Christmas 2009

Well, we have mostly recovered from the usual Christmas chaos. Jacksen and Kellan are now full-fledged cowboys as Santa brought them spurs, chaps, hats and sharp-shooters (pretend, of course!). Miss Megan is revelling in the joy of being a new owner of a Nintendo DS. She has wanted one for over two years and the joy on her face when she unwrapped her gift brought tears to my eyes...both because she was so happy and because I can see many...ahem...discussions concerning that particular device in our future.

After opening gifts at 7 am and rushing off to Aunt Katy and Uncle Bill's for more fun, we spent a few hours at Grandpa and Grandma McCauley's opening even more gifts and playing. Mr. Jacksen was completely exhausted by 8 am, but struggled through until we took him home for a nap in the early afternoon. After some much-needed down time, we drove back to Marc's parents' house for dinner.

Here are some photos from our day...

Aunt Ann's pear fig walnut pie - delicious!

Uncle Sean and Megan taking a rest

Uncle Ryan and Jacksen constructing a cabin

Grandma McCauley and Megan playing on the Wii

Cowboy Kellan

The day after Christmas, Marc and Uncle Sean took Megan and Kellan skiing at Great Divide. Kellan was really excited about wearing his new ski goggles Uncle Sean gave him for Christmas...doesn't he look so cool?!

Merry Christmas from the McCauleys!

Not Me! Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Hmmmm....it's easy to think of a lot of things that I have been doing lately - I don't think I've had five minutes of relaxation in the last few weeks. Actually, now that I think about it, I haven't had five minutes to relax since Megan was born! Anyway, it's a lot harder to think of things I haven't done lately. Let's see...

On Saturday afternoon, after an entire day of trying to clean my house and entertain three bored kids, I surely did not escape with the excuse that I had nothing to cook for dinner and wanted to go rent a movie....and then disappear for over an hour while leisurely browsing movies at Hastings (and I certainly didn't rent THREE Christmas movies for my children who already watch too much TV!) only to appear with Papa Murphy's pizza for dinner...for the second time in a week. I'm just not that lazy.

And yesterday afternoon during the kids' naptime, I did not take a nap with them...I have waaaaay too much to do to waste an afternoon like that! (And, NO, that wasn't me who drooled on Marc's pillow either!)

Tonight, while making breakfast for dinner, I did not thoroughly enjoy eating the most delicious scrambled eggs in the world...after Megan informed me that the yellow part of the eggs are actually baby chickens. Okay...that was me...and I admit I was pretty grossed out for a few minutes, but I got over it. What can I say? I was hungry!

And now I am not going to feed my kids totally unhealthy snacks of ice cream sundaes before they go to bed. Sheesh...what kind of parenting would that be?! (NOPE...I'm not going to make one for myself either!)

Oh Christmas Tree!

Last Saturday morning we went into the woods to find the perfect Christmas tree. The temperature was eight degree below zero when we left our house so I wasn't feeling too picky, but I did want to find a tree with somewhat of a triangular shape with maybe more than...oh...five branches. While I was cold and my toes were beyond numb, my kids were acting as if it were a balmy summer day - the cold didn't seem to phase them a bit!

There was a fresh snowfall and the hillside was absolutely beautiful so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to get a photo of my children for a Christmas card. Well, it would've been a great idea except I found it virtually impossible to get all three of them to look at the camera at the same time. This is what I got:

The snow was pretty deep in some areas and it was hard for our littlest to walk in so he hitched a ride with his Grandma...she was more than happy to help him out!

At the end of the morning, we ended up with a beautiful tree and three very tired children!

Jacksen's Story

Jacksen's arrival into our family was A LOT different than his brother and sister for two reasons...the first is that I did not have to take any fertility drugs and the second is that we were completely surprised. For awhile we thought we might want a third child someday, but around the time Kellan turned two we decided that two was plenty. In April 2006 I found that I was a little "late". I didn't think alot about it at first because that was kind of typical for me. However, after a couple weeks and a few emerging symptoms, I decided maybe I should just take a test...just in case. Even though they say these tests are most accurate first thing in the morning, I took mine after work one evening. I don't think there are enough words to describe my surprise when the second line appeared. Marc was in the kitchen making dinner and I think I just kind of matter-of-factly told him the test was positive. He response was "Are you sure?" As if I hadn't had any experience with these things! He then wanted to read the directions...just to be sure. I very hotly informed him there is no such thing as a false positive pregnancy test. It took awhile for our news to sink, but eventually we were very excited. I had experienced a miscarriage before Megan and another before Kellan so I was a little leary of getting too excited, but the morning sickness that kicked in almost immediately after seeing that positive result was reassuring...for awhile. Let's just say that after throwing up daily for 8+ weeks, I was feeling more reassured than necessary!

