Spanish or Spanglish or ???

I think all parents have things they want there kids to be able to do, but actually making sure that they do is another story. I want my kids to speak Spanish. Alas I am failing miserably! So in an effort to change this I am enrolling them in a Spanish immersion elementary school lottery. Only problem is, it's a lottery. So there is no guarantee that we will get in. So until April 25th I have every finger, toe, eye, leg and arm crossed! I am making a small effort though to help culture them, we have started listening to a lot of music in Spanish, our current favorite is:

I know any mother would be proud to have her kids idolizing this, I am so lucky. But even better is having them sing Pitbull to you:

A little bit of sweetness

Anyone who's gone into any length of discussion with me knows that I'm happy to have two boys. The great things are also the most difficult sometimes. There energy that never ends, sometimes means I don't get a lot of snuggle time. I'm ok with this most of the time but every now and again I want a few moments of quiet with them.

A few weeks ago Jeremy had a "man date" and Rachael was babysititng, so the boys and I were on our own for the evening. As every mother I know will tell you, evening times are just plane hard. The kids are tired, you are tired, basically any little thing can make the night soo much longer. So I was stoked to be doing dinner and bedtime by myself. Since you can't see me insert sarcastic eye roll here. We started with dinner (which went surprisingly smooth) then we went to go rent a movie. There were no kid movies at the redbox when we got there, but they did have the Glee Concert! As sad as this may sound my kids love this show too. We headed home. All the while I'm waititng for the fighting to start, this can't last all night, right? I had told the boys that when we got home we could all snuggle in my bed and watch the movie. So we all get jammies on and jump into bed.

Being the boys that they are this much closeness was too much, so eventually it looked more like this.

As they boys got more comfortable, so did I. I took my bra off and threw it to the edge of the bed.  Oliver saw it and decided he wanted to see what it was like to wear it. After I laughed hysterically at him, of course Sawyer needed to try it out too!

Hoped this brought you a fraction of the smile it gave me!

Happy Sunday, Grab a beer and check us out

Once again I'm sharing our week with you via pictures. I feel like all my posts lately have been downers and seeing my 'lil monkeys smiling faces is anything but a downer so....

I started the week with two little guys in my bed. Since Jeremy was still in the hospital my big bed felt quite empty.

Monday morning while Sawyer was at school, Oliver and I went to break Papa out! He was so excited that he was coming home!

Then Tuesday Oliver started school! He wasn't sure he was excited about it, but by Thursday he was all smiles when I went to pick him up.

Sawyer and I had a day date to the zoo, where he got to see a snake up close and personal. He wasn't sure he liked that!

Sawyer and I also got a chance to go out to breakfast together this week!

Friday we went to play at a friends house where the kids all ended up running through the sprinklers in their undies...Well almost all the kids, Lily thought they were crazy, as you can see by her face here.

Lastly we finished the week with Sawyer's second soccer game of the season. I know we aren't keeping score but we may have a 2-0 record! :)

Summertime in Sunny CA

There are days I feel like a bad parent. There are days I feel like I may be going crazy. Then there are days when I remember just how lucky I am to have 3 of the most amazing guys in my life. Last week we got to play in the beautiful sunshine and I was somehow reminded just how great summertime can be! What started out as me trying to kill a few hours and get the plants watered at the same time turned into full on warfare! If you have forgot how fun summer can be I highly recommend getting some water toys out and surprising your kids with a good soaking, or completely shock them by letting them soak you! It really was a great afternoon!

The birds and the bees

As parents we all know there will come a day when we have to talk to our kids about the birds and the bees, but I think we all expect that day to come when they are closer to understanding it all. I know I was shocked as a mother of boys when from a very early age they would get an erection. I know it wasn't anything they were controlling or even aware of since it's literally been almost since birth. I also remember my sister re-counting her kid’s bath time to me years ago; she said one of her daughters had been screaming from the tub "MOM!! MOM!" so of course she went running. She was surprised to see they were fine and says, "Why were you screaming? Are you ok?" Her daughter innocently replies "Mom did you know I can stick my whole finger inside?" (That still makes me chuckle and glad I have sons) She calmly replied, "Yes, I did know" and promptly walked out 

I guess I'm writing today more out of confusion than anything else.  My sons have always loved being naked. They would rather run in the sprinklers naked than with a suit, they spend most of the day at home without bottoms on, and it doesn't bother me one bit. I also know Sawyer is and has been for a while curious about the female body. He asks me about my body when he sees me naked and he's started asking why he can't see other women naked, and we have caught him and some girl friends checking each others business out. Today I got a call from a friend that we had dinner with a few days ago that was concerned because when we were there all the kids had bathed together, and apparently my son had asked her daughter to stand up so he could see her "privates" and then touched her and then he stood and instructed her to do the same to him. I do think there is some innocence to this, but I also think it's not appropriate. My confusion is in explaining all that to my son. I don't want him to grow up thinking sex, or looking at women, or anything related to that is bad.  I just want him to have an understanding about other people’s levels of comfort and about how self-exploration is ok, but exploring others needs to wait until you are older.

We had a good conversation today, and I do believe he is starting to understand, but for now a new rule is in place in my house, no co-ed baths. Oh and in case it wasn't obvious, being a parent is hard work, but that's ok because I've always liked a challenge! :)

The continuing saga of Destruct-O!

