Sunny Days and Muffins

These delicious muffins are a new staple in our house. I found them on a blog forever ago. Ever since, the boys and I make them and change out the filling each time. They are just a basic muffin recipe and it’s on your shoulders to be creative and turn them into something tasty. 

 

This time we made a cinnamon sugar batch and a dried cranberry batch. They came out of the oven and my boys eyed the cranberry muffins suspiciously. They wouldn’t touch them until I told Liam they had craisins in them. Then Liam got excited which made Levi realize they were on a big brother approved list. 

As you can see, I turned my back for one minute and Levi the naughty already stole a bite. 

I love how close my boys are getting. Levi looks up to Liam so much. He wants to be just like him. I', constantly trying to convince Liam of this. Liam’s always getting frustrated with his little brother for bugging him. 

 

My husband told Liam that Levi is his tammudu, pronounced thum-or-dew. He told him that he always has to take care of his tammudu because he's little and needs a great big brother to look up to. The look of pride on Liam’s face was priceless. 

 

My husband and I are going to remind our kids, daily that they are important to each other. They will always get on each other’s nerves, but they’re always going to be brothers and they need to take care of each other. 

 

In Indian culture, it is the older brother’s responsibility to take care of their younger sibling. I love knowing all my boys will take care of each other. 

What is your favorite memory with your sibling(s)?

Why Are You Sorry I Have Three Kids?

If you're a kid person at all, you love babies. They're so cute! You can cuddle them, make silly sounds to them, and everything they do is adorable.When I had my first son, Liam, everyone was so encouraging! I'd walk into grocery stores and would be stopped down every aisle. They all wanted to look at the little boy with "all that hair!" They started gushing when I said he was my first. We got pregnant with Levi and most people were still thrilled. They said I was crazy to have them so close, but were still positive overall. My little Lucas, baby number three was a different story. Instead of being positive and encouraging, I got a much different response. "Wow. Are all these kids yours?""Three boys? I'm sorry."

I have heard these two statements so many times in the last month. At first I laughed. Now, it bugs me. Why are you sorry I have three boys? I'm not. 

 

I love my children. 

 

Is it always loud in my house? Yes. 

 

Do my boys have constant energy? Yes. 

 

Do they sword fight from the moment they wake up until the second the go to bed? Yes. 

 

Do they always need a bath? Yes. 

 

Do my kids require a no farting at the dinner table rule? Yes. 

 

Are they messy? Yes. 

 

Will they ever understand what an inside voice is? Probably not. 

 

Am I outnumbered by boys? Yes. 

 

Are they as sweet as can be? Yes. 

 

Does my oldest play with my hair to be sweet? Yes. 

 

Do my boys love each other deeply? Yes. 

 

Are they best friends? Most of the time, yes. 

 

Are my husband and I proud to raise all three of these boys to be strong men? Yes. 

 

Having three little boys is loud, messy, chaotic, exhausting, and a blast. I love it. I'm not sorry at all. 

What do you say when you get comments like this?

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.