11/8/15 11/8/15

Holiday Gift Guide From Around The World

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It’s that time of year. Parents are looking for a good gift guide. Children are writing down their Christmas lists and getting excited about what they’ll get! They usually have A LOT of ideas about what they want. My kids are adding to their lists every day! As of right now, it's full of Avenger's toys, costumes, video games, and candy..

I put together a HUGE gift guide for you and your family.

I’ve added some traditional East Indian accessories, amazing children’s books from around the world, my top books, and some MUST haves in the kitchen.

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Traditional Accessories/Clothing- Gift Guide

I love Indian accessories. I've been blessed with so many items from my in laws when they go and visit India. Here are a few items you can get for yourself or a loved one without having to leave the country! I even threw in a few Indian outfits!

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Children’s Books About The World- Gift Guide

We LOVE reading in our house. One thing we try to do is expose our children to books from around the world. Here are a few children's books that will liven up your children's book selections!

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Books For Adults- Gift Guide

Don't worry, I wasn't going to forget about you! Here are a few of my favorite books! They are full of inspirational stories of men, women, and children. You're bound to have some down time over the holidays, be sure to pick up one of these!

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Cooking- Gift Guide

Do you enjoy cooking or do it enough you want to make it a little easier? Here are some MUST haves in the kitchen and I even threw in my favorite chai tea!

Did you like the list? If so, please share!

10/5/15 10/5/15

Fall With The Almost Indian Family

It's fall everyone! We are loving it and making the best of it by going to the pumpkin patch. We missed out on this the last few years because I was huge and pregnant. I'm not sure about you, but walking around looking for pumpkins when I couldn't see my own feet didn't sound fun. My family and I couldn't wait to go this year. There are dozens of apple orchards around here which means a lot of pumpkin patches, corn mazes, apple cider, apple donuts, and hundreds of apples to pick. Some of you may have even seen us there on periscope. Nannamma (grandma) drove here just to take us to the best apple orchard around. My oldest son decided to be the navigator for our trip. He got a map, looked at all of the places to go, and told us exactly where to go. Turn left here. Go here. Stop here. Granted he doesn't know his left from his right... Needless to say, his directions didn't really make sense. The best part was he didn't care where we ended up. He just wanted to find the apples with daddy. As you can see, he found them! Levi probably had the most fun getting apples. I don't think I ever saw him without a mouthful of apples! We even looked in his bag and every single apple had at least three bites taken out of it! I think he could have been there all day. Actually, I think he could live there and be perfectly happy. He would have a full belly and have a life of adventure looking for apples.

What are you doing to celebrate fall?

