The "Votto" Story

A quick post before the Christmas video goes up. So, about a month before we moved our family cat "Joey Votto" went missing. We looked and called for him for about a week and he just never showed up at our door, so we assumed the worst and started to move on with our lives.

A week before the official move out day, I got a text from our neighbor Joe that Votto was under his deck and was not looking good. We went over and saw this very dirty, very skinny cat that kinda/sorta looked like Votto, but we weren't sure. (Joe was positive, by the way) After a week of nursing him back to "fighting weight" on our front porch, he finally started to look more like Votto. But there was a dilemma, since we were moving into my parent's house and there was already a cat there, what to do with Votto? After debating for a day, I took him to the vet, had him checked out for diseases and issues. Once he got a clean bill of health, he made the trip with us to Old Course Lane.

I'm glad to say that he is back to his old self and doing well. So, where was he for that month? Our theory is that he got locked into the house behind us, which was under foreclosure and winterized. The night before he showed back up, the lights were on in that house, so someone was in there and must have let him out. The cat is a fighter, surviving on who knows what for a month in an empty house. How could we not take him with us?

Our House

Of course I made a video of us moving from our house, thanks for asking!

A funny story about the week of our move (some of it captured in this video). Two days before the movers came, a hole opened up on our dinning room ceiling and water was dripping out. PERFECT TIMING! We got our plumber over and he fixed the leak in about 2 hours. In the video, you see my brother-in-law, Brian, fixing the actual hole. It was just one more stressful thing that happened as we moved out. Fortunately we know very nice and talented people who helped us out of our jam. So, thanks Brian and Steve for hustling for us!

A Sad Day/A Happy Day

We officially sold our house in Kentucky. We closed last night at 5. It was very bittersweet. We need more space, but we love our house. It was "our" house and our kids' only house. We did so much with this house. Restored some of the original look, re-did the entire kitchen and backyard and in the process just fell in love with Newport. We will miss everything about it, from walking to the Red's games, to our neighbors (and good friends) the Hansbauers. Hopefully our next house will provide as many good memories as this one did.

In case you don't remember, yes that is the same kitchen. the "before" picture on top and the after our renovation picture on the bottom.

Who Likes Yogurt?

Sarah Jane is starting to use silverware (plasticware? rubberware?) during meals. These pictures give you some idea of how that is going so far.

The Moore/Miller Cousins

Aunt Tricia and Aunt Kate reading to Charlie and Sarah Jane

Aunt Kate, Thomas and Charlie reading a story.

The boys (Charlie,Thomas,and Freeman) clean up.

The boys building a train station.

Feeling the Sibling Love

3 YEARS OLD!

Our little guy turned 3 today. Wow, that was a fast 3 years! Happy Birthday T-Man.

Before the Sickies...We Had Fun

Another fun day at the Zoo. We got to see a lot of cool animals and spend a relaxing Saturday together. I think the family Zoo pass was money well spent.

Wow....What a Weekend! (Sarcasm Font)

So, we had a weekend for the books. Start with the not so serious stuff. Both UC and the Bengals lost this weekend, as well as both of my Fantasy Football teams. I know, a TRAVESTY!

On the non-sports related side of things, both of our kids have dealt or are dealing with a stomach bug that is just horrible. Sarah Jane got it first, on the way to school on Wednesday morning. I didn't even realize that she was sick until we got to the Goddard parking lot and I went to take her out of her seat. That was when I saw her entire breakfast all over her from head to toe. On top of that, the poor girl is dealing with her 5th ear infection since September. So, we went to grandma's house and she took care of the kids for the day. No problem, right?

Well, Saturday evening Thomas started throwing up too. He had never thrown up before, so he didn't know what was going on and he couldn't really warn us when it was about to happen. His bug seems way stronger than Sarah's, as he is still sick today (Monday). He has periods where he seems to be doing better, than just as quickly, you get to see the crackers he ate an hour before.