Just two days after taking that test, I was visiting my younger sister, Katy. She had been trying to conceive her third child for a few months and thought maybe she could be pregnant also. Interestingly, the test I purchased was a buy 1 get 1 free so I gave her the second test. We were so excited when we saw it was positive - our babies were due within just a few days of each other!

My pregnancy with our littlest was uneventful...except that I was single-parenting our two older kiddos while Marc worked fulltime and worked on building our house every evening and weekend. Mr. Jacksen was due on Christmas Day, but I was scheduled for a C-section on December 19th. Because I have a blood disorder, my doctor ordered ultrasounds and fetal monitoring every Friday afternoon for the last ten weeks of my pregnancy. On Friday, December 15th, I went to the hospital for my final ultrasound and monitoring. The ultrasound technician mentioned that my amniotic fluid was quite low, but she didn't seem alarmed. When I waddled to the maternity ward for my fetal monitoring, I happened to mention this to the nurse. She left my room and came back less then a minute later...she said "Honey, your fluid isn't just a little low - it's dangerously low!" A few minutes later, my doctor wandered into the room and announced I would be having a baby that afternoon. Even though I was more than ready to be done with the pregnancy, for some reason I burst into tears. After several phone calls, I located my husband who raced to the hospital. Little Mr. Jacksen was born at 4:44 pm that day. Afterward, the nurse explained that was the lowest level of amniotic fluid she had ever seen for a baby who survived and my doctor said our baby would not have lived through the weekend. I have no doubt the Lord saved our child and I am so grateful! After all that excitement, Jacksen was our easiest baby and has been our most relaxed child ever since!

Jacksen's Birthday

Our littlest turned 3 yesterday! Hard to believe it's been three years since he came into this world....seems like just yesterday. To celebrate his big day, we had pizza and cupcakes with Grandpa and Grandma McCauley and Great Grandma Samson...he was delighted!

Jacksen with his new "big boy bike"

Jacksen in his new bathrobe

Our littlest getting ready to blow out his candles

Rock Star

Megan peformed in the annual Jim Darcy Elementary School Christmas Program yesterday. This year's program was called "Surfing, Santa, Seashells, & Song". The kiddos sang non-traditional Christmas songs with a beach theme. Megan told me that she felt like a rock star when stepped onto the stage. I'm thinking her most amazing music teacher may have created a monster!

I know you can mostly just see parents' heads in this photo, but if you look carefully you will see our Megan in the front row wearing a black dress with a blue lei and blue visor. Unbelievably, this is the best of all the pictures I took...maybe I should try to arrive more than 30 minutes prior to the program next year...sigh...good thing I took a photo of her before her big performance!

The Last Week

The last week has been full of ups and downs....the kids have been fun....lots of sad moments packing away Grandma Morrison's belongings and planning her funeral...great times with S.P. (my very cool cousin!)....wishing I had a few moments to update my blog....

Now that it's too cold out to do anything else (-16 with the windchill right now!), I am finally getting around to decorating and making up for lost time with my blog! I spent most of the past week working with my family to plan a memorial service for my Grandma. The service was Friday morning - it was the perfect tribute to such a beautiful person. It was so nice to see relatives and family friends that I haven't seen for awhile. I am sure my Grandma was smiling down on us all!

We spent Friday evening enjoying cocktails, snacks and lots of laughs with my Aunt and Uncle and cousin, Sean. They are so much fun to be around - we had a great time! Here are some photos of our evening:

Jacksen and I

Andrew and Jacksen Sweet Jacksen

Yesterday I was finally able to clean my house, do laundry, and do some Christmas shopping. My sweet mother-in-law and I did some marathon shopping yesterday afternoon....I just need a few more hours to get it all done! My goal is to get most of my shopping done this week so I can concentrate on baking next weekend....so much to do and so little time to do it!

You know...I love Christmastime, but I feel like I always spend the entire month of December running around like a crazy person....

Right On, Aunt Ami!

