Cell phones and attitudes and growing up oh my!

Max will be 9...ya 9 not 19 or 15 or double digits even! Nine years old and he wants a cell phone, thinks he MUST have one...WHY??? I'm TOTALLY at a loss here as to why he needs to be worried by this right now. He isn't without us very often at all, which is the only reason I see for a child to have a cell phone. So the answer is no...for now and probably the next 3 years at least. Does that make me unreasonable? Maybe but I don't really think so. But lately everything I do as a mother is SO very unacceptable in his eyes. "Seriously mom, I have to do my homework?"...stomp, stomp, stomp, "I HATE homework!!!" And I have to endure day after day of this attitude about everything form homework to cleaning up his bedroom to their bedtime...and I exhaust myself explaining the life lessons that come form these tasks on a DAILY basis...oh the joys! It will pay off though right? RIGHT?!?!?! I know I have fabulous children...like more so than normal kids. They are kind and polite and thoughtfull of others...well everyone but me! Such is the life of a mother I think. We're the ones who have to enforce all these blah rules and regulations in their lives...but I cling to the hope that one day (sooner than later) the light bulb will go off in their heads and they will STOP challenging everything I say or do...Please God, please let this be the case!!!
xo

Oh my sweet children are growing up soooo stinkin fast!! Max spent the night w/ a friend this last weekend and so Si wanted a friend too! Always has to be like big brother lol! They played and got along so well for 2,3 &4 year olds...only had one little tiff and I think they were just getting sleepy. It was a fun time and I'm so happy for my children to have friends around that they can hang out w/ and grow up w/! I was never lacking in the friends to play w/ category. Growing up in a cul-de-sac with at least 3 other girls my age, it was like having built in friends. So I guess I'm just thankful that it's somewhat the same for my kids too. Unfortunately the sleep over ended on somewhat of a sad note...Just about 20 minutes after I took this pic poor little "L" ran into the corner of our wall and knocked out his front tooth. :( Poor guy! He's a tough one, thought, and just 2 hours after that he was saying he wanted to come back over for another sleep over LOL!! Kids are so GREAT! Hope everyone had a great weekend!!
xoxox Kash

suff...GRRRRR!!

So we've moved ALL of our stuff back into our house in h-burg from p-town. And we seem to be busting at the seams...WHAT?? Didn't all this stuff fit in here once before? YES!!! Didn't I take load after load of stuff to goodwill?? YESSSS!!!!! Didn't I throw TONS of stuff away as we were moving out??? Yes, yes and YES!! So WHY do we seem to be overflowing these walls? Of course some things have changed...like some of our furniture. We bought two leather recliner chairs for the living room up there and they obviously weren't bought w/ THIS house in mind...but they work, kinda. And we have a new dining room table, which surprisingly makes me feel VERY grown up lol!!! I even gave away so many nicknacks and other pointless things that used to be in our house so I'd think that I'd be feeling like I had room to spare...but sadly I don't. The worst part is knowing that my kids are only getting bigger...eeekkk!!! What on earth am I going to do w/ this tiny house when I have two HUGE, growing teenage boys on my hands??? I have such a HUGE desire to give it ALL away!! Strip our belongings down to just what we need and absolutely cherish and be free of pointless stuff that collects around you over time. I am not a pack rat...ok maybe boarderline lol...but I am good about going through and tossing things I havn't used in a year. That's my rule...if it hasn't been touched or looked at even, let alone used then it's GONE!! And it's kinda a great feeling :) So I actually think I'm going to go purge...some more! Stuff that is lol!
Hope everyone has a good day and maybe you could live lighter too?!?!?! Just remember to recycle as much as you can!!!
xo
Kash

Just a side note...

All my pics are clickable to make them bigger! :)
xo Kash

First day of school!!

My boys started school today...Max in the 3rd grade (WHAT?!?!?!) and Josiah in pre-school. Next year I will be an empty nester...with Lulu off to pre-school as well. :( Bittersweet I've got to say. I love my kids and having them near me and needing me but I also LOVE my "MY" time too. Seeing them grow and be so eager to get older is fun and scary at the same time. It's hard to think of myself outside of being their mom...wait this blogs not about me LOL!