We were supposed to get Sarah baptised this past Sunday, so that will have to wait. This Friday is Tom's 3rd birthday party, so we will be busy disinfecting our entire house between now and then. Let's all hope the adults in the house can keep it together and avoid the bug! By the way, poor Grandma did not escape this nasty virus. She was laid up on Sunday too! Vitamin C, where are you?

Messy Eaters (The food MUST be good)

Catch Up

We have been either really busy or really sick the last few weeks, so the blog has suffered. To make up for it, here are some pictures from the end of Summer and beginning of Fall.

This was our family trip to the Zoo. We were on the Zoo train for this shot.
Sarah's 1st Birthday and all the yummy desserts.

Eating breakfast before the kids head off to "School." (Notice it is still dark out)

These last two were taken by Tom . I think he has a very distinct eye. He captures Sarah's cold and yucky nose so well!

Quick Turnaround

It's official:

Sarah is dealing with a double ear infection, lack of sleep, and a very bossy big brother, but she was determined to start walking. Last night she finally did it on her own. The video shows a little of the chaos that happens every night at our house around bath time. A special appearance from "naked Thomas" too.

Just for comparison sake, here is a video of Tom when he first walked. Tom was around 10 months old, Sarah is 13 months old.

Moving and Grooving

Why does my voice do that when I am talking to Sarah?

Daycare - Version 2.0

The kids started daycare a week and a half ago. After 1.5 weeks, we have two sick kids! Both kids had the sniffles at the beginning of last week. That morphed into ear infections for both by Friday. So, we have them on the yummy, pink Amoxicillin. For those non-parents out there, if you have kids, you will get to know the "pink stuff" pretty early on in your parenting careers. Tom loves it and actually asks for it from time to time. We are thinking about doing an intervention next month!
Anyway, here's hoping for better weeks ahead. We love the "school" they are enrolled in this year. The teachers seem great and it is very clean. I guess we will just have to deal with the sniffles for the next 9 months.

Chair 1-Sarah 0

Random Summer Pics

Happy (1st) Birthday Sarah!

Our little girl turned 1 on August 1st. She knew something was up and was pretty excited all day long. She didn't nap at all, which is not the norm for Sarah. We did a present in the morning, then had a party around dinner time. I think she had a good day. And, we did not go to the hospital, so we are batting 1 for 2 on One Year Old birthday parties! Here is a video of Sarah's special day including what has become our traditional Choo-Choo Soul dance party at the end of the evening.

It was THIS BIG!!!!

On Friday nights, Emily and I play in a couples golf league. My parents are nice enough to watch the kids while we play. This last Friday (our 5th anniversary, by the way) Tom and my dad went fishing in the pond behind my parents' house.

Apparently, Tom caught this monster all by himself with his "Lightning McQueen" kids fishing pole. My dad helped him reel it in and take it off the hook. As you can see Tom was pretty interested in what he had caught. My dad said it was about 2 pounds. Not a bad haul!

Destin Pictures

Beach Video

No oil here!

Still Not Sleepy?

You would think they'd be tired after playing on the beach all day.

We are in Destin this week, so there will be a lot of updates to the blog. Here is a video of the trip down:

Top Ten Excuses Not To Go To Bed

From the home office in Newport, KY....here are Tom's Top 10 Excuses Not To Go To Bed:

10) "I want to play hide and seek with Votto."

9) "Sing Twinkle Twinkle, one more time."(By 1 more, he means 10 more)

8) Mr. Sun is still awake. (A Summertime only excuse)

7) "I need to talk to Mommy." (or daddy, depending on who is putting him down)

6) "I don't want to go to sleep." (my favorite)

5) "I have to follow the directions." (Neither Emily nor I knows what this means)

4) "I needs to work on something downstairs."

3) "More water, please."

2) "I needs my sword." (or baseball bat, or truck, or airplane...whatever toy is not in the bed)

And now for the #1 excuse Tom uses not to go to bed.........

1) "I have a poopy in my diaper." (I swear the kid saves his pooping just for bed time.

Splash Pad

The Cincinnati Sports Mall opened up their new Splash Pad this Summer. All the parents with kids under the age of 5 shouted with joy!

