Merry Christmas

May you get all the gifts you wish for...
And have a little Christmas spirit...

And sing some Christmas carols....

Singing at Daycare from Denise McCabe on Vimeo.

Going to the Zoo

There's nothing more refreshing than going to the zoo to see the OUTSIDE Festival of Lights in 20-30 degree weather, especially when you forget the stroller. But we had our fun at the zoo this past Monday after trying to schedule a time to go and consistently having bad weather. On Saturday, the weather prediction for Monday was a high of 52. Sounds great for December, right? Well, it was 52 that day at about 0400am and then it just got colder throughout the day. At least there was no rain. And the lights were awesome!

All Bundled up.

Sitting on the crocodile.

Janet and Daphne.

Talking to reindeer.
Kevin, me and Daphne.

Celebrating Thanksgiving in Cincinnati

Since we were in Brunswick for Thanksgiving, we celebrating Thanksgiving in Cincinnati and Kim's and Janet's birthday on the weekend after.

Singing Happy Birthday

Blowing out candles

Late entree

In all the hustle and bustle of getting ready for Christmas, I have missed adding anything to this blog. So this week, you will be inundated with pictures that have been loading up on the camera (after all, our memory card holds around 300 pictures, and we have two memory cards!!!). Thanksgiving was great - we celebrated up in Brunswick with my family and then celebrated my Grandma's birthday that same day. Mom and I went out shopping on the dreaded Friday after Thanksgiving at 0700 - which was earlier enough for us, but not early enough to get the annual JCPenney Mickey Mouse Christmas globe! Can you believe that? We also went to the Cleveland Botannical zoo because they had an amazing display of Gingerbread houses.

Making reindeer food with the kids.

My Grandma and her great grandkids (minus 3)

Looking at amazing Gingerbread houses at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens.

Freezing our hineys off at the Cleveland Botanical Zoo. (We forgot Daphne's winter coat and had to buy her another one in Cleveland - so I bought a larger one that she can wear next year - that's why it's so huge!)

Mom & Daphne in the greenhouse.

The Creative Vibe

And I continue on my creative vibe. I finally finished a yarn project. My Grandma's 96th birthday was November 19th and we celebrated it over Thanksgiving. I asked my mom for ideas and she suggested a lap blanket, so I got busy in October and finished it in one month!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I found this pseudo-recipe on the internet and thought they would be fun to make. What do you think?

Daphne on the train

This past Saturday, Janet and I went Christmas shopping with the Daphne. And I figured since there was no line and Kevin wasn't with us, let's go see Santa. Well, that was just a bad idea! Daphne didn't want anything to do with Santa. She was fine as we were walking up to him but starting crying as soon as she was near Santa even with me sitting next to Santa. She ran from me into Janet's arms. We couldn't even get any pictures. Despite what Kevin says, we'll keep trying.
On the other hand, she loved the train ride!

Singing

Daphne is singing all kinds of songs but usually will only sing them when she is NOT prompted. We lucked out and got her on camera.


ABCs from Denise McCabe on Vimeo.

We turned on Dancing with the Stars this week and Daphne loved watching those dancers and then, of course, dancing herself with either Kevin or me. I think she's giong to be a dancer when she grows up. She's so much more into dancing, then, some other things I would think she like - like coloring - she'd rather give someone else a crayon and watch them color. Kevin said he thinks it's because she's too much of a perfectionist and doesn't want to see color outside of the lines. We'll just have to see.

I saw snow!!!

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I dislike cold weather and snow!!! And it's already started. No more Indian summer. No more shorts and t-shirts. It's into the full-blown multi-layers (thank goodness for cuddleduds!). Why am I still living in Ohio?

This past weekend my parents came down for a visit. It was good to see them but unfortunately, there wasn't many fun things to do this past weekend in Cincinnati. It was good for us, but bad for my Dad that our kitchen sink completely stopped draining on Sunday. So Kevin and Dad spent about 5 hours snaking lots of nastiness out of our pipes. And then, after my parents left, it took some time to bleach everything in the kitchen where the nastiness could have gotten. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Dad and Kevin!

My Mom and I did a little shopping and got some proper haircutting scissors. So now I can cut mine and Daphne's bangs with something better than the craft scissors I was previously using. But this past weekend my Mom trimmed Daphne's bangs.

And it looks like Daphne was thankful.

Getting into trouble

Snacking on Halloween candy

Daphne got into her Halloween stash when we were in the other room and she managed to apply chapstick (the blue stuff) all over her face and get a sucker before she was caught.

Visitors!!!

Rachelle and Kera came to Cincinnati and visited with us for a day. It was so good to see them. Daphne was especially excited to see her favorite cousin! She kept saying she was going to read books with Kera when she came but I don't think they ever did read books. We took the girls to Parky's Farm where they got to see some farm animals and play around outside. Can you believe these pictures are from November? No jackets & sunny weather, I love global warming! We decided to let them go to sleep in the same room- which didn't work out too well. They were up talking until very late and Daphne kept throwing her pacifier out of her crib and then Kera would go pick it up. They had a lot of fun playing together.

Thank you Rachelle and Kera for visiting!

