Categories
McVideos Work

Where’s Pace?

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My work makes training that helps people learn skills to communicate better and great stuff like that. We have some skill videos in the training that show examples of how to and how not to. Here’s an old one:

Get Adobe Flash. Please install or upgrade Adobe Flash and revisit this page.

Each year we hold a conference open to the thousands of trainers who train our stuff. These trainers watch these videos every time they train, could be multiple times a month. So some videos they have memorized, and for sure they all have their favorite lines. So, at our conference we like to do something fun with our material.

This year we future proofed our videos, see if you can find me in them.

Install Adobe Flash and revisit to watch video content.

Space Track

  • Space Track Video #1
  • Space Track Video #2
  • Space Track Video #3
  • Space Track Video #4
Categories
Chase Chase Adventures

Ready to Take on the World!

So, here’s our Kindergarten Boy. First day of school today.

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There’s no denying that our kindergartener, Chase, is full of energy, opinions, & curiosity.

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Just this morning, he:

Showered & got dressed, made some things with his Legos, scarfed down a banana because I made him eat SOMETHING, listened to a story, made a few paper crafts (a butterfly for me, some boats, & even the Eiffel Tower), did a couple chores, did a science experiment from a box to explore acids vs. bases, had a neighbor friend over to play, watched a TV show on Benjamin Franklin, and did his own music experiment with glasses & varying amounts of water (pictured below). THIS WAS ALL BEFORE LUNCHTIME at 11:30 am! Whew.

There never has been & never will be any stopping this guy!

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But when it came down to it, Chase was a little apprehensive about his first day of school today.

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In the car, I told him that it’s normal to feel nervous about something we don’t know about yet, & that he’d probably feel better once we walked him to his class. We said a prayer together in the car. He was still a little hesitant before entering the classroom, however, & didn’t want any pictures taken. But I quickly took a couple of his faux smiley face.

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Chase was just fine after walking inside, seeing Mrs. Miner’s friendly face, finding his name tag, & sitting at a table with his friend Vaughn (who was on his soccer team last year).

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I’m SO excited that he’s in school now. Personally, I loved elementary school & all my fun teachers, and I hope he will, too. We’re all ready for Chase to be back in school!

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(They look so cute & I am so…. pregnant. 2 WEEKS LEFT!)

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Very fun day. At the same time, as I said goodbye to Chase, my voice caught a little & I was feeling a tiny bit emotional. Probably pregnancy hormones, as usual… But seriously, I didn’t know why I felt the least bit weird leaving him, since we already did a year of Joy School AND preschool to gear up for the real thing! And kindergarten is only 2 1/2 hours per day, anyway!

But I guess part of me was thinking, Oh my, he’s getting older. And here we go on the slippery slope of SCHOOL! No turning back! & we’ll be doing this every day! And he’ll be graduating from elementary school before we know it…

Well, here’s to enjoying the journey!

Categories
Charlotte

Princess Tea Party

Charlotte went to a Princess Tea Party today for her friend Mollie’s birthday. She got all dressed up for the occasion!

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My kids get sooooo excited for birthday parties! I love it because I remember how exciting parties were for me as a kid, too. I took a couple of quick photos while dropping her off, & then left her to enjoy her pink punch & all the other goodies at the tea party!

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Categories
Charlotte Chase

Chase the Hairdresser

Chase did Charlotte’s hair the other morning. She sat so patiently. I had to get out the camera for this one.

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His technique was to thoroughly drench her hair with the spray bottle (not only before, but also during & after the styling of her hair).

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So, what do you think of it??

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Categories
Charlotte

Charlotte Noel at Age 2 1/2ish

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Charlotte is just about the most wonderful little child a parent could ask for. She is very easy to entertain, get along with, joke around with, snuggle, take places, etc. I can see how, if people have a kid like this as their first, they feel that they could have like 12 kids no problem. I mean, she is a toddler & has her moments, but overall, she’s an absolute delight.

She pronounces the letter “r” like “–uh”. So “show-uh” for “shower.” I joke that she has a British accent.

This week she’s been into naming the people she knows & correctly calling each one a girl (“gull”) or boy (“buoy”).

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Charlotte likes to line things up a lot, especially books & Band-Aids. She would love it if she could put on a new girly Band-Aid every single day, for no reason at all.

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This girl really likes books, and I’m glad that I have time to read to her when she asks a few times a day. (I think this will be extra helpful in less than 5 weeks when I’m going to be sitting & nursing a newborn). Charlotte also likes to read to herself & to me, which I love (especially when she quotes exact lines from the books with her cute voice).

Charlotte is into makeup (I just let her have makeup brushes), purses, & jewelry. I know this is not uncommon for a girl, but I still find it entertaining. She’ll fill up her purses with rings, tiny toys, & her pretend cell phone, & carry them around all day. She’ll even take the toy cell phone out of her purse & “text” someone.

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She also loves the colors pink & purple. One day, she dumped out all my hair elastics, sorted the pink & purple ones from the rest, & put them all up one arm as her bracelets for the day.

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Charlotte’s favorite/ most quoted quotes these days:

— “So, how’s YOUR day?”

— “Trick or treat, smell my feet” (when I go to get her out of her car seat, she points her toes at me & says this)

— “This is a nice day for a picnic.”

— “Wanna see my cool trick?!?”

— “That was so much fun!!!” or “That was a fun day.”

— “I can’t go get it. My nails are paint.” or “I can’t! I have winguh-nails!” (=fingernails)

— “We don’t say, ‘Oh my gosh.’ We say, ‘Oh my my.’ ”

— “We need to buy that.”