7/9/15 7/9/15

Our Adventure To Chicago

Thirty-two hours, one moving van, one flight, about twenty iced coffees, one lost ninja turtle bag, twelve lost food vouchers, an Indian wedding, and three crazy kids later... we're now in Chicago! I'm pretty sure we've packed our last two weeks as full as humanly possible. Let me lay it for you. Joel and my cousin decided to drive our boxes to Chicago. It took them 34 hours! They made the best of it! For the sake of my children and my sanity, my aunt and I decided to fly with the kids, turning it into a four hour journey. Little did we know it would turn into an entire day at the airport...As our taxi pulled into the airport at six a.m., I checked my flight, for the second time that morning. Instead of flashing ON TIME for the seven a.m. flight, it was now saying our five p.m. flight was on time. Apparently, our first flight was cancelled and they pushed us onto a direct flight. All I was picturing my head was the horrible fight it took to wake my kids up and get them ready so early. Now, I had an entire day at the airport to throw at them. I told my aunt and her response was perfect, "No. We won't be doing that." My aunt is one of those no nonsense kind of ladies and I love her for that! We went in and found an open kiosk. After some negotiating, we were able to get rebooked on a 3 p.m. flight with a different airline. The gal helping us was amazing and even gave us twelve food vouchers. Instead of going back to the hotel, we decided we could hack it there for the morning. There was a kid's play area and a Starbucks at every turn. Our brains were shot because we were both functioning on a few hours of sleep. In the next few hours and three Starbucks drinks later, we had lost all of our food vouchers, lost a backpack, found a back pack, and were asking ourselves why in the world we decided to stay in the airport. Getting on the plane was a huge relief. Our flight was four hours so we figured the kids would sleep. They slept for three hours which was AMAZING. Although my aunt had to deal with my oldest, Liam getting four bloody noses! He had been dealing with really bad allergies all week and the high altitude was the shove over the edge his body didn't need. We arrived to Chicago only to find out my bag had been put on a different flight. While waiting for my bag Levi got his foot stuck in the stroller... Are you even surprised at this point? We weren't.What made the whole day better? Arriving to our new home and being greeted with delicious butter chicken my father in law made us! Indian food can seriously make anything better. The rest of my aunts visit was much better. We started unpacking boxes and then started to eat our way around our new town. We tried all the best deep dish places, which my husband was all too happy to take part in. Then we celebrated her last day in the city. We took Lucas and explored! A day or so after she left, we drove to my sister in law's wedding. Indian weddings are full of ceremonies, delicious food, more ceremonies, more food, dancing, family, and more food. It was a beautiful week and our family had a great time. One of my favorite parts of weddings on my husband's side is that family from India comes!! I was able to FINALLY meet one of Joel's cousins and I was able to witness first-hand how talented she is. She put together ALL of the dance numbers throughout the wedding week. They were great and everyone had so much fun! The kids were also able to cuddle with Nanamama (great-grandma) and Thathia (great-grandpa) all week. The day of the wedding was beautiful. My sister in law was so calm and collected all day. She was taking care of everyone else and making sure her bridesmaids and photographers were enjoying themselves. We had to remind her, "This is your day to be selfish!!" I now know why her friends all call her mom. She had the biggest heart and selfishness just isn't in her nature. I don't think there could have been a better way to start off our adventure in a new city. Make sure to follow my blog so you can hear more about the wedding our follow us on our new adventure in Chicago! If you liked this post and want to hear more about our family, sign up for weekly updates!

6/2/15 6/2/15

Our Week In Pictures #3

If you follow me on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook you already knew my family and I recently took a road trip to California. We used to live there and have friends and family in the area. Joel had to go for work and the boys and I decided to tag along. We decided to drive there, thinking a road trip could be fun….

At one point, I sat there listening to the symphony of screaming children in the backseat, contemplating why in the world I thought a road trip with three kids under four was a good idea.

Then it finally got quiet. Joel and I were scared to move, just in case it broke the trance our kids were in. They were glued to the movie that was playing, while strapped into their carseats, unable to reach each other to fight. I quickly started to see the benefits of a family road trip. The strapped in, buckled up, nowhere to go, can’t get into anything part of it, of course.

When we finally got there, thirteen hours later… we had a great time! We were able to spend time with my family and see some of our friends.

5/25/15 5/25/15

Road Trips And Toddlers

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you've seen that we're currently on a family road trip! We drove about thirteen hours to California. My husband had a work trip so we decided to tag along. What's better than a road trip with toddlers?Before kids, I thought road trips were amazing. My husband and I even took one for him to meet my family while we were dating. It was so much fun! We didn't have a care in the world. We would stop for coffee and food breaks and then drive for hours without stopping. We even listened to a few audiobooks. It was great. Then we had kids....and we were introduced to toddler road trips.Now toddler road trips are... long. Here are a few things not to do when on a road trip with three kids under four. Expect to get more than four hours into an audiobook.. Even if it's a thirteen hour car ride. Your children will bother you every five minutes and yell your name. MOM!!!!! When you finally take a deep breath and answer, they will have nothing to say. Instead you will need to rewind your audiobook for the twentieth time. Expect your children to pee during designated potty breaks. You will ask them to try and go to the bathroom. Then through tears, they will sit down, "try," and tell you they can't go. You give in and start driving again. Thirty minutes later your toddler will start melting down and you'll need to pull over in the tiniest town possible. Think you can actually take a nap while your spouse drives. The second you close your eyes, your previously occupied children will start yelling. Mom! Mom, why are you sleeping! I need to tell you something! It won't ever be an important fact, but they will act like it's life or death. Go out and buy a ton of snacks for your children the day before your trip. Save yourself fifty dollars and buy goldfish because they won't touch the trail mix or fruit anyways. Arrive to your destination and think you can relax. Instead your two year old will strip naked, poop on the hotel floor, and get poop all over your bed....Road trips with kids are much different than road tripping alone. However, if you have to do it, you better do it with cute kiddos like these!

