The first day of our week-long vacation to Beaches Resort on Turks and Caicos was an extremely long travel day filled with anticipation. The kids were on edge constantly with an energy that overcame their lack of sleep. Patrick slept on the plane, probably more than anybody. The adults slept when and where they could: Beth on the hard

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Todd and Marci Schaffer joined us this weekend at the cabin. We were awarded with the warmth of long-time friendships as the Cooks joined us for dinner on

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Yes, once a year Steve digs out the tights and pointy ears and dresses up as Santa’s number-one elf. It makes for a long day once I get the Halloween walls (which double as Santa’s workshop) put away in the garage. But it makes for a great

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Check out Animoto for making free 30 second videos like this one. I think I might start using these on McClellandfamily.com.

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Office Max understands viral marketing. Less-so this year since they’ve dropped about nine-tenths of their holiday marketing site. Nonetheless, neighbor Staci pointed out this deliciously fun site last year (unfortunately we only have a screen-grab to show for it) and we loved creating our own elf’s…ahem…elves. We only wish they would

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While digging through my filing cabinet recently I came upon a long-lost treasure; a hard copy of the Lisionary. While Lisa and I were still dating I felt the need to preserve all of Lisa’s unique pronunciations of the English language. I would also include her self-created slang, witty colloquialisms and downright butchered words too.

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Despite the recent movement to promote kids who aren’t perfect (there’s even a book), Lisa and I will sit back and glow with pride after our parenting skills paid off last week. Emily came home Sunday night and received a phone call that she had been selected for

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Patrick had his hernia repair surgery early this morning. He went in seeming a bit nervous and then took a sip of zarsed (?) and proceeded to get loopy drunk. No problem there.

The roughly 1-hour surgery wasn’t too trying, at least for me. I put my head against the wall in the waiting room and slept. Lisa on the other hand…

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If you think you’ve seen a lot of snow, check out these albums. I’ve posted a few photos from Easter and from Memorial Day when we had 6 feet and 6 feet, 6 inches respectively. Aren’t you supposed to have picnics on Memorial Day? Last year Emily made $24 selling lemonade. This year she spent the weekend sledding with her brother and cousins. You can see albums on the McClellandfamily.com Photo Albums page.

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Lisa and I hopped into the car last Friday afternoon and headed out of town for our 12th anniversary. As we drove out of the neighborhood, we had no idea where we were going or what we were going to do. We threw some clothes in a bag. I figured Lisa would bring some toothpaste and a hairbrush. She figured

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