So I realize I have 2  months before Oliver's 3rd birthday, but since his obsesion over super hero's has yet to go anywhere I figured I should start moving on his party favors. Oliver or Destruct-O, as we have so fondly renamed him around here,  really wants a super hero birthday party. Since I have nothing else going on in my life, I thought it would be fun to make capes for the kiddos as the party favor. I was really intimitaded by the thought of making these capes, but one Saturday I sat down and decieded to make two for my boys and see how they turned out.

Drum roll please.....

I think they turned out soo fun! And the best part is they really only took about 10 minutes each! So even with my usual procrastination I should be able to finish before Oliver turns 3!! After my friend Elena's daughter saw them she quickly asked if I could make her one. This again made me feel they were a success, especially since I haven't seen her play super hero's much (she's much more a fancy nancy kinda girl) this is her cape. Which we gave her last weekend on her birthday and I wish I had a pic of that because she rocked the cape look!

Oliver never wears pants when he plays super hero's and he always has to have boots on. These things seem very obvious to him, but I never noticed how most Super's seem to have undie type bottoms on and of course they all rock the boots! He may have his mama's thighs but man he sure knows how to flaunt them!

Just another Saturday

So it's Saturday again and as usual this morning has not disappointed! Woke up and snuggled with Sawyer, and to try and by myself a couple more minutes of sleep I gave him my phone to take pictures with this is his self portrait.

Next Oliver and I snuggled on the couch for a couple minutes.

Oliver too wanted a turn taking pictures so I became his model. The dear in the headlights look is due to the fact that this was about the 15th picture!

Finally I decided to put my big girl panties on and get on with the day...

Yummo!!!

Next up on our Saturday to do list planting a garden! This is one of my favorite things to do each year!!! I had almost talked myself out of it with all that's going on in our lives, but decided why would I cut out one of my favorite things? It didn't make sense so we are planting today.

Creating a Monster

Today I'm feeling a little like I'm raising monsters.  So in that spirit for all of you who are wondering how to turn sweet little angels into raving lunatics I'm going to give you 5 tips to help you on your quest.

1: Allow them to talk to you as if you are their servant.

2: Be sure to make a lot of threats and never follow through on any of them.

3: Be sure to let them to hit you. (it encourages that fact that you are their servant)

4: Their  diet should consist of mainly processed food and very few fruits and vegetables.

5: Be sure that you and your significant other allow different behaviors. (it helps them get what they want from someone depending on the day)

It's really not fair that they look this cute! I guess if they didn't it would be really hard not to drop them at the nearest fire station! (oops did I say that!)  Enjoy your weekend and I hope that I have helped you on your journey to turning your sweet child into that monster kid you've always dreamed (or at least had nightmares) about! :)~

Bad guys beware....

Just another typical Sunday at Kasa Kennish...

Crime fighters have to get an early start so the usual 5:45am wake up is a must! Luckily the unobtrusive mama has realized this and has the coffee pot at the ready. As the coffee brews breakfast number one (cereal and milk) is on the table, as soon as the rush has set in, coffee for mom sugar cereal for the boys, it's off to the couch for a little show and to pretend we don't notice each other.

A good thing can only last so long, so by 7:30 we are looking for danger around every corner and have decided today we are going to fight the masses together instead of fighting each other!

So it's off to be creative... super hero's need to hide there identity so masks are a must. Along with the obvious super hero tag line belt, and rain boots make great super shoes! Today Super Sawyer and Destruct-O are requesting capes so hopefully this mama can tackle being creative and try and get a few moments to whip out some incredible capes!

More adventures of Super Sawyer and Destruct-O coming your way soon!

Nurture or Nature?

Sugar and spice and everything nice,
that's what little girls are made of.
Snake and snails and puppy dog tails,
that's what little boys are made of.

Hmmm.....

I have never a been a believer that someone can be changed into something they are not because of the way they are raised, but nothing has proved this more to me than having two boys! Now before I go on I must say I do not prefer one to the other (I mean I do, but it changes everyday, sometimes several times a day) it just amazes me how different they are. What amazes me more still is how many things can be chalked up only to "Well he's a boy!"

Yes that is a naked booty running away! I really believe all children love to be naked, but it's amazing how much time my kids would spend naked if I allowed them to be. So this part doesn't shock me to much. Where the shock comes for me is mainly in the guns/shoot 'em up mentality. I was raised in a house where we did not own guns, toy guns, I mean we couldn't even pretend that a stick was a gun if we were pointing it at someone. And yes there were many little boys in my house.

This is Oliver using a ladder from his brother's farm as a gun. Until our Disneyland trip we also had no guns in our house, but it has never stopped Oliver! Oliver is the instigator of the warfare play in my house! Oliver is all boy when it comes to things like that. 

The beautiful thing about having two tho is that Sawyer (who is not all boy in that sense) will play guns with him and in turn Oliver will play dress up with Sawyer.  It is so fun to watch them play together no matter what the game.  

a day in the life

Today I made a conscious decision to photograph our day (minus the trip to Costco) Enjoy! 

Started out with a nice long bubble bath for the boys.... insert a trip to the gym and Costco here....then,

 

We made play dough and played for about two hours with it!

Had to share that we were playing so intently everyone forgot there pants!

 

A time out or two through out the day....

finished off with sliders, and a glass of wine for dinner! YUMMO!!

p.s. if this post appears larger than normal it's because it is! Just thought the pictures have been looking small on the blog! :)