5/17/15 5/17/15

Our Life Is About To Change Again

Our life has never been boring, that's for sure. The last five and a half years have been full of so many changes. We've lived in two different states, had three little boys, purchased a home, made amazing friends, and made countless memories. Our life is about to change again. We're...... no we're not pregnant again. We're... moving!We've been thinking and praying about this for the last six months and now it's happening. We debated back and forth between Houston and Chicago. My husband has family in both places and both are great options for us. We recently decided on Chicago, the land of the best deep dish pizza! My husband is a "little" pizza obsessed. The main reason we're moving is because we want to be closer to a big airport. My husband travels for work and we need to be right by an airport so his trips will be shorter and we need to be a bit closer to the actual conferences. What can I say, we love Joel and want him home more! If any of you have been around us the last year, you will understand how much he's been gone. We're ready for more family time!We will be moving at the end of June. This means we're selling just about everything, moving our family to a different state, and settling in to our new home. Which just so happens to be my mother and father in law's home. My father in law will be living with us as well. My kids are beyond thrilled about this! They love their Thatha and can't wait to live with him. He goes to India a few times a year and my husband better not be surprised if I stow away in his luggage and he finds me in India as well! This doesn't just affect me either. It affects you! How you say? My father in law is an amazing cook and I will be learning everything I can from him! All of his recipes will end up here! You will love him just as much as we do. I'm also excited about living in a much larger Indian community there. I can't wait for my kids to experience more of their culture. We've always been physically closer to my side of the family; an Almost Indian Family living in American culture. Now we will be an Almost Indian Family living in a predominately Indian culture. 10254040_583892693244_6820929993779377385_n I'll share everything I learn with all of you. This is such a big time for our family and I can't wait to see where God takes us in this next year. Check out my husband's blog to hear his point of view on our big move.

5/6/15 5/6/15

My Terrible Two Year Old

Pretty, please.This is the constant phrase I have heard all week. My little Levi is the master of the pretty, please. He will be mid kicking and screaming tantrum, stand up calm as ever, and say pretty, please. Of course he expects me to do whatever he has been freaking out over. What does he have to tantrum over you ask? Oh anything from a lost shoe to a lady bug flying the wrong way... Seriously, that actually happened. He has officially reached the terrible twos. I hoped and prayed this day would never come, but boy has it. If it's teaching me one thing, it's the fact that this boy doesn't lack drama one bit. Here is a video from last year. He had just turned two and was a little irritated with us for taking his puggy.

Comment and share your favorite terrible twos moment with a kiddo you know. If you have a video share it on my Facebook page.

4/21/15 4/21/15

Our Week In Pictures 2

We've been pretty busy this week. My mother in law came into town so we've been showing her around and having fun. My boys love their Nannamma and were counting down the days until her visit.Here are a few highlights from her trip and my excuse for not posting this week!! Liam got a new big boy haircut. I can't believe how big he's looking!! I keep asking him to stay my baby, but he only reminds me that he's already big. The boys got to to work with daddy for a bit. Levi loves going anywhere with daddy. He's turning into such a daddy's boy. Don't worry I remind him in his favorite when daddy's gone. Nannamma got some lovin' in. Liam always takes care of me by playing with my hair and Nannamma had to see this for herself. One of their favorite things is going to the hotel. This week was no exception. We got to go pick up Nannamma in Seattle. It was my cousin Devon's birthday over the weekend so we decided to put way too many candles on a cupcake way too small. It was great!I love when our family gets together. We all have so much fun. My husband and I have family all over the world. It makes vacations very exciting, but I wish we could move all of them to one city.Is your family in the same area or spaced out? If their spaced out, how do you make sure your family remains close?

