Memorial Day (Part I)

I have been kind of looking forward to Memorial Day this year because my grandparents' headstone was set last week and I've been anxious to see it with my family. Today started out like most Memorial Days....we slept in a bit, ate a good breakfast, and then headed out to Forestvale Cemetary. When we got there, my nephews showed us a baby squirrel (which we later determined to be a gopher) that had a broken foot and was soooo cute. The kids were enthralled and the little guy was frightened by the attention. Just as I was deciding that they needed to find something else on which to focus, Jacksen decided to pick up the little guy....and he started crying...the gopher, that is. Well, Jacksen got scared and ran away. He tripped over a gravestone and fell into another, cutting open his head on the bridge of his nose right between his eyes. The amount of blood pouring out of his head was like nothing I have ever seen....and I never want to see that again! Thank goodness Auntie Katy was there because I completely panicked. She picked him up and immediately squeezed together the wound to staunch the bleeding. Marc held him while Katy held his skin together all the way to good 'ol St. Peter's Hospital. Once there, the physician assistant determined that he had cut all the way to the bone and would definitely need stitches. While we were waiting for the numbing stuff to work, Marc suddenly got a little woozy and then fainted. That's when I finally started crying. Anyway, Marc came to, I pulled myself together, and Jacksen got a few stitches.

This kid is tough. He is currently playing and happy...even though it is BEDTIME!

Tomorrow I will post Part II of our Memorial Day...yes, there's more....

Not Me! Monday!

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

Have any of you been watching Celebrity Apprentice? Yeah...me either. BUT, if I had watched it, I would be very excited that Bret Michels won. I might be so excited that I would consider changing the ringtone on my blackberry to the best Poison song ever, "Talk Dirty to Me." I'm so not into guys with long hair, but he is sooo cool. Oh yeah...I temporarily forgot that we're in a new century and I'm no longer a teenager. Sorry.

So, while out driving in the rain with my favorite twin sister at lunchtime today....NO, I did NOT lower myself to eating a McDonald's cheeseburger....I did not run a red light. Um...and then proceed to bawl out the lady who...um...appeared to be turning right in front of me....even though she had a green arrow. Yeah...and then I did not laugh out loud when I realized the person behind me followed me! That would be so not cool.

Tonight while I was not making breakfast for dinner (ahem), I was listening to Kellan and Jacksen playing. Well, the next thing I knew there seemed to be two additional children playing with them. Their names were Addy and Brandon. Well, I did not engage in an entire conversation with Kellan about how they know these two (and assuming it had to do with daycare), only to find out they are actually make-believe friends. And I did not pretend to send them home when dinner was ready. That would be wierd.

More Random Thoughts

So, I was just making a Broccoli Chicken Pie for dinner and thinking about how much laundry I need to accomplish tonight. Really...that's what I was thinking about. I could do laundry everyday...with a family of five, we probably go through at least one load per day. Sigh...

Anyway, we only have 2 1/2 weeks of school until Summer Vacation...I can hardly wait...sort of. While it's nice to not have to get three kids out the door at the crack of dawn everyday, after being home with their daddy all day, the house is a MESS and they are starved for my attention...after I've put in a full day of work. Still, I think I get the better end of the deal. It's waaaaay more work to stay home with three kids and taxi them to all of their summer activities than it is to go to my cushy office all day. My challenge is that they have no bedtime all summer, but I have to get up early....that's tough.

It just occurred to me that I have not blogged much all week. What have we been up to? Well, we're all short...just kidding....I just laughed out loud about that....really. Uh....anyway, last weekend, we went to dinner with this great family we know. They have three girls and we really enjoy their company. We took the kids to Godfather's Pizza....not because they have the best pizza in the world (though, it isn't bad) but because they have video games and little rides for the kids. We naively thought we might be able to visit a bit while the kids were occupied...yeah...right. We were interrupted A LOT, but the kids had a good time and so did we...and not because we each had a beer either! Here are photos of the boys:

Soccer is going great for Megan and Kellan. They have both improved a lot over last season and have scored lots of goals for their teams. Though I've enjoyed watching their games, I'm a little relieved we only have two weeks left. It sounds like Kellan will be playing T-ball again this summer, though. At least I know we'll have a better coach this summer...yep, it's Marc!

Well, guess I'd better finish dinner and get it in the oven because I have three kids to bathe and The Apprentice finale is on tonight...I really like Bret Michels...even though he has long hair.

Snickerdoodle Cake

A friend sent me this recipe the other day...I was thrilled because my family LOVES snickerdoodles...as in the cookies. Because it's such a great..and easy...recipe, I thought I would share it!


Snickerdoodle Cake


Ingredients
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Cooking Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13-inch pan.
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream 2 cups sugar and shortening until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well with each addition. Alternately add milk and flour mixture in three stages, mixing well with each addition.
In a small bowl, mix 3 tablespoons sugar with cinnamon. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over cake.
Pour into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until done.

Nutrition Facts

Servings per Recipe: 24

Amount Per Serving

calories: 167cal
total fat: 5g
cholesterol: 19mg
sodium: 100mg
carbohydrates: 28.9g
fiber: 0.4g
protein: 2.2g

ENJOY!!!

Mother's Day Weekend

I didn't exactly have the Mother's Day weekend I envisioned this year...mostly because Marc was pretty sick all weekend. However, with Auntie Ann and Uncle John and Uncle Ryan in town, we did manage to pack in a little fun!

On Saturday, Marc was supposed to run the Don't Fence Me In trail run, but he was too sick...so Ann and Ryan had to run it without him. Marc was feeling well enough to attend Kellan's soccer game (He scored a hat trick!) and then head downtown to meet them at the finish line, though. While we were downtown, Megan discovered the National Guard had set up a climbing wall so she decided to try it out:

She didn't quite make it to the top, but she was close! The boys had a great time rolling down the big hill next to the library:

After all this activity, we were starving so enjoyed lunch at Bullman's Pizza and then headed home for naps.

