Not your ordinary jar salsa

I won't brag about much when it comes to cooking but I do have a few tricks up my sleeve and I'll give myself credit that I'm like fine wine...I get better with time. But my salsa is crazy good. I bring it to parties and make it for just about every get-together and I have to bring a big bag of chips because it's a hit.

It's such a hit that my 23-month-old even loves it. When he sees it in the fridge, he screams, "SALSA!" and eats it up. So consider yourself privileged that you know such an amazing recipe. I got this recipe a few years ago from a friend and it reminds me a lot of Central Market's 4th anniversary salsa.

Homemade Fresh Salsa serves 10-15 people

2-3 jalapenos
2-3 cloves of garlic
3-4 green onions
1 bunch fresh cilantro
10-12 medium ripe roma tomatoes
lime juice
salt to taste
dash of Tony Cachere's

Directions:

1. I cut up the jalapenos and take out almost all the seeds. I put them in my food chopper with the garlic, green onions, cilantro. I just remember to put all the green/garlic stuff together. Put it in a large bowl.

2. Put all the tomatoes in the food chopper.

3. Mix all the green and red together. Add the salt, Tony's and lime juice to taste.

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Baptism

This past Sunday we went to my parents' church. It's the oldest church in Fort Worth and has an amazing sanctuary. My sister's youngest, Avery, was baptized and we were all there to see it. Since it's such an old church, it has a very interesting baptistery and it's in the ground. It's hard for the rest of the congregation to see baptism unless you're in the balcony or right in front...which of course, we were.

My oldest niece, Madison, used to call it being "bath-tized" when she was younger so we were all celebrating that Avery was "bathtized." Avery was born shortly after Justin and I started dating and it's so hard to believe that she's nearly 10.

Avery with my parents

with the whole fam

Afterwards, we went out for a kid friendly lunch and I'd say that Campbell was a big fan of the dessert my mom brought.

Take me out to the ballgame sing along

One night in the midst of rocking to Campbell to sleep one night, I decided to spice things up from our normal run-of-the-mill songs and I sang "Take me out to the ballgame." And, that's when the obsession started and Campbell ever since requests "SOCCER BALL!!!!" every night a million times before bedtime.

He then started to sing with me and it's just about the cutest thing hearing a toddler sing. My favorite part is that he's making key changes. He's like his mama, it might not be the right key but at least he's trying! I

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This time around

There are a couple of things that I've learned from my experience in motherhood. There are some things that I feel like we figured it out with Nolan and I want to do it the same. Then there's other things that I've realized, "Wow, if I had to do it again, I'd..." Poor Nolan, nothing like being the guinea pig when it comes to your childhood. Isn't that what we all are though, more or less?

One thing I learned to approach a different way is potty training. To put it lightly, it was H.E.L.L with Nolan. We were right in the middle of it when we brought Campbell into the world. Every book on potty training says to not do it when there's a big change in the home, but you know me, I think I can do it anyway. My doctor finally told me with boys to just plan on it not happening until he's 3, and if it happens before then, that I'm one of the lucky ones. I think I just needed to hear that and then I chilled out. Sure enough, on Nolan's 3rd birthday, it was like he was sprinkled with magical potty dust and it all clicked for him.

I've already decided that I'm not even going to push it with Campbell after all that I went through with Nolan. He's way more interested in it than Nolan ever was at this age though. He's seen Nolan use the potty and even sits down on the potty. We just smile and say good job and he's proud of himself just for sitting. The other night he "tried" going potty and I was about to go give him a bath so I didn't put a diaper on him. Can you see where this is going? You guessed it, he gave me a nice little surprise right on the floor. Now he keeps saying, "No poo poo on the floor. Poo poo on the potty."

So tonight we were out playing in the yard with a little inflatable pool for the boys. They were LOVING it. Then we saw Campbell's potty face and I knew we had to get him out of the pool quick. So not having time to put a diaper on him (plus he was soaked),  I ran him to the potty more out of convenience than anything else, and 5 seconds later, he poops in the potty! I started screaming because it surprised me so much. I think I scared him to death! Then when he realized I was happy screaming, he was just beaming and so proud of himself. He runs outside naked and tells his daddy, "Poo poo in potty!" Just goes to show you how different each child is when it comes to potty training.