4/7/15 4/7/15

Our "Pet" Filled Adventures

Over the last few weeks, Liam has decided he wants a new pet. Usually, this means he goes outside and sees what he finds first. Last week he gathered a bucket of bugs. He went into daddy's office and dropped them. It took us forever to find them. This week's pet wasn't so bad. He named him "Frog Name." His creativity is astounding. He had him in a little bucket with grass all morning. I finally had to convince him to let his little pet go. He tried to convince me that Frog Name was his forever pet, but after about an hour of pleading, he let him go. Now, he's asking me if we will get him a new pet... We have a dog.. Can't that be enough? I guess this is my life with three boys. Dear God, please don't ever let them catch a spider for a pet!Our week wasn't all pet fiascos. We also had a great Easter! Liam ran around the yard trying to collect more eggs than his cousin, reminding him with every new egg discovery.Levi slept through most of it with a fever, but work up in time to drive their toy car around with all the cousins. I love our little adventures with our boys. They all have such strong little personalities and they're just so much fun. Our days are never boring, that's for sure!

How was your Easter?

3/20/15 3/20/15

Kids Say The Darndest Things

If you've heard me ramble on about my kids or have met them, you know they have very unique personalities. Well, the first two do. My little itsy, bitsy Lucas is too little to know his personality well yet. Liam and Levi on the other hand are always keeping me busy. Liam is my sensitive little social bug. He loves talking to people and being in big groups of people all the time. He's also the most sensitive little guy. My husband and I aren't so we've had to pray for understanding. Especially, when were faced with water works because Levi looked at him wrong. All we want to say is suck it up, but instead we ask why it hurt his feelings. Other times, his sensitive little heart overwhelms us. He is always the first one to take care of one of us if sick, rub our backs if he thinks we're sad, or tell us how beautiful or handsome we are. Levi is our crazy, rebellious child. It's always interesting to hear what the teacher says on Sunday mornings because we always faced with a new story. It's typically Levi hit someone so I put him in time out and he smiled the entire time. This kid LOVES time out. He loves it because he sees his older brother go in it and feels incredible pride when he gets to. He's always looking for something to get into or destroy, but then he will greet you with cuddles and an arm around your shoulder afterwards. He melts my heart and drives me nuts at the same time. Put them together and you get something pretty amazing. Here are a few of their conversations from the week.

“Mama is that your soppy (coffee)?” -Levi

“Yes.”-Me

“No it’s my soppy. My friend said yes.”-Levi

Levi starts crying in the living room.

“Levi, wait! Stay here. What happened?”-Liam

“You boom boom me!”-Levi

“Oh, I’m sorry. Levi if you sit here and tell me what happened you won’t be in trouble. I won’t tell mom.”-Liam

“Ok."- Levi

"Mom, I need candy cereal for dinner. If I don't my tummy will hurt."- Liam

"Mama, I sit with you. Liam needs pankin because he boom boom me." -Levi

"NO, I DIDN'T! HE PINCHED ME!" -Liam

"Levi, did you pinch your brother?" -Me

"Umm. Probably, no." -Levi

I love that my kids are getting old enough to talk with each other. Sometimes, it's not very nice and its Liam manipulating Levi or Levi lying to Liam. That's ok. They're learning. This is my favorite little conversation from this week.

"Levi, I love you." -Liam

"I ya you most." -Levi

What's your favorite conversation from your kids or kids you've been around this week?

3/2/15 3/2/15

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)?

2/26/15 2/26/15

Sunny Days and Play Dough

Warm, sunny days in the Pacific Northwest are beautiful. My husband, boys, and I could spend the entire day outside, exploring. My husband and I watch the kids pick up sticks and turn them into swords while Liam sings the theme song to Jake and the Neverland Pirates. This week was one of those great weeks. Just about every day has been amazing. Today, we played outside for most of the day. Then we came inside, every door and window open, and made some play dough. The kids were ecstatic. They were so excited to help mommy make something fun. There are so many recipes for play dough on the internet. Some are super easy and work out well and others are a waste of time. Out of all the recipes I've found, this has been the one we use time and time again. Another great thing about this is that everything is safe to eat. My little, troublemaking Levi always tries to sneak some. Using this recipe is great because I never worry. Ingredients:1 cup water1 cup flour2 tbs cream of tartar 1/2 cup salt2 tbs of oilfood coloringDirections:Mix all of your ingredients in a saucepan and cook on low. Continue stirring until all of your ingredients start to pull together and form a ball. Let it cool and then have fun!If you store it in a ziplock bag or airtight container, it will keep for about 4-6 months. **You can use any type of oil. The only thing you can't substitute would be the cream of tartar. It is the reason it keeps for so long.**

