Knowlege Is Power...

Guest Post by Jess:

So Kelli and I have been doing pretty good about watching what we eat the last three weeks and exercising pretty regularly. Tonight we both had a huge craving for chocolate chip cookies (known as one of the food staples around our house). As many of you know Kelli makes some of the best chocolate chip cookies in the world. As they say - practice makes perfect. At least a couple of times a week Kelli used to make cookies and we would each eat 6-8 cookies before heading to bed.

I figured that since we have been so good lately we could put the kids to bed, whip up a batch of cookies, and guiltlessly polish off the whole batch. I got out the mixer and asked Kelli to tell me the recipe since she has it memorized. She said, "One cup of shortening" so I grabbed the shortening and then made the mistake of reading the nutritional value label. It said 120 calories per tablespoon. My first thought was that there is no way she meant a cup, she must have meant a tablespoon so I asked her. She confirmed that the recipe called for one full cup of shortening (which just happens to be 16 tablespoons according to my friend Google). At this point I wrote down the recipe, went to the computer, and calculated exactly how many calories we were preparing to consume. 1 batch of Kelli's best = 6650 calories! Each cookie is 222 calories!

I'm happy to report that no cookies were made in our house tonight and I will never be able to look at a chocolate chip cookie again with blissful ignorance of how many minutes on a treadmill each one represents.

Daddy's little girls

Lexi Update

Alexis hit her 6 month mark on September 22. A little late, but here is how she stacked up: She was 14.1lbs, 25.5" long and her head is 16 3/4". I have introduced her to rice cereal. She is not a fan. I keep trying, but I fear she may do what Summer did and just start eating real food. Here are her great skills in pictures:
This picture was taken at about 5 1/2 months. That is when she began to try and scoot herself around. Here she is even trying to stand up on her toy basket. No, no, no little girl!

This was taken right around 6 months. She figured out how to get up on her knees and make them move. I started putting her in dresses to slow her down. It didn't work.

This little hat is from our dress up box. I think it was Matthew who put it on her and she didn't mind at all. She must be all girl.

She's already not listening to me about standing up. Doesn't she know that she is too young? How many times will I say that to her in life? Yep, so, we're in trouble!

"Why not, Mommy? I can do it!"

She is really good at pulling up now. She has even figured out how to sit down after getting up. I think it's cute when they figure out how to get up but then are terrified once they get there and realize they can't get down. I spent a lot of time re-laying her down in her crib for about two weeks. Now if she could only find her own pacifier in the dark, we'd be set.

I am not fond of her uber-mobile-ness because not only is she our last, so we want to enjoy the baby stage as long as possible, Matthew did all of those things early, and we all know how "busy" he is. How could I survive two?

A day in the life of our monkey...

The day usually starts out with a 4am move to Mom and Dad's bed. He loves to snuggle up in between us. (yes, this photo is staged, but for history's sake, needed to be documented! I got the idea with the next photo)

A little grocery sack racing, anyone? I think he hopped around for 20 minutes. I couldn't do that!

Anywhere we go, Matthew makes a new friend. He is not shy at all. This woman is his favorite when we go to T Jay's baseball games and practices. He will follow her around and ask her 100 times "want to see my tricks?" Luckily, she is really nice about it.

must be his little charmer ways!

Performing his tricks for the baseball fans. He loves having people watch him dance, jump and hop around.

Matthew with his birthday balloons. He really likes balloons right now.

"Catch me if you can, Mom!" This was his birthday gift.

Trying on T Jay's new batting helmet. Not an uncommon outfit for Matthew on any given day.

You see where my creative genius was going with his cake. With 3, soon to be 4 adamant helpers, I have decided that I won't be turning out any masterpieces any time soon. Matthew loved his cake, and he loved helping make it. I guess at the end of the day, that's what is important.

Watching a little How it's made with Dad and the kids.

No day is complete with out a little nudity.

Showing T Jay one of his favorite hiding places.

Exhausted by 6:45!

* For posterity's sake, here are my favorite Matthew-isms: hork (fork), beet (feet), bace (face), lellow (yellow), "I'm a naked boy!", "Are you home?", "I'm back!", "I found you!", "I hungry.", "You got me."

His favorite foods are: cheese, PBJ, noodles, all fruit, cucumbers, hot dogs, and all items made with sugar.

Favorite things to play: running, jumping, throwing balls, riding bikes, climbing, dress up and playgrounds.

Favorite shows: Special Agent Oso, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Curious George.

Favorite movies: Robots, Wall-E, and any Barbie movies.

He is obsessed with Chuck E. Cheese, even though I think it's a germ fest. Every time we pass it, he says, "I want to go to Chuck E. Cheese's!" He never misses it, even if I try to distract him!

Happy Birthday Matthew!

On this date in history, Matthew joined our family in a whirl wind (we were at the hospital for 14 minutes, seriously, a whirl wind people!). He hasn't stopped in three years! Happy Birthday to him for coming and Happy birthday to us for getting to have him in our family. Stay tuned for a day in the life of Matthew! It should be a real treat!

A great tip...

Today I was watching a couple of Tivo'd Dr Oz shows. He is great, I love his real age info, if you haven't heard of him, you should google him. Anyways, he did a segment on how clean bathrooms are. He had three audience members send in an item from their bathrooms prior to the show to be tested. One lady's toothbrush and holder tested positive for 3 separate bacteria, one of them being e coli, and I'm not sure which one, but it was related to fecal matter! The cause, get this! He showed a clip from a science show where they showed a toilet being flushed with infrared lights. Toilet water particles sprayed up into the air. He said that the needing to be flushed toilet water can float around in the air for several hours. The solution to that unpleasant thought, close the lid before you flush! Training begin tomorrow with our little beans. "Put the seat down" is so yesterday. Say it with me, close the lid!!
*Also, he said that eating a vitamin C tablet can counteract asparagus making your urine smell bad.

Little Mama

Summer is the big sister of all big sisters! She is also a great little mama! She holds "Dolly", (her nickname for Lexi) plays with her, gets her out of bed, burps her, reads to her etc. Anything to do with Lexi, she's game. I always tell Summer to be careful with how she jiggles Lexi because like all of the rest, she spits up a lot. On Monday morning I overheard her tell Jess that she "even didn't care if she smelled like spit up" and then went right on hugging her. I hope they always have such a cute bond.