Ami bought a new camera and she tried it out with Megan this morning....I think Megan likes it!

So Thankful

Something happened this week that made me more thankful than ever....thankful for my husband, my children, family, great friends and thoughtful coworkers. Early Tuesday morning my Grandma passed away. She was an inspiration to me my whole life. She was everything I hope to see in my children as they grow older - kind, unassuming, gracious, generous...there aren't enough words. A couple years ago, on the day we say goodbye to my Grandpa, she and I were sitting in my Aunt and Uncle's yard enjoying the sunshine and reminiscing about him. She said to me "We had a good life. We never had a lot of money, but we travelled some and met a lot of nice people." She was thankful for her life...and I'm thankful for the 36+ years I had with her. Though I miss her terribly, I'm thankful that she is in Heaven with my Grandpa, her parents and sisters, and many good friends.

Great Blog Stuff

So, I was reading about this new website on "I Love the Way She Blogs"...check it out...great free backgrounds and templates!

A Saturday afternoon date

This afternoon while Megan was at a birthday party, I took Kellan on a little date. Though I would've liked to go see the new Twilight movie, we spent some time at The Carousel instead. We rode on the carousel until I was nausious and dizzy (only took two rides!) and discussed Christmas while eating ice cream cones. Kellan was delighted to have my undivided attention...it's not easy being the middle kid!

Our New Pet Dinosaur

Isn't he cute?!

Not Me! Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Besides the fact that I have not been adding to my blog as much as I would like, there are a few other things I have not been doing lately. For instance, yesterday morning while Marc, Megan and Kellan were at church, I did not pull up the video to Taylor Swift's song, Crazier, on YouTube....and dance with my favorite little partner!

And then I did not let him roll around on the counter while giggling hysterically....

Last night we went to Aunt Katy and Uncle Bill's house for dinner to celebrate Uncle Bill and Grandma Cindy's birthdays. Aunt Katy served homemade mac and cheese and cheesey hot dogs for dinner...very kid-friendly! We were all just finishing up when Katy asked if anybody would like another wiener. As you can imagine, Kellan latched right on to that opening! He kept saying the word "wiener" and then giggling. Before you ask, I definitely did not laugh until I cried everytime he said it and started giggling. I know, I know....totally inappropriate!

One more thing...on my way home from our parent teacher conference this afternoon, there was a truck speeding up our road and stirring up all kinds of dust. I most definitely did not call the guy and moron and say that I hope he gets a flat tire in front of my very impressionable 7-year-old. What kind of example would I be setting if I did a think like that?!

Hmmmm.....

I don't know why, but I am always so tired on Thursday evenings. Well, I can guess that it's probably because I have three small children and work fulltime and have a big house to clean and lots of laundry and...well, you get the picture. This Thursday evening, however, I am way more tired than usual. I think it's sort of self-induced, though. Since each of my children were babies, I have looked forward to the day they could do a few things for themselves...like picking out their own clothes, brushing their own teeth, bathing themselves, putting on their own shoes, etc. It seems that Miss Megan and Mr. Kellan have reached this point...but for some reason I can't seem to give up these tasks! I'm not sure if it's just a habit for me to automatically do it all or if I have some kind of crazy control issue....no, I'm sure it's just the habit thing. Anywho, now that we reached this more self-sufficent phase, I kind of feel sad because they don't need me as much anymore. Watching kids grow up is so bittersweet...

Any now that I've poured my heart out, Megan just came out of her room to remind me to complete her Scholastic book order before I go to bed because it's due tomorrow....can't she just do it herself?! I'm tired!

Okay...I'm back now...

Well, I meant to post a Halloween picture on Thursday after I returned from a business trip; however, I am just now finding time! I was so exhausted on Thursday and Friday, I just didn't have the energy to compose an entertaining post. I have finally recovered so here goes:

First of all, here is the promised Halloween photo:

We had a great time at the Pierson's Halloween party and the kiddos had their most successful trick-or-treating year ever! If only Marc and I could quit eating their candy!

As I previously mentioned, I was out of town Monday through Thursday last week. I returned home to a pretty clean house and three very happy children. I have to say, I'm very impressed with Marc's single parenting skills! This weekend I'm getting a chance to work on those skills myself - Marc is in Denver hanging with his buddy, Matt, and his brother, Sean. They are going to the Steelers/Broncos game tomorrow night - GO STEELERS!

