Spa Day

My sisters and I spent the evening with our grandparents in Great Falls last night - we went to dinner at Jakers and then chatted over a drink at our hotel. We had a great time with them!

We spent most of today at our favorite day spa - we all endured massages, facials, and pedicures....and we all got our hair done...

Ami is going back to blonde....or is this really Ami?



Whoever this is, she looks really tired!

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 her kiddos and everybody else's kiddos have not been doing this week.

Instead of blogging about all of the stuff I haven't been doing lately, I decided to blog about the things my kids haven't been doing over the long weekend....much more interesting, if you ask me!

I'll start with the littlest McCauley kid, for a change. Mr. Jacksen did not spend the weekend working on potty training....and he isn't just a little excited about his accomplishment either. I wouldn't say he's completely potty-trained, but he might be thinking a lot more about it....well, I mean, he would be thinking a lot more about it IF he spent the weekend working on potty training.

Kellan....where to start? Kellan wasn't in an unusually compliant mood all weekend...well, at least until today anyway. He didn't eat like he's going through a growth spurt and he didn't sleep the best of all the kids. AND, he wasn't the most brave kid when we went sledding yesterday either. The thing I'm most amazed about....despite keeping him busy all weekend, he didn't even take one nap. Oh, wait...he really didn't take a single nap...sigh. Oh, and he didn't spend the entire afternoon doing everything he could to keep me from taking a nap...including making totally inappropriate jokes about his...ahem...rear end. Would Kellan do that?!

Miss Megan didn't have her buddy, Isa B., over for a sleepover last night...and they didn't keep me up almost the entire night, either. And these girls weren't just a little excited about raspberry sherbet floats and brownies....hmmm....that might be why they would've been up most of the night....maybe. Anyway, to end her long weekend, Megan surely didn't take a 2-hour nap this afternoon. And my kid wouldn't be the one to pretend to be sick when she found her out her brothers get to go to Aunt Katy's house tomorrow instead of daycare...nope...not Megan!

Finally, while I'm typing this post, all three kids are not tearing through our house pretending to be chased by a crocodile...and I'm not feeling like I'm losing my marbles either....

Valentine's Day Sledding Party

I'd like to say that I spent my Valentine's Day on a romantic getaway....however, in reality, I spent my Valentine's Day at a sledding party in the mountains. It was a beautiful day and the kids had a great time! (Okay....I'll admit I kind of enjoyed myself a little bit, too!)

Marc and Jacksen

Kellan hauling his sled up the hill

Kellan


Megan's buddy, Isa B.

Megan and Jacksen


The kids spent most of the time on a pretty small hill, but by the end of our sledding time, they graduated to the big one...check this out:

Yep, that's Marc and Kellan on the upper left side....my kids are fearless!

The day ended with a delicious dinner and some sleepover fun....more on that later!

Cool Blog

Recently this crazy guy I know told me about a cool blog. You may be wondering what kind of blog a guy would be reading...well, it's not a "mommy blog". It's a blog written by a guy who warms the bench for the Ohio State basketball program. I love sports stories and inspirational sport-related movies...and this guy is really funny...so I've been enjoying this blog ALOT!

So, anyway, here's the link: http://clubtrillion.blogspot.com. (I'm also going to add this link to my sidebar.) Enjoy!

Little Worker

I know this photo is a little blurry, but it's hard to get Jacksen to sit still...so this is what we get! Little Mr. Jacksen loves "workin'"!

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 had such a busy weekend that it's hard to think of things I haven't done lately. However, I am proud to say that while we were at a surprise birthday party on Friday night, I did not skip anything even remotely alcoholic and drink water all evening. I always think that it would be nice to get a sitter and enjoy an evening out with friends, but when I get the chance I drink water and insist on being home by 10:00! I think I must be getting old or something.

On Saturday, I didn't ditch my family for an hour to enjoy lunch with my oldest (as in time, not age!) friend and her daughter. But if I did, I wouldn't have had such a great time reminiscing about the "olden days" (see this post: http://mccauleykids.blogspot.com/2010/02/memory.html) and comparing them to our current lives. And I wouldn't have left feeling just a little nostalgic either!

