Question of the Week - Favorite Recipe

What is your favorite recipe to make with/for your family?



The question of the week sponsored by Multiples and More - when I read it I laughed at myself. My first thought was not of my favorite dish to make for my family (which happens to be spinach & ham quiche because I can get the kids to eat spinach) instead it was of the twins FAVORITE meal. Poor Man Surprise.
The recipe actually came from my hubby, the one and only he knew how to make before we were married. While it is not the most nutritious meal in the world, it can be made in 5 minutes or less, for about $0.20 per person, and the twins request it at least once a week (I have a once a week limit). Without further ado - POOR MAN SURPRISE

• 2 packages of chicken flavored ramen noodles - cooked and drained
• 2 slices of cheese
• 3 hot dogs or bologna cut into bite size pieces (yes raw)
• 2 large heaping spoonfuls of butter

Stir all ingredients together until well mixed and serve. Two packages feeds 7 year olds twins and a 2 year old, but no one else. Hubby has to make his own since he adds texas pete.

not sure about this

I love the bond between my children. The twins have their own special bond, and then they love their little brother too. T2 loves Little Man as much as T1 does, but T1 has a special knack for younger children. He knows how to play with them, and lately he has learned he can teach them too.

It started innocently enough (doesn't it always?). T1 taught Bradley to give hugs when asked. Which is pretty neat, I always asked for kisses, but never hugs, I guess because I was already hugging them. We are all big huggers in our house, and T1 taught Little Man to do the same. But the day T1 figured out he taught Little Man something, well that must have been when the light switch went on.

I came home the other day to a nice loving home, I walked into the kitchen to set down my purse and had a 2 year old point his finger at me and say "Don't you dare!"

What? I am now being bossed by a 2 year old, as if coworkers and a hubby and 7 year olds are not enough. I was a little shocked, until T1 explained it to me. "Mommy, I taught him that!"

I'm not so sure about this.

When the student is ready, the master appears. ~Buddhist Proverb

I Could go to Jail for...

Lately, there have been some controversial Mom's being arrested for things like making their children walk home after fighting. While I generally believe in our justice system, and generally believe that people are only arrested when they've actually done something wrong, every once in a while I see something occur in my house and I think to myself,

I Could go to Jail for...

• forgetting to record that I bought $200.00 worth of groceries with 3 boys hyped up on free bakery cookies (writing bad checks)
• Bradley playing in the dryer (child endangerment - although I did immediately -after a quick photo -put a stop to it - all in a span of taking the clothes out and getting ready to put a new load in)
• watching Tyler trip over a toy and break his leg - at 1 1/2 years old. (child neglect)
• all the screaming that may or may not occur in our house (emotional abuse)
• our escape artist getting outside even though we have nifty childproof handles and locks (child neglect, endangerment)
• the mess that never ends (unsuitable living conditions)
• the dead animals (surely fall under unsuitable living conditions)

No matter how calmly you try to referee, parenting will eventually produce bizarre behavior, and I’m not talking about the kids. Their behavior is always normal. ~ Bill Cosby

Question of the Week

What is the biggest lesson that you have learned in your multiples' first year of life?




Just one lesson - I'm not even sure that is possible. Patience was a huge lesson, I thought I didn't have any before having the twins. Sleep was also a big lesson, such as how much you can survive without before collapsing. But really the biggest lesson was probably instinct.

There is no manual on being a parent or having kids. While you are pregnant, especially with more than one your first time out, fears overcome you. How will I know what they need? How to care for them? Will I be able to tell them apart? How will I feed them both at the same time?
But once they are here in your arms, instinct just kicks in. Yes there are moments when you have no clue what to do, but a lot more times that you think, you will know what needs to be done. The best part of having children is that you grow with them. When they are born, you only have to worry about their VERY basic needs. You don't have to teach them anything the first few weeks, allow them to teach you. And then as they grow, you will grow and the rest is... well not in the bag, but not what I feared at all.

Tyler's Day

The twins and I were on our way home from Sam's yesterday when a fight broke out.
What's new.
T2 had gotten a cherry icee and was sharing with T1, only they HAD to argue over who had the longest sip, or whether they even got a sip. Finally Mommy asked for a drink and kept the cup. Then they fought over who made Mommy keep the cup.
So me being ingenious, asked "Who can be quietest the longest?" Which worked!
Then it transformed into "Who can be the quietest while making funny faces?" Which was still working until we all got bored with it so I asked "Who can..."
T1 said, "Who can count the most road signs?" Which is a game we've played before.
T2 replied, "Noo."
So I asked again, while thinking of something new and creative, "Who can..."
T2 interrupted to say, "Who can scream the loudest?" This was immediately followed by the loudest ear piercing yell there ever was. Only not to be outdone, T1 and I proceeded to scream as loud as possible. And then, as all twins can, they both screamed simultaneously as loud as they possibly could. At this moment I was grateful for two things: One, my dear hubby wasn't in the car, he would have not approved, and two, that we were on a country road with no cars nearby - people surely would've thought we were being carjacked.

T2 - he comes up with the darnedest things. Earlier in the day I had spotted him outside walking the dog. While the dog was pooping, he was peeing. And then because the dog was done before he was, he had trouble buttoning his pants as the dog pulled him in a different direction. I couldn't resist, so I yelled to him out the back door, startling him, which caused him to step (barefooted) into the dog poop. I was about to fall over in laughter. He comes running up to me and tries to wipe his poopy foot on my leg. EWWW -BOYS!

boy: n. noise with dirt on it ~unknown

poop stories

WARNING: Post not for the faint of heart.


