How Julie Bowen Manages Without a Nanny

— -- When she's not working on weekends, "Modern Family" star Julie Bowen goes "nanny free."

"We have three kids. We definitely have help during the week," Bowen, 45, the mother of Oliver, 8, and twins John and Gus, 6, told People magazine. "But I feel like if I got a nanny on the weekends when they were little, I would have relied on it so heavily that I would have been...like, 'What do I do? What do I do?'"

So she and husband Scott Phillips, 43, do what they can — while keeping their expectations low.

"Millions of people have done this for millions of years or billions! So just suck it up. It’s not easy. Just do it, and now it’s so much easier. My husband can do it. I can do it. We got it down to a system," she told the magazine. "We have lowered expectations. They wear filthy clothing, I’m not going to lie. It’s gross."

The mom of three admits that she doesn't "understand half the stuff," her boys are into, especially "if it’s about guns or blowing something up." But now she's excited to finally share some of their interests.

"They’re super into Legos -- finally, something I understand," she told People. "I’m like, ‘Legos, I’m in!’ This phase, I’m into it. I’m like, ‘Let’s do it! Let’s make a Lego city!’ It’s really fun."

Last year, the actress told ABC News that spending time at home with her boys remains one of her favorite things to do.

"I don’t try to soften the blow: It’s really hard and I make lots of mistakes," she admitted, "but my kids make me laugh and are so funny. I want to spend as much time with them as possible."