halloween...

weather was great for trick-or-treat this year! in fact it may have been a little too warm for one fur-covered purple-winged unicorn... :) who ended up pulling her hood down for most of the festivities. good thing i snapped a few pics early on!

we met up with a few friends...

and even had a "tooth fairy" sighting! can you believe it?

after the first hour out trick-or-treating for "peanut-free" candy... we spent the second hour at home handing out candy. between dressed-up-kiddos, i snapped this pic of the moon hiding behind our tree in the front yard.

'appy saint'pattie's day.....

down to just a single vehicle this week... i needed to stop at home so Amy could drop Avery off at school today. and since i snagged the camera early this morning before heading off to the CD101 Morning Show live St. Patty's Day broadcast at Claddagh Irish Pub... i got to see... and snap a few pictures of the girls "sportin the green" today!

nicely done mom! green bandana... big fan!

gahanna creekside...

this was the first year that gahanna's creekside development has had decorations up.  understandable since anything put up in years past would have required a hard hat to go see!  from the street, you can look down over the creek and see all the lights that they have set up thru the woods.  

drive down mill street and the businesses were decorated plus there was a huge Christmas tree in the courtyard between the wine guy bistro and mezzo wine bar.  we got some great pics of the girls... so i thought it'd be good to share.

 

poor dasher...

sometimes the pics pile up so high... that i get overwhelmed at which ones to post.  probably a symptom of me taking so many pictures, really!  oh well.

here are a handful of interesting pics from Christmas Eve / Christmas Day with family in pennsylvania. 

overall we were pretty excited that santa showed up this year... since it looks like pap was waiting in the tree stand for the reindeer team last year!  looks like ole dasher wasn't as fast as they say!  :)



  

   

had a blast seeing family and friends over the holidays!  only problem is that we never make it around to everyone's house, you know!  regardless... a good time was had by all!

journey to bethlehem...

yesterday was december 12th.  my 34th birthday.  it's been crazy at work for the last few weeks... so it was nice to be able to take some time to get away and have lunch with amy and the girls.  we met at max & erma's and got to hang out over onion soup and french fries.  kids were a little crazy... but it was fun to spend the time together, especially on my birthday!

back to the office for a few hours, a quick happy birthday song, along with 5 o'clock beers moved up an hour to 4pm.  very nice!  the CBC winter warmer has probably been my favorite holiday beer this year.  if you're reading this, and you have the means... i highly recommend it!

for the past few years... east pointe church puts on big production called "journey to bethlehem."  we wanted to go last year but weren't in town that weekend.  so i cruised out of work a bit early so that we could bundle up the girls and be at east pointe by 6pm.  layers upon layers of pants and long-sleeved shirts were in store.  funny because once we had them all bundled up... livi looked like the kid from a "Christmas Story!"  i knew if she fell over there was NO way she was getting up on her own.  i really wish i would have the camera for this one!

journey was very cool!  met up with greg, laura johnson, piper and jake plus kevin & krista smith... and were in line a little after 6pm with the girls.  while we were waiting... we heard some people getting excited and turned around to look... and they had brought a live camel into the church to walk around so people could pet him.  he was crazy soft... with prickly whiskers around his mouth that would tickle and scratch you lightly when he nibbled your hand.  piper and jake loved it.  avery and olivia... not so much.  they were more scared than anything.

after waiting 30 minutes or so, luckily in the warm building, they took us and another group of about 7 people outside to start the "trip."  6:30 - 6:45pm ish... and it was pretty dark outside.  very cold... but as soon as we walked outside... you could smell the burning camp fires.  the smell was amazing!  almost like they had been throwing in some incense here and there.  they gathered our group together and told us that our "family" was to travel to bethlehem because of the census.  and that the trip would be long and cold.. but we'd see some of our family along the way.

they had about six different "camps" set up along the way.  each one had different people and different animals that were there during that time.  the costumes were pretty well done... but i can't imagine being one of the volunteers standing out in the cold all night!  temps must have been in the teens.

there were roman soldiers riding around on horses, shepherds tending to sheep, stables with donkeys and camels... even a llama or two.  our guide walked us through a makeshift market with people selling spices, fabrics and other wares.  the final stop of the journey was coming into an inn at bethlehem.  they didn't have room for us, so we had to head out to the back stable.  out back we found a couple huddled inside in the hay with a new born baby.  they told us a story about their travel and the meaning behind it all.  it was really great because during the last two camps leading up to this.. livi kept asking me where "baby jesus" was.  it was very cute!

overall the kids loved the animals!  and i think it helped drive home the real meaning behind Christmas.  plus they especially loved the cookies and hot chocolate afterwards.

so it was a fun birthday spending time with amy and the girls!  funny how life has changed over the years from the days of bars and eating out... to now, when all it takes is finding some good quality time together, watching their eyes light up!  it was a VERY cool birthday!

labor day weekend... pt. i

amy and i decided that this year for labor day we were going to go somewhere. you know... sort of like a real vacation! sort of. for weeks we checked out websites... airline prices... hotel prices... areas of the country... cripe... even areas just in ohio! we talked about taking a trip back to chicago to spend some time tooling around the city.

back when amy was very early on in our pregnancy with avery, we took a trip to chicago. like August/September 2002 bc. [now it's referred to in the Bible as BC. and my good friend, and pastor, aaron would try and tell me differently... but i think it means before kids. sure the "c" and the "k" don't really match up, but i have a feeling that just has something to do with the translation from like, ancient hebrew to english.] this trip was so long ago that we had one of those crazy 'old fashion' cameras, that still used film. (gasp!) which means no pix unless i do some serious scanning!

so we thought about chicago... then decided against the two of us, a 3 and a 4 year old urban hiking around the windy city. we looked into the lake-towns of michigan, which were REALLY nice! almost did that. in fact... might be our next trip. but ultimately we decided on something a little closer to home... and planned a two-part trip around the cincinnati area.

we took off friday morning and drove through cincy into kentucky... headed for a GAP distribution center outlet that we had heard about from friends for the past few years. the place turned out to be a goldmine! especially since it also meant old navy and banana republic stuff too!

after the obligatory run through the store to the restroom with two... count them... two kids in various stages of potty-training... i was able to wrangle avery off in a cart to look at some "guys stuff" while livi, as usual, attached herself to amy's side. avery and i bounced aroud the store for a while, found a few things... and made our way back over the section where the other half was looking. and this is what i saw...

liv doesn't normally have the patience to hang out and shop... but let me tell you... there was something special going on at the gap outlet that day!

so needless to say, we took advantage of the girls interest in trying sweaters and backpacks on and were able to get some actual shopping done. and since the outlet had mostly ridiculous deals on everything... we hardly spent!

ok... so we spent a little... but we got a TON OF STUFF!

after looking around for the better part of 90 minutes... and waiting out a monsoon that was blowing rain sideways outside, we were able to pile into the car and grab some dinner. not sure if it was a bad night... or just us... but Carrabba's Italian Grille wasnt' all that it had been cracked up to be the only other time amy and i had eaten there. oh well.

headed back to the hotel earlier than we would have if it would just have been the two of us. but we wanted to take advantage of the free pool! and since we had been promising it to the girls for much of the week... they were ready for some serious pool time! wish i would have had the camera for this! avery and olivia jumping off the side of the pool into our arms. swimming (doggy paddling) all over the place... they had a blast! and good for us... tired out. so the first ever hotel slumber party commenced with the two double beds we had so luxuriously reserved.

ended up getting a pretty good night's sleep. good thing too... cause and we were really in for it with the saturday we had planned!

more to come in part ii...