Nov 03 2010

We are back home, some pre-game info and a thanks…

Tag: baby2,Emily,Family,LillianPaul C. @ 8:18 pm

Finally got home early afternoon today. I’m sure we have lots of posts to make and photos and videos to process and put online – but for now we are just settling in and getting situated. Sean was VERY sweet to Lily ( “Lily Sister” ) and Megabyte was happy to see us.
My main reason for posting this is to thank my mom. She came down late Saturday with the intentions of helping us clean the house to get it ready for Lily and spending Halloween with Sean. Sunday mom worked her tail off in the house while emily tended to sean and helped her out where a 9 month preggo woman could help πŸ™‚ I worked in the garage with on on-site mechanic trying to get the montero up and running (it RUNS… still needs work and an exhaust).
Monday I had to work and emily had off so she and mom hung out. While at Olive Garden, Emily started to have strong, quick contractions and sent me a text to let me know to keep my afternoon open. She had a 330pm appt with her OB for her weekly checkup. By the time she saw him at 4, she was ready to go. I got the call and drove in. We were in our room by 4:30. At 9:29 her doc showed up with his game face on and let us know it was time to start pushing. By 9:39, Lillian was with us!
I think we got to bed around 2:30am that night after getting settled in and Skyping with some family and friends.
My main reason for writing this post is to thank my mom. She came down for a quick weekend visit and ended up taking care of Sean and our house for the time we were in the hospital. Was totally not a part of the plan and it made our lives SO much easier. It was also a special time for her – she was able bring Emily to the hospital and get her admitted, and spend time with her until I got there. After the birth, Brian stayed at our house so mom and Diana could come and visit our 1 hour old baby. We also found out that we wouldn’t be released until Wednesday. Mom’s boss let her stay an extra day and she again took care of our house and Sean for another day – a treat for both of them I’m sure!
We were very blessed and thankful to have Lillian come at a time when mom just happened to be around and be available.
Thank you mom – we love you!


Aug 04 2010

Where’s my head?

Tag: baby2,Emily,Family,General,PaulPaul C. @ 3:24 pm

Em and I were talking the other night and we realized we never made an official announcement about the name of baby 2.0. (or is it 1.6 since we have three months to go?).
We toyed about it for a very long time – wanting to have a first name from one side of the family and a middle name from the other. We did easily agree on the last name, however.
So – we decided on Lillian Catherine. Lillian is from my side of the family (I think from my dads?) and Catherine is Emily’s sister.


Aug 17 2009

Happy Birthday Emily!

Tag: Emily,GeneralPaul C. @ 9:27 am

Today, my lovely wife turns 30! She’s finally catching up to me! To think that in 30 years, she has gone from this:

To this sweet kindergartner:

To This blue (and now black) beilt in Karate:

To this upstandtanding lady!:

Happy Birthday to one of the finest wives, and best mother in the world!!


Aug 13 2009

So what has Paul been up to?

I’ve been really busy lately with work, travel, being a dad, husband, etc and haven’t really posted anything significant in a while. So what have I been up to?
Last month, I took a long weekend trip and flew to Seattle to visit Sean and Tim and Bridgette’s family, and go to a Mighty Mighty Bosstone’s concert (YAH!). While in Seattle, Sean and I visited one of my co-workers, Debbie, at her parent’s cafe – Chelan Cafe. Its a great place with AWESOME food. On our way out to the cafe, we drove by an import dealership and saw this parked on the street:

Its a VERY rare BMW M1 and it was in awesome shape. In the sun, you could see the carbon fiber reflecting back under the pearlescent paint.
So after our brunch at Chelan Cafe, Sean and I got on the road for our drive to Portland, OR, to visit Corey, Aija, and their newborn daughter Zora. I haven’t seen Corey and Aija since Stephen’s wedding, and have never been to Portland. on the way up, we passed this weird sculpture:

Its a very pretty city. We had some good meals there (especially lunch the next day!) and hanging out with old friends made the weekend worthwhile.