Now that we are just a few weeks from Thanksgiving, I'm starting to plan for one of my most favorite days of the years....the day after Thanksgiving! Now, I'm really not that much of a shopper for myself, but I love buying for others and I have lots of great gift ideas this year! I've already been studying (yes, studying) the sale ads and making lists. Last year Katy and I went to Walmart at 5 am...we're not doing that again. Walmart is almost more than I can handle on a normal day - at 5 am the day after Thanksgiving it's just way too scary!

What have the McCauley kids been up to lately? Well, Megan is continuing to ace every spelling test and she is practicing for her Christmas program already. Oh, and she has another loose tooth! Kellan has been enjoying hunting with his daddy and grandpa and he is learning how to use our laptop. Mr. Jacksen is continuing to be our sweet...and sometimes not so sweet...littlest. It's hard to believe he will be three years old next month! Yikes...I guess I better start thinking about his birthday party!

Just a little break...

After a very long week last week, trick-or-treating on Saturday evening, and then cleaning and packing yesterday, I just haven't had time to post pictures or funny stories on my blog. AND, I know you're going to be devastated, but I am going out of town for work this morning and will not be back until Thursday afternoon. So, watch for a post full of great stories, photos, and humor Thursday evening.....

Oh what a week it's been!

It's kinda been a rough week....our poor daycare lady caught the dreaded swine flu so we have not had daycare ALL WEEK! Turns out there is no such thing as a back-up daycare....you just gotta hope you know somebody who is a stay-at-home mom or retired or something like that. Unfortunately for us, we don't know very many of these folks so we had to get creative. Marc took kid duty on Monday and Aunt Katy (cousin Andrew goes to daycare with Jacksen and Kellan) and I split the day on Tuesday and Wednesday. Today the boys got to spend the morning with Great Grandma Sam...they were thrilled! Grandma Sam loves children...and she never tells them no. She is definitely Kellan and Jacksen's kind of gal!

AND, if having no daycare all week wasn't enough, the brakes on my minivan started making a terrible noise last Sunday. My sweet (and very handsome) husband took it apart Sunday evening....and there it still sits in our garage with no rotors (whatever those are), break pads, or tires. Luckily, my favorite twin sister let me borrow her car this week! Never thought I'd say this, but I'm kind of missing my van. I know it isn't cool to drive a van, but they sure are convenient when you have three kids and lots of stuff to haul around!

Anywho, enough about the dreary stuff! We actually did some fun things this week...on Tuesday evening we carved pumpkins.

Our no-mess scarecrow pumpkin

Pumpkin carving with Grandpa McCauley

On Wednesday morning, we woke up to our first real snowfall of the fall! Here is a photo of the view from our front porch:


And tonight, Miss Megan participated in a little show about China during parents' night at PEAK. PEAK is an after-school enrichment program that Megan attends three day a week. It's a wonderful program and she loves it!

Our girl

We are looking forward to a fun-filled Halloween weekend - watch for pictures on Sunday! Oh, and if you have a few minutes, could you please pray for little Stellan McKinney...you can read about him at http://www.mycharmingkids.net/.

Not Me! Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Since I didn't post at all over the weekend, this Not Me! Monday! post is about some of the things I didn't do this weekend. For starters, I did not invite my sisters and all of their children over to our house for dinner Saturday evening. I would never do that to my poor husband - all of those wild children in our house at one time makes him nuts! And, if that wasn't enough, I certainly didn't serve up a turkey dinner...with mashed potatoes out of a BOX. Who would think that was a great idea so close to Thanksgiving?! And, anyway, fake mashed potatoes are gross.

On Sunday morning, when my darling husband was away hunting, I did not take our beautiful healthy children out for donuts and chocolate milk for breakfast! What kind of a mother would do that?!

This afternoon I did not invite my sweet twin and her new puppy over for dinner....mostly so I could her puppy. Sheeesh, like we haven't had enough company lately!

And now I'm off to put my darling children to bed, make Megan's lunch for tomorrow, work out like crazy to make up for the three miniature Almond Joys I didn't snack on this afternoon, and maybe fix my quilt and carpet that my sister's puppy chewed on. If I ever entertain the idea of getting a puppy, please remind me that they are more work than my own children!

Jacksen the Terrible

I'm not sure where our sweet, innocent little Jacksen has gone....If you see him, will you please bring him back? In his place, we now have a demanding, ornery, but still cute little Jacksen.

