Happy 4th Birthday To Reagan

You are invited to join Reagan on his 4th birthday celebration. It's hard to believe he is already 4 years old. Right after dinner, Grandma and Sue called from Florida. Reagan had alot to say to them. I think he was thanking them for the birthday wishes and gifts they sent. We then enjoyed a VeggieTales cake and ice cream.

We sung the traditional Happy Birthday song and Reagan immediately blew out all 4 candles, on his own, one breath and with no prompting. He knew just what to do. Jenna and Devin helped pass Reagan his gifts.

He is going to have to wait until tomorrow to watch his new DVD, VeggieTales' Gideon Tuba Warrior.

The evening concluded with a tradition that we started a number of years ago. We "POP" all of the balloons by sitting on them. The McQuearyClan has alot of strange habits and this is just another one of them.

Fun was had by all and before you knew it it was 8:00, bedtime. Thanks for spending some time with us this evening, Hope you enjoy the pictures. Good Night.

Happy Birthday Anna! Monday January 29th

In anticipation of his own birthday celebration coming this week, Reagan looks on as Mommy blows out the candles of her birthday cake. Jenna found the right number of candles, (I am not permitted to say how many that was), but she only put a fraction of that number on the cake. Anna requested a sour cream angel food cake with stawberries.

What Do You Do When....?

What Do You Do When....

There is no Football to watch on a Sunday afternoon. No NASCAR to watch...you've already seen every DVD or VHS you own. You've played, to date, over 700 games of Spider Solitaire and it is about 20 degrees outside with wind chill in the single digits.



Well, Reagan had a suggestion. Now, I was a little bit apprehensive of trying such a radical idea. I mean, the effort it would take just to begin this activity was overwhelming. It took some convincing but I went along with his idea. Frankly, I didn't get much encouragement from the other members of the family. In the face of such opposition, I tried it. I have to tell you, I liked it. I enjoyed it so much that I, with Reagan, remained active in this strange new past time for a couple of hours.



I probably would not have shared with anyone the fact that I participated in this enterprise. It's just that...well...Anna took this picture. I have to admit, I like this thing called naps!

Announcing Logan's (BLOGAN) New Blog

Announcing Logan's (BLOGAN) New Blog. Logan can be found at "blogan McQ" you can follow the link we have saved.

Devin's Pine Wood Derby Adventure

Friday was quite a day at the kids elementary school. The afternoon saw the multi-purpose room decorated for the Fairy Tale ball but by that evening...it was used for some serious racing. That's right...Cub Scout Pine Derby time. This is one of the Cub Scout activities where the dads are every bit as much excited as their boys. Last year having nearly identical cars, Logan and Devin ran well with Devin's car being one of the fastest. This year, Logan is now in Boy Scouts leaving Devin as the McQuearyClan's only entry, the blue car pictured in the number 8 spot.

While Devin had the opportunity to make a new car for this year's race, he and dad decided to enter last year's model. Our decision was based on several factors..1) his car was fast last year, 2) the boys who ran faster last year were no longer in the compitition due to moving on to 6th grade, and 3) devin and dad didn't have to make a new car. Now last year we were at the regulation limit of 5 ounces, exactly. The only modification was to add grapite to the wheels/axels. Thursaday night was the weigh in. His car was 1/10th of an ounce over. With the help of a cordless drill, we removed a little pine...the result...5 oz, our racing weight.

They ran a total of 6 races. The track is state of the art, computerized for timimg down to 1-1000th of a second. The times are posted on the wall with a projector...very exciting. I kept track of Devin's times as well as the times of any cars running any faster than his. This way we would know how much better we would have to run to make up time. (Like we could really do anything, I mean after all it is a piece of wood with plastic wheels.)

There were 36 cars entered and with only 6 lanes on the track, it took a while to run all races. With each race the cars were positioned from slowest car to fastest. Devin's first run was awful. Still much faster than most of the other cars but still a slower time than we were hoping for. With each race his car got better. On the third race, the track record was broken by one of Devin's friends and fellow member of his Den. Devin came in just 1-100th of a second behind his friends time.

Devin's car remained 3rd fastest up to the 4th race. Four races were all that were promised. This is important because the top three cars get to move on to the District Race next month. The father of the boywho is Devin's friend and I were hoping they would leave the night at four races. If they ran more races, our boys could possible drop in placement. Devin was on the bubble. Race 5...same standings. Race six, as seen in this picture, Devin smoked the pack.

The end result, Devin came in second in his age grooup and third fastest car overall for the night. He and his friend Mitchell seen here getting their trophies will be going to District. Way to go Devin!

CiCi Ya No Longer on the Westside!

Anna and Devin were out shopping Saturday afternoon. Upon their return, Devin said he had some bad news...CiCi's Pizza on Glenway...has closed. When first we heard of CiCi's a few years ago by Justin and Bethany Honeycutt as well as Jeremy and Jessica Cox, CiCi's has become a frequently visited rerstaurant of the McQuearyClan. Being the only location we were aware of, we would travel to Hamilton Ohio for lunch after church on Sundays. Then to the location in Tri County. But imagine our delight when they opened one on the westside.

