We are not morning people.

We are late morning people, after a cup or two of coffee. After a good nights sleep. After breakfast and time to wake up our lazy bodies.

We are not morning people. Even when our bodies have to be up and moving and going, going, going, our minds are comfortably back in bed.

And this is the reason that mornings are such a challenge in our house.

We have a routine for mornings when we have to be out of the house at a certain time. And now that the kiddo has entered kindergarten, that’s pretty much every morning.

The boys wake up. They stumble around like drunk little sailors. They yawn and rub their eyes. And then promptly refuse to go potty or get dressed, the two items must be completed first. Before breakfast or TV or playing. Or the result is a naked boy screaming and rolling around on the floor when we should be in the car driving to our destination.

Trust me, I learned this the hard way.

As the boys get older and our schedules get more hectic and our mornings busier, I’ll do anything that I can to make our mornings go a little smoother. Because often our mornings set the mood for the rest of the day.

If I can feed the boys tasty, healthy pancakes and waffles and all I have to do is pop it in the microwave, I’m all about it.

Say good morning to Pillsbury Heat-n-Go pancakes and waffles (available at Walmart). Breakfast filled with 14g of whole grain, 0g of trans fat and no high fructose corn syrup. Single servings packed in microwaveable pouches. All you do is pop them in the microwave, zap them for 30-45 seconds, let them cool while you down a cup of coffee, then serve them to the eagerly waiting (hopefully dressed and happy) children and your morning is off to a happy, and easy, start.

Giveaway

To celebrate the new school year, and easy mornings, I’m giving away 10 coupons for free Pillsbury Heat-n-Go pancakes or waffles (they guarantee you will love them!) and a $25 Walmart gift card. To enter you must leave a comment and let me know what your favorite breakfast food is. After you have left the comment use the Rafflecopter widget to let me know, and if you want earn additional entries.

Open to residents of the US. Winner will be notified via email. Giveaway ends Wednesday, Sept 18 2013, at midnight.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

As a member of BlogSpark I received 10 coupons and a Walmart gift card as part of the campaign. All opinions are mine and mine alone.

I’ll let you in on a little secret. I’m slightly obsessive with food right now. Well, always, but I’m obsessive with two foods in particular.

Bananas and avocados.

I eat both of these on a near daily basis. Why you may ask? Because they are magic foods.

Magic running foods.

Bananas help fuel my legs as I push them through miles I never dreamed I could run (15 miles coming up this weekend…).

Bananas because they help my overused, overtired, but damn sexy legs recover from the ridiculous miles that I demand from them every week (44+ miles last week).

Avocados because they somehow keep my legs from giving out. They somehow help with recovery. They somehow keep my energy levels up even after the most difficult of runs.

Avocados because they are damn tasty.

My obsessive love for these two foods brought up a serious dilemma for Secret Recipe Club. Should I pick a banana recipe, because duh, bananas are freaking awesome. Or should I pick an avocado recipe, because duh, avocados are flipping amazing.

Bananas or avocado? Avocado or bananas?

It’s an age old question.

So I sifted through any and all recipes by Deanna and Serena from Teaspoon of Spice and I obsessed for days over what to make. Bacon and Roasted Garlic Guacamole? Avocado Vanilla Fruit Dip? Avocado Lime Popsicles? Lime Creamsicle Tortilla Crunch Pie? These all had my mouth watering, and my curiosity peaked since I haven’t gone sweet with avocados. Yet.

But wait, my decision wasn’t going to be that easy. Because there was also Baked Banana and Berry Breakfast Cups. Skinny Banana Splits. Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Eclairs.

Do you understand the kind of stress I was under, picking a recipe?

And then, there, staring me in the face, was the recipe that ultimately won. Frozen Banana S’mores.

Partly because the staring ingredient is banana.

Partly because they are super, duper easy.

Partly because I love anything chocolate.

Partly because I could make it with the Kiddo.

Partly because filled up an empty summer afternoon.