Sarah Videos

Sarah was recently attacked by the "Tickle Monster". We have some footage of the carnage. This video may shock you!

Believe it or not, she did recover from that attack. Just in time to decide what to wear for the day. (You'll see in the video that she is standing now, she can pull herself up and even walks a little with some help)

A Sick Boy's Best Friend

Tom is a little under the weather today. At least he has his new best friend to keep him company on the couch.

Late Night

This past Saturday our friends the Spurlings (Mary Ann, Brian and Jackson) came over for dinner. Jackson and Thomas had a fun night and both boys were up way past their bed times. Here is a video showing some of the stuff they did. The video catches some of the tamer moments (not eating their dinner, terrorizing the new cat, playing drums on our A/C unit) throughout the night. In 14 years, if your house is covered in TP or eggs, you may want to find out if these two were hanging out with each other.

New Addition

Welcome our newest "family" member.....Joey Votto (we just call him Votto). By the way, Tom's favorite Red's player is Joey Votto, I don't think the cat's name is a coincidence.

The Next Steve Irwin???

That gator didn't know what hit him! :)

Mission Accomplished

I set a goal early this year to run 2 marathons within the same month. Well, as of Sunday at 10:45 am, that goal has been accomplished. I did the St. Louis Marathon on April 11th in the blazing hot sun. Then finished the Flying Pig Marathon on Sunday in a torrential downpour.

Now I am going to take some time off from running and enjoy my Saturday mornings again. I may try to squeeze in one more marathon this Fall (maybe Portland?), but we'll see how motivated I am to run in the 90 degree heat of Summer.

Thanks to everyone who helped me accomplish my goal, especially Emily. It's hard to train for and run a marathon. It's even harder to support someone who does it. She gets to deal with the complaining and scheduling issues, waking up with and watching two kids every Saturday morning for 16 weeks, trying to follow me during the actual races and then dealing with the aftermath of those races. All I do is go and run. Emily is a saint for doing this the past 5-7 years.

Now the Fun REALLY Begins

I'm Little Miss Sunshine

Check out Sarah's dance moves.

Little Miss Sunshine seems to be her favorite toy right now. That song gets stuck in your head and it just won't get out. But it makes Sarah smile and dance, so we like to play it A LOT!

St. Louis Marathon

Emily and I headed to St. Louis this past weekend so I could run the Go! St Louis Marathon. My plan this year was to run two marathons, but only train for one. So, St. Louis was basically my 20 mile (+6.2 more) training run for the Flying Pig.

I am happy to say I did complete the race (in 4:19) and feel pretty good today. Yesterday was a different story. There were several times throughout the run where I felt like I was not going to make it. The temperature was in the mid 70's by 10 am, that made for some tough moments. Emily did a fantastic job getting around a strange city to see me at certain spots. The best one was at mile 21. I was D-O-N-E at that point and there was Emily with a coke and a smile. The three sips of Coke got me thru the last 5 miles.

Now I have two weeks to get my legs back for the Flying Pig Marathon here in Cincinnati. Hopefully everything works out and I have a successful run. I think I am going to go soak my legs in a bathtub full of ice!

The Last Few Weeks Caught on Film

My birthday on March 17th.

Charlie Moore born on March 31st

Grandpa's birthday on April 2nd

Easter Sunday

March was a blur and April is going just as fast. I'm glad Winter is behind us, but sometimes wish things would slow down just a little bit.

Another Cousin/Nephew

John and Tricia (Emily's Brother and wife) had there first baby on March 31st. His name is Charles Timothy Moore. Everyone is doing great. He has a lot of hair and was very much awake and checking things out when we visited yesterday. Congrats to John and Tricia.

Some Sarah Time

RAZZBERRY!!!

TOGA! TOGA!

Final Florida Pictures

Tom's bed for 2 weeks. Yes the bathtub!
Ahhhhh! The birds are coming the birds are coming!

Tom learned to fish.

And be nice to his sister.

I think she got some sand in her mouth.