Tuesday, May 13, 2008

The Pirates Start Strong

Tonight was our first baseball game of the year.  Here is a picture of Cade before we took off for the game: 

                                  Pirate Baseball

The boys started this season out very strong.  We came away with a 14-0 victory.  Cade played very well.  He ended up on base three times.  He also made some nice plays at 1st base and made the final out of the game with a nice catch while playing 2nd base.  After each game we hand out "MVPs" to the boys that make the plays that stand out.  Tonight we handed out 4 MVP awards.  Cade received one of them!  We were very proud of the way he played.

We still have 3 soccer games left plus a season ending tournament.  Our next baseball game is this coming Saturday evening.  I will keep you all updated on the upcoming games.  Check out this Flickr site to view our pictures:   http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcginness/
Posted by Mac at 22:17:14 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Happy Mother's Day!

We had the perfect Mother's Day here at the McGinness household!  We woke up and gave Mommy her gifts.  Cade was sooooo excited!  Cali was even into it this year.  Kim's parents came over for breakfast.  After a tasty breakfast we took off to Boca and Pop's house for a scrumptious lunch.  We were able to spend some time outside over there. 

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We came back home and Cali Liu took a nap.  I finished up the mowing and Kim organized some of our outside flowers.  We then cut down a huge shrub that had probably been in the ground for 20 years (I broke in my new chainsaw!).  Cade was a huge help!  That job wore us all out.  Cali woke up and spent some time outside with us.  The Perdues came over late in the day to let Mr. Miles run around for a while.  We finally headed inside to wind up this perfect day.  If you ask Kim she will tell you that she truly enjoyed her special day.  It was so nice that we were able to spend some time with our parents and then spend some time together as a family of 4.  

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We did take time today to remember Cali's "Birth Mom".  On the other side of the world there is a woman who gave Cali life.  This woman made a gut-wrenching decision to leave Cali in front of that hospital.  Her decision ended up bringing Cali Liu into our lives.  What a blessing that was!  We will never forget this special woman.  Each time we look at Cade and Cali Liu we realize that God truly is amazing.  He has allowed us to have these two beautiful children.  Cade was born 8 years ago.  For a long time we did not know if he would ever have a sibling!  After a long wait, here came Cali Liu.  We look at our family and cannot imagine life without Cali Liu.  She was the perfect fit! 

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there.  I hope that you all had a wonderful day!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcginness/

Posted by Mac at 21:01:06 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Monday, May 05, 2008

A LONG OVERDUE UPDATE

Yes, we are still alive and kicking!  I truly do apologize for the long break in between posts.  It seems like it is harder and harder to find time to sit down and do this.  But, I am here and ready to give you a quick update. 

Cade has continued to be busy with soccer games.  Just over a week ago he played 3 games in one day.  The teams were 2-1 on the day.  Cade was exhausted by the end of that 3rd game!  This past weekend he played two games.  They lost the first one and won the second game.  Cade punched in 3 goals in game #2.  We absolutely love going to his games.  Cali has done so well at his soccer games.  She really enjoys cheering for the boys.  If you give her a ball she dribbles it like a soccer ball.  She has really picked up on the sport by watching the boys this season.  Cade only has a handful of games left before the season is over with.

Mr. Serious   Coming off the field after a nice victory
                                Future Circus Performer
 
The weather has finally turned.  It has been much warmer as of late.  We have tried to spend some time outside the past couple of weeks.  The mowing has started as well.  I have put my new mower to good use!  I love it.

We Love To Be Outside!   Cheese!

This past weekend Kim and I attended the Eleemosynary Ball.  It is an organization here in Platte County that raises money for a variety of charities, scholarships, etc.  The theme of this year's ball was Pretty In Pink.  Kim wore a beautiful pink dress.  She hates for me to say it, but her dress was the talk of the ball.  Everyone said how amazing she looked in it.  I was a lucky man!  Two of my co-workers/friends from the bank met us at the house and we all rode down together.  Here are some pictures of us before we left the house.

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It is time to wrap things up for the night.  I will TRY to post again soon.  Don't forget to visit our Flickr site at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcginness/
Posted by Mac at 21:05:30 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Monday, April 21, 2008

Back On Track

The Cyclones were back on the soccer field tonight.  After dropping our last two games of the tournament yesterday the boys were hungry for a victory!  We played a very good team.  Our boys came out strong and pulled out a 5-2 victory!  Each and every kid on the team played hard.  It was nice to get back on the winning track again!  Cali was perfect.  She was even cheering for all of the different players.  Too cute!  

