Don't cry over spilt milk

Just another morning, the boys wanted a drink and mom was giving the baby a bath. There just has to be a way to be in two places at once.

Santa's missing cookies.

Caught red handed behind the Christmas Tree (the two days we had it up) eating cookie dough for breakfast...hope Santa won't miss these cookies.

Ames day spa

"Mommy, I naughty." Famous last words at our house! Nothing better for your skin than a vasaline bath. Liam got the bottle and took it to his room and dived right in.



Not sure that Zoe enjoyed it as much as Liam did....she does have a nice shiny coat now.Something new everyday.

This is the result of things like this.....


and this.....

aaarrrggg! Hope it will help...(not likely) :)

Breakfast at the Ames

Aiden and Liam got tired of waiting for me to get breakfast....it was only 7:30...so they did it themselves! YUMMY! This is Aiden's french bread, white bread, pancakes, nutty bar, and a sucker!

This one was Liams, and his was a pancake with syrup between to layers of bread. Talk about carb overload!

Burried Treasure

While we were in Colorado visiting our best friends the Lindorfs, the boys got into their normal mischievous ways. After putting them to bed one of the nights, this is how we found them. They had both crawled into the pack-and-play and fell asleep......it gets better.After removing Liam and putting him back into bed, we found the "stolen loot"! Notice all the cash and candy wrappers and Brants knife. The knife is to protect their treasure? (Don't worry, it has a lock on it and they can not open it.) They think they are so sneaky!

Frosted glass

Our disasters have been few and far between, and I can't say I mind that! However, this is our latest. I was upstairs changing the baby when I heard a crash and out of habit, I grabbed the camera. I found the boys in the kitchen eating frosting that I had put in the refrigerator in a glass bowl (bad idea)! They had dropped and shattered the bowl......and were still eating it with glass all over the place. The glass was in the frosting so I have no idea how they did not eat it. What kids will do for a little sugar! Oh, and I forgot to mention that the fridge has a lock on it that they busted through. Luckily the only one to get cut was mom from picking up the pieces. Just another day at the Ames.

Aiden Loves His Little Brother

It has been a while since we posted anything on the boys. Not that they have settled down, but we have been busy with a house full. I thought I would share a sweet incident about Aiden and his new baby brother. Keli had just finished nursing Cullen when Aiden's afternoon school bus rolled up. I put his shoes on him. He grabbed his backpack and slid his arms in to the shoulder straps. We were set, I opened the door to walk him to the bus, when he froze. Holding one finger up, he told me to "wait one minute". This is a new thing of his, even though he does not have any concept of time. He turned and ran into the living room where Keli was sitting with Cullen resting on her lap. Curious, I peaked around the corner to see what was so important. He ran over to Cullen and kissed his new baby brother on the head as gently as a four year old could. Objective accomplished, he ran back over, grabbed my had and said "OK, lets go". We walked to the bus a proud father and a happy big brother.

My little baker

Liam decided he wanted to help make biscuits.....and Zoe got to help too. Good thing it was before the water was added!

No more monkeys jumping on the bed!

They boys love to jump on the beds, and to no surprise....broke one! Just another day at the Ames. Well they were up playing for a while in there room and after they had finally stopped I went to check on them. Which happens to be a normal nightly routine at our house, because you never know what you are going to find! Well Liam had fallen asleep in the broken part of the bed, the slats under the bed are busted so the mattress is falling to the floor. He is wedged between the mattress and the foot board. We had to pull him out because he was stuck. He looks like he is in prison....which is what they need some nights!

Bombs away!

Liam loves to throw things down my stairs, and it usually is just what ever is within reach. Today it was the new bottle of sunscreen! The bottle busted and sunscreen exploded everywhere....he then thought it would be fun to have a second bath this morning in it. The damage to him that you see is only half of it...his backside is nice and coated too. Does sunscreen stain? I guess it is a good thing they make steam cleaners for people like us!

