Sleepless in Cleveland

Ah yes, another weekend has sailed by us. One normally looks forward to weekends as it is when one normally gets a chance to lie down, relax and rejuvenate the batteries before facing the forthcoming week! However, there is very little that can be considered normal in the McCarthy household....

It all started on Friday night, when I offered to get up in the night to give Josh his bottle, so that Liesel could enjoy a rare full night's sleep. Josh was very accommodating and had a 7.5 hour stint before waking up. So I got up at 5:30 to administer his formula. So I had about 5 hours sleep that night. On Saturday night, I set my alarm to wake up earlier, as I was playing in the worship team on Sunday. After about 4 hours of sleep, Nathan woke us up, as he had somehow picked up a stomach bug and started vomiting. Unfortunately, it came suddenly, and we had to change his sheets, pajamas, and even wipe down the wall next to his bed. So after this team effort, and a couple more unscheduled bathroom visits for Nathan, we invited him to our bed. Of course he slept like a log, leaving Liesel and myself conscious of every movement or stirring. Needless to say, I did not get any more sleep that night and headed off to Church at 7:45am with a grand total of 9 hours of sleep for the entire weekend...... I am happy to report that Nathan seems to have returned to his normal self, and that is more important to us than a good night's sleep!

The rest of the weekend was relatively routine. Liesel and Nathan headed back to the library while Josh and I looked after the house. I had a chance to put up our Christmas gift from the Schaefers. It was a stunning modern picture frame that holds five photos. Liesel picked out five favorite wedding photos and put them in place in the frame. I then mounted the frame on our bedroom wall above our bed! It makes a huge difference and adds character to our bedroom!

After supper, it was time for family fun night, and I chose to watch Toy Story 2! Nathan really loves these evenings and we enjoy spending some quality time as a family.


On Sunday, I played in the worship team and thoroughly enjoyed myself! I went alone as Liesel thought it was best to keep Nathan indoors, and not spread the bug to anyone else, much to Nathan's dismay. Nathan is the best patient a parent could ever wish to have. Throughout his illness, he was polite, and an eternal optimist. I pray that Josh grows up in Nathan's footsteps!

Liesel and I also got to speak to our families in Southern Africa thanks to the wonders of Skype. We always enjoy that, especially being able to show off the two boys to their proud grandparents!

Now I need to excuse myself to go and give Josh his late night bottle, and then reclaim some much needed sleep! Good night!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

On Friday night, we made our way to our friends' house for a party. The party was thrown for Corb, our worship pastor, to celebrate his two recent achievements: his accreditation which makes him a fully qualified pastor, and his successful orchestral composition's ("Praying Mantis") debut performance! It was a wonderful gathering of fellow worship and audio visual team members. I was so grateful that Dave Ercegovic was there with his trusty camera. Dave's photos are always stunning, and capture the mood and atmosphere beautifully. Below are a few of his photos of Nathan and Joshua!



After a week of warmer weather that eliminated any traces of the previous weeks' snow, we awoke again on Valentine's Day to another pristine layer of frozen precipitation! Our Valentine's celebrations were low key - due mainly to the fact that we had dinner reservations made for Sunday (tonight) where Liesel and I would be able to enjoy each other's exclusive company :)

Liesel had an early morning meeting at the church. Afterward, she returned home to pick up Nathan en route to the Library. Nathan loves going to the library so he can pick out his favorite police, fire engine, ambulance and monster truck dvd's, videos and books!

If you remember from last week's blog, Liesel instituted our Family Fun Night. This weekend it was Nathan's turn to choose what we do during FFN, and he chose to feed his latest addiction, and that was to play on the Wii Fit! The Wii Fit is a new addition to our household and is Liesel's and my mutual Valentine's gift! For those of you who are not familiar with this new phenomenon, it's a wireless balance board that complements the Wii gaming system. The games are ones that test your ability to balance and shift your weight, such as tight rope walking, downhill slalom skiing and snowboarding etc. It also comes with a variety of aerobic, strength training and yoga exercises! As a package, it is loads of fun and there is something for everyone! It's not easy to find a product that can entertain Liesel and keep Nathan's attention for hours on end!

Sunday was the day that Liesel and I could finally celebrate Valentine's day! That evening, our babysitter arrived and we left the two boys in her very capable hands! We headed to a relatively new restaurant in the area called "The Melting Pot". It is a very unique (and popular) place, where each table has at least one hot plate on it. If the name has not given it away yet, it is a restaurant that does fondues, and does them exceptionally well! Our first course consisted of the Boston Lager Cheddar Cheese Fondue (Aged cheddar cheeses blended with Samuel Adams Boston Lager,®
Tabasco,® Worcestershire sauce and chopped chives). You are offered fresh vegetables, apple slices and a variety of breads to dip. SO I dipped the bread, and lots of it :)
Second course was a salad that Liesel loved. I have no comment on Course #2. The Main course for us consisted of:

• Filet Mignon


• Cedar Plank Salmon


• Memphis BBQ Pork Tenderloin


• Key West Shrimp


• Honey Dijon Chicken


• Spinach Artichoke Ravioli


• Fresh Vegetables

which we all cooked ourselves in the steaming flavored vegetable broth in front of us! Along with those meats, a variety of sauces were given to us to use liberally on each mouthful!