                                                      soccer cleat and ball

That was only our 2nd regular season game with this team.  We are now 1-1-0 after tonight's win.  This coming Saturday we have three games!  Two are with the Cyclones White team (the team that played tonight), and one is with the Cyclones Blue team. 

Soccer Ball

It was a busy Monday evening for the McGinness crew.  We are now all heading to bed.  Good night!

Posted by Mac at 21:51:08 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Sunday, April 20, 2008

THE KANSAS CITY CUP

This weekend Cade's soccer team participated in the Kansas City Cup soccer tournament held in Raytown, MO.  Raytown is about a 45 minute drive south.  Cade is playing on two teams this season.  The team participating in this tournament had only played ONE game together leading up to this tournament.  So, needless to say, we did not really know what to expect over the weekend! 

On Saturday we won both of our games.  We won the first game 11-0.  Cade scored a goal in that win.  The second game we won 5-1.  Cade had a couple of assists and played some tough defense in that victory.  In between games we spent about 3 hours shopping, eating lunch, etc. at a nearby shopping area.  We really enjoyed our afternoon together.  Here are some pics from Saturday's activities:

Post Game Talk  Watching the game with Lucy
Cade Michael   The three amigos

On Sunday we headed back to Raytown for another day of soccer.  We knew heading into the day that we would be facing the same team early, and then again in the finals.  We also knew that they would be a very tough team.  The boys had a tough first game.  They dropped that one by a score of 5-1.  This other team is full of future Major League Soccer stars!  They were fast and displayed some awesome footwork.  We could not get anything going offensively at all. 

The two teams met again in the Championship game.  Before the game started they had the Junior Marines bring out the flags and they had a guy play the Star Spangled Banner with his trumpet.  It was very emotional!  Cade and Noah were the captains for the final game.  

                       Here comes the flags
 Oh Say Can You See.........   Captain Cade

The first half was quite a battle.  It was tied 1-1 at half.  We were playing much better.  The boys were hustling and really playing hard.  All of the parents were so proud of them!  The second half was a different story.  The KC Fury punched in 3 goals and won the game 4-1.  Cade played very hard.  He really gave it his all.  The other team was just better than us, plain and simple.  They deserved to win the championship.

Cali and Daddy  Cade Michael
                                  Cade kicks it in

We ended up taking 2nd place in the tournament.  Not bad for only having played one game leading up to this tournament!  The team should learn from these last two losses.  They will only improve as the season moves forward.  Here are some pictures of the boys after the game.  They did a nice presentation when they passed out the medals.  

The Cyclones  Cade receives his medal
Post Game Talk    Soccer Star
                        The Cyclones

We do not have much time to dwell on this tournament.  This team has another game (a makeup game) Monday night.  Hopefully we will bounce back nicely and come out playing hard tomorrow night.  We need to get back on the winning track!  

Yes, it was a full weekend of soccer, but believe it or not we were able to spend so much time together as a family of four.  We spent a total of 3 hours in the van together travelling back and forth the past two days.  Yesterday we spent over three hours of quality time together in between games.  Today we went out to eat with some other families in between games.  It was just nice being able to be together for 2 straight days.  Cali was perfect the entire weekend!  She could not have done any better.  We were so proud of her.  Plus, we were home in time to enjoy our evenings.  We mowed, played outside, etc.  It was a wonderful weekend! 

Go Cyclones!!  See more pictures at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcginness/
Posted by Mac at 22:17:47 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

CALI'S BIRTHDAY PARTY

We had to wait a week, but we finally were able to truly celebrate Cali Liu's 2nd Birthday!  Since the last post, over a week ago, Cali has recovered nicely from her bout with Pneumonia.  She had a rough go of it, but is back to her ornery self. 

