Brick Oven Update

I finally gave up on my husband calling Brick Oven to complain about our Valentine's day experience, so I called and spoke to one of the managers yesterday. She listened to me vent about our horrible evening and then apologized about how her restaurant had contributed to it. She said she was appalled by the thought that one of their waiters called us at home. She said they should never call a customer, but especially if it was their fault that they wrote the credit card number down wrong. She also admitted that the $50 extra that the waiter said it would cost the restaurant if we waited to process the bill till the next day, was a total lie on his part. I explained that we were so disappointed that we weren't coming back and she said she hated that this experience was the last time Brick Oven would have to leave an impression on us. So, she offered us a $50 gift certificate to make it up to us and hoped that we would take advantage of the offer and come try them again. I agreed to take it and come back some time. So, in the end I got want I wanted that night, someone to admit that what was going on was ridiculous and offer to comp our meals. This way they covered the cost of our meals plus some extra. So, hopefully the next time we return, we will have a much better dinner.

My Valentine's Day Experience

I had such an interesting Valentine's Day I just had to blog about it!! All the adventure started when Don and I got to Brick Oven. It has become a tradition with us to go to Brick Oven on Valentine's Day and wait for an hour (sometimes even more) to get seated and then eat and go to a movie. Well, this year we had an hour and 40 minute wait. We ran a couple of errands and then returned. While we were waiting, I grabbed Don's blackberry and started checking facebook. I saw my husband's nice status ("Don is proclaiming to the facebook world that he's in love with his wife! Happy Valentine's Day!!") and thought I should comment on it. So, I wrote "I'm in love with you too!!!" and hit comment. Well, for whatever reason, it added that comment to EVERYONE'S status that already had a comment on it. I freaked out!!! I had just written on approximately 15 people's status that I was in love with them. Don is trying to calm me down, telling me at least it was something nice... Needless to say, it didn't work! He is frantically trying to reload facebook to see if it was just an error. It wasn't. So, then we start going through the process of deleting the comment. The problem is that on a blackberry it is a long, drawn out task and it takes forever to do it once, let alone 15 or so times!!! I was still doing this when we were called back to our table. This is when the second part of our night began...

We could tell right away that our server wasn't going to be all we had hoped for. Is it too much to ask that when you go to a nice restaurant that you should expect good service? Well, it never happens to Don and I. Every Valentine's Day it is the same thing. We've tried many different places too! Well, this time our server was trying to rush us through every process. We just waited an hour and a half for our table, I was going to take my time and enjoy myself!!! On top of that, I was feverishly trying to save myself from total humiliation on facebook!! I refused to order until I had everything deleted. (Thankfully my brother called and I had him log on as me and finish. Whew!!!!) Without going into every detail, the waiter only refilled Don's water once, even though he sat there for 80% of his meal with an empty cup, he tried to take our appetiser from us even though we had at least a third of it left (and we're still eating!!), when he did refill my pop, he sat it on the end of the table and just slid it down, saloon style, to my end of the table (thankfully not into my lap). Our food was okay, not what I wanted because they took that off the menu, oh, and increased the prices too!! If that wasn't bad enough... the worst is still yet to come!!!

It was finally time to pay and get out of there. He brought us our check and Don gave him his credit card. We sat, waiting and waiting and waiting. Finally our server comes back and tells us that they are having trouble with their credit card machine and wants to know if we have another form of payment. Don tells him no, not unless they can take a check. Well, no they couldn't do that. (I don't carry that much cash on me!) He disappears for a long time and comes back again saying it is still not working. So, he says he will go talk to the manager and try again. He finally comes to our table with one of the old credit card slips and has written down our credit card information and we just need to sign it. We asked to speak to a manager and she acts as if she could care less what problems we had that night and barely apologizes for the fact we waited 40 minutes to pay!! During all of this time you would have thought maybe we would have been offered a free dessert or at least a drink refill, but nope. We sat there with nothing. Don and I were so furious that we just sign the slip and got out of there. I had wanted to go get smoothies from the mall, but it took so long to pay that we didn't have time. I was so upset!!! They had ruined our meal. We both decided to not let them ruin our entire night, so we went and got drinks from Starbucks and went to a movie.