Finally - my favorite course arrived. One could choose any of 8 different kinds of chocolate!!! I chose the Yin & Yang, half dark chocolate and half white chocolate, artfully swirled for a perfect balance of flavors.

We were given fresh strawberries, banana, cheesecake, tasty marshmallows, pound
cake and brownies to dip into the chocolate!! Let me tell you that my taste buds experienced a slice of heaven as the brownies dripping in dark and white chocolate smothered them! I was so disappointed to see that only two mini-brownies were supplied, but there were enough strawberries there to feed an Ethiopian village!!! Where are these people's priorities????? But despite that little complaint - the food and experience was exquisite, and I was so blessed to share that experience with my beautiful wife!

Movie night at the McCarthy's

It seems after another huge snowfall on Wednesday, the law of averages has finally decided to kick in, and this weekend we were treated to warmer than average weather! In fact, with temperatures flirting with double digits (11C/52F), our grass made a dramatic comeback, banishing most of the snow and revealing its rich shades of green again. This was no minor accomplishment, considering we had around 60cm (24") of snow on the ground courtesy of Wednesday's storm.

On Saturday morning, Nathan's school invited all father's to come for an hour of fun! Nathan and I spent a wonderful 60 minutes at his school, seeing what he usually does, and participating in a crafts project. We were even treated to donuts and lemonade, followed by a couple of songs that the children had been rehearsing especially for their fathers!



Later that evening, Liesel introduced the "McCarthy Family Fun Night". Basically each weekend, one of us (Liesel, myself or Nathan) will be able to choose a fun activity to do after bathtime on a Friday or Saturday night. Since it was Liesel's idea, she could be the first to decide and she chose a family movie, Madagascar 2, for us to watch. It was a great movie, and Nathan thoroughly enjoyed it. He has spent most of the day singing the movie's them song, "I like to move it, MOVE IT!". I highly recommend this movie, and absolutely LOVE the penguins! This movie gets bonus points because most of it is "set" in Africa :)

The warmer weather continued through the weekend, and we went to church on Sunday, as usual. We headed home, and ate a delicious pork roast for lunch! After Joshua finished his lunch (not pork!), we took advantage of the above freezing temperatures, and went for a walk in the neighborhood! It was wonderful to be out in the open, breathing in the fresh air again! Nathan raced off on his bicycle and Liesel pushed Joshua in his stroller! I got to run after Nathan a few times and then race him home, so my heart got a much needed workout!

Below is a photo of how Josh is "dressed" for the outdoors :)



Latest photos of Joshua (sans the winter gear!)

Snow Storms and Celebrations

It was inevitable. The biggest snow storm of the season hit our area on Wednesday. This event delivered about 10 inches (25cm) of snow. Add that to the 12 inches(30cm) that we already had on the ground and you have a significant amount of snow! On days like these, schools are closed and we are allowed to work from home, which I did! It is also on days like these when I am so thankful that I bought my snow thrower when I did!! It carved pathways through the snow as quickly as it takes for Nathan to devour a donut! Below you can see the snow piled up against Nathan's bedroom window below!

On Friday, I came home early from work, bundled Nathan into his winter snow outfit and headed to the local sledding hill! It was on this outing that I learned two valuable lessons:
Firstly, if you need a good cardio workout, try dragging a 40 pound child on a sled up a hill on a continuous basis!! This will either help you burn hundreds of calories, or kill you!
Secondly, when you are sledding, fall into the snow a couple of times and feel something uncomfortably cold around your crotch, check to ensure that your fly is zipped up! Mine wasn't......


On Saturday evening, Liesel and I took Nathan and Joshua out to a restaurant of Nathan's choice. This was because Nathan had such a wonderful report from his Preschool teacher. Liesel had her first ever Parent-Teacher conference on Thursday, and his teacher only had praise for him! So as a reward, he could choose where to dine that evening, and I must say that he made an excellent choice! Liesel and I had some delicious hamburgers, and then we all finished the meal off with steaming hot chocolate chip cookies straight out of the oven!

On Sunday, I was up early as I was playing in the worship band at Church which I always enjoy! The rest of the day was laid back, as we were blessed with blue skies and temperatures above freezing. Nathan and I used up some excess energy playing the Wii, and also spent some time outdoors on the driveway - since this was the only part that didn't have knee-deep snow!