The children sang at church on Sunday

My friend Monica posted a great picture of the little kids on her blog. Hayden and his cohorts, Benjamin and Emily, were a riot. They were making faces, dancing around, adding hand movements, pretty much stealing the show.

Again I forgot my camera and should have had the whole thing on video....maybe next time. Thanks Monica for sharing the picture.

Be sure to check out Monica's blog

Our sweet little boy

Hayden: Mom, when I get big like a daddy will you marry me?

Mom: No, I already married your Daddy.

Hayden: (pouty face)

Mom: Well I fell in love with Daddy first.


The circles are hearts.

It was a beautiful day to drag my kids up a mountain.

It was a gorgeous day in the 50's today and I am itching for Spring. So we decided to have our first hike of the season. The boys and I try to do little hikes on Sundays when Ben is working. So today we decided to try Blodgett. Griffin packed 2 bottles of water and 6 snack / granola bars. Carter packed 2 bottles of water and 22 snack bars. I got to try out my new camelbak, thanks Dad.

The boys enjoyed stopping to snack and look at the beautiful surroundings. Carter's experiences at School in the Woods proved helpful with tracking animal scat and describing the plants. We did not make it quite to the top. Actually since we have never been to the top before we do not know how far away we were. If you have done this hike, we got to the big log that lays across the path. Were we close?

There was still snow on the trail. It was very helpful to us finding the way back. Do you know that I have no sense of direction? We ended up on a different trail on the way back and had to trek down Woodmen Road for a mile to get back to the car. I am just happy we made it back and didn't have to eat Carter's 22 snack bars to stay alive.

Next time we plan to go with an experienced Blodgett hiker. Anyone want to go? We'll pack the snack bars.

What is a Foos?

According to Carter and Griffin a "foos" is when the foosball gets stuck in between foosball men and no player can kick it. The first person to call (or scream) "Foos" then retrieves the ball and puts it back into play.

The have a gigantic foosball headache. I should have left the table in the garage where I found it. AArrrgghh.

Ungrateful Goose

Notice the goose shadow in front of him, the goose is on this right.

A beautiful day at the park was turned into a sequel of Hitchcock's The Birds," our day "The Geese." We packed up the new bike Hayden got for Christmas, stopped a the Wonder outlet for day old bread and headed to the park. He was laughing with delight feeding the ducks. He would throw them a whole piece of bread and watch them devour it. He would rip off small pieces and toss it into the crowd. The impatient, ungrateful goose (not much shorter than Hayden) snuck up next to him and BIT HIS THUMB in an attempt to get the bread from his hand.

After a diversion to the playground Uncle Alan, Aunt Susie and Xander joined us at the park. Uncle Alan stood guard while Hayden finished feeding the ducks.

I almost had the camera set to video, then I would have had the whole incident on tape. Besides being potentially tramatic for Hayden, it was pretty funny.

Beautiful, welcoming church

In September I was involved in a church planning retreat. I am the nursery committee chair and an active parent with our preschool program. Our retreat was held in a neighboring church. I was blown away by the gorgeous murals in the children's areas. Our church, while clean, nice and fun for kids, wasn't very visually stimulating...(read.. it was boring).

I made it my mission to change this and work on the beautification of our own children's areas. We were blessed to find a local artist to do the work. She incorporated our children in the design and the end result is a lovely garden of colorful flowers with whimsical birds. Thank you Carla, you are truly an angel.

Home Economics Drop Out

If you know me then you know I do not pride myself on being a great cook, or even a cook. I can usually put something together that the kids and Ben will eat. This past weekend, with our ingredient stock very slim, I pulled together not one but TWO winners. I feel like a world class chef. The first, a Peanut Butter cake with Chocolate glaze icing, disappeared in a record 24 hour period. The second, Oatmeal chocolate chip cookie bars, have made the children (and adults) of the house, who previously hated oatmeal cookies, beg for more.