Finally, I wouldn't be lazy enough to feed my growing children frozen pizza (well, I would've cooked the pizza!) and fruit for dinner. And I definitely didn't allow them to eat as much raspberry sherbet as they wanted for dessert...and fruit snacks...and mini powdered donuts. What kind of mother would I be if I fed my children that kind of garbage?!

And now, I'm not just a little bit annoyed that it's taken such a long time to compose this post because my husband keeps interrupting me to talk about his day....like that's more important than posting my first Not Me! Monday! post in almost a month! Sheeesh!

A Memory

Yesterday I met my girlfriend, Jennifer, and her 14-year-old daughter for lunch. We had a great time talking about the "olden days." Jennifer and I have been friends since 3rd grade and we have a ton of great memories...one, in particular, bonded us for life.

In 1995, Jennifer, another high school friend of ours, and myself lived in an apartment here in Helena. We all had jobs and were responsible, but we also really had a good time going out (yes, we spent lots of time drinking and living it up!) One evening in October we were hanging out watching TV when Jennifer very abruptly left the room....right in the middle of a conversation. I'm not sure why, but I seemed to be noticing every little detail from that moment on. The rest of the evening she kept disappearing into her room and changing her clothes. I thought it was wierd, but I didn't ask her why. The next morning I got up at my usual time to get ready for work. When I walked out of my room I noticed all of the lights were on in our apartment and, again, kind of felt like something was strange. Little did I know.

I walked into the livingroom and Jennifer was laying on the couch. I think I said something like "What are you doing?" She said "Christy, I don't know how to tell you this, but I'm pregnant and in labor. Would you please take me to the hospital?" I put my hand on my forehead and asked if I could get dressed and do something with my hair. She said yes, but told me to hurry. We woke up our roommate, who was as dumbfounded as I was, and we headed to the hospital. On the way, I thought to ask how far apart her contractions were and she said a few minutes. Yikes!

Once we got to the hospital, we established that Jennifer had not told a single soul about her pregnancy and had not received any prenatal care. Knowing what I know now, I am amazed nothing went wrong! Anyway, once Jennifer was settled into a room, I offered to call her parents. Luckily I have known these people most of my life....but it was still hard to tell them they were about to become grandparents....immediately. Thankfully, Jennifer's dad answered the phone. I just kind of blurted out "We're at the hospital with Jennifer and she's having a baby!" It took him a bit to say anything, but then he said they would be right there. It only took them a few minutes to arrive and we could her Jennifer's mom all the way down the hall. The poor woman was close to hysterics....not that I blamed her. After that, things seem to move very quickly. Little Miss Samantha was born shortly after 11:00 that morning...a perfectly healthy baby girl. I'll never forget that moment....it was life-changing for all of us.

I learned alot of things that day - especially, what it means to be a friend through thick and thin, the wonder of childbirth and motherhood, and how God's blessings come in many forms. At first, Jennifer considered giving Sami up for adoption, but I think it only took her a few hours to decide this was her daughter....forever. It took some time, but Jennifer shared the news with Sami's dad and they forged ahead with their relationship. Today, Jennifer and Blaine have been together for 14+ years and have given Sami a little sister and a little brother.

Whenever it seems that I just don't understand God's will, I think of Jennifer and Sami....and I know He has an amazing plan for all of us....we just have to believe.

Crazy Week

I just realized that I have not posted ANYTHING for almost an entire week! I have several excuses...er...reasons, that is. First, I have been a little bit addicted to Farmville on Facebook lately. I spent over an hour on Monday night....when I should have been working on a Not Me! Monday! post.....completely redoing my farm. I normally don't bother with anything even remotely videogame-ish, but Farmville has me hooked. I hope it passes.

My second reason for not posting much this week is that I have been trying to spend more time exercising....which makes me wonder how many calories I spend while standing in front of my computer. Anywho, I recently bought Valerie Bertinelli's workout video - it's great! I must've been more out of shape than I realized because I have been doing this workout for 2 1/2 weeks and I'm still sore. It's getting easier, though.

Finally, I haven't had a lot of time to post because I've been putting in some extra hours at work. I love my job so I don't really mind being at work....but I'm thinking a tropical vacation sounds good right about now!

Now I'm off to put Mr. Jacksen to bed...and make lunches...and workout. Sigh.....