But mostly because, well, I love bananas, chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallows. Especially when thrown together into a tasty, frozen, summer-satisfying treat.

Happy, happy summer.

We had an oddly cold snap this past weekend. Temps dipped into the 40s. THE 40s. At the end of July, this is anything but normal. Yes, even in Wisconsin we are used to temps in the 90s with humidity to match.

The cold weather got me thinking about back to school and fall and snuggling under blankets watching movies. All the men in my life started growing a beard simply to stay warm! Well actually it made it easier to shop for them, hello Norelco 7200 for the win! Now while I’m glad that cold snap was short lived and that summer weather has returned, there’s part of me that will be happy with blanket snuggling weather returns.

Which reminds me, it’s time to announce the winner of the Modern Movie Night basket.

Congratulations to entry number 702, Shawna, who’s favorite at home movie snack is popcorn! Enjoy your movies, ice cream and goodies.

 Mars graciously supplied me with a wonderful movie night package and has sponsored this post and giveaway. All opinions are mine, and I do truly love a night at home, camped out on the couch, watching a movie with ice cream in hand. 

I love watching movies. Drama. Romantic comedies (not the cheesy ones, but the quirky funny ones). Suspense. Mystery. But, I hate picking out what movie we should watch. That responsibility falls fully on Hubs. Which he does with many an eye roll. What I don’t love is the price tag that comes along with watching a movie in the theater. Not to mention the sticky floors and dealing with other people who don’t always remember that there is an etiquette that goes along with viewing a movie in the theater.

Add on some pop corn, soda and other goodies and we easily just spent a week’s worth of groceries. As much as I like watching movies, I much prefer feeding my family.

This is why most of our movie nights are spent at home. Curled up on the couch. Pizza, popcorn, ice cream or snack of choice in hand. Me and Hubs. Me and the boys. All of us camped out on the floor for a movie night.

These are some of my very favorite moments of a lazy summer weekend at home. No waiting in lines at a packed theater. No giant boxes of popcorn that you never finish. Just me, the boys, Hubs some of our very favorite snacks and a movie or two of choice.

Catching the infectious belly laughs that exploded from the kiddo as Wreck It Ralph played on our screen while we all devoured some very delicious M&M Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches. Snuggled up on the couch with Hubs and a Milk Way ice cream bar, watching Jack Reacher while the boys slept soundly in their room. Secretly wondering if I could sneak another M&M, Milky Way, Snickers or Twix ice cream bar stashed in the basement freezer (answer: only if I wanted to miss a moment of the movie, and I totally didn’t).

Enjoying some very needed, much deserved and wonderfully enjoyed quality time with the boys and men that I most love in this life. In the comfort, quiet of my own home. And to top it all off, ice cream. ICE CREAM! In some of my very favorite candy bar flavors.

Yeah, I’ll totally take a movie night at home over a movie night in the theater. Totally.

Get a Movie Night of Your Own

As much as I want to hog all of this goodness to myself (And I do, I really, really do. I never learned to share ice cream.), Mars has invited me to share a Modern Movie Night basket with one of you, my lucky, lucky readers. Who wants a cozy blanket (for those summer nights when the air conditioning is cranked up just a little too high), a popcorn bowl complete with microwave popcorn, M&M’S candy (Y!U!M!), and Mars ice cream bars (Twix, Milky Way, Snickers, and M&M’S) each with a code for a free movie from Redbox. I do! I do!

Hmm, I wonder if I can enter my own giveaway, because I’d sure love another of these basket.

To enter use Rafflecopter widget below. Good luck!

Learn more about Twix, Snickers, Milky Way and M&M’s on their Facebook pages.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 Mars graciously supplied me with a wonderful movie night package and has sponsored this post and giveaway. All opinions are mine, and I do truly love a night at home, camped out on the couch, watching a movie with ice cream in hand. 

I love me some banana bread. My late grandma-in-law has the best, richest, sweetest, most sinful recipe around. You can’t help but feel that she is right there, smiling with love in her eyes, when you enjoy it.

