A good friend of mine loaned me her bread machine....quite awhile ago.  So long ago, in fact, that I honestly think she's forgotten about it.

Although I did try to give it back to her a couple times and she waved her hand at me and said, "I never used it.  At least you're getting some use out of it".

Getting SOME use out of it?  Well, that might be the understatement of the year.

I'm in love with this bread machine.  Seriously, it can do amazing things that I could never do.  Such as make bread...and pizza dough...and all kinds of deliciousness.

I come off looking like Supermom while the bread machine sulks in the corner, feeling unappreciated and unloved.  I'll have to give it an extra gentle caress next time I use it.  I wouldn't want it to crap out on me and make me look bad.

So....the other night, I made homemade pizza.  Yep, dough from scratch and everything.  I like to mix  olive oil, italian seasonings and parmesan cheese in with the other ingredients, including white whole wheat flour and ground flaxseed so it can still be considered somewhat healthy (and the kids and Tim never suspect a thing!)

All I did was throw the ingredients in the machine and let it do all the work.  While the pizzas cooked in the oven, our home was filled with such a wonderful pizza-licious aroma that it literally made my mouth water.

Half turkey pepperoni/half cheese

Mushrooms and Olives

Happy customers

Another happy customer

The next day, I got a wild hare up my ass to make cinnamon rolls in the bread machine.  My kids love cinnamon rolls but I tend not to buy them because they just have so many unhealthy ingredients, mainly partially hydrogenated oils.

But I figured if I made them then I could control the ingredients (see, there I go again...total type-A control freak) and maybe even sneak in some ground flaxseed.

I talked up these cinnamon rolls to the kids ALL. DAY. LONG.  I mean, nonstop talking about these damn rolls.  Every 10 minutes, I was all, "These are gonna be the bomb, you guys!" and "OMG, I cannot wait until these are done...YUM!!!"

They were super excited....hell, even Tim was excited.  And you all know he very rarely gets excited about anything (unless it's a spontaneous sexual encounter with yours truly, which doesn't happen often obviously).

After the first hour, I heard the bread machine beep.  I thought, "Well, that's weird" and I checked the dough but it seemed okay so I left it alone.

Two hours later, the machine beeped again.  The dough was done!

Except it wasn't dough.  It was bread.  Cooked bread.

"Uh, Mommy, that doesn't look like dough," one of the little smart asses commented.

"Hmmm, I don't know what I did wrong.  Was I supposed to take the dough out when it beeped about two hours ago?" I asked, completely dumbfounded as I thumbed through the machine's manual.

Yep, apparently, that first set of beeps was meant as, "Hello...dumb ass.  Take the dough out of the machine now."

The kids were in tears, snot dripping down their faces..."You said we were gonna have cinnamon rolls.  You lied to us!  You made bread instead!"

For crying out loud.  I'm only human.  Aren't I entitled to make a mistake or two....or six?

With some quick thinking, I said, "We can still eat it, even though it's not technically cinnamon rolls.  Here, I'll just put the cinnamon sugar on the bread with some butter and we can eat it like that, okay?"

I smothered the slices of sweet bread with the cinnamon sugar and butter and handed them each a piece, which they promptly gobbled up.

"MMMMMMM," they all said in unison.  "This is really good!"

After Cole finished his slice, he said, "Mommy, you make the best food ever!"

And that was enough to warm my heart, even though they were completely devastated just ten minutes earlier.

I'm going to attempt those damn cinnamon rolls again today...and you can bet your sweet ass I won't be mentioning it to the kids unless the rolls come out absolutely perfect this time!

One of my lovely friends, Kristen at A Little Something For Me, recently asked if I'd like to write a guest post on her blog.

"Hell yeah," was my response.  Because I simply adore her.

What's not to love about someone who is passionate, honest, and expressive?

Kristen is a loving mother of three children (including an adorable set of twins and a precious special needs baby).  She's the type of mother who will walk the ends of the earth for her children...she takes her job as advocate for them very seriously.

And she has the most amazing sense of humor.  She's able to poke fun at herself and laugh about the silly things.

That's why I love her...and you will too!

Kristen has just transitioned from working outside the home to being a full-time SAHM so I wrote "The SAHM's Survival Guide" in her honor!  Or in memory of her former life.  Whichever.

I'd be happier than a clam at high tide if you'd take a minute and head over there and read my guest post, especially if you could use a dash of humor in your day!  

And subscribe to Kristen's blog while you're over there!

My kids are obsessed with Big Foot.  Like, seriously obsessed.  It's almost an illness.

Morning, noon and night, they are talking about this big, hairy monster-type....uh, thing.


They discovered Big Foot after watching the movie Judy Moody and The Not So Bummer Summer.

And they believe he is real and living in a nearby forest here in Northern California.

So in case you were wondering, here are some things you never knew about Big Foot...according to my kids:

1)  Big Foot's favorite foods are grapes, deer, cheeseburgers with everything (including pickles...never ever forget the pickles or you will pay dearly), lollipops, marshmallows and berries.


2)  He has no choice but to poop out in the wild so he has to wipe his butt with sticks and/or leaves.  Leaves can also be mulit-purposed as a hairbrush.


3)  He's a Sasquatcher.  Nope, not a Sasquatch...but a Sasquatcher.


4)   Never ever confuse Big Foot with Chewbacca.  Chewbacca is a Wookie and Big Foot is a Sasquatcher.  There's a big difference between the two.

Photo Credit

Photo Credit

5)  He has no friends....because he eats his friends.


6)  He has green eyes that sometimes turn brown.  It depends on his mood.  And he has yellow teeth.  Because there is no such thing as a toothbrush in the wild.  Or toothpaste.  Duh.


