We are going to be late.

I grew up in small town America on the boarder of Texas and Oklahoma. It's about 3 (4 when traveling with children) hours from where we live now. I try to go and see my parents every few months. My parents still live in the same house they lived in when they picked me up when I was 2 ( that's another story I'm working up to one of these days) .  It's a big, old house. Growing up it was surrounded by 2 giant oak trees and dozens of pecan trees. The trees have always been my very favorite part of this house (I love the oak trees so much that Mr. Mayer and I planted one in our front yard). The huge front porch is my second favorite thing. Now, I know it's silly to say that you are attached to a house. But, if I am being honest I am attached to this house. My entire growing up years were spent with this house. The years have passed and the trees have not weathered well. My parents have lost quiet a few of the pecan trees. Several years ago the big oak tree in the back y...

Well, the day has arrived. It's been 4 years in the making. This girl started school today. No, this isn't what she wore today. She went to a birthday party yesterday and there was a pirate and a parrot. She got to wear the parrot. It was very exciting. I know this is going to shock everyone, but she wore this today. I know. Please contain yourselves. She had a "glittery sweater" she was going to wear over it. The sweater never left the house. We had a photo shoot before we left this morning. The kid is an i-Carly freak. She had to have the i-Carly back pack. She has been very excited about this day. We've been talking about it forever. We went and met her teacher last week. She got to see her classroom and meet a few kids she would be in class with. We.were.ready. I wasn't sure how I would do. I suspected I might cry. Mr. Mayer was pretty sure I would cry. We were up bright and early this morning. I had to force feed a banana to Diva to get her to eat...

I had big plans to be productive this evening. I was going to get some stuff done around the house, finish my wreath. I even thought about blogging about the chaos that has been happening around here. Diva covered herself in black and dark blue eyeshadow today. I mean head to toe painted herself. I had to put her in the shower and scrub her. Then we discovered it was all over the light colored carpet. I was going to mention how Shrek is cutting two top teeth. The devils have finally broken through. Both boys are walking. Diva starts school Monday and we met her teacher last week. Lots has been happening around her. However...I'm taking parenthood very hard today. I think instead of being productive I am going to rent a movie and have a drink. Happy Saturday!

I made chimichurri sauce last night. It was fantastic! I have had some requests for the recipe.  Chimichurri -1 bunch parsley -1 bunch cilantro (I'm not a big fan of cilantro, but it works in this recipe) -3 Tbs red wine vinegar -1/2 tsp salt -1/2 tsp pepper -3 Tbs water -6 Tbs olive oil -6 cloves of garlic (this is optional. We really like garlic so I load it up) These are not hard core measurements. More or less of everything can be added. I like vinegar so I add extra.  Put everything in a blender and blend until well blended.  Goes very well with beef Roasted Vegetables This works for any vegetable. I do broccoli mostly. I have also done potatoes, cauliflower and asparagus. Recipe is based off of what I did yesterday. -Parsnips -Carrots -Eggplant ( slice eggplant and salt heavily. Place on paper towels or rack for 30 minutes minimum to extract water) -Tomato Preheat oven to 450 Chop veggies Place on cookies sheet. Toss with olive oil, coarse salt and pepper Roast f...

I have a confession...I have a housekeeper. I love her. She does a better job than I can pretend and can get this house squeaky clean in a few hours where it would take me a week to get it picked up. I have had Kari for a few years. Kari came to the family soon after we moved in. I was working full time and thought it would be nice to have. Then I got pregnant with twins and she became a lifesaver and necessity. I quit my job almost a year ago, but held onto Kari. I just can't part with her. Not only does she do a fantastic job, but I'm pretty sure she is a saint. Diva loves her. She is always going around pretending she is Kari. I shared this with Kari a while back. She thought it was sweet. Anytime Diva is home Kari lets her help her. Of course this slows Kari's pace down, but it means the world to Diva. Kari always gives her a job in each room they are in. Today was no different. It was Kari day and Diva wanted to help. Diva was in rare form today and had ordered me out...

I hate it when that happens. Diva has her own upstairs wonderland (until I move her brother's up there). It was a black pit today. I think she had drug every toy she owned and then some into the floor today. You couldn't even see the carpet. I had been telling her all day to get it cleaned up. She generally does a really good job picking up. Generally. She has her days where I have to threaten to take a trash sack and clean up the mess myself. She never likes this idea so she gets everything cleaned up before I have to do that. Today was no different. I started telling her at 2pm today that she would have to have upstairs picked up before bedtime tonight or I would pick it up. Sounded reasonable to me. All afternoon Diva kept coming downstairs saying she needed a break. Fine. Whatever. Dinner came around and she hadn't picked it up. After dinner came and I sent her upstairs to clean up. About 45 minutes after I sent her upstairs Mr. Mayer went up to start her bath. She.had....

I'm sure that what I have to say is nothing new to parents of boys. I'm 100% fully writing this out of frustration. But jeez oh pete' boys stuff is lame! Holy cow! I can find a zillion cute things for Diva, even at her very advanced age of 4  and one or two things for Shrek and Donkey. Some examples of my frustration: ~I had some coupons and the fam was going stir crazy this afternoon so Mr. Mayer and I loaded our brood up and headed to the hell that is the mall to pick up a few things. The kids don't need much in the way of clothing. I had gotten some emails about some good sales and I had coupons on top of that I wanted to use. I was able to get the boys and the girl some colder weather duds. However, finding Diva cute, suitable clothing was no big deal. Especially with her helping me pick out EVERYTHING IN THE STORE. That kid can shop. She must be mine. *As a side note the poor kid is scrawny. Size 4's are too short and size 5's are way to big in the waist,...

There is something about my boys and poop. Click here for a refresher on our last experience with poo. Ugh... As stated from my previous post TODAY I am having a rough week. My kids are not helping this. Tonight was the normal chaotic routine that it always is. I had Shrek and Donkey in their high chairs eating their dinner while I made dinner for Diva, Mr. Mayer and I. Shrek and Donkey were through and getting cranky so I asked Mr. Mayer to get them out and start getting them dressed for bed. I had stripped them down to their diapers for dinner because Shrek  someone doesn't like to wear his bib. It's easier to strip him than fight him. Mr. Mayer had wiped the boys down and sat them in the floor. I had my back to the chaos trying to finish up dinner so we could eat as soon as we laid the boys down. All of a sudden I heard Mr. Mayer make a 4 letter exclamation. I turn around as Mr. Mayer is picking Donkey up out of the floor. I walk over and see this~ Yup, that's poop...

I've been MIA for a while. Where have I been? Vacation. I intended my first post to be about my vacation and how much fun we had. This week has changed my mind. Let me preface this next part by saying my kids were rock stars on vacation. They endured 12+ hours one way in the car like champs and tolerated schedule disruptions and time changes like nothing was happening. We get home and it all falls apart. Diva is officially done with daycare. She will start "big girl school" in a few weeks. In the meantime she's home with me. Normally when she's home with me it's no big deal she does pretty well and there isn't much drama. Normally. The first couple of days I chalked up the behavior to just coming back from vacation. But, really. I mean c'mon. Diva has been living up to her name lately. As many know we have had some potty training issues. Really, we've had problems with Diva not feeling the need to go to the potty, she just pees in her pants. She ...