Although, I must say that Nutella swirl banana bread is a pretty close second.

I also love me some chocolate chip cookies. I would, in fact, eat at at least one every day. {Oh who am I kidding, I’d eat 5 everyday.} And it makes me sad when that doesn’t happen. Like I’m missing a part of myself. Especially if we are talking about brown butter chocolate chip cookies with a light sprinkle of sea salt.

Heaven.

So when it came time to pick a recipe for this months Secret Recipe Club, I just knew that these chocolate chip peanut butter and banana cookies by Amy from The Savvy Kitchen were made for me.

Chewy and sweet from the banana. A touch of salt from the peanut butter. And chocolate. Can’t live without chocolate.

It’s banana bread in a cookie form.

The next time I make these, and there will be a next time, I’m going to up the chocolate, just a touch, by bringing in dark chocolate peanut butter instead of normal old peanut butter. Because you can never have enough chocolate. Never.

I’m sitting here, at my computer, and there’s a real chance that I may not be able to get up again.

You see, I spent the morning running on a relay team for a marathon. I tackled the first two legs, to get my miles in for my up coming second half marathon. Those two legs put me at 10.5 miles.

In approximately 1 hour and 25 minutes.

That’s about 8:15 a mile.

Yea, I’m pretty speedy.

That’s me, second from the left, squinting in the sun, looking sweaty, disheveled and all sorts of sexy.

The rest of the morning was spent cheering on the rest of my relay team, my two younger sisters and my aunt, as they each took a leg of the race. And then finally, after running the last 0.8 mile and crossing the finish line together, we huddled together, waiting anxiously for my brother-in-law to finish his very first full marathon.

That’s 26.2 miles people.

Then, I drove home to the chatter of my very favorite pod cast, Another Mother Runner, said a quick hello to the boys, Hubs and my mother-in-law, and then headed right back out the door.

To power yoga. Hot, steamy, kick-your-butt kind of yoga.

Why you may be wondering?

Because I’m a crazy person. That’s why. That can be the only explanation.

So, here I sit, wondering if I’ll actually make it to bed tonight or just fall asleep at the computer. But while I’m sitting, I’m thinking of tomorrow morning. And coffee.

The coffee that will get me going in the morning. The coffee that gets me through the afternoon. The coffee which is my little piece of silence in an otherwise chaotic day.

I’m normally a black coffee drinker, but from time to time I like to sweeten it up a little. A touch of homemade creamer or, when the season calls for it, homemade iced coffee, will often fill my afternoon cup.

But starting today, I’m taking my afternoon coffee unsweetened, but with a side of a crunchy, sweet, chocolate-filled cookie.

Biscotti. A cookie made just for coffee.

I’ve never been much of a biscotti person in the past, but as I was browsing through My Catholic Kitchen wide variety of recipes, my assignment for this month’s Secret Recipe Club, this recipe kept popping up. Chocolate. Espresso. Cookie.

This recipe, it wouldn’t be denied. It cried out to be made. It demanded that I eat one…two…three of them at a time with a hot cup of coffee.

Who was I to deny that these cookies be made?

As a former biscotti hater, let me tell you, these double chocolate espresso biscotti, are the to-die-for, the perfect, the best way to satisfy a sweet tooth that must be accompanied by a cup of coffee.

I’m forever hooked on biscotti. There. I said it.

Each and every morning I’m faced with a huge dilemma. What should I eat breakfast?

My heart wants chocolate.

My brain cries for something healthy.

My body shouts out for chocolate.

My runners legs scream for something to fuel them.

And thus, I am torn. Chocolate or healthy.

Chocolate or healthy.

Chocolate or healthy.

It’s an age-old question.

Thank goodness I have finally found the perfect way to combine chocolate and healthy.

Some may say that it can’t be done. But I say…well, nothing, because I’m running away as fast as I can just so I don’t have to hear their anti-chocolate thoughts. Anyone who is anti-chocolate isn’t a friend of mine.

And so, I present to you, Nutella granola. Sweet, heavenly chocolate and hazelnut, you make my heart sing.

