Children less than 2 yrs old are not meant to be taken out to public restaurants

First of all, I would like to apologize to the North Academy Applebees. We didn't know that taking all three of our kids out to eat with us would be as damaging to your fine establishment as it was. But it wasn't entirely our fault. We are afflicted by a phenomena we like to call, "the makenzie effect".
The above paragraph may sound a little harsh but let me fill you in on something that we have always suspected but has never been confirmed until yesterday, Makenzie is crazy!!! At first our day was pretty uneventful. I worked, then came home. No big whoop. After waiting for over an hour and a half for Cort to get her hair cut and dyed(she only got it cut since we value our youth), we made our way to Applebees (we let Ashlynn decide the restaurant, she loves the place). Sure Makenzie was fine for the first 10-15 minutes, but it was all a front. She was casing the joint (for all those not in the know, that's a term used by con artist and all round tricksters when they're undercover-like checking a place out, planning out how they're going to wreck havock there later). We get our drinks and Kenzie drinks almost all of hers within 5 minutes, that should have tipped me off. "She's thirsty," I thought, "no big deal.". Then she started eyeing my drink. I knew what she was planning. She wanted the lemon. See, she has this thing with lemons that we don't quite get yet. She hates them. She always makes the if-I-pucker-any-harder-my-head-will-explode when ever she puts one anywhere near her mouth but for some reason, she always go back for more. I think this is what put her in the mood for craziness. After playing/experimenting with the lemon for a good 5-10 minutes (she had all of us rolling) she decided she didn't like sitting in her high-chair anymore. And Chaos ensued. She saw and then started reaching for the chips on our appetizer sampler platter that was sitting right in front of me. She'd take a couple of bits and put the chip back. Then, grab a handful of chips and try to take a bite out of all of them at the same time, and then put what's left back. I tried to get her to sit back down by putting some on her plate and putting her back in her booster seat. There was some spinach dip on one of the chips and, of course, that was the first one she took a bite out of. She spit that out and attacked the other chips on her plate like they tricked her. She was out to make them pay. So now the chips are on the floor, my water lemon has been shredded and strewn about her section of our table and Kenzie is just getting warmed up. I thought she might like some of the other food on our appetizer sampler. No she did not. The quesadilla I gave her a bite of had something a bit spicy in it and that through her for a loop. She drank what was left of the ice-water-apple-juice that was left in her cup (which wasn't much since she had finished off her juice earlier) and moved on. She realized there were more things to get into on Cort and Ashlynn's side of the table so she started fussing and squirming and calling for mommie. And like the sucker I am, I fell for it. I handed her off to the other side of the table and waited for our food to come.
A few minutes after her move to the other side of the table, our food came. Even though Kenzie and Ashlynn ordered (Kenzie didn't really order her food) the same thing, Ashlynn's looked better to Kenzie. Kenzie started reaching over and grabbing at Ashlynn's food. We eventually got Kenzie to take some interest in her food and she was good to go. She was now no longer sitting down since her booster chair was still on my side. She was standing up, with her head just barely taller than the top of the bench seat we were sitting in. She had her food, Cortney's drinks and Ashlynn's fries...she was having a ball. She was having so much fun, she felt she needed to do a little dance. So she would turn around, look at the booth behind her and with her rump facing us, she proceeded to shake her booty like it was going out of style. She'd stop, turn around, laugh and grab a fry and then go back at it. Rise and repeat. Every couple of turns she would rub her belly on Cort and shake her booty, and then laugh a little. We tried to not encourage her, but it's was flipping hilarious. Ashlynn was cracking up, I was trying to be serious but was doing a piss poor job. I know this wasn't good for her but man it was funny. We (more Kenize rather) started getting some looks and she just keep it going. A little hand in Cortney's drink here, some chewed up a fries on Ashlynn's plate there. She was all over the Applebees dining experience. After she was done with her food (ie, 5 minutes later) she started reaching for the sugar packets, my knife, the blinds, Ashlynns drink, the salt, the pepper and my sanity. Around this time, Cortney was able to inhale most of her dinner and she offered to take Kenzie and Cameron outside to wait for us. As soon as Cort left, Ashlynn asked, "So, busy day?". I started laughing and then Ashlynn started laughing. I had no idea where she got that quote from but she's getting good at using a certain quote at just the right time. After thanking Ashlynn for being so good, I paid our server and we headed off to the van. Cracking up the whole way. Kenzie was SO going to bed when we got home.

