We try to keep a clean house at this site, and that means dusting off the old files and displaying them prominently here. These few have been chosen for one reason or another and cleaned up for your viewing pleasure. [Read more →]

Sorting through old photos is fun. Sometimes we find a pic that can’t be identified. This one, however, is recognizable. It is Norma and Tommy wearing their best summer outfit. This was before they departed for California, meaning they are in St. Louis.

Click the photo(s) here to see a larger version.

Long-time friend and cycling guru, extraordinaire, Vince Gee (2nd guy through in this video) dismounts at the obstacles. This race, at Lange Twin Winery in Lodi, is part of the Sacramento Cyclocross Series.This was the first Cyclocross race I had viewed in probably 25 years and the first CX race Patrick viewed ever. Vince unfortunately flatted out of the race.

I think I’m going to start a web site of funny photos of my kids sleeping. I have so many of Patrick; in a laundry basket, Cheetos on the face…too many to name. Emily? I think it’ll be the sleepwalking videos. Watch out future boyfriends.

Patrick won his elementary school’s Spelling Bee today after only studying “for about, like…I don’t know…20 minutes?” Lisa reported that the tension in the room was palpable as Patrick and three other finalists misspelled their words and were all called back up for another round, time and time-again. In fact, Patrick had three attempts at the winning word, finally nailing it in what his principal quipped may have been “round 42.” [Read more →]

Burried deep in the damp basement of McClellandFamily.com we keep a box of old archived blog posts. Every so often we dig them out, blow off the dust and publish them here on the new and improved blog. (They were originally posted in that sappy old blog with that racist logo.) Rather than leaving them there to perish or simply bringing them forward to this blog and filing them by date where you would never see them (honestly, does anyone really read posts from 5 or 6 years ago?) we file them here under a catchy title usually with the word “archive” in it. That’s a hint: For you regular blog readers, search the word “archive” and you may see stuff you’ve never seen before. Here’s what we’ve brought out of that damp basement lately:

To my wife Lisa on Valentine’s Day 2005: A lover’s day poem written by Steve and a photo or her lipstick-written response! Originally posted February 14, 2005 [Read more →]

We are sad to say we are leaving Steve and Emily home. Love you and we’ll miss you!(Steve’s note: Patrick got to go this time to make up for missing the trip in March of 2004 (he was too young, we deemed.) The whole family also went in [Read more →]

In the deepest recesses of the recycle bin we discovered a recently-tossed, two-page story, hand-written by Patrick, about our trip to Turks and Caicos in the Bahamas. The trip in February of 2008 is well documented on this blog but until now I believed that I was the only one taking notes. No one in this household, short of Patrick who was 6 at the time, knew that he was [Read more →]

Patrick and I show off our costumes and makeup for Halloween 2010. Makeup’s a new trick for me. How did I do?