Costume Super Center Elf Costume Review

I know a lot of people think that costumes are only for Halloween but in reality, costumes can be used ANY time of year! In the Spring we might look for Easter Costumes and towards the end of the year, we are usually in the market for some type of Christmas Costume!  Whatever the occasion may be, you must check out Costume Super Center!!!  They have something for everyone no matter what the holiday is!!!

Costume Super Center has a great selection of elf costumes and our little guy couldn't have looked sweeter in his!! It was a full costume that featured a one piece body suit and an adorable hat with elf ears and jingle bells! He is going to wear this to all of our Christmas parties this year and as you can see, it's perfect for pictures too!! If you find yourself in the market for a Christmas Elf Costume or any other costume, be sure to check out Costume Super Center!  The costumes are not just affordable but they are totally cool too!

 

Girls Vs. Boys

We have been very blessed with 4 happy, healthy children. 3 boys. 1 girl. I have long heard the debate of who is easier to raise, girls or boys. It is always funny to hear people's reasonings behind why they choose the way they do! 

Our boys are rough. They wrestle, they fight, they break stuff. Oddly enough, that stuff doesn't bother me. I go by the "Boys will be boys" motto and just shrug it off. I can handle a few bumps and bruises from kids running into furniture. But girls. Boy are they a different story.

I love my daughter. She is definitely a Daddy's girl. But is it just me or are girls really really tough to understand?! At only 7 years old, she has meltdowns like I have never seen before. At least 5 times a day her entire world comes crashing down over some little thing that someone else did or said. I have never seen the drama in my boys that I get out of her. Hands on the hips, swinging her ponytail back and forth. Screaming and stomping her feet. And the worst is when she looks you right in the eye and says "You are the worst parents in the world!" Of course she always comes back and says she is sorry but wow! The mood swings are unreal!!!

Am I the only Dad in the world who has a daughter like this?! Who do you say is easier to raise?! Boys or girls?

Crazy Crazy Crazy

Life has been incredibly crazy lately. I had to take a break from a lot of the extra stuff I like to do in order to get stuff back together. School is kicking my butt. The kids being back in school is kicking my butt. All of the kids extra activities are really kicking my butt. It just seems like things have been non-stop crazy! We thought when the kids went back to school that things would settle down and get back to normal but instead things have just been crazier than ever. My wife is trying really hard to find a job on a shift that I will be home so our kids won't have to go to a daycare and I have to admit...the thought of that kind of scares me. I have been really making an effort to clean and cook more so I will be prepared. This week I made blueberry muffins, cupcakes AND peanut butter cookies! I even made a chicken dish one night for supper. Everything even turned out except the peanut butter cookies...they were a little on the crunchy side. Ha....I was really excited when I checked my email though because not only am I having a new blog design coming VERY soon, but I also had a couple review and giveaway opportunities in my inbox so I will work on getting those up very very soon! Maybe something to help you all out with your Holiday shopping!

Thanks for hanging around and waiting on me to get it together! I can't wait for you all to see my new blog makeover!

I'm Back!!! It's a Friday Social Parade/Friday Follow!

Did you all miss me?! Things just got crazy busy here for me the past few weeks and I had to take a little break but I am back and ready to get blogging again!  So here's to Friday and starting fresh and new!!!

A Dad's Pick...Week1...The Sodastream Soda Maker!

I thought it would be fun to share products that I love with all of you so this week I want to share the Sodastream Soda Maker with you! If you hang aroud the Blogosphere long enough, you are bound and determined to come across Sodastream somewhere and it's no wonder because it's a really cool product!  As if Soda isn't great enough already, but to be able to make your own is just over the top exciting, especially to our kids!

We have the Silver Fountain Jet. You can purchase it at the Website for right around $100 which is really reasonable considering how much soda you can make!

My favorite thing about the Sodastream Soda Maker is how simple it is to use!  The CO2 Cartridge installs very easily and then you just fill the bottle with water, twist it into the machine, push the button on the top 3 times, add the flavor and you are done! In less than a couple minutes, you have a liter of soda!!! 

We used our Soda Maker at our kids birthday party and it was a huge hit! All of the kids wanted to take a turn pushing the button to make the soda. The cola and lemon lime are among our favorites but we plan on ordering some new flavors and trying them too like Pete's choice (think Dr. Pepper) and Cream Soda. I would love to try the energy drink that is comparable to Red Bull too, as that is definitely my energy drink of choice!! Sodastream offers a 12 pack sampler that would probably be a good idea to try because then we could try out a dozen different flavors and find the one's we like the best.

If soda isn't your thing, you can make some really good sparkling water too! We love the lemon flavor.

In addition to the great taste and easy use, Sodastream soda maker is really economical because it reduces the waste of those plastic 2 liter bottles from the store (Because Sodastream uses reuseable 1 liter bottles).

Definitely a cool product for any family. This is a seriously cool Dad Pick!

*Disclaimer: This is my honest opinion, not a paid post. My family received a Sodastream machine and flavors free of charge from Sodastream*

Friday Again?

Can't believe it's Friday again already. Unfortunately, this weekend is just a normal weekend of work for me. No baseball tournaments, no fun outings with the kids. Just work. Blah. I hope you all have a great weekend though!! 

Finally, a trophy!

I shared with you a couple weeks ago about the pain of watching your child’s heart break from disappointment but this time, I want to share the JOY of watching your child’s heart swell with pride when they win!!

Over the weekend we had our 2nd baseball tournament of the Summer. We only had to drive around 25 minutes this time but we had a total of 6 games scheduled over a 2 day period. The first day was by far the worst. We had to be in the batting cages by 8 a.m. and then on the field for our first game by 9:30 a.m. It was incredibly HOT!!! We won our first game and then we had a 3 hour wait until our next game. We had 3 games right in a row and our boys were whipped! I don’t know how they did it but they managed to win all 4 games on Saturday to make it back for the Semi-Finals and the Championship game on Sunday!

Saturday night we didn’t feel like going home so we drove about 20 miles North of where the tournament was and stayed at my in-laws. The kids love staying with Grandma and Grandpa and we had some of the best pizza ever!!!

Our first game on Sunday was at 1:00 and we won it with no problems so it was on to the Championship game! Watching those boys was amazing! I can’t believe how far they have come since their first practice but they were cranking the ball harder than I have ever seen them. Most of them had several doubles and triples and a couple of them (My son included!) got homeruns!!  Papaw pays $20 for homeruns in the Championship Game!!!

We left there undefeated Champions! We went 6-0. Talk about a good feeling! Andrew smiled from ear to ear the entire day.

 As tired as we were, the kids still had energy from somewhere so we went back to my in-law’s and took the kids out for some fun. We ended our night with bowling , pizza and a Chuck E Cheese arcade. The kids had mega tickets to cash in at the end of the night and the greatest thing was when our 5 year old beat our 7 and 8 year olds in bowling!! We ended up staying another night at my in-law’s too so when Monday rolled around, we were definitely ready to get back home and back to a normal routine!

Now I REALLY can’t wait until our next tournament! I love baseball. It reminds me of when I was a kid. I want Andrew to play because he loves it and because he is good at it and it makes him feel good. I hope I can always be an encouragement to him to continue playing. There was nothing better than seeing him, smiling ear to ear when he looked up at me and said "Look Dad! Finally a trophy!!"

Wordless Wednesday

1st Annual Blog Bash

Hey there!  Thanks for visiting my little part of the Blogosphere, A Dad's Take.  I'm Nick Lewis, 29 years old from the great state of Ohio. I was born and raised in Southern Ohio but now live in West Central Ohio with my wife and 4 children.  I love the Cincinnati Reds and Bengals but watching my 8 year old play is way more exciting these days.

I graduated high school in 1999 and shortly after met my future wife, Sarah. We got married a year later in 2000 and had our first child in 2002.  Now in 2010, we are getting ready to celebrate 10 years of marriage and we have 4 wonderful children who are 8, 7, 5 and 5 months.  We live in a crazy, loud house but we have gotten used to it. Now when the kids are gone and it's quiet, it just doesn't feel right.

I am new to the world of blogging. I started it as kind of a challenge from my wife who didn't believe I could create and maintain a blog on my own. I think I am doing a good job at it so far, even though I have found that it is definitely a lot of work.  I like to blog about my family and my opinion when it comes to parenting because I think sometimes Dad's get overlooked. I sure appreciate reading about issues that other Dad's have so I am hoping that Mom's and Dad's alike will enjoy reading my take on issues that face Parents today.  That's where my blog title came from. There are millions of Mom blogs out there....A Dad's Take is a fresh, new perspective.

I hope you all will stick around for awhile and if you like what you read, feel free to follow along or sign up for email updates so you don't miss anything. I hope you will find A Dad's Take to be similar to a good book, one that you will be excited to read and hate to put down!

Cloth Diapering for Dummies

I have shared with you that we have 4 kids, and 1 of those happens to be a baby boy. I have never had problems in the diapering department....as a matter of fact, I changed our oldest son's very first diaper in the hospital. (I was also the very first one to get peed on too, we learned quickly how to change his diaper without getting soaked!)  I have always been an active diaper changer in the house, even for the WORST one's and you know which one's I'm talking about. So I was baffled when my wife said she wanted to try cloth diapers when she got pregnant with baby #4. The image I had in my mind was not a pleasant one. I told her to go ahead and buy some but I would not be participating. I know, unfair. I didn't even give them a chance. But she didn't care. She bought them anyway. Now I still have very little knowledge in the cloth diapering department, however, I have used them now with our baby and talk about confusing!

I think my wife must have bought one of each brand to try so we have a large variety of all kinds of diapers. There are some that velcro and some that snap. There are some that have pockets in the inside where you stuff a liner and there are some that you just lay a liner inside. There are even some that have the insert built in. For a Dad like me, these options and choices are very overwhelming. Isn't there any easy cloth diaper out there made for Dad's that are simple to use without all the options? Don't even get me started on those diapers with the million snaps on the front of them!

Do you cloth diaper? And if so, what's the easiest brand you recommend for a Dad like me?  I am in need of a Cloth Diapering for Dummies course.

Ready for the weekend!

The weekend is once again upon us and this time I have something to be excited about besides work! I get most of the weekend off for another baseball tournament. Woo Hoo!  It's been a HOT week here in Ohio but we are looking forward to watching our 8 year old play in the 2nd tournament of the year.  He has 4 games scheduled on Saturday so it's going to be a long, hot, but exciting day!  Help me root the Bulldogs along!!  Hopefully I'll be back on Monday with some good news! GOooooooooooo Bulldogs!

God help me!

Between work and the kids sports and stuff going on at home, I am finding that Blogging is a lot more work than I thought! I don’t get how some Bloggers can post every day. Kudos to you all! I have found that it is a nice outlet so I hope I can continue fitting it into my schedule. I don’t intend to turn into another Review Blog, although if I get an offer, I just might take them up on it if it’s good. I like CSN. They are a great company so I was excited when they contacted me to do a review and a giveaway. I hope one of you are lucky enough to win the $60 gift certificate from them!!


And on to the news of the week………

My wife has made the decision that it’s time for her to get back into the workforce and while I support her 100%, I am also very nervous!! She has been at home since the Fall of 2006 so when she gets a job, things are going to be so different around here. And since my job is basically 2nd and 3rd shift, Thursday-Sunday, that means that I am going to be the one who takes care of the kids and the house while my wife is working. This is the part that scares me. Don’t get me wrong. I have watched the kids plenty of times but never on an ongoing, regular basis. I don’t know how my wife manages to juggle caring for the kids and all the housework and the cooking and the shopping too. I’m worried that I won’t do a very good job and that my kids will want their Mom back. I’m not a very good cook, I don’t do too hot at getting the kids ready and I definitely need some work in the girls hair department before school starts next month.

So I wonder if my wife is as nervous as I am. There was the time that I duct taped Joshua to the living room door but it was just for fun. She didn’t think it was as funny as me and the kids did. Oh yea, and there was a time she left me and the kids to paint pumpkins and we painted the kids instead. Hmmmm. I bet she is terrified. Hahaha

So tonight I started trying to help around the house and I think she was impressed. She bought me a new grill today so I cooked Steak and Chicken for Supper! I loaded the dishwasher and cleaned the kitchen up after we were done eating too. I picked up the rest of the house and swept and then I got all 3 of the older kids to bed while she put the baby to sleep. It felt good to help and it’s definitely going to help me to know the routine when she gets a job. I kind of hope it takes her awhile to find one so I can get into the groove again but she already had an interview today and is applying for some other jobs this week so I have a feeling it’s going to be right around the corner.


Any tips? Lol I need all of the help I can get!!!

CSN Stores

I never imagined I would look for household items like dining room tables online but I have been looking at CSN Stores because of their great selection and because of past positive experiences we have had with them!

We have a nice, large dining room and since it's where our family enjoys our meals together, I feel that we should have a nice table to sit at together. I love this one!!  It's the perfect size for our family and I love how nice it looks!

This one is also among my favorites!  It has a 5 star rating and ships for free which is definitely a plus when looking to purchase larger items online!

This is the other one that I was looking at. It includes free delivery and setup which is a great perk!!

I'm going to keep looking at CSN Stores and hopefully I will find something that suits us perfectly in their great selection of dining room tables!

Check back here at A Dad's Take for a review in the near future!

Friday Follows and Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July

Wordless Wednesday

CSN Stores Review and $60 Gift Certificate Giveaway!

Our family has made CSN Stores one of our main online places to shop, mostly because of the huge variety of products you can purchase from their 200+ Stores. 

We recently moved into a new home that was just remodeled but they failed to put any ceiling lights into a couple of the rooms. The first place we looked was CSN Lighting!

For now, just as a temporary fix, we decided to go with floor lamps. CSN Lighting has so many nice, modern floor lamps that are really affordable!  I really liked this one!

When we get ready to purchase permanent ceiling lights, I would love to go with something simple but modern like this one for our living room!

Since our dining room is a little more elegant, I really liked this chandelier!

Even though the kids bedrooms have lights, our two oldest boys have a sports themed room so I thought this light would look great in their room!

I'm glad I found CSN Stores. I love their selections, their outstanding customer service and how quickly everything arrives! 

GIVEAWAY

CSN Stores is going to give one lucky winner a $60 Gift Certificate to use in any of their 200+ stores.

Mandatory Entry:

Visit CSN Lighting and come back here and leave a comment on something you liked there!  Please make sure you leave an email address so I can contact you if you win!

Extra Entries:

Be a public Follower of A Dad's Take (1 entry)

Subscribe to email updates from A Dad's Take (2 entries)

Like A Dad's Take on Facebook. (1 entry)

Like CSN Stores on Facebook  (1 entry)

Blog about this giveaway (5 entries)

Thank you and good luck!  All entries must be received by 11:59 p.m. by July 13th. A winner will be chosen by random.org and winner will have 48 hours to respond.

***Disclosure Statement: This is my honest opinion about CSN Stores and their products, this is not a paid post. I received no compensation for writing this***

Blood, Sweat and Tears!

Who knew watching 7 and 8 year olds playing baseball could be such an emotional roller coaster? It was one of the most exciting weekends ever since I started my job as "Dad" and I was reminded of just how much things like a baseball game can mean to a child!  We had to be at the tournament Saturday morning by 8:45 a.m. and it's just under an hour drive from our house so we had to leave early but got there in plenty of time. Right before we left the house, we saw on the weather that we had a heat index warning. Yuck! Here's Drew, all ready to go! His coach bought them all these cool pawprint eyeblack stickers to wear.

Wasn't long before the Bulldogs took over the park! It's like a big community party! All the kids play together and the little one's bounce from tent to tent eating and playing.

My big guy hanging out in the dugout waiting for the 1st game to start! Gosh I can't believe how big he looks in his uniform. Seems like yesterday he was hitting off the tee and running to 3rd base first. He was so cute to watch when he was smaller! He never knew where to run when he hit the ball! Sometimes his coach would run with him just so he would actually run the bases. lol

Batter's up!

We lost the first game 0-7. Ouch. But we made it up by winning the next 2 games to make it back the next day for Semi-Finals!

In between games we had a picnic lunch!  We packed a couple coolers full of food and so did Grandma and Grandpa so we had enough for a feast!

And of course here I am, right in the middle of it all!

Day 2! Ready to rock and roll but boy was it ever hot! We did our best to try to keep the boys in the shade when they weren't on the field!

I love seeing a group of boys who just love to play ball! Andrew was smiling ear to ear the whole day.

The last game we played was awesome. Our boys played like they had been playing together for years!  We kept the lead the entire game. It came down to the last out, the last inning, the last batter and BAM! It ended as fast as it started. We lost by 1 run. Talk about heartbreak!  Our boys fought so hard and put 110% effort into it and lost it all. Despite all of the cheers and words of encouragement from all of the fans, the heartbreak was so evident by the hung heads and the tears. It broke my heart for them!  I couldn't wait to get out of there so I could wrap my arm around Drew and tell him how much I loved him and how proud I was of him. He is so soft hearted and just cried and cried on the way home. It made me wonder if we don't put too much pressure on them at such a young age. He loves the game, don't get me wrong. He loves playing baseball more than anything. I just hated to see him so disappointed. Of course, we dried those tears right up with a stop for ice cream!

What a weekend!  And to think, we get to do it all over again in a couple weeks!

Gooooooooooo Bulldogs!