Rear-view Mugshots

So we are having a terrible time with the boys keeping on their clothes...and underclothes. They think that shedding diapers is entertainment. I don't know what they like better, being naked or mom having to clean up the disaster that usually follows (I spared you those photos). We have done duct tape....they are too smart for that one! So Brant decided to "lock" them in there pj's. We cut the arms and legs off so they would not get to hot and then made them put them on backwards. Now it is only a matter of time before they realize that they can unzip each other. Hopefully this will hold for a bit.

I HELP!

As if the marker was not enough fun for the day, Liam decided to feed the dog....hope you are hungry Zoe!

Blue, mamma!

Liam just showing that he can be crafty too.....with a permanent marker! At least we will be camping this weekend and won't have to go to church this way. I have found that Tide pens take off permanent marker on skin (don't ask why we found this out!)

Yummy Treats!

Aiden decided it was Cooking Day! Let me name the ingredients in this lovely desert...two chocolate cake mixes, five boxes of pudding, four boxes of Jello, a box of Jello cheesecake mix, and a bag of powered sugar....mmm yummy! Don't forget the breast pump that is on the floor too....not sure what that was going to be used for. :)

My boys are such "helpers"! Aiden decided that my linen/storage closet was not organized up to his standards. Luckily none of the shampoos spilled on the carpet....which at our house is something that would have happened.

Liams new word "Pretty"

What every father fears, their son wearing makeup and thinking they look "pretty."

Has Aiden found his passion?

Aiden mixed several ingredients to make something. Lets see, a little sesame, cake sprinkles, M&Ms and salt.

Its not what you think

Aiden dumped (no pun intended) cinnamon in the toilet. I cannot explain why, other than, it looked cool. The bathroom smelled awesome for weeks.

A Balanced Breakfast

Yum, Cheez-its and ice cream for breakfast.

Orange no!

I spent last weekend tearing apart the back yard. Keli, being prego, helped by keeping me hydrated with regular water runs. As it always starts, one of the boys is missing and quiet. Keli found Liam in the pantry eating orange. No not the fruit.
The food coloring. Not the first food coloring incident we've had. Thinking we learned from the first incident, we placed the food coloring for Keli's cakes on the top shelf of the pantry. The pantry door has a child lock on it. Yeah it worked real well. I still wonder what it tastes like...

Did you think they would last? (blinds take 2)

We bought new blinds for the boys room. Yes we thought it would work. It was made with a solid vinyl sheet. Oh boy are we naive.
There were teeth marks on the vinyl. They really are good boys. Honest.

Smuggling Contraband (blinds take 1)

In prison they regularly search the inmates cells for contraband, so I hear. We have not felt the need to go to that extreme with the boys...until we discovered this.The contraband? Scissors, smuggled in before bed time and hidden under his bed after the incident. The blinds were ruined. On the brighter side, they didn't stab the mattresses.

Party when the lights go out

When the boys are put to bed, we hear a lot of noise coming from their room. They laugh, giggle, jump on beds and move furniture. The party goes late in the night. Checking on the boys, we can only assume they fell asleep where they dropped.

Liam sleeping half under his bed.

Aiden sleeping on the air vent.

Lets Make Some Cookies

Aiden wanted cookies. Unfortunately, cookies were not readily available. He came up with an ingenious plan to make them himself. So he gathered the ingredients he had seen mom use to make cakes: sugar, powder sugar, frosting and peanut butter. He decided to find a nice place to make his cookies and began mixing the ingredients on the couch in the play room.

Aiden had to clean it up...look at the smile on his face :) He loves the vacuum.

Its been a while...

Life has been busy for Keli and I over the past few months. Unfortunately, this has not slowed down Aiden and Liam. Sooo......here we go.

They just keep getting smarter

The dauntless duo go to bed at 7:30 each night. We follow the same routine. We change diapers, put on PJ's and get milk in sippy cups. Before they climb into bed and get their milk, we say prays and tuck them in. Upon exiting the room, we have our routine security checks. 1. Remove all toys from the room. If toys are left, they will play. 2. Make sure the lights are unscrewed. That is correct unscrewed. We tried taping the light switch, but they pulled the tape off. So I unscrewed the light bulbs so they cannot turn the lights on. 3. Completely close the closet door. The closet is where we have their two dressers. The door has a child handle on it. This prevents little hands from turning it. This solution has worked for months and we have been very pleased with it until tonight.

