Judah's makeover.

Previously:









Post-mullet:


(Excuse the shirtless, guitar-playing daddy.)


I was one of those teenagers that just knew I was going to be such a better/wiser/cooler parent than those parents whose children screamed in stores, who never ate their food, and who had terrible hair because their parents were too sappy and sentimental to accept that their kid needed a HAIRCUT.

And then I became a mom.

And to be honest, sometimes I really miss the mullet.

Make this immediately. Immediately make this. Right now. Go.

I know everyone has a Mexican-themed Easter meal planned, right?

Well happy you, you get an incedible salsa recipe today! What timing!

If you're one of those people eating ham and such, at least make this Monday.

We have recently been addicted--ADDICTED--to this salsa at our house, and of course it's the Pioneer Woman's recipe.

Don't judge me. I'm trying to branch out!

Anyway, it's DELICIOUS no matter whose recipe it is. And minus the chips you eat with it, it's fairly good for you!

The victims:



Plus a lime that I forgot.

And that is a questionable jalapeño, but a regular one will do. Look at the deathly seeds! [They're supposed to be white.]



I gutted that thing. But for the record, I usually leave the seeds in.

Dump everything into a blender:



And disclaimer: I've made this with a food processor and I've made it with a Magic Bullet, and both times I have not liked it as well--it's all about the consistency!

I pulse it pretty well. In this case, I'm with Tony, and prefer "homogenized" salsa (to use PW's description), which lacks the loathable big chunks.

Looks like this in the blender:




And looks like this in the humongous Tupperware container it fills:




And if you're me, you just realized that you forgot the lime juice (your favorite ingredient), so pour everything back in the blender and make things right.



Perfect!

Now some pico. It's my own variation, but it's parent came from you-know-who. I'd link her if I wasn't blogpressing from my phone.

Cast:



I actually only used three Roma tomatoes. And yes, that's fresh AND dried cilantro. Tony's not a fan of the leaves. And to be honest, this was actually the best batch I've ever made.

Cut all the veggies up pretty small; you get a better balance of tastes.




I only add about half the can of the corn and beans:



And stir it up!



So fresh. So clean. So fresh and so clean clean.

Go to PW's site and search her cooking page for these recipes to get exact step-by-step instructions with pictures. Enjoy!

Things I love.

Easter lilies. And husbands who bring them.



Sleeping babies. Sleeping babies who wear Christmas pajamas in March.



Playing babies.





Tulip trees. Or whatever they actually are.

The way Judah holds anything remotely phone shaped up to the back of his head and says, "Heeeey."

The way Elizabeth says peanut butter. It's kind of like "peana boodah."

The way I have to list our next activites after Elizabeth's daily naptime/bedtime question of "And when we wake uuuuup?"

The way Judah loves his puppy. {See above sleeping photo.}

The way he raises his arms to me to be picked up if I'm within a 5-foot radius.

The way he points vaguely overhead when I ask him where the light is.

The way he dramatically raspberries out of his mouth any food he doesn't like.

The way Elizabeth says "I do it myself" about everything lately. Well, that's more love/hate.

The way she calls diaper rash ointment "ice cream," obviously--and potentially horribly--getting her "creams" a little confused.

The way she plays mommy with her babies. It's always the same rountine too: she drags the play crib out into the middle of the floor, pulls one of her little chairs up next to it, tucks her babies in bed and sits in her chair to read a book to them.

It's always therapy to me to list things I love about my children and my days with them. Especially after a morning like today's, which started with me leaving the front door wide open for the 3 hours we were gone to the doctor. Sheesh.

What are the things that make you smile without fail, despite irritation/anger/exhaustion/complete idiocy? I want to know!

Now playing.

Since I cannot for the life of me find the URLs for these songs to put them on my regular playlist down there on the bottom of this page, I made a Playlist for you of 2 songs that I love, love, love. Enjoy.

Also, the Sara Groves' song playing first on my old playlist is one I added today, so be sure to give it a listen too.