Conversations with a Stud

Me:          'I sure do LOVE watching you play buddy.'

Linc:         'I sure do LOVE watching you clean mama.'

Truer words have probably never been spoken.

Do You?

Do you let your children dress themselves?

I do. 

A lot.  

They both chose green.

Not always of course, there are occasions when I get to choose and/or have the veto-power.  

(Like flip-flops in the rain.)

Lincoln wearing crocs and a tank top.  In the rain.  With jeans.  In February.

But most of the time during the week, they choose.

Looking good.

Here's the thing, when I taught Kindergarten, there was a particular round-faced cutie pie that always came to school a disheveled mess.  

This girl had pony-tails sticking out of her forehead and was mismatched from head to toe.  

But, she couldn't have felt more beautiful.  

Her mother told me she let her choose her own clothes and didn't ever have
problem with what she wore.
I loved it!
She was allowed to express her creativity through her clothes.  

The confidence she felt was evident. 

Certainly much different from the (mostly) girls and (occasional) boys who would choose to sit out of an activity rather than get their shoes and/or clothes dirty.  

Or had the most lovely, on-trend get-ups, but were too uncomfortable to play in them.  

Polka dots and leopard.

Lila + Lincoln tend to choose outfits that they think match.  Green shirt, green underwear and green shorts for instance on my dude.  Or striped shirt and striped skirt for Sis.  

These always leads to rocking outfits let me tell you.  

Or sometimes Lila likes to wear her Christmas dress to Target.  

And Lincoln wears his football pants.  (Carrying a football of course!)  

Sometimes Lila wears her ballerina dresses or Lincoln wears all red like Lightening McQueen.  Lincoln's favorite shirt has a gigantic stain that I cannot get out.  

It doesn't bother him for one second.  

But here is the thing for me.
They could care less what others think about what they are wearing.
They feel special.  

And I'm sure sooner rather than later, they will start making choices based on what they feel others will think.  

We all do.

So until then, our children will be the ones letting their personalities dictate their adorableness.  

And not their threads.

And it's 2 less battles I have to fight each morning.
Win.  Win.

Evidence

Yesterday afternoon I came home from a hair appointment to a quiet house. The kids were napping and Brian was out in the yard working. And as I walked around and decided what area I was going to start cleaning first, I started laughing. BECAUSE can you ever tell that toddlers live here?!

Proof is in the pudding they say...

Exhibit A.

Leftover Valentine decorations. Whoops.

Exhibit B.

Random Trike

Exhibit, never mind--

These are just my bunnies I'm obsessed with.

Exhibit C.

The boots by our front door.

Exhibit D.

The mess.

Exhibit E.

The antibiotics in the fridge.

Exhibit F.

The Art Wall.

Exhibit G.

The random baby doll. That I will most certainly trip over.

Exhibit H.

The library books all dumped out of the library bag. Again.

Exhibit I.

The sweaters hanging by the stairs.

Exhibit J.

The bucket that is supposed to be filled with crayons.

Exhibit K.

The shoe pile.

Exhibit L.

The empty Ketchup bottle left on the table.

Exhibit M.

The bathroom literature.

None of these photos were staged.

Everything was exactly like this when I came home yesterday.

Hence the laughter.

Hence the endless cleaning and straightening up.

From the Mind of a 2 Year Old...

Yesterday, following A GAZILLION, several reminders to

'Please pick up his race cars', the following conversation occurred.

Me: 'Awwww buddy, when are ya gonna listen???'

Lincoln: 'Ummmm...probably on Fursday.'

*Fursday = Thursday

Away in the Manger

On this the eve of a most special month, I would like to report that we only have had 1 Baby Jesus related injury in this house. (So far.)

Thus resulting in only 1 time the mama of this house, ahem, shouted: 'WE DO NOT THROW BABY JESUS!' (So far.)

Thus resulting in one time-out for throwing Baby Jesus at her brother. Ahem, LILA! (So far.)

Thus resulting in one small gash on 'her brother's' nose. (So far.)

Wait!!!, it's not even December yet?

Uh-oh!

What a Pair

Twice in the past 2 weeks people have commented on how Brian and I look like Mutt + Jeff.

WHO???

So I googled.

Oh, I get it. Awesome.

*For the record, I'm 5'2 and Brian is 6'3 and some change. But we are all the same size laying down.

Happy Birthday Coco!

I had a great idea!

The twins youngest Krug-side cousin turned 2 on Wednesday. So I thought we would go to our favorite cupcake store to get a special treat to celebrate.

Because we missed the party...

...Because they live in California...

...Where it is sunny...

...But, whatever.

Anyway, I had the great idea that we would video us singing to Coco before eating our treat. Check out if my idea was a success. (Hint-It wasn't!) And be sure to enjoy my singing while your at!



So apparently asking my little guy to sit in front of a very special and very rare treat was pure torture.

Hilarious!

By the way, Coco won't be the youngest for long. Kels is just a few weeks away from the arrival of her little brother. Yay! And I'm gonna go down for his birth. Yay! I can't wait. I missed Lucca's birth because I had my hands full with 4 week old twins. I can't wait to love on a new little Chao. Mmmmm! Babies are delicious!

Enjoy!

Wonder what it is like to be a mama of twins???



(Thanks Christy!)

For Real

This is a busy, busy household. Here are just a few things that have happened in Casa Swish in the last week or so. For real.

-A pair of my heels were somehow put in the washing machine. And washed. Through a full cycle. (Not quite sure which turd was responsible for that one.) I did hear some unusual banging, but every time I thought to go investigate, I was distracted.

-Lincoln locked me out of the house. FOR REAL! Click HERE if you want to check out another time this little dude locked me out.

-Our little Pearl will randomly call Brian...BRIAN. Like 'Thank you, Brian' and 'Please, Brian' or 'Wow, Brian'. Hy.ster.i.cal.

-Every single time Lincoln gets in the car he cries and cries because he can't actually drive the car. Back-arching, screaming and just plain mad. For real!

-Lincoln took a chunk out of my face a couple of weeks ago. And then for the next 10 days as it it healed, (I'm telling you it was a CHUNK!), Lila told me every single time she looked at me, 'Mommy owie'. Made me feel so pretty.

-We've discovered that coloring on walls is so much more fun than coloring on paper. Five times this week. FIVE TIMES!

Boobies + Dancing

It's like his daddy says, he comes from a long line of boob-men. He can't help but notice. Check out the sweet moves by the way.

Conversations With Lila

Lila looks all around + asks: 'Whursss dada?'

Lila answers: 'I dunno'

Lila answers (again): 'Wurkkk'


We are getting smarter around here folks!!!

Mr. July

An ode to Brian, by my bro Rus. Don't you just wish you were a part of this completely normal family.???