New Years Eve 2010

Today has been a perfect ending to 2010....Ami, Cody and Morgan have spent the day with us! Despite the frigid temperature outside, the kids have had a great time playing in the snow, watching movies, and building with Kinex.





While these kids have had a great time hangin' together today, Ami and I decided to make some cake pops:


We got the idea from one of my favorite blogs, MckMama. Bakerella also has some great tips and ideas for these treats.

Tonight we are planning on taking the kids out for pizza and then going to a little New Year's Eve bash....I'm sure we will all be fast asleep long before midnight, though!

Christmas 2010

Christmas 2010 was the usual chaotic and crazy, yet thoroughly enjoyable, holiday for the McCauleys. I tried something a little different this year, though. I finished all of my shopping and baking and most of my wrapping BEFORE December 24th so I able to spend the day cleaning my house, getting the kids ready for Christmas Eve mass, and putting together a delicious lasagna dinner. After dinner on Christmas Eve, we played poker with Marc's brothers, Ryan and Sean....I'm not sure if it's a bad thing to teach our kids how to gamble at their ages, but we did it anyway. They loved it!

Christmas morning was spent at our home. The kids were all up at 6:09 am....and they were EXCITED! Watching the boys open boxes containing football helmets, pants and jerseys of their favorite teams was the highlight of the day. Unfortunately, Kellan has barely worn a regular pair of pants since. I hope he realizes he is not going to be able to wear those to school next week....this could get interesting. Megan was thrilled to receive an American Girl doll she has been mentioning almost hourly for the last few months....and has hardly touched since Christmas morning....sigh....

After opening gifts at home, we spent a few hours at my parents' house with my sisters. We gorged ourselves on a delicious brunch and reminisced about my grandparents and Christmases past....it was really nice. By 2:00, the kids were tired....and Marc and I were beyond tired....so we all headed home for a nap. That evening we went to Marc's parents' house for prime rib and Trivial Pursuit....a McCauley Christmas tradition. All in all, it was another great Christmas!

You may be wondering why no photos....well, I can't figure out where I put my camera. I will try to post some photos as soon as I find it, though!

OH....one more thing! This isn't really related to Christmas, but I just thought I would mention another new blog I've discovered....a RECIPE BLOG! It is called Suger and Spice and Everything Nice and the recipes are really great!

Epic Cheese

So, I was reading a bunch of my favorite blogs while thinking about blogging about our Christmas...and I came across Epic Cheese. Epic Cheese is pretty funny....it's a blog written by a couple crazy kids and it is sure to make you smile....well, I smiled.

I guess I'm not gonna finish my Christmas blog tonight...the kiddos got a Checkers game for Christmas and they are begging me to play with them. I'm not gonna feel even a little bit guilty for winning 'cause I have to get up early to go to work and they get to sleep in!

It's just a name....

....at least that's what Megan thinks.

The other day Megan and I were driving somewhere and she asked if she could talk with me about something that was worrying her. I'm not sure what made me say "Sure, Honey." because usually what worries Megan is something that I'm doing that she doesn't like....but I was actually glad I agreed to hear her out. She told me that she had been playing with some Pet Shop animals on the playground with one of her girlfriends during recess last week and they were having a hard time picking a name for one of the Pets. Well, Megan innocently suggested they call it "Dick", which was her great-grandfather's name. Another little girl happened to be standing nearby and very snootily (Is that a word? If not, I just made it up!) informed Megan that she shouldn't call anything "Dick" because it isn't very nice. Megan was wondering what in the world she was talking about. When Megan finished her explanation, it was all I could do to keep from laughing, but I managed to keep my composure. I didn't really feel like getting into a big explanation, so I just told her that "Richard" is a much nicer name because it's her Daddy's middle name. Someday I'm not gonna get away with this....yikes!

Glory Haus

When I was in Estes Park, CO for a wedding a couple weeks ago, I happened upon an amazing little Christmas store, The Spruce House. Well, this store had the coolest merchandise including this canvas:


Well, the owner of The Spruce House told me about the website from which I could order this canvas and lots of other cool things. The name of this faith-based online business is Glory Haus and it's my new favorite....so you should go check it out!

Christmas Program

Megan and Kellan performed in their school Christmas program last Friday. Their music teacher is very talented and the program was quite entertaining! The morning of their program I asked them to stand close to each other so I could take their picture. They grumbled (and pushed and shoved) because they didn't want to stand next to each other, but then somehow they ended up holding hands.

As you can see, Kellan was thrilled to be holding Megan's hand...and Megan was not so thrilled....as usual...

Oh Christmas Tree

After the kids wrapped up their basketball season, we bundled up and drove up to Austin in search of a perfect Christmas tree. I quickly discovered that it was a little too soon after my surgery to be hiking up hills, but I had a great time watching the kiddos play in the snow. Here are some great photos of our afternoon:

Isn't it amazing how well children sleep after spending time in the fresh air?! Kellan is always the first kid up and he didn't appear until 7:00 this morning!

Catch Up Time

I have lots of perfectly good reasons for not blogging lately....and here they are:

1. I had major surgery.


2. Basketball


3. We went on a little trip


4. Christmas tasks

I'll start with the little....well, not so little...surgery. I think I mentioned in my last post that I was planning on undergoing a hysterectomy and appendectomy. Well, I did. The hysterectomy hasn't been such a big deal, but the appendectomy has been a little painful. I won't mortify you with the details of my follow-up ER visit....suffice it to say that it was one of the most embarassing and horrifying occurrances of my life. I'm happy to report that I'm back to work for a week and am doing really well now.

Megan and Kellan are still enjoying basketball. This is the last week! They have both improved their skills and made some new friends. I'll be glad for a little break in sports....I don't think Winter basketball begins until sometime in January!

This past weekend Marc and I left the kids with our families and travelled to Estes Park, Colorado to attend the wedding of some great friends. We stayed at The Stanley Hotel, which was the location of the filming of The Shining and parts of Dumb and Dumber!

Matt and Jami's wedding was absolutely beautiful...there was hardly a dry eye in the church! Speaking of the church....what a beautiful church! They were married at St. Catherine of Siena Chapel outside of Allenspark, CO....otherwise known as "Church on the Rock"....it was amazing! We had a great time visiting with our friends...our fantastic weekend went way too fast!

I have to go to Billings tomorrow for a meeting and I'm hoping to accomplish a little Christmas shopping while I'm there. I can't believe it's already December 6th....we still have to get a Christmas tree and finish lots of shopping. Plus we have a little boy who is turning 4 next week so there's a birthday party to plan and a present to buy! And I can't forget my Christmas baking day!

On that note, I'd better get off this computer so I can finish laundry and pack for my trip!