I have told the story before how we were were treated to the buffet a couple days before their grand opening. It was a practice run...where employees, their families and invited guests were there to eat at the CiCi's on Glenway. Thinking they were open, we walked in where we were greeted with a resounding...Welcome to CiCi's. The manager said we were his guest..the buffet was free! (He had no idea how much pizza the McQuearyClan can consume). Yes, finally we didn't have to travel far to get our CiCi's fix.

It is a sad day....closed...no more Glenway location.....Oh The Humanity! Oh well, we'll just have to go to Northgate. See Ya!

Our Princess Takes Part In The 3rd Grade Fairy Tale Ball

Once upon a time....the school all purpose room was transformed into a Ballroom. Every year the third graders are invited to the "Fairy Tale Ball". The children are to come dressed to match the theme. Jenna, our little princess, is seen here entering the ballroom with her feast.

As with most receptions of this sort, the Chicken Dance was part of the festivities. You go girl!

My Ears Are Meltin' With the Oldies.

Alright, so Anna said that we may be able to finish our family game of Monopoly tonight. Logan got the Sponge Bob Squarepants version for Christmas. Anyway, we started a game Sunday afternoon that of course lasted in to evening. We recorded all of the properties and money, places on the board etc. Reagan and I worked as a team, Jenna was doing pretty good, Devin is about out of money while Anna and Logan are doing the best.

So, we finished dinner this evening and I thought we were going to continue our game. Instead, I am now listening to Richard Simmons, Sweatin' to the Oldies while Anna is....sweatin' to the oldies?

Logan, while reading this as I type said I should take a picture of mom. I don't think that is a very good idea as I don't want to bein the proverbial dog house. I am going to be in enough trouble when she finds out I posted this.

Our Cause In The World Is Right

"......In such courage and compassion, ladies and gentlemen, we see the spirit and character of America – and these qualities are not in short supply. This is a decent and honorable country – and resilient, too. We have been through a lot together. We have met challenges and faced dangers, and we know that more lie ahead. Yet we can go forward with confidence – because the State of our Union is strong ... our cause in the world is right ... and tonight that cause goes on. "
-President George W. Bush, 1/23/07 State of the Union

A Scholar's Ride Home

The first school bus was horse-drawn, introduced in 1827 by George Shillibeer for a Quaker school at Abney Park in London UK and was designed to carry 25 children.........

WHO CARES ABOUT THAT.......

What is truly important is today, Reagan started riding the bus home from Pre-School.




That's right our big boy is riding the school bus. Here you see Reagan about to come down the steps as Mommy snaps this shot. Reagan is really doing well in school. Just wanted to share this news with you.

"White Death" Has come to Cincinnati

The media has been predicting a severe winter storm for days now. Well, as Cincinnatians will do, the grocery stores were packed last night before the "Storm" hit. Anna and Jenna went for our weekly stock up. By the time we woke up this morning there had fallen about 3 inches of snow...not what i would call a winter storm. However, what was already on the ground plus the ice that may follow, it was enough to cancel church today.

The kids couldn't wait to get out in it. They played for a while and then came in for French Toast and sausage, Thank You Dad. Anna shoveled the sidewalks, Thank You! What? Do you think there was something wrong with that? After brunch, the three older kids went back out for a while. Devin and Jenna are back outside now. We are going to call them in soon.

Big Boy Bed for Reagan

Reagan is seen here in his new bed. Anna and I switched rooms with the older boys. By giving them our bedroom, they have alot more space. Also, it allowed us to move Reagan in with them. No longer does Reagan sleep in a crib. This has meant that Miss Jenna now has a room to herself. She has only one problem now. She has a Benji movie poster on her wall. She says that the eyes stare at her at night. We will be taking that down soon. "Nite-Nite, Reagan"

New Years Show

The pictures being shared here are from a couple days before New Years Day. The kids performed most of the songs from "High School Musical". Our special guests that day were my son Michael and Katie, his soon to be wife. Oh yeah, and Charlie.

It was nice to spend some time with Michael and Katie at the holidays. We went to CiCi's Pizza for lunch. Michael had a good laugh when he made the kids tray the "hot wings" style pizza. I ended up eating about three pieces. Mine as well as the rest of those the kids didn't want after the first bite. Actually, Devin liked it....almost pure Tabasco sauce.

McQuearyClan

Return To The Blogosphere

For a family that spends so much time on the internet, we certainly have been away from this blog-thang for a long time. So, over the next few days, we will be catching up.

Today, upon my return home from work, I was treated to a "Down-Home-Smoky Mountain / Black Bear Variety Show". It was quite the multi-media event. There was video, singing, tap dancing. puppets, juggling, story-telling, magic and more. Anna and I are so blessed with imaginative and talented children. A few years ago, I built them a stage in the family room area of our basement. From years of thrift store shopping, yard sales and flea markets, we have collected many MANY props, costumes, intruments etc. The kids have CD players, karoke machine, DVD players, spot lights, microphones and more to go along with their creativity.

Tonight's show was about The Great Smoky Mountains and the Black Bears that I love so much. Well done kids. There is a problem now...I am longing to go back to the mountains. Soon enough.

Well, I'll blog a little more later and teach Anna how to do so as well.