Our $20 gift card for $60

A local gas station has a great deal: For $30 they will give you 3 car washes(worth $8 each) and a $20 gift certificate to Applebee's. Seeing an opportunity for a cheap date we bought it.

Try #1: We went to Applebees that night to use the gift card. Turns out the items we bought were not able to count for the $20 deal. Dang, we payed for the meal and left the restaurant with our gift card.

Try #2: Valentine's day I thought to myself we have a free meal at Applebee's, we might as well go out to lunch since it is the day of love. Unfortunately the card wasn't redeemable on Valentine's day so once again we paid for the meal and left the restaurant with our gift card.

Try #3: Last night we dropped the kids off at our friends and headed to Applebee's for one last try. (Anthony and I were both in agreement on the way to the restaurant if we couldn't redeem it tonight, we would then give the gift card away). We were finally able to redeem the card, however, it was the longest wait we have ever had to be seated, and to be feed. To top it off both Anthony and I were sick within 30 minutes of leaving the restaurant. Although the gas station deal has treated many of our friends to a cheap meal Anthony and I will never be buying that again.

Although the gift card to Applebee's didn't treat us very good, the car washes made the car look great.

A picnic in February

Anthony came home to eat lunch with us yesterday, to make it fun for the kids we had a picnic. It is still freezing cold here, so we improvised and had the picnic in the living room. The kids loved it. Kenzie thought she should be the main course:

Parker was adorable, he not only helped pack the lunch, but dished up every one's plate. It was funny to see what portion size Parker thinks is adequate. Parker gave everyone a little bit of everything then put the rest of the food on his plate.

As quickly as Kenzie was invited to the party she then had to be un-invited. Her idea of a good picnic is to dump all the food all over the blanket. Kenzie spent the rest of lunch next to us, but in her high chair. Although she couldn't eat on the blanket she (and everyone else) seemed to enjoy the picnic.

Not sharing

Sometimes Parker has a real hard time sharing. On a daily basis he takes toys away from McKenzie. Tonight he stepped it up a notch to ensure McKenzie could not play with the toys he wanted. He took a whole basket full of fake food and shoved the food in his pajamas, just so McKenzie couldn't play with the food.

Kenzie's busy week.

McKenzie has had a couple "firsts" this week:

For the past couple of weeks McKenzie has wanted/tried to throw objects in the toilet. This week was her first successful attempt.

She was my first kid to poop in the tub. Poor Parker was the finder of this "first" and was not very happy about it.

This week she started a new thing where during the hymns at church she dances.

Happy Valentine's Day

Love,
Parker and McKenzie

No, No, No

Kenzie gets in trouble when she throws her food on the ground. The other night she was taking forever to eat so everyone had left the table and McKenzie was left in the dining room alone to finished up eating. When I came back into the dining room I found McKenzie throwing her food on the ground. I didn't say one word I just looked at her and she gave me this huge grin and shook one finger at me and told me "no, no, no" I laughed so hard, she totally knows when she is doing a no, no and she totally got caught. Here is her telling me "no, no"

A party at the Moeller's

This weekend my brother and his wife Alex, and my sister and her family of 5 came for a visit. It was pretty crammed in our little 3 bedroom apartment, but we ate good and had lots of fun. Every time I left the house I forgot the camera, but I did remember to take a couple pictures. We got to celebrate Alex's b-day

Jason tried out some wrestling moves on Parker.

The first couple days were real cold, but thanks to the Wii we could still golf, play tennis and do lots of other fun games you usually can't play while there is snow on the ground.

Parker and Ben played hard. Jacob and Angie were good supervisors.

Here is Brian and Maddie playing

Besides seeing my wonderful family, my favorite part of the trip was watching the boys (Anthony, Jason, and Brian) compete on the Outdoor Challenge. I could make fun of each of them, but choose to leave no pictures and poke no fun. I just enjoyed the show.