#1) Rock, Paper, Scissor:

#2) The BLT sandwich:

#3) The Starbucks Frappuccino: 

Check out this Take Charge video. Awesome!

In case you want some fun stats to back up what you probably already know… this social media thing seems to be catching on

It’s been 2 weeks since we began potty training our 22 month old girl and 33 month old boy. Since they are close in age, we decided to try to train them both at the same time. Before embarking on this little adventure, my wife did some online research and found The Official “3 Day Potty Training” Method by Lora Jensen. I’ll be the first to admit that I thought it sounded crazy that we could potty train out kids in 3 days, but I was curious, so we bought the ebook from Lora’s site. After talking to other parents who have spent months training and after reading the 3 day method book, it sounded worth trying.

So on Friday, May 15, 2009, we started the “program”. It’s a cold-turkey-all-or-nothing-deal. I won’t go into all the details, but we tried to follow the method in the book as much as possible. That means throwing away all the diapers in the house. No pull-ups, no training pants, no diapers for night time or long car rides… it’s game on kids!

Surprisingly enough, it really works! The first days were about as messy as you would expect. After a day and a half, it all “clicked” for our little girl. By the end of day 3, our boy was catching on too.

Lora’s method says that 22 months old is the ideal age and older kids can have a harder time learning since they are “old” and “set in their ways” a little more. I would certainly agree. Our 22 month old has it all nailed. She has had only a rare accident in two weeks and usually wakes up dry after nap and night time. Our nearly 3 year old boy is still usually wet in the morning, but he has made it through a few nights dry already.

Feel free to share your own potty training stories in the comments section below.

It’s Mother’s Day! I created a 30 second video for my wife just to let her know that she is the best Mommy! Thanks to her for being the best baby-mama ever!

So my wife has been out of town at a conference for the past 4 days. I took the time off work and have been watching our 2 year old boy and 1 year old girl. I have to say, my hat is off to all the single parents out there. I don’t know how you do it week in and week out. It was cool, I’m not complaining, but I’m not going to tell you that it wasn’t tiring also.
It probably didn’t help that I got the 24 hour flu in the middle of it all (no, it wasn’t swine flu). That day went kinda like this: “here kids, lets put all the butterflies back in the Elefun game so that you will be distracted for a minute while daddy goes to throw up”… yeah, not fun.

We did some fun things like go to the Mall and playing at the park. But mostly I realized that I should appreciate my wife more and the work that she does daily as a stay home mom with two little ones. It really is a miracle to get much of anything done besides the basics of life while providing an environment for the kids that is safe, educational, and loving.
Good work, Mommy! Come home soon!

This video is amazing. Inspiration can come from anywhere. For me, it is often at unexpected times and from unexpected places. I have learned though to pause and take note of those moments: a creative idea, an insight, a new understanding… because the other thing I know is that inspiration is fleeting and often leaves as unexpectedly as it arrives.

So what inspires you?

So my wife and I just finished taking the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class through our church. The class met once a week for about 12 weeks. I have to say, going to this class was one of the best things we have done since we got married. I wish we would have taken this class together when we first got married.

The main point is to “live like no one else, so that later, you can really live like no one else”.  This isn’t get rich quick, and it’s certainly not easy.  Most of what is covered in the class could be considered common sense – create a budget, spend less than you make, don’t go in debt, saving is important, etc.  Not really rocket science here.  The issue, for me at least, is that like so many things in life that I know I should do, it’s easier to be lazy instead of disciplined. It’s easy to say, “well, I know I should take some time to make a budget and keep track of what I spend, but MY life is just too busy for that”.

You can read Dave’s book The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness or you can listen to his radio show, but I found that taking the class helped me move from a good theory to action.  When you take the class, you have a date and time reserved on the calendar that forces you to follow through.  Not that you can’t do it by just reading the book, but I think there’s a lot more opportunity for distraction and busyness to interfere when you don’t have the built in accountability of taking a class.

You can find a class near you and other online resources here http://www.daveramsey.com/fpu/home/

Welcome to my first post in the MtDewKids blog. Why the name “MtdDewKids” you may ask? Well, I like to drink Mt. Dew and I have a couple kids. Plus I just think it’s kinda catchy. No, I don’t let my kids (1 year old girl and 2 year old boy) drink Mt. Dew. Sorry kids.

Jenna at 1 day old. In her car seat to go home from hospital.