We held Cali's party this past Sunday evening.  It was an Elmo party.  As you can see from the pictures, Cade, Cali, and I were sporting our Elmo shirts.  We could not find one for Kim.  Cali had an absolute blast.  She was so excited to open her gifts.  She was just as excited when she opened clothes as she was when she opened a toy!  It was so awesome to see her reactions to each gift.  We even had an Elmo cake made for her big day.  Here are some pictures from the party: 

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Kim and I have talked a lot lately about how lucky we are to have Cali Liu in our lives.  Seeing her so happy means so much!  As much as we don't want to think about it, we often wonder what her life would be like if she was still in China.  We also wonder if her "tummy mommy" was thinking about Cali on her birthday.  How could she not think of this precious little girl?  According to the information we received, Cali was found on April 6, 2006 which is one day after her birthday.  That means her birthmother (and possibly father) were with her for 24 hours before they left her in front of that hospital.  I just cannot imagine the feelings that they went through that day!  It brings us to tears when we do think about these types of things.  We have said it before but they must have been beautiful people b/c Cali is such a beautiful little girl!  Their gut wrenching decision to leave her turned out to be such a blessing to our family!  It is amazing how life works.  God is good!

Cade had another soccer game on Sunday.  He was supposed to play two games on Saturday but they were both rained out.  A week ago he scored 4 goals and the team won.  On Sunday he went out and scored 3 goals in what ended up being a 5-5 tie.  He is playing so well on the offensive side of the ball.  The whole team still needs to improve on their defense, but they are definitely improving game by game.  One of his goals was a beautiful boot right over the goalies head.  That poor goalie did not stand a chance!  We are so proud of Cader.  He plays in a tournament this weekend down in Raytown. 

Saturday night Kim and I attended a very nice event with other members of the bank.  We attended a fundraiser for the Heartstrings organization.  It is an organization that helps adults with disabilities.  We had a great evening.  It was so nice to get all dressed up and then go support such a great cause.  Here we are prior to taking off.  Don't we look sharp?!! 

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Check out Flickr for more pics:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcginness/

Posted by Mac at 21:44:54 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Saturday, April 05, 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALI LIU

It was a sad start to Cali's 2nd birthday, but it did end well.  Cali became sick on Monday evening.  She only became worse as the week continued.  On Thursday morning she was diagnosed with Pneumonia in both of her lungs.  Thankfully it was not severe enough to hospitalize her.  That same evening she was really breathing hard (panting like a dog).  We took her down to Children's Mercy North where they gave her a breathing treatment and injected her with an antibiotic.  Kim and I were just so worried about her.  Cali has not been herself at all this week.  She has pretty much been "out of it".  It has been so sad. 

We had a big birthday party planned for her this evening.  Needless to say the party was cancelled due to her condition.  She woke up and was very groggy.  She could care less that it was her b-day.  Cade had a soccer game earlier in the day.  We had told him to score a goal for Cali Liu.  He did that and much more............Cade went out and scored FOUR goals today!!  The Cyclones won the game 5-0.  He played so well!  I was very, very proud of him.  He was so excited to tell everyone about his big game. 

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Cali took a great nap.  Once she woke up she ate some ice cream and then almost fell back to sleep on my lap.  Kim and Cade ran to the store.  They came home with some balloons for Cali.  Once she saw those balloons she was a different child.  She was so happy!  We went ahead and gave Cali her birthday gifts tonight.  She was so excited to open the gifts!  We were so glad to finally see her up and doing something!  Especially since it was her b-day!

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Since we are waiting to have a cake for Cali until we reschedule her party, Kim and Cade ran into town and grabbed a Blizzard and a strawberry sundae at DQ.  They came home and Cali helped Kim with the Blizzard.  She loves ice cream!

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The last picture I have posted (on the right) is of Cali taking her breathing treatment prior to her going to bed.  She takes that treatment so well!  As she was taking it she starting singing Happy Birthday to herself!  It was just too cute.  We will definitely celebrate her big day again very soon.  She deserves a special party.  This is not how any of us envisioned this day going.  I guess you just never know what life is going to bring you on a day to day basis! 

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Cali was definitely a happy child this evening.  It seems that she is getting stronger and is in less discomfort.  She just needs to keep getting her rest each day and she will bounce back just fine!  Happy Birthday Cali Liu!!  We love you!
Posted by Mac at 23:21:00 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Monday, March 31, 2008

Soccer and a Sick Cali Liu

This past weekend was a great one!  Friday night Cade had soccer practice.  Immediately after practice our basketball team had our season ending party.  We had it out at a local clubhouse.  The boys had a great time.  They ran all over and they were even outside playing football in the dark.   We all chowed on pizza, watched some of the NCAA Tournament, and just enjoyed hanging out with everyone.  Cali was very good.  She hung out with Kim and I for most of the night. 

