we stay busy in January?

P&O baked and decorated an "A-maze-ing" cake for the pack meeting....




And we celebrated O's big popcorn sales at the Lake Erie Monsters' Scout Day at the Q, where we got to do all kinds of fun things like go on the ice and shoot goals...

and shoot hoops on the Cavs practice court....

Otherwise, we kept busy with swimming two nights a week, Chess club, and playing with friends. Inside. We also spent a lot of time remarking at the incredible amount of snow we've received. It is now up to the bottom of the mailbox and holding. We have a couple of snowpeople and an awesome snow fort decorating the front lawn, too!

We had two wonderfully lazy snow days, during which we stayed in our jammies all day long. We also had a couple of not-so-fun days home with a stomach bug, the silver lining of which was that they were perfectly timed so that O got to watch the inauguration LIVE. That was awesome... well, except for the throwing-up part.

But truly, if it weren't for the bevy of Scout-related activities we've participated in this past month, we would've been bored silly by now! Here's hoping for an early Spring....

Holiday Highlights

Oh, I had high hopes of blogging a lot over break, but alas we were just too busy having FUN. This was a great break for all of us, with the following highlights...

• Uncle Chris & Aunt Patty surprising us on Christmas Day
• Christmas eve candlelight service at FCC
• Reading Christmas cards from lots of folks we wish we saw more often! If you're wondering, we haven't sent any yet. I'm thinking about Valentines this year...
• Rollerskating with friends and O learning to skate without holding onto the wall
• Peppermint ice cream & Magic Shell sundaes and Christmas cookies
• Weekend trip to Cincinnati to see the whole McCoy clan, especially the adorable Miss Sophie (no offense to the rest of you, but she is just so stinkin' cute!!!)
  

• Getting a Wii for Christmas and playing it A LOT
• P having two four-day weekends in a row--unprecedented!
• Going to see The Tale of Despereaux and eating movie popcorn for dinner
• Playdates, playdates & more playdates
• Going to the Cavs game on Christmas night with Baba & Gumpa. The view from P's work seats is pretty awesome, or so I hear... I spent a relaxing evening alone at home while the boys and my folks cheered the night away with LeBron & co. This was the ultimate win-win situation!!
• Watching O watch Star Wars III for the first time--pure joy!
• Uh, duh.... presents!!!
• Helping Gumpa put together his & Baba's Christmas present (a grill) and bringing home a really awesome box to play with
• P's delicious chocolate cake... mmm.... which we had for breakfast one morning!
• Finding my grandparents' "Parents' Album" from my parents' wedding (and some other awesome old family photos) in a box that I'd neglected for too long
• Ringing in a new year. I love the anticipation of what the new year will hold, the clean slate, the possibilities...

From SPandO to all our friends... our best wishes for a fabulous 2009!

Agent Double-O Heaven

Last weekend, O rocked the part of Agent Double-O Heaven (get it?) in the annual church Christmas pageant. This year "Operation Baby King" was pre-recorded, so no lines to memorize. Yeah :) O was still a little nervous because his role required him to be the only character on the stage for the first few minutes of the show. But come showtime, he was fearless and brilliant! Yes, I'm biased; but as mine is the only review you'll ever read, you'll just have to trust me. Here he is as his mission assignment self-destructs.... And hanging out pre-show with his on-stage partner "Gabe," a jazzy horn-playing secret agent angel (are you sensing the theme?)...

As always, the FCC kids brought down the house. Our Christian Ed Director did an amazing job casting the show, putting each kid in a role that complemented their personality. This is a talented group that really enjoys performing, and as they have gotten older they have started to take it pretty seriously. It's been fun to watch them all move up the cast ladder from year to year. O has progressed from donkey to angel to wise camel to leading role! Next up is a play about Joseph that the kids have written themselves, which I'm sure will be another hit.

This week's sign that he's growing up

Last night after swim lessons, we finally got around to putting up ye olde Christmas tree! Well, to be honest, we got just enough decorating done so that O will stop pestering us about it for a day or so. Bah humbug, I know, but it's been that kind of week. So right now it's a lit tree with just "his" ornaments hanging on it. A little pathetic, but a step in the right direction nonetheless.

As O sorted through his box of ornaments, there were a few he didn't want to hang up this year. For the first time, he was "too old" to hang up Bob the Builder and Blue from Blue's Clues and a few others that have been near & dear until this year. On one hand, it really wasn't a big deal, but it was one of those holy-cow-look-how-big-my-kid-has-gotten moments all at the same time. One of those parenting moments when time just catches up with me, and all of a sudden I see O in a new light. And honestly, I don't mind leaving Bob & Blue in the box this year, but I'm going to have to draw a line if he ever wants to not hang up the Star Wars ornaments. A mom has her limits!!!

I love a parade--the Christmas version

We have a tradition that spans back a few years of participating in the Parade of Lights with our buddies who own a local tractor & yard equipment sales business. It is one of the highlights of our fall, and we all look forward to it with great anticipation. It is the start of the Christmas season for us. A mile marker to our fall turning to winter. A great, fun, bonding time with these beautiful friends we have here. And it's just plain fun.

But this year, I have a sinus/ear infection of historic proportions, and I know there's no way I can march in our new-this-year Power Equipment Drill Team. I am severely bummed. P is driving the tractor this year, O is a sign-barer, and I really, really, really want to march and chant and twirl with my chainsaw. What more could a parade-loving girl ask for?? But alas, I am drawn to the couch by a force more powerful than my love of parades. Eventually, my sweet husband gives me a little nudge, reminding me that this is one of my favorite things in the whole wide world, and maybe I could just come watch...

So I arrange to meet up with the Hursts to do just that, and it is so beautiful... standing with great friends, watching people who I love have an absolute ball, strolling around the square with their tractors and chainsaws and leaf blowers and snow blowers, dancing and marching and singing. It was pure JOY!!

In the process, I learned that it is difficult to take pictures of a fast-moving parade in the dark, but Jill helped me out, and we got a few decent shots. Next year, we're planning to add a Scooter Gang to the line-up, and I am so there!

Hope, in tents and otherwise

Hope has been all around us lately. It hit a zenith at about 11:01 pm on November 4th, and we're still riding that wave. As my dear friend Jill said, "Hope.... now I have some!" And I believe the text from Patty was, "Wooooooooo Hooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!" So, that about sums it up!!

Then last weekend we delivered our church's Tent of Hope to the National Mall where we set it up with other tents from all over the country. And I gotta say, it's easy to be hopeful when it's 75 and sunny in November! As always, DC brings out the presidential hopes of a certain eight year old boy, and with the excitement over the recent election this was no exception. So there were a lot of "When I'm President..." declarations while we strolled the city. In addition to the Tents of Hope festivities, on this trip we... took in the Pompeii exhibit at the National Gallery of Art, toured the Captial Building (so cool), picked John Jay's nose in the Supreme Court (family tradition), marveled at the Jefferson Memorial, browsed Thomas Jefferson's book collection at the Library of Congress, picniced on the mall, walked the dog, pushed Sophie's stroller all over Pennsylvania Avenue, hung out with our awesome brothers and their fabulous wives, ate too much, slept too little, played Wii, played with Sophie, and had yet another awesome DC weekend. It never disappoints!!

Oh, and we took 587 pictures. Gotta love digital! So P put together a video story with pics from the Gathering of the Tents. Turn up your volume and enjoy!