Do you notice a theme...My motto is "If it isn't chocolate, it just isn't worth it."

Keep in mind these are SIMPLE recipes therefore I was able to make them correctly.

Peanut Butter Cake:
1 yellow cake mix and ingredients to make it (I used a butter recipe)
1/2 cup peanut butter

Here's the hard part, make cake mix according to package instructions then ADD peanut butter.

Bake according to package, I used a 9x13 cake pan

The Chocloate glaze is from another recipe I mastered (Chocolate Covered Cherry Cake) but today we just used the frosting.

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup whole milk
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Place sugar, butter and milk in a small sauce pan over medium low heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil. Boil, stirring constantly, for one minute. Remove pan from heat and stir in chocolate chips. When chips have melted and glaze is smooth, pour it over warm cake so that it covers the entire surface. Glaze will be thin but will firm up.


Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 stick butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt (opt.)
3 cup Quaker Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1 cup chocolate chips

Beat together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, salt and spices; add to butter mixture, mixing well. Add 1 cup chocolate chips. Stir in oats. Press dough onto bottom of ungreased 13"x9" pan. Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely; cut into 1 1/2" squares. Store in tightly covered container. 4 dozen.

Enjoy!

Helpful hint: When your three year old wants to help crack the egg, have him crack it in a small bowl, then dig the shells out, send him to wash his hands, dump the egg he cracked down the sink, and re-crack an egg before he comes back. Viola, he helped!

Toilet (seat) training

Hayden yelled at me last night because I left the toilet seat down. If the 3 year old is finally realizing that this rule benefits just 20% of the house, do the other men obey because they love me or because I have brainwashed them?

When the other boys began to question why it must go back down I said they have to put it down so mommy won't fall in. In response to the falling in worry, Carter has eliminated the action entirely and attempts to use the toilet seat down (without great success), thus providing yet another reason mommy has to check the seat before sitting down.

In hindsight I should have made the "lid always goes down" rule. Perhaps we can work on that.

My new goal, besides the toilet issue, is to have them pick up their socks. On any given day I can find at least 5 athletic socks, of different sizes, scattered around the house. I think I will collect them, keep them in a smell resistant bag (is there one?) and charge them for socks when they can't find any. I find not only boys socks, but socks from the neighbor girls too. I can only imagine how many boys socks are over at their house. The cool thing is that we can tell whose socks they are by the handy color band on the Hanes socks, blue for Carter, green for Griffin and red for Hayden. No more hearing "those aren't mine." Maybe we should by stock in Hanes. I love Hanes.

Crazy for Wii

My Dad got the boys a Wii for Christmas, they just received it Sunday night. Carter has been boxing and is now a PRO. Griffin tries to do everything Carter does and Hayden is just having fun with Mario Party 8. Carter tried to stay home sick on Tuesday because his whole body ached from his boxing moves. I could sympathize with him since my body ached in places I forgot I had..a few too many games of bowling perhaps? I just found this interesting article about the health benefits of the Wii. Hope you enjoy it.

Is Nintendo about to challenge Jenny Craig? by ZDNet's Chris Matyszczyk -- Guest post: Chris Matyszczyk investigates the power of Nintendo’s Wii and virtual gaming to improve the health and well being of society. Depending on whose statistics you prefer to disbelieve, between 15 and 25 percent of American children are overweight. The causes seem evident to all commentators: too many Whoppers and Gorditas, too many days moving less [...]

Home Grown Colorado: In Search of Grass-fed Beef - Retail

I found a great reference for natural foods in Colorado.


Home Grown Colorado: In Search of Grass-fed Beef - Retail

My exercise class injury

This January I decided to finally lose the 10...ok 15...FINE 20 pounds of extra weight I put on when Ben and Jerry were helping me deal with my mother's death. So I have been running, I have 3 racing bibs so far. I love running, my nikeplus system makes it fun and motivating. For the last few weeks my friend has been telling me about this great exercise class she goes too. So last week I finally went with her.

