Things my kids are obsessed with....

***Ella***

* Disney Television
* Disciplining her brothers
* Books
* The Jonas Brothers
* Swimming
* Saying inappropriate things at inappropriate times
* Being Dramatic
* Being 7

***Nathan***

* Boots
* Eating sand
* Wearing only his pajama tops
* Swimming
* Trucks with trailers
* Demanding movies and then not watching them
* Praying at least six times during every meal
* His mother
* Sticking his fingers in his mouth


***Zachary***

* His Towel
* His Binky
* Wearing socks with sandals
* Opening and closing andopeningandclosingandopening the back door
* Biting his brother
* Going backwards
* Saying "Amen" in the loudest possible voice at the dinner table and at church
* Swimming

Will I Ever Learn?

What do you get when you mix 2 two year old boys, a loader dump truck tractor scraper mower digger bulldozer, and a bowl of rocks and corn (aka Kix)? Well, my friends, besides a huge, crunchy mess on my floor, you get 45 minutes of pure, unadulterated little boy fun. Surely I had better things to do than sit and watch my sons enjoy the simplest of pleasures, but I can't think of a one.

What happens when 2 two year old boys have played nicely for 45 minutes? Literally at minute 46 someone has to disturb the peace. Someone has to take the scraper from his brother and a short tussle will ensue. Then brother will decide that the scraper is last weeks news and get the dump truck, but it seems that someone will not let the little tiff go and amid shouts of "NO" from the mother, someone gives lil' ol' brother a big scraper to the back of the head. Someone (Zak) ends up in the corner for some serious "you need to think about what you did and why it was an inappropriate way to handle your emotions" time and brother (Nate) spent some time in the chair with mother (me) making sure that nothing was seriously damaged. Thankfully all was fine and Zak did his allotted time in the corner. Nate was all ready to hug and make up, but Zak apparently holds grudges and wouldn't hug his bro back. Let's just say that Zachary is becoming well acquainted with the corner, the wall, the time out chair lately and Nate spends a lot of time getting his wounds nursed by me.

.....And you wonder why I haven't blogged in over 2 months......

Things that keep me awake at night

(Not including my children, my husband, my dog, my hormones, my creaky 105 year old house....)

What are the 23 flavors in Dr. Pepper? 23...Really?

Do flannel sheet makers get hate mail? I mean, I love my flannel sheets, so much so, that if I could, I would stay in my cozy, warm bed all the live long day! But do people with real jobs hate flannel sheets?... How do they haul themselves out of bed in order to get to work on time? Do employers find that they have a sudden rash of late and absentee workers when the weather turns cold? (We do....oh wait, the weather isn't a contributing factor here.)

When should I start to use anti-aging lotion? I still get zits, but I can see the beginnings of a few "laugh" lines. Do they make a lotion for "somewhere in between puberty and menopause"? Benzoyl peroxide with Retin-A?

Why are boys so different than girls?

Why does Nathan only want to eat sherbert for breakfast? and lunch? and dinner?

Does anyone else have really vivid dreams about telling your inlaws off about how rude it is to take 34 days of vacation to Maui while you have to stay at home with your crabby husband, 3 snotty nosed children, dog that has to be on a special diet, and allllllll of their workload? Really? Could I handle any more? Probably, but I don't wanna. **pout**

Why aren't there ever enough hours in the day?

Why won't my house stay clean for longer than 17 minutes? Why Why Why?

Why am I not sleeping?

Good night.....

Letting go.

Okay, so for the 3 of you that actually read my blog, you already know that I am slightly neurotic. I mean, come on, it's right there in the header! Anyway...it was a sad day for me. I had to throw away 40 bags of frozen breast milk in order to fit 35 bags of hamburger in my deep freezer. It was so hard! I know that the boys are almost 2, but still it was tough. It was like throwing their baby days away and knowing that we will never have another baby means that I will never experience that phase of life again. Ugh....I need therapy.

Lesson NOT learned

Seriously folks, you have got to watch your toddlers! In the 3 minutes (or 10) it takes to make out at deposit slip (aka checking email, looking at facebook, staring into space....) your almost 2yo twins will destroy everything that has taken you years to accomplish. They will climb mountains and open doors to a whole new world.....or they will climb up cupboards to get your makeup and open the front door to call for the dog and any other varmint in the neighborhood. Good thing daddy happened to be near the house and heard a little boy voice calling for Fletchy or who knows what or who we would have had in the living room. It was only the large daddy voice that brought me out of my stupor and alerted me to the trouble in the other wing of the house. This is what I found.

But darn if he isn't cute! A little bronze eyeliner really brings out his smile. One day I will learn to pick up after myself and I will eventually get the entire house Nate and Zak proof....most likely when they leave for college. Whatever.

The face of mischief....

Hi. My name is Zak. I like to make life exciting. I think that it is funny when my mom pulls on her hair and her left eye twitches. It's super fun when she yells at me, but says my brother's name by mistake....sometimes Nate is being naughty too, but usually it's all me, baby. I have recently learned to crawl out of my crib. I am awesome!

This, this is the face that greeted me at 12:37 AM on Tuesday morning saying ever so politely "Mother, may I please have smidge of milk? And I would also enjoy a private viewing of my new favorite movie Cars. If you could be ever so kind as to do these things for me, I would be forever grateful." or maybe he just said "Milky?" "Cars?" and then ran around in the dark.

This is the boy that makes us do this to his bed, so that he can't ask for drinks and private viewings of his favorite movies during the wee hours of the morning....

......some very ingenius thinking on Kevin's part....especially at 1:30 in the morning. Yet another use for pool noodles! Unfortunately, Kev had to go out to his garage to get said noodles and at 1:30 AM it was COLD outside!!!! Yay Daddy! Zak actually thinks that his bed is super cool now and has been safely tucked in for the past 2 nights!

Both boys have continued with their fasination in potty training. As if I could possibly fit one more thing into our day. Here is Zak's newest take on potty training. I'm thinking that maybe his lil bum was chilly or maybe he just wants to drive me crazy.

The REAL Santa Claus

Santa Claus made an appearance at Big G and the Kissinger Kids were eagerly anticipating their meeting witht he big guy. Zachary could hardly contain himself....he hollered "Santa" all the way to town. Nate was silent. I think that he was mentally cataloging his list. Ella had her schpeel all worked out.....an American Girl doll, Get a Clue books, and a New York fashion designer game.

We got to Big G and the big moment had finally arrived....Santa!! Zak froze...a deer in the headlights. Who was this huge man in red and what was that white stuff on his face? Where was the Santa he'd been expecting? You know the one with a black top hat, button eyes, a carrot nose and a corn cob pipe....our poor Zak thinks that Santa is a snowman.

Ellie, having all of her ducks in a row, marched right up to Santa, sat down, got the list laid out for him and got her candy cane. Love a lady that gets right to the point and gets the job done.

Nathan had business to do with the man in red and actually mustered up the nerve to sit on his lap. I think that it helped to have his big sis there to hold his hand and tell him that it would all be okay.

Now that Christmas morning has past, Ella told me..."Mom, that must have been the REAL Santa at Big G, because I got everything that I asked for." What a good listener that Santa is and a very lucky little girl Ellie is.

Apparently, Santa needs to go on a diet. I asked Ellie to get his plate of cookies ready and this was all she gave him. She's lucky the Big Guy thinks that she's cute....

**Santa didn't know what a NY fashion designer game was and his American Girl doll wore Madame Alexander doll shoes, but the books were the real deal!!**