We chose "Confessions of a Shopaholic" at 10:00. So, you would think we would be safe at the movies right? Wrong!! The previews had started and I went to put my phone on silence and noticed my mom had tried calling. My parents were watching my kids, so I immediately called them back. She was calling because Brick Oven had called there, waking them up! They needed us to call them back because our credit card wasn't going through. Why? They wrote the number down wrong!!!!! Yes, after all of that, they were still ruining our night!! My mom told them that we were at a movie and they said it wasn't a big deal, we could call on Sunday with the correct number. So, Don and I settle in for the movie. You would think our story would end there, but it doesn't!!! About a half hour into the movie, Don's phone starts ringing. It was my mom again. Brick Oven had called our house again, waking everyone up, again! It turns out that if the transaction waits overnight to be completed, it will cost the restaurant an additional $50. So, we really needed to call them back before midnight so they wouldn't have to pay the extra money. So what you say? Well, if it hadn't been for my parents at our house, we would have just told them too bad also, but with them continually calling my house, we felt that we had to finish it then so my family could sleep. So Don left the movie and went to call Brick Oven. Don was gone for a few minutes and came back. He had talked/yelled at our waiter and at the end of the conversation our meal was free, but only because Don was mean. Well, after a while, Don calmed down and felt bad for how he treated the waiter on the phone, so he left the movie, again, and called back and gave him the correct credit card number. We finished watching the movie and went home, trying to salvage the rest of our night.

I'm still not finished with Brick Oven yet. I intend to call back and speak to another manager about our evening. I still can't believe how poorly everything went. I have never been so horrified by an experience at a restaurant in my life. And that is saying a lot because Don and I have horrible luck with restaurants.

Oh, by the way, I loved the movie and Don enjoyed what parts he did get to see. And we will never go back to Brick Oven!!

A Big Day...

We had a big day around our house today. First, this morning we had dentist appointments for the girls. This was Lily's first dentist visit and she did great! She looked so big sitting in the chair. We had no problems and came away with beautiful teeth!!

Here she is in the chair... she is growing up so fast!!



Here Madison and Lily are waiting for the dentist to come check Lily's teeth, so they are watching a movie in the chair! How high-tech have we gotten?

Also today, we had Ignasio's birthday party at the skating rink. This was Lily's first time skating. She was super excited and had a great time. Madison just loves any chance to go skating and she had a wonderful time too! And for those of you who know Don well, you know he wasn't going to miss a chance to skate/dance!! Here are some pictures of the fun-filled evening.

One of my favorite parts of the night was the hokey-pokey. All the kids tried it and here are some of the moments we caught on camera...

Here is Madison trying the first time and Caden skating away like a pro!

Brennen - he made it all the way under and then fell at the last minute.

Lily- she kept skating, and skating, and skating...

until she ran right into it!

KayLynn - she's going to make it.

And here is Jason... what a cutie and look at this pose! One hand on the cup and the other in his pocket!!


And of course I have to throw in a picture of Taegan!! Here he is in his new stroller (an early birthday present thanks to Nana and Papa). What an adorable smile!!

My Little Cheerleader!

This last Saturday was Madison's first Upwards cheerleading event of the season! She was a cheerleader last year and couldn't wait for it to start this year too! She woke up Saturday morning and first thing wanted to know if she could put on her uniform. I made her wait until after lunch so it wouldn't get dirty but also because she doesn't cheer every Saturday until 2:00!! I know, I know... horrible time, but I didn't get to pick.

She had her uniform laid out, ready to go since Friday afternoon. She was SOOOOO excited. Here she is just before the game.
















Her favorite part of the game, by far, is when they announce all the cheerleaders names and they all run out into the gym. She is so cute and even though as the coach I am not having the time of my life, I am trying to see it through her eyes and to her, life couldn't get any better than this!! I know one day Don and I are probably going to go watch her cheer somewhere. Right now she says she wants to be a KU cheerleader, so we'll see.
















Here she is with the rest of her team, the Sparkles. (Notice the wonderful coaching being done in the bottom-left of this picture!!)

Update on my Lily...

I figured since I updated you on Madison and Taegan, then I should let you know what Lily has been up to. She is growing and growing... she is wearing all size 4 and 4T clothing and can wear any of Madison's leggings (size 5). The girls don't like it that they can share leggings, but I figure this is just the start of fights over clothes! She also is just looking more grown up, which is hard to believe since she isn't even 3 1/2 yet. She loves playing dress up and helping around the house. She is always telling me that she wants to be a mommy. She wants to do all the "fun" things that I get to do around the house... like the laundry, emptying the dishwasher, cleaning and vacuuming the house, all that fun stuff! I'm sure in a few years, when some of these things are her chores, then they won't seem so fun, but for now, I'm trying to let her help. She is definitely the drama queen in our house and lives up to her title every day!! Here are some funny pictures of her over the past couple weeks.

This is Papa and his grand kids when he came to visit. Lily loves her Papa!!

On Christmas Eve we all went over to my brother's house and Lily tried being a rock star!!

This is just my Lily. If she is in a good mood, then she is in a VERY good mood... all smiles and making everyone laugh!

Taegan is growing up!

Taegan is getting so big. I can't believe he is 7 1/2 months old now. Up until Christmas, we could never get him to sit up on his own for very long. He would start to sit up and then seconds later he would fall over. Well, on Christmas morning we sat him down in front of his Santa gift and from that point on, he has been sitting up. I personally think it's because his sisters wouldn't quit playing with his present, but whatever it takes!! Here he is, trying to stay up and looking a little concerned.

A few days earlier my dad was feeding him and he decided to hold his own bottle. He hadn't ever done this before, but has done it ever since. I'm not sure what brought it on, maybe he didn't like how we were doing it!!

And finally tonight... Don had just finished feeding him and was letting him drink (otherwise known as, let the water pour into his mouth) some water from his sippie cup. Taegan took the cup and starts holding it (as best he can) and puts it up to his mouth. Here is a picture of him holding the cup and then another picture of him looking at Mommy like... what are you doing?!

I know as his mom I should be so happy he is learning all these new things, but he is my last baby and it makes me kind of sad. I'm trying to enjoy every new stage and not live in the past or try and make him grow up too fast either!! Here is one more picture of Taegan on Christmas day that I love. He was so excited to tear into his present and isn't he the most adorable baby boy you ever did see (even if I do say so myself!!!).

Madison's First Lost Tooth!!

Madison has had 2 loose teeth for a couple months now, but finally lost the first one last week! She had been wiggling and wiggling for days, and it finally popped out. It is kind of hard to tell in this picture (her permanent teeth are already coming in!) but here is her smile with her first baby tooth out.

She was so excited for the tooth fairy to come. She just kept asking us how the tooth fairy would know she lost her tooth. We just told her, she would know. That night she put her tooth in the tooth fairy pillow that Grandma made her and went to sleep... well eventually. I went up later to lay Taegan down and Madison came out of her room crying. She didn't want the tooth fairy to take her tooth. She didn't care if that meant she didn't get any money, she wanted to keep her tooth. So, I told her that the tooth fairy would know she wanted to keep it, not to worry and go to sleep.

Surprise, surprise... the next morning there was one dollar in her tooth fairy pillow and the tooth fairy had left the tooth in the container we had kept it in until Madison went to bed. (This was a plastic baby food container that had apples in it for Taegan.) It was so cute, Madison came downstairs the next morning, so happy, showed me the dollar bill and told me to open the container and smell in there... she said it smelled like the tooth fairies makeup/perfume. (It smelled like apples, but she was so in awe!!) Oh, and I got woken up at 2:15 in the morning by Madison to tell me that the tooth fairy had come and she got a dollar!! I tried really hard to act excited and surprised, but it was the middle of the night and really... I wasn't surprised!!