We start out warming up with a simple grapevine step, I am so uncoordinated, I can barely master this when the instructor takes it up a notch and adds a turn. Ahh, I am lost but muddle through. Oh why does this exercise room have windows to the strength room, everyone can see me look like a fool. I finally (sort of) get it and it is time to move on to the obstacle course.

Put our toes on paper plates and drag yourself across the room with the strength in your arms....Are you kidding me?

Jump side to side over several yard sticks. This I can do.

Jump from BOSU ball to BOSU ball, there are 5 of them. What is this instructor smoking?

Jump onto and back off of a raised aerobic step. Seriously girl..put the crack pipe down.

So rather than listen to my inner wimp saying "run, run far away from here." I decide to try the obstacle course. We start with the paper plates and move through the circuit. My first injury starts with the BOSU balls. I step on one and attempt a jump to the next, lose my balance (big surprise) and roll my left ankle. I walk it off, try to look tough and head to the aerobic step. I jump up, oops not high enough and roll the left ankle again.

This time I see stars, feel like vomitting and hear that crack. No, not from the pipe, from the ankle. I try to make it to the bench outside the room. I indicate that, hell yes I need help, and I am instantly surrounded by 8-10 YMCA employees watching the crazy mom on the bench almost pass out from an exercise class injury.

"We need real ice," one staffer shouts. "Is there anyone we can call for you," another asks. I am just mortified and vow never to return until my hair is a different color and much shorter. My friend just repeats the mantra, "Laura, I am so sorry, I am so sorry." Its not her fault, I now know for sure I am completely uncoordinated and should not be let out of the house.

My 10 year old son helps me hobble to my car where I sit and cry for ten minutes before attempting the drive home. Luckily I have an automatic. We arrive home just before the cub scout meeting starts in my living room. I try to hobble upstairs undetected. Carter makes himself my nurse and fetches ice, ibuprofen and a glass of wine. What a kid!

At the Doctor's office the next day, the nurse and doctor both cringe when they see it. Wow, that makes me feel better. I am sent for an MRI. It turns out I have a avulsion fracture. http://orthopedics.about.com/od/brokenbones/a/avulsion.htm
Apparently I broke part of the bone off my ankle. So now I have been referred to a Physical Therapist. This injury happened on February 5th. I can walk on it, but it is painful if I turn my ankle the wrong way. I haven't been able to start PT yet so I can't run on it anytime soon. I am forced to scratch the next two events off my racing calendar. What a bummer.

Maybe next time I try an exercise class I can participate for longer than 7 minutes.....Who am I kidding, I am never doing one of those again.

Mystery Film Revealed

The mystery film from a few posts ago was finally developed. I feel like Geraldo Rivera during the Big Al Capone Secret Vault Live Remote. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mystery_of_Al_Capone's_Vault
No, it wasn't tearjerking picture of my mother before she passed. There were several pictures of Griffin's Pre-K Mothers' Tea, so I can date the roll to Spring 2006. More pictures of a fun trip to the park with our pre-K friends and younger brother Hayden, and the WIGGLES LIVE in Denver. They are cute pictures and brought back fun memories.

The mom's from our Pre-K class; we called ourselves the Margarita Mom's, we would go have lunch and have "mom-time" every other Friday.

When we took the Griffin and Hayden to see the Wiggles, Hayden just stared at them, he couldn't believe they were really right in front of him. Carter would rather die than go see the Wiggles.

As Hayden says, "Ah, good times, good times."

Colorado Springs Pediatric Dentistry's unreasonable charges

Wow, I am so glad I have a blog, now I can complain to everyone at once!

Let's just start by saying we know Griffin's teeth are B-A-D. Really BAD. When he had an infected tooth we were sent to Colorado Springs Pediatric Dentistry.

We were told he needed a new exam and xrays, then he had the teeth pulled. Our insurance covered most of it. We paid $84.25.