In the last few weeks, Jacksen Marc (as he likes to be called) has morphed into an almost 3-year-old little turkey (just in time for Thanksgiving!). He insists on only wearing Wrangler jeans and boots,

is climbing on the counter and sneaking cookies out of the cupboard, and sneaks out of bed over and over until he is advised a swat on the bottom is in his near future if he gets out of bed again.

Mr. Jacksen insists on getting himself dressed...and picking out his clothes. AND, any offer of assistance is met with a severe reprimand from the little stinker - it has to be HIS idea...or else! The thing is, he often gets his shirts on backwards...

The worst thing about our little imposter....well, he has taken to screeching "I hate you!" when he doesn't get his way. I have no idea what to do about that except ignore it or put him in his room and make him apologize. I know he doesn't mean it, but it sure makes me sad. Let's just say that being our littlest and being so cute are his saving graces these days!

Hamburger

Kellan brought home a little friend from daycare today....a worm he named "Hamburger". Not sure how he came up with that name, but I thought it was pretty funny! He and Megan found a shoebox and punched some holes in the lid with one of my kitchen knives. NO, I did not know they were doing this until it was too late to do anything about it! Anyway, they filled the box with mud and made a habitat for their little pet. Kellan wanted to keep the shoebox in his room, but I persuaded him that the garage is much better home for a worm home. I hope he's still alive in the morning or I'm gonna have some explaining to do!

Not Me! Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I have a little bit of a guilty conscience....but it's not because I fudged a little bit to Kellan. See, he really wanted to go to Megan's soccer game yesterday, but Marc really didn't want to have to entertain him through the whole game so I might've...but not really...told him I had a surprise for him. The thing is, once Marc and Megan were out the door, he expected me to deliver. So then I did not tell him that I had been planning on making some special cookies for him to take to daycare on Monday....and I certainly did not tell him we would make chocolate chip cookies, but conveniently forgot to mention that the cookies were actually called pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. And he wasn't just a little bit disappointed when he figured it out either!

And I did not spend entirely too much time on Facebook yesterday....and maybe did not get a bathroom or two cleaned (or the laundry put away or the floors mopped) because of it. That would be incredibly irresponsible and, Lord knows, I am NEVER irresponsible!

And tonight when the kiddos asked to watch a movie, I did not put in High School Musical 2 because I actually like the music. And we did not watch the Hanna Montana Movie countless times last week for the same reason. I'd like to think I am waaaaay past these teenie bopper movies....I really am!

And, now, I'm not going to tell our kiddos that it's time to go to bed even though they still have five minutes....it's been a long rainy Monday and I've been looking forward to finishing Book 4 of the Yada Yada Prayer Group series!

32 Goals

Kellan ended his Fall 2009 soccer season with a total of 32 goals...in five games! It was fun to see how much these kids improved over the last few weeks. To celebrate our middlest's highly successful soccer season, we went to lunch at Bullman's Pizza today - delicious!

Kellan and Uncle Ryan

Our soccer star

Kellan and his teammates, John and John Paul, playing hard

A little pre-game warm-up

We are very proud of Mr. Kellan - he's becoming quite a little athlete!

Why did I do it?!

So I had this great idea of taking my three beautiful children shopping for Halloween costumers tonight by myself. I have no idea what made me think this would be a great idea since we couldn't even make it through dinner without crying tonight - I mean, the kids were crying. Marc and I just felt like crying.

Anyway, Megan and Kellan argued during th entire drive to Shopko - it seemed like hours, but it was really only 15 or 20 minutes. Once inside the store, the boys suddenly behaved as if they had never left the confines of our house - Jacksen became Houdini and climbed out of the shopping cart while snuggly buckled in and Kellan was running up and down the aisles at what seemed like 100 mph. We finally located the Halloween costumes after almost tipping over a Christmas tree (no kidding, in the middle of October!) when I saw a sign advertising all Halloween costumes were 50% off. I was feeling like the smartest chick in the world for stumbling upon such a great sale totally by accident. But then I looked at the price tags on the costumes. Who in the world would pay $99 for an infant teddy bear costume?! After much debate...and several idle threats of no bedtime snack if the boys did not put the Halloween masks back where they found them...we finally settled on a princess costume for Megan - a bargain at $12.50 - and a wolverine costume for Kellan (only $17).