1st day of school...excitement. Waking up WAY too early because you can't stand it anymore. THE perfect outfit, which I'm learning isn't just a girl thing lol! Both the boys were super excited and had pretty good days. Josiah was ready for luch and a nap when he got home and Max was playing Mr. Too Cool hahaha. His teacher was, "ya pretty nice," and he couldn't remember much of what they did outside of the fact that he's only got 2 recesses this year. OH MAN...bummer dude!!! But the year is off and in full swing again. Waking up early and homework...and early bedtimes (for them at least)lol! We'll work our way through it and in no time at all I'll probably be writing a tearful blog about my baby girls first day of school EVER! Till then I think I'm going to try and slow down a bit and take in a little bit more of this craziness that is life! It's going way to fast for me...
Hope everyone had a good day! Happy first day of school everyone :)
xo Kash
Lulu was SO cute being right there w/ her brothers. She wanted to go to school so bad...so we said the ABC's and sang songs on the way home! She was good w/ that lol! Next year sweet girl...soon enough!

Last day of summer...

Max starts school tomarrow and he couldn't be more excited!! As I type this he's still up, can't sleep, with butterflies in his tummy lol! Awe, I remember those days!! Sigh...

So today was the official "Last Day of Summer"...dun, dun, dun...we should have had a celebration now that I think about it. Some kind of a party to mark the transition from hot, lazy summer days to the WORK,WORK,WORK of the school year. Oh well...So what did we do instead you ask? I made them work for me of course LOL! I toted them around w/ me while I took their pictures! "Guys, mom wants some good pics this time k!"..."I'll give you candy!!!!" Hahahaha, that got their attention!! Everytime they were giving me attitude and gruff about wanting them to pose I just reminded them what was at stake...and it worked!! YESsssssss!!!!! We ended up in Corvallis by the river and then I drove all the way to Silverton because it's just about THE cutest little town I've EVER seen!!! But by the time we got there my kids were just about done w/ me and my camera so I only snapped a few! They'll get used to it some day, right???















And they did get their candy lol!!!

Summertime's winding down

The weather here has gotten cooler and the tree across the street is turning golden already...before we know it the leaves will be gone and fall will be in full swing! And I CANNOT wait!!! I adore fall...I love the crispy air of indian summers and the chilly, clear nights when I can bundle up in a blanket w/ a cup of tea or cocoa but still be outside, under the stars. I LOVE Halloween and Thanksgiving and pretty much all things fall. I love how my desire to nest kicks into overdrive and I'm overwhelmed w/ the need to make our house warm and cozy. I get baking bugs where I make scrumptious cakes. I resume the cooking duties that my husband took over for the summertime. Pot afer pot of chilie and any other kind of yummy soup I can make up. I can't fairly say, though, that the fall time is my favorite...because I get equally excited around the 4th of July when the fields around me are all golden, right before they all start to get harvested. I love the summer for it's bright blue skies and bbq's w/ friends and family. Then there's spring time. Wonderful, refreshing springtime. I relish in my tulips and iris's in springtime and the soft pink blossoms on the tree in the front yard. The rain always smells fresher and the first warmth after the dark, cold winter days always leaves me wanting to break out the shorts and summer dresses (even though I know it's too soon lol)
But back to fall...I'm in love w/ fall. Back-to-school preperations are under way in our house. Max, this year, is quite certain he's going to be a professional skateboarder when he grows up!! It's pretty cute to see him going on the board! So keeping with his new found hobby, he wanted some skateboard shoes. I have heard about nothing else but DC shoes...ok so DC shoes it is! We found them yesterday in his size and it was exciting I must say. The look on his face was priceless! And Josiah...Mr. Si guy, wanted rhinos lol! Luckily they had Ecko's in his size, or it would have been heartbreaking to tell him he couldn't have the rhino shoes he's been talking about for no less than a month...but huge sigh of relief, they had them!!!! We were golden!!! Of course Miss Lulu needed a new pair too...but she's easy, anything pink and were good to go lol!!!
School starts in less than a week and Max is very excited to be back with his friends! And I feel alot more relaxed about sending him to school again...it's better here for us for now...And I'm enjoying the seasons like I've always known them...and I'm happy!!!

They were not into posing for me :)

What to do when insomnia strikes...start up a blog!!

I'm sleepy but can't bring myself to crawl into my empty bed and doze off all by myself. (Hubby's only coming home on weekends for now which leaves me fending for myself these days...and nights) So I try and fill my delirium with whatever I can come up w/... and I'm OBSESSED w/ my still very new camera...aka, my 4th child lol...and I find myself on photography sites and looking at others photos and dreaming of the day when I'm "that good". My VERY, super duper good friend just up graded her camera today as well and had an idea to do a photo blog every day...so here I am, minus the photo for now while I still try and figure this whole thing out lol!
The kids are sleeping and I just became an "official" blogger, things are right w/ the world...for now LOL :)
Nighty night...