(reaching for a blue or green marker to balance the red)

When bordem attacks!!! duh duh duh!!!! Apparently, Ashlynn got a little bored and wanted to see how red marker looks on Kenzie. Poor Kenzie, she never saw it coming...

another one

Here are some pictures from Adam and Kat's prom

Check out the kicks!

Check out those chubby cheeks! He's getting to be a little chunker.

Cameron update

Cameron had his one month check-up yesterday. He now weighs a whopping 10.1 lbs and he's not showing any signs of slowing down anytime soon. He even looks a little meatier. I'll try to get a picture up later. We also got a packet of all the shots he's going to need and why he needs them. How did babies survive without these shots? Some of these diseases sound brutal. The plan is to get his first series of shots at 2 months old. He doesn't care though, he's just content to lay back and just watch everyone go about their day, with the occasional spitup and nap. Life is good.

Cookie monster to be somtimes-cookie more-fruit monster

Looks like sesame street is doing their part to fight the obesity epidemic. Cookie monster will only eat cookies sometimes and will now eat more fruit and veggies. Times are a changin'. more details here.

We're ready for summer. How about you? I'm dreading the process of getting the summer clothes out and organized and storing the winter clothes (they take up so much space!) but with snow like this, you can only take it so long. Bring on summer! Need some clothes? Get your Spring and Summer clothes here directly from Amazon.  

the ghost of winter's past (aka Makenzie right before she walks into her high chair, these hijinxs go on all day) 

Just a little update

We've been doing good lately and with the new Google Video service, we might starting take more home videos for you all to see. Cameron has been doing great holding his head up and continues to do better at nights. The system we've setup for taking care of him when he wakes up way too early, works for us. We both feel somewhat rested...well, I guess we really don't but it's getting better ;). It is a good time though. Ashlynn is still going thru her i-love-annie-the-musical-so-much-i-just-gotta-sing phase and she's so persistant in her singing, little Makenzie has taken note and has begun to belt out the tunes. They're both pretty funny so we hope to get some video of that up. They walk around with their "microphones" and just sing away. Ashlynn can sing pretty good but she''s still so shy when doing it infront of anyone but us. Unless she's pretty loosened up by some hard playing or laughing. We have no clue what Kenzie is saying, but she'll be darned if she doesn't sing her loudest. They keep the house noisy and I think we've started to get used to it. I just hope the neighbors don't mind when we're in the backyard playing. hee hee.

For parents whose kids play video games

Here's an article about a Dad explaing what he thninks is wrong with the video game rating system. Interesting read.

Makenzie helping out (trying to be a help but making us more worried since she has got the whole slow and nice thing down pat yet, she tries) 

"i sleep 20 hours a day, why am I still tired?" 

"check me out, holding my neck up and everything" 

Is she serious?

Surely Bridget Marks can't be serious. She recently regained custody of her daughters despite her getting caught coaching her kids (twins) to make sexual abuse allegations about him. But now that she has custody, she's trying to keep their Father from seeing their girls twice a month. She says it's because, she doesn't want her kids "on a cross country trip every week". Seriously? I mean c'mon now. Is that really in the best interest of her girls? How is keeping their father out of their lives going to help them be stronger women? I have thought this woman was shady ever since her Dr Phil appearence where she basially went on to make her plea and plug her book. While she's making this huge public scene, making it that much harder for her girls, I can appreciate how the Father is at least seemingly trying to stay out of the public eye. She doesn't need any help damaging her image, she's doing just fine on her own. more details here

I'm in the wrong business

I think I'm going to put on a tye-dye shirt and begin making kid entertainment videos. I don't think any of the Wiggles were tye-dye but according to this The Wiggles have been dubbed Australia's weatlhiest entertainers, beating even Nicole Kidman and grumpy Russell Crowe. They brought in $34.5 million dollars (gross not net) in 2004.