While in Seattle, I got to hang out with Tim, Bridgette, Rylee and Tyler. Turns out Rylee and Brig are big fans of So You Think You Can Dance, which is my anti-masculine guilty pleasure TV Show that Emily got me addicted to. Rylee LOVES the show. She knows every name, dance style, choreographer, etc of every person on the show. The three of us watch the show while Sean and Tim played some PS3 game πŸ™‚
I got to swim in the Snohomish (?) river. The river was VERY high and the curretn was so strong that sean and I couldn’t get more than 10 or 15 feet from the bank without getting a chance of us getting swept away. A great public park..things you just don’t see in this area. Another thing that was great? I actually got to see the sun shine in the Pac NW. The three or four times I’ve been up there, its always rained (surprise!).
So the last night there, Sean, Tim, and I went to see my all time favorite band, The Might Mighty Bosstones. They got back together and this was the main purpose of my trip – to see them again. Of all the concerts I have been to, I”ve seen them the most. I think this was my 5th or 6th time seeing them. This show did not let me down. I’ll post some video and photos (ala cell phone so not great…) at a later time.

So fast forward to a week or so ago. For Father’s day, Emily got me a gift cert for Boi na Braza (sp?), a Brazillian steakhouse in Cincinnati. For those not familiar, these places charge a flat rate and you get a pretty decent salad bar. Also, they have waiters walking around with 15 different cuts of meat – sirloin, lamb chops, chicken breasts, filet mignon, and plenty of others. It was amazing. While NOT cheap, one of the things Emily and I enjoyed the most was the personal time. The wait staff doesn’t bother you. Because you let them know when you want more food, they basically stay away from your table unless you need a refill on your beverage. We had a great time talking all night without some person interrupting us to see if we wanted to buy something else. And MANY thanks to Aunt SheShe for watching Sean so we could have some time out. Oh..and the deserts are freaking great too! I love a perfectly cooked flan. Their wine list is pretty decent also. We had a nice pinot grigio.

Coming soon – my twin brother Sean is flying in from Seattle for a visit over Labor Day weekend. When he is here, my mom, Megan, and Megan’s boyfriend Matt, plan on coming down and we are hoping to see Stephen and Amy as well. (Little) Sean is going to have a BLAST!

Tonight, I gave Sean one of my die-cast cars. Its a Porsche that I got when I was in the 8th or 9th grade as a Christmas present from (I think) my grandmother’s brother, my Uncle Jack McNaughton (the Scottish side!). Sean LOVED it. Its bright orange. When Emily picked him up to take him to bed he cried. He wanted his car! So she gave it to him and carried him upstairs. Up in his room, she tried to get him to put it down on his dresser so they could get ready for bed. He wanted nothing to do with that. He was hugging and snuggling her…while hugging and snuggling his new car!! I knew I loved this kid for a reason!!

Can’t wait to see what happens when he finds out I have 20 or 30 diecast cars in storage πŸ˜‰ He likes that orange Porsche 959 so much he may go into overdrive if sees the others! πŸ™‚

Last night Uncle Phillip and Gramma got back from their trip to the Cabin and NYC and Phillip brought Sean back a present! Sean is now the proud owner of some Air Jordans!

He thought they were so cool. He is wearing them to “school” today. Phillip has a matching pair so we’ll have to get a photo of them wearing them together. He is in size sixes now, and when he gets to size sevens he gets to wear his Chucks that Megan and Matt got him πŸ™‚

Links for the various galleries related to the posts above:


Seattle Trip:

Sean’s new car:


Jul 14 2009

I’m Back!

Tag: Emily,Family,Fun,General,SeanAndrewPaul C. @ 8:56 am

Back from my quick trip to Seattle. Crammed a whole lot of stuff into the 4 days I was there. Will post more details and some photos tonight.
Emily and Sean get back from New York tonight. Can’t wait to see them! Its been a long time since I have been away from Emily this long and I’ve never been away from Sean this long! Hope he remembers me!