Keli finished folding some of the boys cloths. Since it was 9:30, she thought they would be asleep and could sneak in and put the cloths away. When she approached the room, she noticed light coming from underneath the door. ARGH! She called me from the office. Opening the door, we found our wonderful sons in the closet.

They wanted to help mom put away cloths so they completely emptied out their drawers. Under the pile of cloths are their pillows, comforters and blankies. I guess we need to get some straps so the dresses wont fall on them.

Aren't they just adorable! Notice the laminate floor? Their room is the only one in the house that has that. That was specially done for them, to make "messes" easier to clean.

Not even for a second...

Periodically Keli gets on a baking kick. Yesterday, she wanted to make some sugar cookies for her visiting teaching sisters. Like all good bakers, she keeps a cup of flour for dusting the dough when rolling it out. Baleigh called her for some assistance, so Keli went to help her in the play room. When Keli returned to the kitchen, she saw some strange pale monster eating the flour.

Where do they get the idea?

The other day Keli had been up all night sick. Therefore, I stayed home and watched the kids since it was their spring break. apparently I did not watch them close enough.

The day before Aiden discovered how to unlock and open windows. Keli discovered this because she noticed his and Liams bedding, pillows, clothes and diapers (yes they were naked) on the grass outside the kitchen window when they should have been clothed and taking a nap. That night I purchased window locks that would prevent them from opening it too far. I felt it was a good idea to put them on Baleigh's windows also. On her windows, I made it so she could open them about four inches.

Since I was playing Mr. Mom, I made the kids help with some spring cleaning. Baleigh asked Keli to check her room so she could go play. Keli saw the screen to one of the windows was popped out. Looking to see where the screen was she came across this.

Aiden decided that he did not like some of Baleigh's crafts and pictures so he threw them out the window. Notice all the paper in the gutter. Through the other window, books from her collection were also scattered on the roof.

Thank You for Plastic Peanut Butter Jars

The other evening Keli and I sat down to watch some TV before putting the kids to bed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a green streak race from kitchen towards the play room. It was Aiden in his green jammies. He was carrying something, so I had to act fast. I ran after him and entered the play room, but he was not there. I opened the bathroom door and there he was. The culprit had enough time to take the lid off the peanut butter he stole from the pantry and dip a spoon in. By the time I entered the bathroom, the spoon was already in his mouth. I startled Aiden so bad, he threw the jar and spoon on the ground and raised his hands in the air as if to proclaim his innocence. Its a good thing the new peanut butter jars are plastic or we would have had a bigger mess with a broken jar.

The Dreaded Silence

Every parents worst nightmare is the calm that precedes the storm. For some reason unbeknownst to man, children get quiet when mischievousness abounds.

Our first adventure of Aiden and Liam begins at dinner, Keli made pork chops with mash potatoes, gravy and corn. Aiden refused to use a fork and began to devour his dinner with his hands. Liam followed his older brothers example and dropped his fork on the floor for Zoe, the dog, to lick clean.

After dinner, the kids scurried off to get some last minute playing in before bed. Keli and I began cleaning up the dishes. After a few minutes, I realized the boys were being quiet, too quiet. The silence was deafening. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end, something was not right. I looked in the play room and they were not there. So I ventured up stairs. The light to my room was off. Unfortunately, light was shining underneath the door to the bathroom. My heart sank, nothing good could come from this. Opening the door slowly, I saw the adventurous duo doing what they do best. Both felt the need to wash up after a hearty meal. Aiden stripped down to his bare bottom, climbed into the tub and started to take a cold bath. Liam could not climb into the bath, so he go into the shower, grabbed the hair conditioner and completely lathered his little head with half the bottle.


Beware the dreaded silence. When it creeps on you, it is too late. Disaster has already struck.