2/22/15 2/22/15

Our Life In Pictures

Our life is always crazy and full of silly moments. Here are a few pictures of our week.

2/16/15 2/16/15

Traveling With Kids

Traveling used used to be so relaxing. I could sit on a flight for hours, enjoying every second of it. I would put my headphones on (to discourage conversation from my neighbor) and throw myself into a good book. I loved my alone time. This continued when my husband and I started dating. Minus the headphones... sometimes. He loved to read as much as I did, so we lovingly ignored each other. Then we had kids...Now, my flights consist of holding squirming babies, nursing, strapping kids in their seats over and over again, attempting to keep them from kicking the seats in front of them, receiving "special looks" from the people in said seats, and my husband and I staring at each other. Not so much in the "oh I married the love of my life" way, rather the "why in the world did we choose to travel with kids" way. I've seen dozens of ways to entertain kids on flights from Pinterest. They don't work. My kids are little and the only thing that helps is an iPad with a few movies. There's no rhyme or reason why it works sometimes and not others. We do our best in keeping them entertained, remember how much we "love" traveling with kids, then forget how crazy it was, and travel again a few months later. It's just like labor. You experience it, swear to yourself you will NEVER put yourself through that again, forget how bad it was, and repeat the process again. Until the next time..

1/30/15 1/30/15

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?

1/16/15 1/16/15

Flying With Three Kids!

We did it! We surprised my family with a visit to California! I can't tell if the boys were more excited about their headphones or riding on the airplane! Flying with two kids was pretty tricky so we were a little worried to attempt it with three.We stayed at a hotel the night before our flight. Our kids loved the hotel and ran around like crazy little bandits while we were there. The great thing is that there's barely anything there to get into so I love it! Not to mention they're all contained in a small space. The actual day of our flight went pretty well. There was only a few moments of punching, pinching, and crying. They watched their shows and walked the aisles for the rest of the flight.The last twenty minutes at the airport was the worst. We left our iPad on the flight. Joel had to go back and ask them to look. Apparently it was very difficult to see it on our seat because we had to send them back to look twice! Liam was melting down while waiting for him because we were apparently being horrible parents by making him wait for daddy and not go with him. He finally found it and we started walking to the baggage claim. The moment we passed the sign saying you can't go back... Liam realizes he was missing a shoe. He had been kicking off these ridiculous shoes all day. I can't tell you how many times we stood there waiting for him to put them back in all day. I looked behind me and asked the security guard if I could go back and look. Nope. Sorry. Naturally this caused Liam to melt down. "They're my favorite shoes! That was my favorite one! I need it!"He cried for an hour over his lost shoe! Lucas on the other hand loved the flight.He slept through the whole thing and loved that every single person that passed him would obsess over him, touching his face. Joel thought it was so awkward that people would come over and start touching Lucas! He finally passed the baby to me because he couldn't handle it!

1/2/15 1/2/15

Go To Sleep!

My husband travels for work a lot. At first, I hated nights without him. I thought every sound was an intruder coming to get me. I’d send our dog out to check the rooms and even outside. Don’t even get me started on what would happen when my dog would bark because she heard something outside! Nights were the worst. I couldn’t wait for them to be over. I’d even have my kids sleep with me for comfort. Yes, I know a little one year old couldn’t save me from bad guys, but hey.

As my kids have started to get a little bigger and I have gotten used to Joel’s trips, nights have become relaxing. My boys go to bed early and I get a good four hours to my self each night. Sometimes I fill it with a good book or binge watching a show while I crochet.