Jul 07 2009

Adirondack Boy

Tag: Emily,Family,Fun,SeanAndrew,VacationEmily @ 7:00 pm

Sean and I have been in New York visiting my family since Thursday. We are having a really good time, despite the rainy weather that never seems to take a break. Colleen and Cate picked us up at the airport on Thursday and we headed out to Great Sacandaga Lake, where we have a camp. We spent Thurs – Monday there, hanging out, boating, fishing, making smores, hanging out with neighbors and family. Sean, who hates to walk in the grass, and heaven forbid, touch it with his hands, was running around in the woods barefoot by Monday. He loves pine needles, pine cones, little sticks and all the trees! He got to swim in the lake and throw rocks, and take lots of long walks up and down the camp road. We headed back home on Monday, getting ice cream on the way.

Dad, Colleen and Cate spent a lot of time redoing the playhouse that Dad built for Brian and me when we were younger. They put nice walls on the inside (it was always just 2x4s and plywood) and fixed it up so cute with a table and chair set, and Cate’s old Little Tykes kitchen set. Sean has a blast playing in there, cooking us meals and microwaving the fake food in the little microwave.

We are planning on heading back to the camp for this weekend, and then Sean and I return home to KY on Tuesday. It’s been a lot of fun so far and we have some great pictures! Click on the picture below to see.

Also, Sean sat in the little chair outside of the playhouse, where he sat when he came last fall. Look how much he’s grown up!


Jun 04 2009

New stuff

Tag: Emily,Family,Paul,SeanAndrewEmily @ 6:19 pm

I really need to update on the cute new stuff Sean is doing more often. Here’s what he’s been doing in the last few days/weeks:
-Sean got a new tooth this past weekend, his 5th, it’s the top left one next to the front teeth.
-Sean is clearly saying Hi (eyeee) and Bye (BuhBuh) while waving to people. He’s always waved, but now has put together saying hi or bye at the appropriate time.
-He’s starting to put an “S” on the end of his yes. He used to say “ayah” for yes, now he says “ayah…..s” so cute.
-He’s really like cars now, he’ll drive them all over the floor going “MmmmMMmmm” πŸ™‚ His daddy loves this one
-Whenever he passes by a picture of me or paul he points to us and says “Mama” or “Dada” He is so proud that he knows who people are πŸ™‚
-Sean is eating really well with a fork/spoon now. He can get food on them and most of the time make it to his mouth.
-Sean’s legs are finally long enough to propel himself on his ride-on toys!
-Sean’s Oma and Opa got him a puzzle for 2 year olds and up. It’s a wooden one with animal pieces. He’s mastered it and can complete it in about 2 minutes.
-Sean’s current obsessions are books and dancing. Loves both. Today we danced for about 10 minutes in the kitchen; he loves to hold my hand while he turns underneath it in a circle. We also read about 10 books about 4 times each when he got home. He likes to read every book he has downstairs, every day.
-My mom got Sean one of those old fashioned “popper” toys that you pull/push along. He will go around and around the rooms of the downstairs running with that thing. He loves it.
-Last but not least, Sean has taken after his “UmBye” with his adoration of ketchup. Sean will eat just about anything if it has ketchup on it. He goes nuts when he sees it in the fridge. So cute.

That’s about all the new stuff I can think of for now. I’ll try to update more often, as I know that everyone who doesn’t see him on a daily basis loves to know how he’s doing.

Also…I cant’ forget to wish Um-Bye (Brian) and SheShe (Ashley) a happy 2nd anniversary, and Philip (fi) a big congratulations on graduating high school last night!


May 05 2009

Chop chop!

Tag: EmilyEmily @ 8:04 pm

Today I got 4.5 inches chopped off my hair! Eep! I was in the mood for something different, and coming from the girl that never does anything to her hair, it was quite a change for me! What do you think??


May 04 2009

What’s happening?

Tag: Emily,Family,SeanAndrewEmily @ 8:05 pm

Wow, it’s been FOREVER since I posted on here. I’ve been really busy lately, especially with the school year coming to a close soon.