Adapted from Creative Kitchen Adventures, my Secret Recipe Club buddy for this month, Denise has saved breakfast! This granola is a crunchy, sweet, full of belly-filling, run-powering goodness. It’s one of the only homemade granola recipes that I’ve seen which actually clumps together like granola should.

It’s simple delightful eaten by the handful.

It’s to-die-for sprinkled atop some homemade vanilla yogurt and paired with fresh berries.

It’s granola, meets chocolate, meets perfection.

Hey Kiddo,

It’s been a few days now, and I’ve had some time to process. You are 5.

It always comes as a surprise how very special your birthday is to me. Each year I expect the impact to lessen a little. But it doesn’t. Even if it doesn’t strike me right away, it’s importance seeps into my very being. I’m happy, amazed, overjoyed and saddened. All at the same time.

So if I seem a little crazier than usual around your birthday (or you catch me eating even more of “Mom’s chocolate” stash), that’s why. I’m holding in a whirlwind of emotions, and doing my very best to make your birthday about you.

Five seems to be bringing with it a lot of changes. You are at this strange place in life where you both want me to be there and desperately want me to step back. You want to be independent and yet need the security of knowing that I’m there, just a few steps behind.

Needless to say, this love-me-hate-me process has brought with it a lot of conflict and frustrations. For both of us. I can see you pulling away. I can feel it. My heart is tugging you back. The little boy hidden inside of you wants to run back, and never leave my side. But we are both learning to let go.

Because go you must.

At five our relationship is changing. The silly little things that used to make you giggle…zerbets on your tummy, snuggles after bath time…seem to be absent from our daily life. I miss those moments. I miss them something fierce. But I love where our relationship is going. How it’s growing and changing. I love the conversations that we have about transformers and ninjas, your very best friends, your life at school. I love that you share your bad dreams with me, days after you had them. I love that you feel secure enough in our relationship to test each and every boundary.

I love you.

At five, you know all of your letters by sight and by sound. You can write them, with just a little guidance. You print your full first and last name without a moments hesitance. You are just beginning to sound out words and add and subtract numbers. You are so very proud of each of these accomplishments.

I’m so very proud of you.

At five, you refuse to do anything but shower. By yourself. That change alone signifies how much you’ve grown recently. Signifies your independence. Signifies your stubbornness since you still fight each and every time you have to shower. But I refuse to let you be the smelly kid at school, so I battle with you, and I always win. No kid of mine is going to be the smelly kid.

At five, you still have a touch of shyness and insecurity about you. This is something that comes from me. Something I 100% understand and am infinitely frustrated by. I want so badly for you to be able to jump into any situation with confidence and ease. And yet you hang back, easing in at your own speed. I get it. That’s me, To a T.

At 5 you have finally outgrown the little stuffed Elmo that was attached to your hip since you were 2. In Elmo’s place is Scoopie, a little stuffed ice cream cone from Culver’s, which you picked out on a “Gram’s Date” one Tuesday evening. You have also grown attached to a certain blankie, a light blue blanket covered in trucks. While you can certainly sleep without these items of comfort, you much prefer to have them snuggled up against your face, protecting you from those bad dreams.

At five kindergarden is looming in our future. Full day school, five days a week. Our days together will be coming to an end. Half days at 4-K has been good. For both of us. But school all day? I don’t know if I’m ready for that.

But I never know if I’m ready for you to change and grow and become the person you are. And yet that hasn’t stopped you. And somehow I find the courage to let you go, litte by little.

Happy 5th birthday kiddo. No matter how old you are (or how old you think you are) you will always be my baby.

Love, Momma

We are not morning people. We much prefer to sleep away the day until at least 8:00. 9:00 would be even better, and 10:00 would be a dream. As in I must be dreaming to think that I’ll ever sleep that late again in this lifetime.

We are people who like to sleep. Seep. Sleep. Sleep. In fact, I’m pretty sure that I could fall asleep right now.