Next year I think we'll manufacture out own costumes our of tin foil and duct tape. And, by the way, how are old are most kids when they outgrow the dressing up for Halloween thing?

One of my favorite days....

...is the day after Thanksgiving...and it's only 43 days away! You may be wondering what is so special about this day. Well, let me tell you...it is the only day of the year that I get to get out of bed at 4:30 am, skip a shower (an interesting thing to do with naturally curly and totally out of control hair!), buy a delicious vanilla chai tea from Starbucks (skinny, of course!), shop to my heart's content with my most crazy fun little sister, and indulge in a big breakfast late in the morning....all with NO CHILDREN!!! My sweet sister, Katy, and I spend hours on Thanksgiving Day scouring all of the sale ads and planning our shopping route for the next morning. I usually manage to complete 95% of my Christmas shopping on this day and am completely exhausted by the time I go home to my family (usually by 11 am). It's great...and I can hardly wait!

Not Me! Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Let's see....what have I not done lately. Now that I think about it, there are lots of things that I...um...didn't do lately. For instance, I didn't get totally mad at my sweet husband for refusing to take the day off last Thursday when Megan was sick. AND I certainly didn't think of a million and one excuses about why it was too late for him to change his mind later that evening when I realized that a day off would actually be a nice thing for me (even if it meant using some precious vacation time!).

It most definitely wasn't me who snuck a cute shirt for Kellan in with my groceries (gotta love WalMart!) so Marc wouldn't get annoyed with me for buying more clothes for our darling children. (Have I mentioned how good Kellan looks in blue?) Ha!

And, when Megan coughed really hard and threw up a little bit in the bathroom wastebasket, I didn't sort of leave the basket by our back door for Marc to notice later...so I wouldn't have to be the one to clean it out and replace the bag. That would be an awful thing to do to somebody I love so much!

And now, I might go munch on the mini cherry pie that I did not buy ...along with a People magazine...when I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some sandwich bags (which I forgot when I went shopping at WalMart this weekend) on my way home from work today. Sheesh...did you forget I'm on a diet?!

Cookies

Good news....Miss Megan is feeling better! In fact, she is back to her happy little self! Kellan and Jacksen both have quite a cough, but no fever....so, I'm not sure if they caught the swine flu or just a cold. Let's hope they caught a very mild version of this flu...and that's all!


We spent a quiet weekend indoors. Helena broke records for cold temperatures over the last couple days so it was just fine to stay home! We watched a lot of movies, took some good naps, and enjoyed some time together. Megan and Kellan actually made it through the weekend with hardly any bickering (very unusual!) so I bought them their favorite holiday sugar cookies when I went grocery shopping yesterday. I feel like I'm cheating when I feed my children any cookies that are not made from scratch, but they just love these things!




Okay, okay...I confess, I kinda like them too!

Swine Flu

The swine flu has come to the McCauley house! I got a call from the nurse at Jim Darcy School Wednesday morning so I had to go pick up our girl. She was absolutely miserable with a fever, sore throat and cough. After a couple days of alternating Motrin and Tylenol, I took her to the doctor this morning. I don't know why I was surprised about the diagnosis of swine flu considering Helena has been experiencing quite an epidemic the last couple weeks....but I was pretty surprised. She seemed to be getting much better this morning, but is back to feeling a little miserable this evening. The worst of it seems to be her sore throat....she is having a hard time eating and sleeping (and, by extension, so are Marc and I!). So, if you have a few minutes, could you please say a little prayer for my sweet girl? And, while you're at it, could you please add a little prayer that the rest of us don't catch this awful virus?

Funnies

Our Kellan has been really funny lately...well, he's always very entertaining, but recently he has been downright hilarious! While I was getting dinner on the table last night, he disappeared into our basement. After a few minutes he came bounding up the stairs dressed in a Halloween costume from a couple years ago.

He stood at the top of the stairs looking around, said "Let's see what this baby can do!" and took off running as fast as he could through our house. Funny!

A bit later, during dinner, he dropped a little applesauce on his shirt. He asked me if it would stain and I told him I didn't think it would. Well then he launched into a full-fledged commercial for Oxi-clean! He explained that I really need to use Oxi-clean because it gets out tough stains if you just rub the fabric a little bit. Very funny coming from a 4-year-old!

Whatever would we do without our little comedian?