1) Speaking of the school year ending, everyone supposedly hears from the school district if their job is renewed for next year, on May 15th. (Please keep me in your thoughts!) As you probably know, I ventured into the unknown last August and left my job at NorthKey to work as a Transition Coordinator in a local school district. It’s a year-to-year job, and the uncertainty of it was one of the negatives. I think, however, that the position has gotten a very positive response this year, and I hope that it (and I) will be renewed for next year. I’ve been working with the other coordinators on improvements for next year, and I’ve started putting together some data collection tools for the program so that we can track our effectiveness over the next few years. We have a HUGE 3-day transition summit in June in Bardstown, KY and our district (i.e. me and the other 2 coordinators) have to present about the “wonderful” things we’re doing in our district. Woopee! πŸ˜‰ Add that to the growing stack of items on my plate *sigh*

2) I have some pictures from a few weeks ago that Paul bragged about that are finally edited and ready to go. Click below to see them.

3) I have a new hobby!!! I’m A-D-D-I-C-T-E-D to couponing! I just started about a month ago, and have already learned so much. Who knew that there could be so many complexities in grocery shopping?! LOL
Some of my more recent STEALS: Last week I got the following for FREE (yes, completely free): 2 bags of cat food (which I am donating to a cat shelter), a box of bandaids and 2 toothbrushes. Wow! FREE! My major deal from today was with Schick razors. I have had a few $4 off coupons for Schick Quattro razors (which are very nice disposables if you didn’t know…hehe…I Know, my life is boring) but the razors which usually retail for around $8.99 have never been on sale enough for me to feel like I”m getting enough of a deal. But tonight, thy were on sale at Kroger for $5.49 (unheard of) and I had 2, $4.00 off coupons PLUS 2 Buy One Get One Free coupons. So, I ended up getting 4 packages of the razors which usually retail for $8.99 for a mere $.75 each!!! Holy Crap! πŸ™‚ I know, I’m weird. So, if anyone has some extra time and feels like sending their coupon inserts (SmartSource & Redplum) from the Sunday paper to me, I’d be ecstatic! πŸ™‚ Paul thinks I’m nuts, but likes that I’ve found a hobby that actually saves us money. My trip to the store tonight cost me $45.66, but after my coupons, cost me just $14.28. I kick ass.


Apr 05 2009

Busy Weekend

Tag: Emily,Fun,General,Paul,The HousePaul C. @ 7:45 pm

Emily and I decided to not let this be a typical lazy weekend. The weather was great – nice and cool with the sun shining. With all the wind storms over the last few months we had a yard scattered with broken branches – some so large, they even looked like little trees! Then we trimmed a ton of dead branches from the trees. I made a pile in the driveway about 7 feet tall and 5 feet wide. Going to take a while to get that scrapped and into trash cans.
Emily cleaned out the gardens – weeds, dried leaves, dead plants, and straightened up the boarder rocks. She filled two trash cans with crud. While she did that I gave the yard its first mow and spread some leftover mulch in our side garden. Mowing this yard is not a quick task. Very thankful for the in-laws riding mower. If I had to push mow this yard, I’d probably invest in a whole lot of ivy!
This morning I got out and put down some Scott’s weed and feed fertilizer. With all the work the previous owners put into the house, I don’t think they did much with the grass. I’ve never seen so many dandelions and “bad” grass. Probably going to take a couple feedings to take them all out.
Emily and I also started on our first project for the backyard. With the advice from my mom, we decided to start on a small project fist to get us motivated. The back yard needs TONS of work, but we picked a small 10×10 area just behind the house next to our stairs that come into the yard. It was a bit of an eye sore because the previous owners dogs used it as a sleeping area and it has a large cement slab that covers an old cistern. We are building a retaining wall there with 8 inch lodestone blocks and will fill that area with Irish Moss. Behind that, we plan to maybe put in some hostas, and a vine to grow on the trellis covering the stairs. We may also do another trellis against the wall for the vine.
So we laid down part of that this evening – at least the test run. Then we will need to back fill.
Glad we got that done this weekend as the weather is now predicting snow and rain Monday and Tuesday and low 40s-50s with rain the rest of the week.
That will sure make going to Florida Thurs – Sunday more worthwhile πŸ™‚


Next Page »