The McCormick Chronicles

Easter

2011-04-29T18:27:00.000-07:00

Dad, Pat and Kate came to visit for Easter. Lots of good eats and great company...my kind of weekend:)

Kate sporting the newest spring style...baking caps are totally in.

We visited Hollywood Cemetary in Richmond...burial grounds of two presidents and endless Confederates. Berkeley and Welch had a blast playing hide-and-seek.

Berkeley was fascinated with Dad and Pat, or rather, "Grandpa" (Pat) and "Papa" (Dad). There was some major confusion when we picked them up from the airport. Berkeley said she wanted Grandpa to sit by her. Dad was thrilled, looked at Berkeley and said of course he would. She looked him right in the eye and said, "Not you!" Then, pointing at Pat she said, "Him!" Geez, Dad.

We made the kids pose for an annual Easter picture before doing the egg hunt.

The eggs were color-coded this year. My genius idea. Tucker was green, Berkeley got pink and purple and Welch, blue. Turns out 19-month-olds can't tell colors and three year-olds just don't care. Tucker hit the jackpot when the "color" rule went out the window.

Berkeley's favorite Easter find was a set of shiny princess chapstick...makeup is a three-year-olds best friend.

Welch was thrilled with his find: a book. I often find him upstairs sitting in Berkeley's room reading "amimal" books to himself. So darling.

I REALLY Love My Family...and here's proof...

2011-04-29T17:59:00.000-07:00

So this photo represents how much I truly love and adore my family. There is literally nothing else on earth that would have motivated me to post pics on a blog. So, after eight years of living thousands of miles from all of you, I'm finally admitting that I do live thousands of miles away, and you might have some interest in seeing our darling little people grow up. That said, forgive the mess-ups and scary "jelly bean" background while I figure out how all of you talented people do blogs:)

2009-09-20T08:47:00.000-07:00

As you all know by now I spoke too early, but Welch does seem to show signs of improvement now. He had a rough few days with a collapsed right lung, IV antibiotics and parents with new onset ulcers. He's still in the NICU, but is now just on minimal oxygen and receiving breast milk through a feeding tube.

We're now able to hold him and Mom is excited to give him a bath this afternoon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

2009-09-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

Welch was born this morning at 7:20am after almost 24 hours of labor weighing in at 8lb 8oz and 20.5in long. Mom and baby are doing well. Still working on his name.

adam

Tucker's Birthday Party -- The True Story.

2009-08-19T12:41:00.000-07:00

Tucker is officially...umm...older. FOUR! That's right, I knew all along how old he was. I was just tricking you.
To celebrate this incredible achievement, he decided to invite all of his superhero friends over for some festivities.

A small argument broke out when a few of the friends realized that they had committed the fashion error of wearing the exact same mask to the party! Berkeley put hers down for just a minute, and someone else thought it was theirs...

She's narrowed it down to this kid...or someone else. But she's keeping a watchful eye, always in the background. You won't know she's there and then all of a sudden your mask will be gone. By the way...can any of you identify her snack of choice?

Here is another view. And with the color removed in case it was distracting you.

Here's a hint. What she is eating is NOT on this table.

If you can't figure it out, I'm not going to tell you. Okay, I will. It's a pizza crust. Probably from a vegetarian pizza because she's healthy like that.

The neighborhood superheros brought Tucker a few mementos of their friendship/adoration/relationship based on the fact that their mother's know each other from that one time they did that one thing. Hey-- they're superheroes. They don't have to know those kinds of details.

I call this kid "The Enabler." He will be by Tucker's side getting him into trouble for decades to come I think. He's either telling Tucker "She's cute. You should totally ask her out." or "They're not so big. We could totally take them." Totally.

Of course, whenever you invite superheroes over for the afternoon, you are sure to have some mayhem to interrupt your activities. Luckily, they didn't mind saving the world one more time. The hard part was waiting for their turn in the fight.

Tucker single handedly destroyed that dastardly demon and delivered the delicious treats to the rest of the party-goers and the world breathed a sigh of relief. And cheers. Lots of cheers.

Did anyone spot the real super heroes in all the excitement?

Happy Birthday Tucker!!!

Berkeley's Day Boating

2009-07-23T11:14:00.000-07:00

Berkeley decided that she was old enough now to go boating. She quickly enlisted her older brother in the endeavor to convince her parents to take them. She told them, "We will all be so happy together if only we can go boating." See? She was right.

They all decided it would be best if Adam showed them how to do it first. Berkeley told a very witty joke that made her mother very very happy.

Berkeley was so happy that she finally got to go boating. So were the rest of the family. In her head, Berkeley was thinking, "I told you so."

After a little while though, Berkeley decided it wasn't nearly as fun sitting in the boat and watching as she hoped it would be.

So she took matters into her own hands.

She decided that she would drive the boat while Tucker wake boarded. She wanted to be safe, so she put on her glasses to reduce the glare from the water.

But after taking a quick look in the mirror, she realized she was so much more stylish without them. And that's important while boating. I mean, she had to sacrifice somewhere with a cereal box life jacket, she certainly wasn't going to be wearing lopsided glasses while driving.

A quick check back to make sure Tucker was ready and excited.

And he was. Never mind the whole staring at the sky and the expression that says "3 more seconds and I might scream." That was a trick. See how well it worked? He tricked you too. But Berkeley knew better. No tricking her.

She gunned the engine perfectly. Not so much that he face planted. But perfectly, as if she had been born to drive a boat. The next part was just so exciting, what with Tucker doing flips and jumps and everything, that no one could tear their eyes away long enough to take a picture of it.

They did however manage to grab a quick shot of Tucker fighting off the sea monster.

Once Tucker had cleared the water of any dangers, Berkeley decided to take a turn.

She climbed slowly down to her chariot, umm, I mean, knee board.

Where she became knee board princess of the day.

Here she is safely back in the arms of her mother who loves her.

But the adventures don't end here. Where is Tucker? Oh no! He's on the edge--- he's going to --

JUMP!!

Don't worry. Tucker is a very good swimmer. I mean, he fought off a sea monster, remember?

After a long day of adventures and jumping and sea monster fighting and driving the boat, Tucker and Berkeley let their dad take over for awhile.

He's so good he can hold onto whatever part of that rope he wants to.

And the laws of gravity don't apply.

The End.