Everyone is talking about poop these days. I've been reading all these blogs about potty training, and boys who don't tell you when they poop, and even exploding poop. A lot of these have brought me to tears with laughter. For a laugh of your own check out I can't turn my back for one minute. So after hearing about poop, inspiration struck and I decided to write a few of our own poop stories. Again these are from three boys, so not for the faint of heart - but I will also explain what happens when you leave a huggies diaper in a pool as a side note.

Our most recent poop story happened just a few months ago to poor little Bradley. I was cooking dinner in the kitchen while my husband was out. Nathaniel came in and said "Mommy, Morgan pooped on the floor." Now at the word Morgan, I knew what had happened as this was our pup in training, and the next words out of my mouth were going to be go get a papertowel. Only my thoughts were interrupted, and I never actually heard the word floor, I just assume that is what he said. Interrupting all thought processes within the house was this blood curdling scream that immediately indicates that someone is really hurt. (amazing how Mom's can tell the difference in screams of pain, verses he's bugging me).
I run into the living room to find Bradley, standing over the poop, with his hand (that is covered in poop) trying to get the poop out of his mouth, which of course is only making things worse. EWWW, so GROSS!!!
I scoop him up and deposit him in the tub fully clothed and commence to half drowning him while I try to rinse the poop out of his mouth so that he will stop screaming. EWWW!!! Eventually his mouth is clean and I strip him down for a bath now that we have poop splatter everywhere. EWWW!


When the twins were about a year old, they got a stomache virus from beyond. I felt so sorry for them as they were pouring from both ends. At one point I picked Tyler up and he threw up straight down the inside of my shirt (so much for v-necks). For days we suffered through pedialite and diaper cream, and lots and lots of changes of clothes - for all of us. Towards the end of it is when the poop art occured. They twins had finally made it through the night without getting sick and I was thrilled to have a full night's sleep. I heard them laughing as they woke up and I went in to get them out of their cribs. Apparently Tyler wasn't quite finished with the illness. He had pooped a nice bit, and then decided to take off his diaper and spread it all over the rails of the crib. Of course we had the cribs with the nice ornate bars with all these crevices that are great for getting poop stuck in. I was scrubbing that thing for HOURS!


Now we'e all heard of swimmies, you know the diapers for going in the water. But as a new Mom and Dad, we didn't know the real reason why. Someone had given us some when the twins were little, but they were so expensive I didn't want to buy more. The twins had a small kiddie pool, I figured what could a diaper hurt. What could a regular diaper hurt. Only the whole pool. Apparently when immersed in water a disposable diaper swells, and swells, and swells until it bursts at the seams. Inside are what look like little clear plasticy rolly pollies. And they go everywhere into the water. We had to drain the whole pool, trying to collect as many of those little suckers as we could to deposit them in the trash. (I'm sure we didn't want the kids to pick them up and eat them!). It was awful! Moral, either splurge for the swimmies or buy a plastic diaper to put over the huggies.

A child is a curly dimpled lunatic. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

10 Things Tuesday - July 28

Seeing how our AC went out on the hottest weekend of the year, right now I am so very thankful for modern conveniences!

1. Air Conditioning - especially now that it works
2. Dishwasher - for years I didn't have one, growing up I washed dishes, until the twins were 4 I washed A LOT of dishes and bottles, but now it is so nice just to load and unload!
3. Washing machine - if I had to wash all those clothes by hand, I wouldn't have time for an away from home job.
4. Heat - in the winter time it is very nice (just not when its 99 outside)
5. Cell phones - you know many times I say I could live without mine, but really it is a nice comfort knowing that if I break down I can call my hubby.
6. Cars - I know we should all be greener, but really they are much better than a horse and buggy!
7. Electricity - really I want to know how every house back in the day didn't burn down after a little one ran through it knocking things over when he should've been in bed.
8. Running water - inside toilets - need I say more?
9. Sippy cups - really the no spill feature is amazing when your 2 year old throws it across the room!
10. Computers - probably the end to all of us - but man they are nice :)

What one modern convenience are you most grateful for?

If I could have dinner with any 5 people

I've been watching the Sunday questions at Multiples and More. Usually I don't answer, I just browse the answers of others. During my browsing this evening, I got a little inspiration and decided to answer the question.


1. I would love to have dinner with my father's grandmother "Nana." I met her as an infant, but have no recollection of her. From the stories I hear, I would love to have known her. Plus she was also a Mother of identical twins, not to mention 3 others. I would love to know how she did it.

2. I would like to have dinner with my grandfather again. I would love to pick my "Papa"s brain and learn how to make bread like he did, or his special seasoning for popcorn that I cannot replicate. He was watching cooking shows long before they became popular.

3. Paula Deen ranks right on up there. Now that woman can cook. Her strength and determination through tough times got her where she is today and we could all learn a little from that. (plus a few cooking tips too!)

4. My husbands grandfather. What I wouldn't give for another dinner with "Pop-Pop" stealing my bread right after it's buttered. I would love for him to meet my youngest son Bradley. I think they would be such a pair.

5. And last but surely NOT least, I also enjoy a nice quiet dinner with just my husband! (no one said I had to have dinner with all five at once).