Then we were told to bring him back in for the spacer measurement and to get a cavity fixed. We paid $400.15 for our portion.

I brought him in today to have the spacers inserted. And was not allowed to leave, "no we won't bill you," until I paid another $398.20. And we may still owe more since now we have maxed out Griffin's dental coverage for the calendar year, it is only 42 days into the year.

We reviewed the bills, they charged us for 5 cavities and we expected this to be a one tooth extraction experience. They found several other problem areas and said they informed us of this, although neither of us recall being informed of the huge expensive this would cause. They charged significantly over what the insurance considers reasonable and expect us to pay the difference.

We are still trying to figure out why they charged $300 for sedation when our regular dentist charges $45. Why we have a bill for 5 cavities when went there for one infected tooth? We already have a dentist, why would we want this office to perform all this extra work? Why they charge so much more than the insurance considers reasonable?

We have paid almost $1000 to this office, we were referred there for one infected tooth. I believe they are taking advantage of us by overcharging and billing for work that wasn't neccessary.

From now on, our family will steer clear of Derek Kirkham DDS, and the rest of Colorado Springs Pediatric Dentistry.

UPDATE: Due to recent developments I have an update to this post. Please click here and note, I do not respond well to threats.

mystery film

I found my old camera, a 35mm, about 6 months ago. It has a roll of film with 23 exposures taken still inside. The battery is dead. It needs a battery to do the auto-rewind. So today I finally splurged on a new battery, one of those 123 photo batteries.

The film has to be at least 3 years old. There could be pictures of my Mom before she passed. Hayden as a baby. My mom holding Hayden, yes, unlikely I know. It is probably pictures of the floor, chair, garbage can and other things the kids would take pictures of when they took my camera. This is probably why I have waited to replace the battery and develop the film. I like the thought that a rare, heartwarming, tear jerking picture of my beautiful bald mother and my sweet hairy baby laughing at each other is stuck on that roll of film.

I hope to get it to Walgreens this afternoon and have an answer to the film mystery by tomorrow.

Mental Health

Carter had an, ah ah, fake cough yesterday morning. It cleared up remarkably well after the bus left for school without him on it. So it was clear to me the kid needed a mental health day. He has missed one day this year, so he was probably due.

Carter started out his day by studying (on his own) his World of Science book. The periodic table of elements was of particular interest. He said he was trying to find a replacement for plastic that would be just as strong but environmentally friendly. Ok, have fun, I told him.

Griffin left for school before Carter's, ah ah, cough cleared up, so he was in the dark about Carter's free day off. Hayden on the other hand had his cool big brother make him pancakes for breakfast before preschool. I was a bit concerned, this breakfast menu changed happened while I was trying to get ready. Carter got out the electric griddle, halfed the bisquick recipe, and made awesome pancakes for the two of them.

Hayden got a piggyback ride into school (no, not from me) and introduced "Tarter" to his teachers and friends. He was very sad when we left him, but got over it quick.

Carter and I were off again, running errands, getting stuff done before the preschool pick up, our clock was ticking. On Carter's list of things to do was get a haircut, not a trim like he usually gets, but a full haircut. I was happy to add that to my list too.

We made it back early to pick up Hayden, and Carter lost me in the church. He asked Hayden's teacher if she had seen his mom. She said, who's your mom sweetie? She didn't recognize him with his new haircut!

Hayden and Carter ("I'm not tired, I can't sleep" said Carter) took a 2 1/2 hour nap. Woke up to leftover pulled pork sandwiches for dinner (Hayden had 3) and off to bed again around 8pm and woke up this morning to a two hour snow delay. Maybe I can convince Carter to make pancakes again today!

Carter's Birthday Party

Skate City looks exactly the same as it did in 1983, except then it was called Torchlight. The skates may even be the same ones used back then. Carter had fun with his new inline skates. Hayden and Molly skated together.