Happy Halloween

Last week we spent some time getting ready for Halloween. Carving pumpkins - and then Daphne helped me get the seeds out. At first, she had to wipe her hands after picking every seed out because she didn't like the sliminess but it didn't take long for her to dig in. She said she wouldn't eat any pumpkin seeds but they looked a lot better after being cooked and there's not much food she can say no to.

Daphne had a great time on Halloween because she was carried to each driveway and then she would run up the driveway to get candy. And the night was beautiful - the best weather we could've asked for.

More Halloween Fun

Kim & Daphne

Maisie & Daphne

Daphne & Derek

This past Monday, we went to Kevin's Grandma's Home's Halloween party. All of the residents had candy which they passed out to the little dressed up kids. Daphne went and got some candy but had the most fun passing out candy to other kids - this is NOT like her mom. I think I need to teach her better. And of course, she got to wear her Halloween costume again. Daphne and I also went to HallZOOween at the Cincincinnati zoo this past weekend and again got to wear her froggy outfit (but no pictures). She is getting lots of use from this outfit and having lots of fun wearing it.

Dancing Daphne

Let's see if this works.
Here's Daphne dancing in her favorite outfit.

Daphne dancing to Mickey Mouse from Denise McCabe on Vimeo.

Visiting the folks

Even after 3 takes....
Playing in corn.

Seeing Great -Grandma.

Two weekends ago we went up to Brunswick and visited my parents. Daphne got to share her Halloween costume. But she will not share her candy - just like her mom. We went to an indoor Halloween Funfest where Daphne (and Kevin) got to go through a blow-up Haunted House, play in corn (it's much better than playing with sand), make a necklace and a Halloween bag - which (sorry, Mom) is already picked apart. I think she had a good time. And of course - she likes wearing her Halloween costume - the froggy outfit.

Happy Fall!

Fall seems to be filled with more activities than summer. Last weekend we went to the zoo and to Kevin's annual pharmacy pig roast (only one more left). Daphne got to feed the giraffes and was having a lot of fun until we were on our way out and she fell flat on her face. Her lip got a little (kind of a lot) bloody and she may be traumatized for awhile. All in all, she cried for a long time, got a fat lip and a scraped chin and has probably forgotten it by now. Which is good - because we are hoping to go back to the zoo again soon for Hallzooween.

Daphne on gorilla- October of 2007
Daphne on gorilla - October of 2008

Daphne's new favorite activity - swinging. I think she would spend hours swinging if someone would push her.
This week we went to the UC homecoming game. Who knew it would be 80 degrees and very sunny in the middle of October? UC won. Yeah! A lot of things have changed since Kevin and I were in the band. The "home" side has switched, the buildings around the field look very different and at the end of the game, the football team stood in front of the band and cheered while the band played. Wonders never cease. It was good to see a lot of our old band friends. It just seems like yesterday when I was playing on the field and now the band members look so young! And most of our friends have had or are having kids. Time moves on.

Last days of summer

Before fall hit, Daphne enjoyed some time in her pool. She a lot more adventurous than in the past and will even put her head in the water now.

Huh? (Daphne's new favorite word)

Dividend Day

Before all the craziness of the storm, we had gone to King's Island. September 13th and 14th were my work's King's Island Days. Luckily, we went on the hot and sweltering 13th because the park was evacuated on the 14th.

I volunteered, giving away some of the freebies for 2 hours, and in exchange got some extra tickets and we were able to invite some of our friends. We went with other people with little kids and this was our first year taking Daphne. It's definitely a different kind of fun with little kids vs. just going on all the roller coasters and crazy rides. Not that I was upset, since I can't go on anything crazy without feeling sick - pretty much any roller coaster - or like my heart is going to leap out of my chest - Tower of Terror, or whatever the King's Island one is called. I can't believe I wanted to bungee jump in high school at the state fair?!?

Well, the kids had fun and, proudly, I can tell you that I beat Kevin on the Scooby Doo ride (which is an interactive ride where you shoot your laser gun at targets and get points). And if you ask Kevin about it, don't listen to any of his excuses, like the gun didn't work. I beat him fair and square - 1200 points to his piddly 600 (or something like that).

Hey Baby! Where do you want to go?

Marc and Carrick on the carousel.
Justin, Didn't you get the memo? We're all supposed to wear red.

Daphne met her namesake on ...The Mystery Machine.

Power Up

No lights and new pjs
Our power came back on last Friday afternoon and we were very happy :)

While the power was off Kevin was still off so he was able to clean up the yard from all the debris and our fence is already fixed too. Neither Kevin nor I was home when the power came back on, but, ironically, shortly before our whole street got it's power back, the electric company trimmed the tree in our front yard - the one that had a few branches laying on the wires and squishing three wires together.

And then....we got our fix of tv again and all other electronic addictions satisfied.

So this week has been a big one - Daphne went back to school on Monday and fits right back in besides not wanting to go to sleep at night and Kevin went back to school on Wednesday - only 2 more years!!!!!

During the storm, a lot of patio furniture was blown over, even our two person metal "couch". But look who's still standing - see him? St. Francis is standing by the wishing well. and he didn't budge.

A neighbor's basketball hoop got knocked over.

Our broken fence and the tree that landed on it.
More debris. And look who else is still standing - see her in white? This was after the storm - so, no, we didn't put Daphne out in the storm. Our yard was a wreck.