Life, apparently, does not understand our desire to sleep and more often than not we are all awake by 7:00, earlier most days. Then it’s rush, rush, rush, go, go, go, please go potty (yes, you do have to go), get dressed, take your medicine, brush your teeth (yes, NOW), put on your jackets, shoes, hats, mittens (oh man, I’m so ready for Spring) and then run to the van so we can get out of the house on time to start the day.

And then it’s go, go, go for the rest of the day, until we all finally crash in bed, exhausted, in a pile of tantrums.

Such is life.

As much as I crave the opportunity to make the boys a made-from-scratch breakfast every morning (and I do actually crave it, there’s something special about starting out the day with a made-from-scratch breakfast) it just can’t be done. Unless of course I get up at 5:00 every morning. And I’m not willing to do that, unless I’m planning on running 7+ miles as the sun rises, in peace, while the rest of the world rests.

Yes, that does actually happen.

Our breakfasts consist of toast smothered in peanut butter, jelly and chocolate-hazelnut; bagels with cream cheese; whatever brightly-colored cereal happened to be on sale last week; muffins popped out of the freezer; granola bars grabbed on the way out of the door as I realize that I should probably feed myself as well as my family.

Most days breakfast leaves a lot to be desired.

Much of what we eat for breakfast I don’t even consider real food. It’s convenience food, made with convient ingredients, not real ingredients. And that bothers me more than I care to admit, yet often seems like the only choice as I’m yelling at the Kiddo to please, please, get dressed so you have time to eat.

Please. Please get dressed without me having to harp at you every step of the way.

Please.

Every Batch Made from Scratch

Imagine my surprise when I discovered this little gem in the frozen food isle. Frozen Pancakes, Waffles and French Toast made with real ingredients, like eggs, milk and sugar. Quality ingredients. The type of ingredients that I use to make breakfast from scratch. Right there, staring at me. All from Aunt Jemima.

These little gems, the new Lil’ Griddles from Aunt Jemima frozen breakfast, providing my family with a big breakfast taste, bite-sized. Aunt Jemima helping me give my family a warm, filling, real breakfast in the morning. Aunt Jemima helping me make the morning just a little more special, a little more loving, and a little easier. Aunt Jemima, putting love and care into every step it takes to make these breakfast goodies, just like I would.

The real test, though, is to see if the boys like them.

I think they passed.

Aunt Jemima, you are my breakfast hero.

Want to try real breakfast, made with real ingredients? Request a coupon from Aunt Jemima. You should totally do it. Totally.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective. All opinions expressed here are my own.

I tried so hard to take the easy way out of this month’s Secret Recipe Club. It’s not that I didn’t want to try a new recipe. It’s not that there weren’t plenty of options to pick from. It’s just that I wanted to be lazy.

It must be the constant snow that is never, ever going to end. Or the fact that we’ve been trying to sell our house for 3 years now. Or the fact that we have so badly outgrown this house that it feels like we need to be stacked on top of each other just to all fit in here at the same time.

Or maybe the lack of sun has given me a bad attitude.

Whatever the reason, my main goal was to find the easiest recipe that Cinnamon Frued had to offer. I had settled on Balsamic Black Bean Salsa, which had me intrigued with it’s unique flavor combinations. I’d make it, snap a few photos and be done.

Easy peasy.

Yet, there was this other recipe that kept calling out to me. A basic Cream Scone recipe that just begged to morphed into something with chocolate. Because baking and chocolate go hand-in-hand, obviously. And for some unexplainable reason, these scones also seemed to be screaming out for a hint of orange.

And then, because I’ve been completely unmotivated to much of anything in the kitchen, I waited until Saturday afternoon to make them. I guess I needed the pressure of a deadline to get me going.

By the time Sunday afternoon rolled around, two lone scones remained, the rest devoured by the hungry bellies in this house. And those two scones will have disappeared by Monday morning, I promise you.

Hmmmm, Easter is just around the corner, I would not be surprised if these moist, sweet scones make an appearance on our brunch table.