I think it was all just timing on this one, and we have still have a loooong road ahead, but I was just so proud of him. I might just have to potty train him outside this whole summer... it seemed to work! Maybe this time around, I'll be one of the lucky ones my doctor talked about. Wishful thinking...

Nightmare on Museum St.

Oh boy. Where do I even start? My sister and oldest niece helped me watch the boys on my last day of school so I didn't have to pay for a week of daycare when I only needed help one day of childcare. My sister, in return, needed my help watching her youngest two later on in the week. It sounded like a good trade to me, especially because her two are way less maintenance than mine! I said it was a good trade...not a fair trade.

We bought a family pass for the children's museum here back at Spring Break. So I decided that would be good entertainment for four kids all by myself. This was our third time and I've pretty much seen the same things the last two times I went, so I wanted to venture to another part of the museum. After visiting the new exhibit on Leonardo de Vinci and the cattle part of the museum, we decided to go to Energy Blast of the exhibit. Who would see any harm in learning about natural gas and fossil fuels? I guess the first clue should have been the 3D glasses they handed us. I thought it was just part of the exhibit we were seeing. Then we walked into a theater - an interactive and way-too-scary-for-anyone-under-12 theater. I can't believe that someone didn't stop me before I went in there!

So I sit down with Campbell on my left knee, Nolan on my right knee and we're sandwiched between my two nieces, Adalyn and Avery. Lights go out and I'm already hearing murmurings of "Mooommmmmy?" That should have been my second clue. The theater seats moved like roller-coaster seats and when insects were on the screen something would grab at your feet, cold air would blast on your face and water would squirt on your face....sounds lovely for toddlers and 4-year-olds doesn't it? We lasted about 3 minutes in the movie and that was after a million times of saying, "It's not real honey" and "Don't look, just put your face in my shoulder." Next was the straw the broke the camels back. A huge T-Rex popped on the screen and roared. It's all just a blur now but I'm sure both my children could describe in detail what it looked like. It more or less looked like this, but imagine it with more saliva than a Saint Bernard stretched between his upper and lower jaw....in 3D and looking like it wants to eat you.

Aaaaaannnnd that's when the surround sound crying began. Volume 10. Picture this, I'm trying to get off a roller-coaster in the middle of the ride with two kids on each of my knees and neither kid will let me put them down, wearing 3D glasses and I'm trying to corral two other children to find the nearest exit possible....oh I can't forget to pick up my stroller on the way and not disturb others' movie watching experience.

Yep, another Mom of the Year moment for me again. Nolan would NOT stop talking about it.  He told everyone about it at Vacation Bible School at church and poor Campbell keeps saying "dinsaur cary (scary)" I've totally traumatized my children! HELLO people...it's a CHILDREN'S MUSEUM!?! Guess I better break out the bad dream spray tonight!

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First things first

This pretty much sums up the beginning of my summer so far. So much for my to-do list I had already started. This one takes precedence over all of them. Wow. I didn't realize how much kids could actually fight over ALL.DAY.LONG! It might be a loooooooooong summer, people.

My boys are so used to being go-go-go on the weekends, that this morning when I woke up and had nothing to do but piddle around the house, Nolan kept saying, "Where are we going today?" and Campbell said, "Go bye-bye mama?" I'm either going to be exhausted from running them around (talk about mad mom in a minivan) or I've got to come up with some good activities at home to keep them occupied. The good thing about being on-the-go...there's not as much fighting! I might be moving into my van this summer.

Our lunch bandit

Embarrassingly enough, Nolan's teacher told me a couple of weeks ago that Nolan has been eating other kids' lunches. I asked him about it and sure enough he admitted it and said, "I'm just really hungry, mommy." So now I'm the mom starving her kid. Oh great. You better believe that I packed the biggest lunch ever the next day.

Here is a video of me talking to him about it. Check out how expressive he is and how he talks with his hands. I can't imagine where he got that.

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