Crazy Friday Night

Last night (Friday the 8th of April in case you're reading this on a different day than Saturday) we took the kids to Mr. Biggs, our local and brand new happening place for kids. We went with our good friends Greg and Shannon and their trio of kids as well. Mr. Biggs is in this huge (10,000+ sq ft I believe) ex-manufacturing building that they've recolored and remodeled into a huge Dave and Busters/Chuck E Cheese type of place. They have a paintball arena, laster tag, go karts (not too bad go karts either, more on that later...), put put Golf course (might not have been golf though, didn't look too much into this one) as well as video games and conference rooms. For conferences and parties and the like.
The place was pretty fun but it wasn't completely finished. Some areas were blocked off or under construction still which wasn't too bad but it gave the place a little unfinished feeling. There was an area for kids and young-at-heart parents called Little Big town (get it? little=for the kids, big=for the adults!) which was a series of rooms the kids could play in, all of which had different things going on. Pretty much all of the little girls spent most of their time coming in and out of the hair salon type room. There where beauty chairs for them to sit in if someone wanted to do their hair and there were a ton of dress up/ princess-y type of clothes they could wear, and wear them my girls did. Ashlynn wasn't too interested for too long, it looked like she knew this was a big place and she had only 2 hours to take it all in. There was a little jail room were you could throw doughnuts at cops (what are we teaching today's youth!?! Madness I tell you, madness) or pretend to be in jail. There was also a huge sand-box room which a lot of the younger kids seemed to enjoy. Makenzie didn't like it at first since the sand was pretty, umm, sandy, and she didn't like how she couldn't just walk or run through it. She did eventually warm up to it though when Ashlynn and I went go-karting. There was also a pirate ship room . In the middle of the room was a mini pirate ship that had air-guns you could shoot nerf balls out of. On three of the four walls surrounding the boat were more air-guns positioned to make it seem like it was the pirates vs. the people in the walls. If you have an anxiety problem, you should probably stay out of this room. It will do nothing but give you heart trouble.
The last thing we did (and what Greg and I spent 30-40 minutes in line for, thanks for hanging out with me buddy!) was the go-karts. The line didn't seem too long but since only 5 karts were going at a time, we had a bit of a wait. Eventually we ended up in the front of the line. I was going to ride with Ashlynn and Greg was going to take his son Taylor. Right before we get to go in, a birthday party shows up. Since the employee working the go-karts usually worked laster tag, and apparently at laser tag land parties come before any and everyone else, he gave us a "sorry guys but they might have to go before you". Now this wouldn't be a problem if the problem was smaller than 50 flippin people!! It was getting close to 9:00, who throws a children's birthday party that late. I was almost tempted to shout to the party parents, "You sir(directed to no sir in particular, it just sounds better this way), are a buffoon!!" and then storm off. Right before I did, the regular go-kart employee laid the smaketh downeth. "Who's in the party? Ok, all of you? Good. You all need to wait in the back of the line like everyone else..." And off they went. They didn't complain or anything but you could feel the un-tensing of the 20-30 people behind us. Once we got in the karts we took off, the karts (after the first 20 seconds or so) were pretty zippy. Ashlynn and I were screaming and hootin and hollerin pretty much the whole time, we almost won but Greg and Taylor passed us on the inside coming out of a turn. It was a good time. Afterwards we went to Salsa Bravas which Cortney though was a buffet (had me all excited too) but alas, it was not. Just your typical Mexican restaurant. It was pretty good and the portions were good sized. After the meal, it was pushing 10:30. Time to go home. Greg and Shannon had their hands full, their kids pretty much slept thru dinner. So we said bye and parted ways. Abbey went with us too and she was (as is the case SOMETIMES, not all the time) a big help in keeping the kids busy. We had a good time. The only downside is that Mr Biggs must have a hefty mortgage to pay since admission wasn't cheap. $14.00 a person (under 2 gets in free) gets you 2 hours of playtime. Arcade games and Paintball are extra. All in all it was a good time, wonder how long it'll last with that pricing though.

yeah, it's great when they all cry at the same time...just great... 

Cameron's first bath, that was the last time we give them a bath at the same time, look at how much fun they had! 

Cameron's first bath! He did great, he didn't really fuss too much until we took him out of the bath and wrapped him in a towel. You could tell he didn't like the transition from warm bath to cold towel but he didn't fuss for long. 