7)  Big Foot spends his days eating his favorite foods and running away from people.  When he's not running away from people, he's hunting them down.  If he's lucky enough to catch a person, he kills them and eats them....raw, like sushi.


8)  He's mean.  So never try to capture him and make him your family pet.


9)  Big Foot cannot talk.  He just kind of roars, like an angry monster.  And don't try to talk to him because he doesn't understand English.  Only Spanish.


10)  He smells like garbage, poop....and bad breath.


Now, don't you feel enlightened on all things Big Foot?

When people find out I have two sets of twins, one of their comments is almost always, "Wow, how do you do it?"

Truthfully, I've never had an answer for that question.  I'm just doing the best I can with what God equipped me with.  Well, that and a healthy dose of Paxil.

I don't know anything other than multiple multiples.  Hand me a singleton child and I'd probably struggle and want to throw myself into oncoming traffic.

Twins...that's my thing.

So, how do I do it?

Well, I suppose my type-A control freak personality comes into play and seems to be a huge advantage when it comes to being a mom of multiple multiples.  I'm a huge planner and I crave organization and harmony.

When my kids were younger, I could tell you exactly what time they'd be napping, eating a meal, crapping in their diapers EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. because I was such a schedule nazi.  Friends and family would scoff at my inability to be more flexible.

Too freakin' bad...it wasn't them who would be up at 2:00 am with two wide-awake babies who had napped all day long.

Then, of course, there were those well-meaning people who fed me their unsolicited advice based.

Like my MIL who was convinced Bella would end up with shaken-baby syndrome because Bella preferred the fastest speed in her baby swing.  It was the only way she would sleep for a period of time.

Sure, life has certainly become easier now that my kids aren't dependent on naps, eating schedules and diapers any longer.

But that hasn't stopped my tendency to control all things possible in order to lesson the chaos in my life.

And this is where meal planning comes into play.  I used to laugh at those people who planned their meals out a week in advance...until I started doing it and realized how essential it is to keeping the peace in our home.







How does meal planning keep the peace in our home, you might be wondering?

Well, first off, the kids help me plan the meals.  Every Saturday, I ask each of them to come up with one of their favorite meals to put on the planner.

You may notice some of the meals above are repeated week from week...because my children are creatures of habit and I'm fine with that.  So Tim and I have to suffer through eating french toast for dinner almost every single week but it's less food I have to waste and that makes me happy.

Plus, when I go grocery shopping, I know exactly what I need to buy...and what I don't need to buy.  I've saved a ton of money on groceries since beginning this whole "weekly meal planning" strategy.

Another way I stay in control is this ultra-cool calendar that Tim bought me for Christmas.  Does my man know me or what?





I love that each family member has his/her own little area where activities, appointments or whatever can be written in.

Yes, I'm so anal I even have the damn "change water filter" reminder written on there because I will forget if it's not written somewhere.

The "journal" note is something I just started doing again recently.  Once a week, I'll write in these adorable little journals I have for each of the kids.

Simple, a little personal note to them about what's happened in their life within the last month and things I want them to know, specifically just for them.

I started doing this about 2 years ago and...well, then life got in the way.  But I'm back in the habit again, especially now that I have it written in my calendar as a reminder.

So, my friends, that is how this mother of multiple multiples does it, without losing her sanity.  In case you ever wondered.

How do you manage it all?

                                 Hosted by Mamarazzi, Queso and Crazymama

{1} What is for dinner tonight (bonus for sharing the recipe)?


Pork loin, orzo with parmesan and basil and some type of veggie.

{2} Share something you are currently looking forward to.


Actually, there are two things I'm looking forward to.

One is our annual Disneyland trip this year in May!  But this time, we're not telling the kids about it until the day we leave.  They're gonna be so super excited!!!

I'm also looking forward to the construction on our home being completed.  It's been so chaotic around here, trying to keep track of the construction schedule and trying to keep the kids out of the workers' way.

It's a wonder no one's lost an arm or a leg yet.  The workers, I mean.

{3} What are your thoughts on re-gifting?


You know, my attitude is whatever works for you.

And if you're assuming I've done it before based on that answer,  you'd be right.

But it was a super nice gift that was re-gifted and that has to count for something.



Actually, quite often.  I get tired of seeing the same things in the same place.  So I'm constantly moving things around and switching everything up.

Plus, it irritates the kids.

It's payback.  What can I say?



How sweet is this??



We had gone out to dinner and as we were being lead to our table, Garrett and Cole had their arms around each other.

Of course,  not 5 minutes later, they were attempting to spit on one another so you can see why I have to celebrate the small victories as they come.

Because they don't happen often.

Oh and small PS - Some of you asked what the name of the book was in one of my previous posts but you left no e-mail in your profile or any other way to get in touch with you so it's Night Road by Kristin Hannah.

Guest post written by Isla Brown

I've been working over the past few months to basically repaint and reorganize our household. I guess that I'm also doing a little bit of redecorating along the way. But I'm also working on finding cheaper ways to do that bit of redecorating rather than investing in huge pieces of furniture.

But we're also Installing new floors because that's something that we definitely needed to have done. That's where a big part of our pretty small budget is going to. There was another part that I wanted to concentrate on too, my little corner of my bedroom where I get dressed and ready in the mornings.

I wanted something besides the little hand mirror that I use, so I got a vanity mirror to hang on the wall. That wall I can more easily see my whole look at one time. Plus, I found one that will just hang up on the wall and not take up any additional space. It has a really adorable frame too, which is even better!

Have you ever read a book so captivating...so enchanting...that you end up falling hopelessly in love with the characters?