When Joel gets home our nights change. I start to notice we both have our nightly routines. Most of our routines blend until the dreaded, let’s go to sleep moment. I’m always ready to go to sleep before him! He takes forever to fall asleep and will read or watch TV until he’s tired. This can be hours after I’ve gone to sleep.

If you have kids or are busy all day, you might be like me and love going to bed in quiet. I hear my crazy kids all day long and I love sitting in peace and quiet. Joel on the other hand has to sleep with noise while on trips because he doesn’t like how lonely the road can be at times.

So you see my dilemma…

Usually I whine and complain until he turns off the TV. Healthy and mature I know. Lately, my sleep depravation has caused a solution. I’m so tired at night that I end up falling asleep mid-show or mid-book.

I guess we will re-evaluate when I get more sleep. Ha. That’s funny. I doubt I’ll be getting more sleep until my kids graduate college. So, this may be the solution.

Do you like to sleep in quiet or do you have to have background noise?

12/25/14 12/25/14

Our first Christmas with three kids!!!

Our first Christmas as a family of five was a huge success!! Did we do everything on our list? No. Did we sleep past 6:30 in the morning? No. Was our day filled with epic sword fighting? Yes. Did we eat WAY too much all day? Yes. Did we have a great day? YES.We continued a few family traditions. One of my favorites is cinnamon ornaments. I have been doing these since I was a kid! I have so many amazing memories of decorating cinnamon ornaments with my grandma and I love being able to keep the tradition alive with my own little family. We also added a new tradition. We have decided to record our kids telling us the story of Christ's birth every year. I'm so excited to watch these videos as the kids get bigger!This about summed up Liam's version..."There was a mama named Mary who had baby Jesus in her belly. Wait, mama did you have baby Jesus in your belly? No. Ok. Jesus got a new bed. Then the shepherds came to fight!"Liam has been obsessed with the shepherds and their staffs since his little Christmas play. He is convinced they only reason they have staffs is to fight off the bad guys!Lucas pretty much slept through the whole day.. but he looked adorable doing it!Just in case you want the cinnamon ornament recipe, here it is!!Cinnamon OrnamentsMix one cup of applesauce and one cup of ground cinnamon. Mix it until everything is well combined. Sprinkle the surface with cinnamon and roll out the dough. Roll it to about an inch thickness. Cut out your shapes and put them on a cookie sheet. Using a straw, poke a hole at the top of each of them. Heat your oven to 200 and cook the ornaments until they are rock hard.

12/11/14 12/11/14

First Day Home Alone

My first day home alone with the boys. Well, they all survived... The house definitely looked like a construction zone while Joel was gone, but we pieced it back together pretty well before he got back. Joel was great and let me sleep in until he had to go to work. He had some training to do and had to go in a few times over the week. My usual routine is to wake up, make an iced coffee, get the kids breakfast, and start on some housework. I figured I'd aim for the same routine. Instead it took me two hours to make my coffee... When you're running on fumes, coffee is a MUST. Why don't my children understand that fact? We are huge coffee drinkers in this house. They even know daddy will not play or wrestle until he's had his coffee in the morning and start yelling for someone to make coffee when he wakes up! Come to think of it I don't even think they had breakfast... Wow. I really don't remember if I fed them an actual meal that morning. I know they had lots of crackers and snacks at least. Well, they ate right? I'll count that as a success. They even had a bath! Although it was unintentional. Levi got into the bathroom and turned the tub water on. He ended up getting wet enough that I figured he might as well. I left while the tub was filling up to get towels and of course both older boys had already hopped in. The rest of the day was spent keeping my kids up for the plumber to come fix our sink. It's been clogged for two weeks!!! I scheduled him to come while the kids napped. I figured I'd keep them awake until he got here and then put them to sleep while he was working. Each minute I waited felt like an eternity. He got lost and ended up getting there a few hours late. Luckily it only took him five minutes to fix the clog!All in all day one was pretty productive. I made myself a coffee, gave my kids a bath, fed them, and got our sink fixed. I feel like I deserve two gold stars for my day!

How was your first day alone with your new additions? Share you stories in the comment section!

4/1/14 4/1/14

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."