I worked on Saturday morning.  The rest of the day consisted of running errands, etc.  It was a nice, relaxing Saturday. 

Sunday was our BIG DAY.  We took off at 9:30am and did not return until after 6:00pm.  Cade played two soccer games down in Lee's Summit.  It is an hour drive south.  One game was at 11:00am and the other at 4:00pm.  We figured that it would not make much sense to drive all the way home in between games. 

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Cade had a great first game.  He had an assist and scored his first goal of the season.  The team itself did not play too well.  We were on the losing end so this team stands 0-2.  After the game we ran to eat and then hung out at the new Bass Pro that was near by.  Cali was perfect!  We had such a good time.  I highly recommend you stopping in to check out that new Bass Pro Shop.  I was impressed! 

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The second game went a little better.  This game was with the team that had not played a game together this season (due to weather, etc.).  We took the lead late in the game only to give up a late goal.  The game ended in a 3-3 tie.  After the game we headed north again.  It was a long, yet fun day.  We enjoyed the time together as a family of 4!

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We had our first official baseball practice this evening (Monday night).  It was freaking cold!  Cade enjoyed it and did well.  While we were gone Cali threw up twice.  She is not feeling well at all.  She is in and out of sleep, etc.  We pray that she recovers so she will be full strength on her birthday! 

Check back soon. 

Posted by Mac at 21:14:18 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Thursday, March 27, 2008

A VERY "HOPPY" EASTER

I know I am a few days behind, but I wanted to fill you in on our wonderful Easter.  Cade was up bright and early Easter morning.  He was ready to get up at six something.  I told him we had to wait until Cali woke up.  He sat in his room and patiently waited until little Liu was up and around.  The Easter Bunny definitely stopped at our house.  There were eggs everywhere!  Cali was not real into picking up eggs that morning.  Cade helped her out big time!  He is such a good big brother to her.

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After the big hunt we put on our nice clothes and headed to church.  It was a family affair at church on Sunday.  Boca, Pop, Marcie, Kyle, Taylor, Grandma Taylor, and Cousin Geri were all there!  We took up a whole row.  Taylor and Cali did so well during the service.  They were busy, yet very quiet.  After church we headed to Boca and Pop's house for an Easter lunch.

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After an egg hunt and a wonderful lunch we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Cali was asleep before we were even out of my parent's subdivision!  She was worn out!!  She slept for two hours.  The kids were all there at Grandma and Grandpa's house so Cade had a blast.  They had their annual outdoor egg hunt.  We had an awesome dinner, hung out for a while then headed home.  It was a long, busy, yet wonderful Easter!!

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It has been a busy week for us.  It is already Thursday!  We have a busy weekend coming up as well.  Cade has a basketball party Friday night.  He has two soccer games this weekend too.  I will take some pictures and update you on all of that.  Check back soon.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcginness/
Posted by Mac at 06:02:35 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Birthdays and Almost Easter

It has been a busy couple of days.  The day after Tammy's big egg hunt we had Grandma and Grandpa over to celebrate their birthdays.  We dined on some Rancho Grande mexican food, and then for dessert we chowed down some awesome Angel Food cake that Kim made.  Mmmmm, it was good, and oh so soft!!  Here are some pics from the birthday celebration:

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On Friday night Cade had soccer practice.  Once everyone was home we decorated Easter Eggs.  Cade always enjoys it and does such a nice job.  Cali was very in to it this year!  She did a great job as well.  They were both very proud of the finished product!

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Today (Saturday) my bank held it's 3rd Annual Community Easter Egg Hunt.  We had it up on the "Turf" at the high school football field.  Cade and Hunter (he played the part of the Easter Bunny) rode up with me early this morning to help prepare for the big event.  We put out over 3,000 eggs on that field!  Kim brought Cali Liu up right before it started.  It was a great turnout and everyone had an awesome time.  I was proud to be a part of this community event!! 

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It is Saturday night right now.  Cade is bouncing off of the walls with excitement for tomorrow (Easter morning).  Cali still has no clue what to expect at this point.  She will be excited in the morning after the Easter Bunny comes.  We will attend church, head to Boca and Pop's house, and then finish up over at Grandma and Grandpa's place. 
 
See you soon!!   http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcginness/ 
Posted by Mac at 20:28:07 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |