Giveaway!
Get ready to dance!!!! It's GIVEAWAY TIME!!!
I will choose a winner on November 8th. GOOD LUCK!!!
What Makes An Intercultural Family Unique
As you can see on the blog today, Linda from Linda Living In China has stopped by to share a delicious recipe from her family with us. I was also able to guest post over at her blog as well! Enjoy some delicious chai outside this morning and read both posts!Here is a little snippet from my post.“Intercultural families are very unique. Most couples have two people from different families come together and start a new family. While their families may have been different, they have a similar culture. The similarity helps hold them together. An intercultural family has two people from two different families and two distinct cultures. Intercultural families have to figure out how to blend two distinct cultures into one family.I met my husband in a program we were both doing with our church. We fell in love and were married one year later. Now, we have three children under four and six years of an intercultural marriage under our belts. Is our family just like everyone else’s?Read more here.
Meal Planning
The moment I told Joel we were having our third boy, he responded with one thing… “They’re going to eat us out of house and home!” My kids eat a lot now and they’re all under three. I can’t imagine three teenagers. Keep it simple
Keep ingredients in mind
Plan a few leftover meals
Stock your pantry with some basics
Get a calendar
Can Little Boys Survive Their Adolescents Long Enough To Become Best Friends?
Brothers. I have always wanted to have boys. I have six and let's just say, things are never boring with brothers. We had our first two and expected things to be tricky from day one. Nope. They were instant best friends. Liam would always try to "help" brother. This usually meant feeding him goldfish crackers at two weeks old, covering him with blankets, wrestling with a two month old, etc. Even though Levi didn't always appreciate it, it was always in love. Joel and I assumed that meant they would always be best friends. Then reality set in. Don't get me wrong. They still have fun together. 
Food is usually involved when they are smiling. Maybe they are just too distracted to fight. There was a change in our house recently. Instead of having two sweet little boys... this one developed an attitude. 
Last week, I heard Liam and Levi fighting. I figured they could deal with it because it didn't sound like anything crazy. All of the sudden, Liam started screaming. I ran into the room to see what was wrong. "BROTHER PINCHED ME!" I picked Liam up and cuddled him for a few minutes. As the crying continued and didn't subside, I told Liam he was fine and needed to calm down. He asked me to kiss his owie. Fine. When I looked I felt like the "best" parent in the world. Levi not only assaulted his brother, he bit him! Liam had a huge bite mark. I told Levi biting is NOT OK and this is what I got.
Now they are constantly fighting. Liam is constantly instigating fights with Levi and Levi is always retaliating. We can no longer let them deal with their own battles. Instead we RUN into the room as soon as they start fighting to try and stop Levi from biting. We're rarely successful and Liam is quickly learning not to mess with his little brother. Are we crazy? Now we're adding a third boy to this! Three boys three and under. What have we gotten ourselves into? I expect the next few years to be full of diapers, screaming, biting, hitting, fighting, wrestling, sports, and chaos. Hopefully they make it through their adolescents long enough to become best friends.
Levi's Little Gap
Joel and I laid in bed a few nights ago talking about our adorably naughty kids. We talked about how big Liam is getting and how unreal it is that he will be starting preschool in a few short weeks. Then I rolled over and said...."I see dollar signs when I look at the gap between Levi's teeth, but all I can do is smile at him!" 
When Levi started getting his teeth, we noticed a little gap. Liam had one too until his other teeth started growing in. We didn't even think twice about it. He got a few more teeth and the gap became bigger! It is the most adorable thing I've ever seen. He works it too. He has become increasingly more naughty lately. When he gets into one of his "Don't mess with me moods," Joel will warn him. "Levi, do you need a spanking?" Levi looks around at the situation, stares at us, and gives us the biggest smile he can! It works every time! We don't stand a chance against the gap! We laugh with him every time. 
I told Joel that one day this gap will turn into us spending tons of money on braces, but as of right now it's priceless. Joel says we won't ever touch the gap. He says it's amazing and he won't let us change it. I look at his cute little smile everyday. I wouldn't change it for a thing.
Half Indian Toddler Problems
A toddler's life comes with many difficulties. People don't let you do whatever you want, discipline your younger siblings, eat cookies all day, and the worst of it all... they don't always understand what you're saying so clearly. Now, try being half Indian and half White on top of it!
We've been slowly teaching Liam and Levi little Telugu words. I only know the ones Joel and his dad have taught me. I've tried to look a few up online, but I was only met with hysterical laughter after I used one of my internet taught words. They were either completely wrong or I was using them in the wrong context. Joel sure got a kick out of it.
As we started to teach Liam some of the Telugu words, we ran into a problem. So many of them sounded like something else in his toddler vocabulary.
Annum
Rice is served with just about every Indian dish so we have a lot of it around here. When we told Liam what the Telugu word for rice was he just looked at us and laughed.
"Mom, this isn't annum, it's rice!"
He thinks it's hilarious because he calls our cousin Autumn, annum. When we tell him he's eating annum, he thinks we're teasing him.
Thatha
Obviously, the "th" is always hard for a kiddo to say. Liam calls Joel's dad Sasa instead of Thatha. It's never been a problem until this weekend. I gave him chips and salsa for lunch. He asked me what the salsa was. No this is not the first time he's ever had salsa, but it's the first time he's actually paid attention to it. I told him it was salsa. He just stared at me.
"If you say I'm eating my Sasa one more time, I'll tell daddy."
I tried to explain the difference between Thatha and salsa, but he told me to go into time out for not listening instead....
Naan
Naan is the delicious Indian flat bread that we always find an excuse to make around here. It. is. delicious. We didn't make it with an Indian dish one time for my family and they all looked at us like we were insane. Naan is definitely not a hard word to say. However when you're family is always making naan jokes, it gets distorted quickly. What are naan jokes you ask? Oh, let me tell you.
As a response to someone asking you if you had any naan. "Nope, I've had naan."
"I'll have naan of that."
You can see where it goes. It's one of those jokes that happens at least a few times during all of our Indian dinners. Even Liam is doing it! He has no idea why it's so funny, but he loves saying naan while running around the house laughing.
I wonder if Indian families sit around the dinner table making naan jokes during dinner. Oh yeah, that's probably only something us whiteys do...
We Went "Camping!"
One of the big jokes last year with our family was Joel planning a camping trip. He, my cousin Beau, and cousin Kyle went camping together. Let's just say it was an evening of camping on an illegal camp site (which they found out later), going home early to play video games, and eat pizza...
He tried to plan multiple trips over the summer only to make all the preparations and not go. Something would come up or they couldn't agree on a spot to go. My family is definitely not one to let it go without teasing mercilessly over the following months. My cousin Chase got wrapped up in a family joke and his response was, "Of course it had to happen in this family! Now they will never let it go!"
This year we decided to make a stand and actually go camping!
Our first attempt... Camping in the backyard. Hey, that's a two year olds dream! We also wanted to see if the tent we got would hold up through out the summer.
The evening started with tent flying. Or realistically, Joel and I trying to fly a kite for Liam only for him to stomp away yelling, "You guys never let me do my kite!" Hey kid, that kite was really hard to fly! Not to mention there wasn't a ton of wind and it was impossible to put together, but don't worry stomp off pouting after we spent thirty minutes tripping over ourselves attempting to fly your dumb kite. We finally gave in and said have at it even if it flies off.
He thought he was the coolest two year old out there.
At the end of our kite flying adventure, my one year old Levi walks over to me holding. my. camera. I ran over, inspected it, and didn't see any damage. Then I tried to take a picture... Something fell off inside my camera.
I took it out and it's still taking pictures fine, but I figure it was in there for some reason... The cheap side of me says keep taking pictures until it stops entirely and that's probably what I'll do.
Levi LOVED the tent. He ran around and fell onto his back for ten minutes straight. As for the rest of the night? Well, let's just say Liam did great. He was worried about monsters for a bit and then grabbed his sword. That was enough to put him at ease. Levi on the other hand... He was up every hour. He's definitely not our best sleeper, but he's been sleeping through the night this week. He woke up every hour asking for water. I guess "camping" takes a lot out of you.
Now, Levi and I are awake in the house and Liam and Joel are still sleeping in the tent. I'm pretty sure Liam is going to try and live in the tent along with my Survivor Man Husband.
So. Are we ready for camping. Possibly everyone except for this sweet face.
Our May Adventures
If you live in a place with constant sunshine all around you, you will never understand Pacific Northwest problems. We, here in the PNW, experience a few short months of summer and almost an entire year of clouds and rain. What do we do when the sun rarely shines?RUN OUTSIDE IN A SWIMSUIT AND SOAK UP THE VITAMIN D!!!
Yes, that's right. The temperature doesn't matter because the sun makes it feel glorious. We get a little sick of the Vitamin D pills, light therapy, and daydreaming of a rain free day. This week the sun has been out and every single person in the PNW is out and ready to enjoy. My boys have been loving this nice weather! We've had so many adventures this week. The boys have been living in their pool.
Inspecting "terrifying" itty bitty bugs.
Being as cute as can be. 
Eating "Elsa snacks." Yes, Liam is still obsessed with Frozen.
Then of course Levi's adorable new Zoolander face he makes when he's told to do something he deems ridiculous.
Levi wasn't quite sure about the beach.
Then he went for it and never came out! 
At the end, these little cuties decided they were too cold and hungry to move until they were served hot dogs.
What's a fun post without my favorite Liam quote of the week?"Liam will you pick mama a flower?""Mom, there are no more flowers," as he stands next to this.....
Expanding our little chaotic family
My Son's Request For A Baby Sister
Baby Number 3
I have been promised that morning sickness gets easier with each pregnancy...They lied. They all lied...I am currently pregnant with my third little one and my morning sickness is worse now than with both of my other pregnancies! It might be worse because it's harder to manage with two toddlers running around, demanding my attention.The only thing I can do some days is lay on the couch an pop on a movie for the kids. I decided to be the "best mom ever" and buy them Frozen this week. I have been hearing all the kids at church talking about it and figured why not.
Signs Of A Frozen Obsession
Is it the first thing they think about when they wake up? Do they ask for it multiple times throughout the day? Has it become a part of their life?HAS FROZEN BECOME THE SOLE FOCUS OF YOUR HOUSE!?While it started as an excuse to lay on the couch and have my kids entertained, it's turned into a full blown obsession in our house!! My kids know all the words and sing it all. day. long.My husband and I have heard it enough that we even find ourselves humming the songs around the house. If my son hears us and we just so happen to sing it incorrectly, he loudly corrects us.Last week, Liam started singing it while we were standing in line for the dressing rooms. The mom next to us looked at him, "Oh, not you too!"He wasn't embarrassed. He wore that comment as his badge of honor and proudly reassured her he was one of the Frozen obsessed!It all came to a head this week. My husband and I decided to ask our boys what they were hoping for... Boy or girl.
"Mom, I want a sister! I want to have a sister like Elsa and Anna."