Fancy a trip down memory lane? Google Maps makes it possible

Google's Map website is now making use of Satellite imagery. You can pull up the address of where you grew up to see how your old neighborhod looks now. You could also use it to help you with directions, see what landmarks are aroud the turn you'll need to make. Hope you all find this useful. See the website here

ParentHack: Dr Phil tips

Dr Phil runs an ongoing series called Family first. It basically takes families that cannot get along or the parents are on the edge of divorce or one of the kids has a serious problem and the turns these families around. The process isn't instant, he goes thru each step of the way, helping these families to better themselves and their relationships. I dig watching the shows because it's basically free advice from an indiviual who could be charging quite a bit more to hear his advice.
He also has some books out. The book of his that focuses on weight is pretty good as well. People who diet a lot would benefit greatly from this book. His viewers even got to see the results over a number of shows dedicated to the topic. The foundation of that book is, eating healthy and losing weight is not about dieting or starving yourself, it is a lifestyle change. A lifestyle in that you need to change the way you think about and handle food so you can create a no fail environment. Prone to a little late night snacking? Throw the snacks out and don't buy them again or replace the with a healt alternative.
His Family First book is an awsome read as well. We know his methods work because you can watch them work everyday on his TV show. A lot of his advice is common sense but a surprisingly number of people may know what's wrong but don't know what's the root cause of the problem, dooming themselves to keep repeating the same mistakes. This book helps you take a look at the legacy your parents left you. The belief system and morals they raised you with and how it's helping and/or hurting you and your family. Good reads.

Days of Spring

PotteryBarn kids has some nice spring/summer time toys including a large beach ball sprinkler. chek them out here. These toys kind of make you wish summer was here already doesn'it?

Dads have a test too you know...

By way of Blogging Baby comes a little joke about the Mommy test...

I was out walking with my then 4-year-old daughter. She picked up something off the ground and started to put it in her mouth. I asked her not to do that.

“Why?” “Because it’s been laying outside and it is dirty and probably has germs.”

At this point, she looked at me with total admiration and asked, “Wow! How do you know all this stuff?”

Uh,” I was thinking quickly, ”...all moms know this stuff. Um, it’s on the Mommy Test. You have to know it, or they don’t let you be a Mommy.”

We walked along in silence for 2 or 3 minutes, but she was evidently pondering this new information.

“OH…I get it!” she beamed, “So if you flunk, you have to be the Daddy.”

Dentists Appointment

Ashlynn had her 6 month dentist checkup appointment today. She made us proud. A few days back when we told her of her upcoming appointment she was a little nervous. Then, all of a sudden, the day before her appointment her attitude made a complete 180. She was excited to. When we got the she told me, "Dad, you don't have to come back with me. I can do it." And do it she did. Even after see another girl her age get quite scared when she was led back. It could have been the free Chick-Fil-A coupon she got or the snazzy new toothpaste and dental floss but whatever it was, it made her excited and got her through her first dentist appointment on her own. She's our little trooper.

Girl Scout Camping, the bestest fun ever?

Hilarious tale of a Girl Scout camping trip gone horribly wrong. Well, that's a strong word, more like severly discomforting and unpleasant? Still a little overkill. Let's just say that they didn't have as much fun as you would think camping in the woods would be. Check out the post here

Do you put your Spouse or your Kids first?

Interesting questions posed at the Zero Boss blog. While there shouldn't be a "right or wrong" answer, it does give light to some interesting discussions for parents. See it here.

Catch last night's Supernanny?

Catch last nights Supernanny? It was good as the tend to be but this one was a bit more extreme. This time she visted a family in the U.K. and man were the kids running amok. The Father works all day so it's just Mom alone with their four kids (yes four). Mom had tended to be the softer kind of disciplinarian, the kind to ask the kids to get in the car ot to ask them to please stop spitting and swearing at her (yes they spat and swore, even flipped their mother the bird!!). Clearly this wasn't working. When Dad got home the kids tended to clean up a bit since they knew Dad meant business. So much business that he tended to over do it. He hated them running the house like they did when he wasn't there so it seemed like he felt he needed to go the extra mile to (attempt) to get them back into shape. As good as this technique was working (yeah right) Supernanny did her observer them for a day routine and quickly went to work. It was good to see the Supernanny tackle these kids (figuratively, i would have done more than tackle those crazy kids) and have her techniques tested. What worked was to let the kids know that there is going to be a naughty room (or square or step) that they're going to be sent to when what they're doing isn't acceptable. When they start with the bad behavior, come down to their level (to look them right in the eye) and give them a warning that what they're doing isn't acceptable behavior and that if they continue they will be sent to the naughty room. If they keep up, no second warnings or warm fuzzies, right to the naughty room they go. The kids then stay in the naughty room for the same number of minutes as they are old (4yrs old = 4 minutes). Once their time is up, go to the child and ask for an apology. It has to be a serious apology so it drives your point home. Another thing that I liked to see was how the parents resolved their differences in parenting styles. Supernanny told them what was working and what wasn't. Mom was too leinient and Dad was too harsh. If one of them did something bad at the dinnerr table, they all got in trouble, even their poor sister. Once Supernanny's techniques began to work (and work they did) the parents began to come together and realize they need to be on board and supportive of each other for this to work. They came around and what do you knoe, that house was running as a well oiled machine by the time Supernanny left. We always pick up useful information and techniques watching that show. I feel it's adding more to our parenting arsenal and helping us to feel more confident in the choices we make. I whole heartedly recommed that if you have a family, you watch this show. If you do, let us know what you thought worked and what didn't.

"woah, what are my sisters doing up there?!?" 

His first bath!! We went to Babies R Us today to look for a sling type snuggli and couldn't find one that we liked. The had some nice looking baby carriers but they didn't look like they would give the best support for his wobbly head so we passed. Ashlynn made a very nice giraffe in school today. She always has a great time. One of her classmates apparently invited the whole class over to her house surprising her mother in the process. It was a good day today and tomorrow will hopefully be more of the same. Ashlynn has a dentist appointment just to check up and make sure she doesn't have any more cavities. I think it'll go well. She brushes her teeth every night and even uses this type of mouthwash for little kids. We got her in a routine and she does it pretty religiously. Wish you all the best! 

Hot Tip! Hot Tip!

I have just discovered this wonderful technique...To get your newborn to sleep longer at night, feed them until they're full and then hold them. Hold them and never set them down! If you value sleep then you can wait until the next day to change into your pjs, pick up around the house or pay attention to anyone else. this technique has worked wonders for us. ;)

nap time for ashie (no, she never sleeps!!!) 

nap time for kenzie 

nap time for cameron 

Cameron update

Cameron had a doctors appointment today and everything looks good. When we took him home from the hospital he was 6.15 lbs (lost some weight right after the birth) and now he's up to 8.8lbs in just 2 weeks! His umbilical cord is good to go and he's looking real good. we had Ashlynn looked at as well to make sure she was completly better and she is. No sign of her ear infection and no cough/runny nose as well. Just wanted to let you all know.

Men don't do enough chores?

All the Dad's I know are pretty up to snuff in the chores department. Turns out we're the exception according to this article. Big Story: Ending the Chore Wars -- how to get your mate to help on the home front

I hope I remember this site in 12-16 years!

Saw this website mentioned on the Dr Phil show. It gives teachers a way to see if your child is using unoriginal material in their submitted homework. Basically (on concept) making it so hard to cheat that kids will end up just doing the work right the first time. Turnitin�

The Baby Name Wizard: NameVoyager

Here's a cool litte tool we happened across whike try to think up a name for our then unborn son Cameron. It shows you the popularity trends of over 5000 names from the early 1900s up to 2003. Cool little tool to play with. The Baby Name Wizard: NameVoyager

Congress contemplating Public National Cord Blood Stem Cell Bank

Before we had Cameron we contemplated going with a cord-blood banking program. From all the commercials we saw it seemed like a no-brainer. We felt good that we were about to signup with viacord so that his cord blood would be there if any of us needed it. Needless to say we were a bit taken back with the reactions we got from medical professionals. They didn't seem as excited or "into it" as we thought they would be. The general consenus was basically, "we're not strongly for or against you storing your babies' cord blood but if you want to do it we would recommend you use a public cord blood bank instead of a private one." What? There's a difference? Apparently there is, Viacord and similar companies are private company that provide the storage for a fee and a pretty hefty one at that ( see here) The problem with public banks is that there aren't enough of them. Some hospitals use a public company some don't. Plug your bank's name and "cord blood bank" (or similar variations)into www.google.com and see what you find. Or I guess you could just call the hospital itself. Man it must be getting late, lol :)

The article: Transplanting Hope

Food all families should know how to make. Green Eggs and Ham

How do you make Green Eggs and Ham? this website will show you how. Have the kids make them with you, they might enjoy making a green mess.