Marc was really not feeling well on Sunday, so we skipped church. I made the kids their favorite breakfast (pancakes) and then we went to Grandpa and Grandma McCauley's house to visit with everybody before they had to go home. While I visited with Grandma Samson and Aunt Carol and Marc napped, Auntie Ann and Uncle John took the kids for a hike up Mount Helena. This is the gang preparing for their hike:

Though they didn't have enough time to hike all the way to the top, they had a great time! After the big hike, we went home for a quick lunch and then I took Megan to her soccer game. The girls played a tough team...and Miss Megan scored two goals!

Even though it wasn't the best Mother's Day ever, I guess I can't really complain 'cause I had a great day with my kids. Now that Marc is feeling better, I asked him if I could have a do-over Mother's Day....I don't think it's gonna happen. Sigh...

The Flu

So, guess who was next to get the flu? Nope, not me....it was Marc. Marc hasn't had the flu for about five years so I forgot what happens when he's sick. Well, it suddenly came back to me at 5 am today. After suffering from what must have been a pretty high fever all night, he got up just a little before 5 to get a glass of water. I heard a crash in the kitchen and immediately knew what happened. I raced to the kitchen to find him flat on his back on the floor having a pretty intense seizure, which is what happens when he gets a fever. It lasted just a few minutes, but it seemed like a long time. Let's just say it scared the heck out of me! After resting all day, he seems a little better tonight...but he just went to bed because he was feeling chilled again.

While I was getting ready for the day, our daycare lady's husband called to let us know that she couldn't provider daycare today because she was in bed....yep, with the flu. Thank goodness Uncle Ryan happens to be in town for the weekend - he entertained Kellan and Jacksen all day so I could attend the Chick-Filet Leadership Simulcast.

Speaking of the Leadership Simulcast....it was really great! I loved this year's speakers and walked away with a renewed sense of optomism, something I really needed!

Random Thoughts

When our daycare called to tell me Jacksen was sick last week my first thought was "Great. I wonder which kid will be next." I got my answer today when our daycare called to tell me Kellan was sick. Specifically, dear Arlene informed me that Kellan threw up on her couch...and then all over her bathroom wall. I'm wondering how he managed to throw up all over the wall when he was standing right over the toilet...but I'm not curious enough to ask him a bunch of questions about it. I have a weak stomach so it's not a good idea for me to talk alot about...that topic. Anyway, the interesting thing about this is Kellan has no fever (Jacksen had a fever off and on for a couple days) and is playing and eating normally. He's very excited to go to work with Marc tomorrow. Sigh....

Last week I took Megan to the orthodontist. She was referred by our dentist who noticed that one of her adult front teeth wasn't coming in and it didn't appear she had enough room for all of her adult teeth. The orthodontist did seem concerned about these issues and informed me that he would be putting together a plan for getting the front tooth down and addressing the spacing issues. Wouldn't you know....in the last five days her front tooth has come in! Isn't that wierd?!

Jacksen has decided that he would rather read to me instead of listening to me read to him before bed. Even though it's kind of exasperating because it takes three times longer to get through a book (and I'm not at my most patient at that hour), I have to admit he is really cute and funny! In fact, being so cute is pretty much his saving grace these days...boy is he ornery a lot of the time!

I have this candy jar on my desk...my original idea was to provide a little sweet for those who are thoughtful enough to enter my office. However, I find that I am eating it all myself. I guess I should buy stuff I don't like to eat....but I can't really think of any sweet I don't like to eat. Hmmmm....what to do?

Marc and Kellan are out looking at a used car right now. Marc has a 3/4 ton truck (4-door), but it uses a lot of gas so he wants to get a little car to drive around. He actually did this a couple years ago, but he ended up with a beater...the drivers side door wouldn't close and the car wouldn't accelerate over 45 mph. Let's just say I never drove it...not even once. Amazingly, Marc sold the car for pretty close to what he paid for it. Well, I'm wondering what we're going to end up with this time...I'm a little nervous...

Oh, I just realized that American Idol is on, which means I need to quit mulling all of my random thoughts. (Believe me, I have a million random thoughts everyday all day long!) I really like Crystal and for awhile I hoped she would win, but now I'm a kinda tired of the Janis Joplin thing. I think I like Casey. It's not because he's hot...I'm really not impressed by men with long hair...I just really like his music.

Busy...waaaaay tooooo busy!

I just realized that I haven't posted for an entire week...yikes! What have we doing over the last week? Well, Jacksen got sick last Tuesday...and he didn't get better until Saturday. He just had a fever off and on and threw up a few times. Everytime we thought he was better, he wasn't. I'm sure it was just one of those little kiddo viruses...but it was rough on the little guy. He's just now eating normally again and he's definitely back to his ornery little self....thank God?

We have also been pretty busy with soccer. It has been crazy windy here in Helena so soccer games have been a challenge....both for the players and the spectators! The wind hasn't seemed to faze Kellan much, though...he still scored FIVE goals on Saturday morning! He is amazing! Megan's game yesterday afternoon was very challenging, but she worked hard.

Hmmm...what else have we been doing? We bought a swingset/jungle gym for our kids so we will be spending some time putting together a playground for them....probably when school gets out for the summer. I'm hoping that project motivates me to decide on some trees and flowers to plant in our yard - we definitely need more green stuff in our yard! I'm thinking we're on the five-year plan for landscaping. Maybe our basement will be finished before our landscaping!

Megan keeps asking me what I would like to do on Mother's Day and Marc keeps asking me about gift ideas....and, I have no idea why, but I can't think of anything. Any ideas?