— “It’s the same!!!” (when she recognizes something that’s familiar or the same as what we have)

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Categories
McUpdate Personal

Extreme Makeover: Bathroom Edition

We recently decided (on a whim) to improve the hallway bathroom a bit. I know, we’re always doing something! It’s bad. We need to change. Pace & I decided that we won’t do any home improvements in the year 2012. We’ll see how that actually pans out. (It’s just so tempting when your husband is not only good-looking, but also very handy & can use his manly skills to execute these projects.)

But anyway, back to the subject of the hallway bathroom. The vanity was falling apart, and Charlotte couldn’t turn on the tricky faucet for the life of her, even with my teaching & encouragement. So I always had to go turn it on for her, or lift her up to whatever sink was closeby (not ideal with my large belly), or otherwise she’d just go on her way with dirty hands…

Something needed to change.

Here are 2 photos of our bathroom BEFORE:

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Of course, we couldn’t simply replace the vanity & faucet that needed replacing… That would be too easy. So Pace dutifully painted the walls & baseboards while I cheered him on. He also volunteered his dad’s talents & had him replace the linoleum floor with some beautiful tile that I’d selected at Home Depot. Pace helped his Dad out, so they had some priceless bonding time. Jim LOVED coming down to our house several days in a row (haha right, Jim?!?!).

Luckily our bathrooms are TINY, so the whole project was quite inexpensive. In case you wondered about that.

Now, here are the BEFORE & AFTER pictures next to each other:

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The vanity is just a cheap one from Home Depot, but it’s perfectly great! The sink/counter is all seamless & very easy to wipe down. Yay! (We still need to get a toilet paper holder thing.)

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I can’t even describe how nice the tile floor is. It seems so elegant compared to the linoleum that was there before. Thanks to Jim & Pace for the beautiful tile job (& Gretchen for letting us have her husband here helping us so much)!

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AND, Charlotte is thrilled that she can turn on the faucet now. She washes her own hands. Mission (thoroughly) accomplished!

Categories
Deals

Free Membership

I work at a cool place, we are always doing research on how people act and respond and communicate and stuff. The most recent book we published is called Change Anything and it covers how to setup the world around you to increase your chances of creating lasting change. There is a website that goes with it to help personalize the stuff taught in it. I would like to give all McBlog readers and their friends a free year of Premium membership to ChangeAnything.com.

  1. Visit changeanything.com
  2. Put in your email and expand the coupon code box
  3. Enter PMCCULLOCH in the coupon code box
  4. Hit GO
  5. You’re welcome

Let me know what you think and if it helps you.

Categories
Charlotte Chase Family Fun

Whatta Melon Pops!

Tonight we enjoyed some homemade watermelon popsicles in our backyard with Jessica (my sis) & her husband, Casey.

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Summertime at its best! (Especially with the kids in pajamas even though it practically looks like it’s still noon outside!)

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Chase saw the idea for these “Whatta Melon Pops” in a Disney Family Fun magazine during one of my dr. appointments a couple weeks ago & was dying to make them. I found the recipe online, & we finally made the popsicles today.

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Chase is always thrilled when we do projects, crafts, or recipes… Especially anything that was his own brilliant idea!

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…And here are a couple of cheesy family pics. Jess made me get in some of the pictures, too. Smile

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We love summertime!

Categories
Charlotte Chase Chase Adventures Family Fun

Beach Day

This is my last California post!

Our beach outing was wonderful! It wasn’t cold or windy, so it was just perfect. And the overcast skies made the shadow-free pictures so easy & fun to take. I love the photos I was able to get (despite not having the skills)!

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Chase & Charlotte were so very busy & happy at the beach (until the very end, when Chase had some sort of awful stomach cramp & tantrum rolled into one & we just had to book it outta there… But we won’t dwell on that).

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The huge pile of seaweed was disgustingly fascinating.

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Chase constructed a “water obstacle course” in the sand.

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Charlotte collected treasures.

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Grandma had a cold, but was a good sport & still had fun!

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Quite the collection of beach treasures.

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I love these two photos of Charlotte.

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Afterwards, we stopped by the notorious pink & white striped shop. I’d never been inside! Chase was still throwing a wild fit & screaming in the car, so I left my long-suffering mother with him while Charlotte & I went in to check out the whimsical little shop.

I was amazed by the variety of unique salt water taffy flavors they had there: Buttered Popcorn, Pomegranate, Birthday Cake, & Root Beer Float, to name a few! I bought salt water taffy, some little polished rocks, shark teeth for Chase, & a bracelet/necklace thing for Charlotte. Yes, my kids are spoiled. I’m working on it…

Charlotte wouldn’t take her eyes off of her bracelet for a quick photo! You just can’t separate this girl from her jewelry.

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Categories
Family Fun

Visiting with Family & Friends “Back Home”

During our stay, I got to meet up with Elisa, my running buddy from high school! We kept each other in line & motivated during our years of track & cross-country. On those long runs we’d chat about boys, teachers, & school… & we’d also make up some really awesome songs to pass the time.

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Charlotte kept us all entertained while we were out at the park (Chase was at his friends’ house). Charlotte really loves to run, and it looks so cute & funny to me when she does. Maybe she’ll be a runner someday!

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Cousin Sarah’s bridal shower (below: sister Rachel, cousin Sarah, & friend Kaitlin)

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Visiting my Grandma T. at her place. This woman is the Rummikub Master—don’t even TRY to pull anything during that game when Grandma’s around! Chase & Charlotte liked to go & eat Jelly Bellies at her place. They also got to play with her old classic toys & draw on the huge chalkboard in the hallway.

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My sister Rachel & brother Ryan’s birthday dinner at a little restaurant called Flavor (they turned ages 23 & 33, respectively).

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…And I’m some sort of tall Matriarchal figure here. What a goofy pic!

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