Green Eggs and Ham: Recipies

here's the actual dr seuss book:

Best.Pacifier.Ever.

They are a little hard to find but they are well worth it. Newborns take to this pacifier like a duck to water. It's the only pacifier I would recommend even trying for a new baby. There's a reason the hospital uses them. Just wanted to let everyone know. :)

Supernanny = naughty kid cure

We've been watching the ABC show "Supernanny" and it has changed our world. Well, not really but we have picked up a lot of useful techniques from Supernanny great, Jo Frost. Probably our most loved has to do with getting Kenzie to put her self to sleep when we tell her it's bedtime. We tried the technique the first night and by the second night it worked. Those are the kind of results we like.

another kite picture. Look at Ashie work it! 

It was a beautiful day in Colorado Springs today. We all went picnicing and kit flying. Good times. The kites were great except the plastic stick keeping the kite folded out tended to bend and fall out. Probably due to the harsh winds. We still had a great time with them though. Kites are fun!! 

I was going through our easter pictures and happened acrosst this little gem. "I didn't eat the chocolate..maybe cameron did..." Candy is an endangered species in our home. Especially those little reese's peanut-butter filled eggs. Talk about a piece of heaven, ummm....chocolate... 

Ashie and Cortney playing a high-stakes game of go-fish. Will the card playing ever stop!  

Kenzie is a much better card player than i thought. She helped Eric and I beat the pants off of my Dad and friend-who-lives-a-few-houses-down Joe. Thanks kenzie! 

From last night. Scoping out his next target. 

Plastic face shield, a requirement!

Face-covering plastic shield. Don't change your baby boy without one. Seriously. Unless you still have cat like reflexes at 2:00 in the AM. Baby boys are so quick, sheesh. Turtle Head Gear with clear plastic face shield

Evenflo - BabyGo? more like BabyRock

Throw the young'uns in this mp3-enabled play pen and watch them jam for hours to the easy listening sounds of legally purchased obsucre internet artists. With the kind of dancing my kids do, this padded playard is perfect.Evenflo - Products: "other leading playards, this baby product is packed with convenient features for travel or at home: "

One expensive looking kite!

The weather is supposed to be nice today. We told Ashie that if it was nice and a little windy that we could probably go fly the kites she got from easter. I did some searching to see if I could find any kewl character kites and I came across this beat.The Coastal Kites, Inc.: Speedfoil RM 10. This fun can be yours for 20 easy payments of 49.95 or only 189.95. Enjoy!

Easy to use Enfamil bottles

When the hospital sent us home after having Cameron, they sent us home with these small glass ready-to-use Enfamil (with Iron) bottles that are pretty nifty. Just screw the nipple onto the bottle and you're good to go. No worrying about finding a good sized bottle, measurimg out the formula etc. Just open, attach and go. Makes it easier for Dads to get up and tend to baby for those 2am feedings that happen oh so often so mommy can get some sleep. Who needs sleep right men? Am I right?!? Enfamil Lipil with Iron

Bedside Co-Sleeper making life easier

Bassinetts like this one here makes it a lot easier to pick your baby up for those late night/early morning feedings. Just reach over and pick them up. They're not in bed with you so the SIDS risk is lower and a section of the bed is removed so you're not akwardly reaching up and over any side rails. Good stuff.

Up late

Isn't Annie a great musical? We got it from the library and I happened to catch some of it (still haven't seen it from start to finish...I have 3 kids now remember!) and the songs are so stinking catchy. I still dig the kind of old school musical Newsies with Christian Bale and Doogie Howser's (of Doogie Howser M.D. fame, surely you remember) friend. Both great movies I think are good for kids.

Hello

Hello and welcome to our little spot on the web. Wanted to get some pics up to give everyone a glimpse into how crazy our life has been so check out the previous posts! We hope to keep this site updated to let everyone know how and what we're doing. Feel free to leave comments and send us email!

"yeah, we know we're cute."

The girls gearing up for easter fun and chocolate-induced hysteria. It was a good day to say the least.

The best dern big sister in the world (she's the big sister while ashie is the biggest).