During the first half of kindergarten, I walked him all the way to his classroom.

Every day thereafter, I dropped him off one foot further away.

On the last day of kindergarten, I walked him to the school’s gates and he walked in on his own.

During first grade, a teacher had to meet us at the playground and physically hold him back so that I could leave in the morning.

Every morning.

It was awful.

During second grade, I dropped him off in front of the school.

I opened his door for him and received a big hug and kiss before he reluctantly walked to his classroom.

During third grade, he opened his own door after leaning forward and giving me a kiss goodbye.

This year, I open the back hatch for him with a button by the steering wheel.

He gets out all by himself, too busy talking with his friend to notice that his Mom told him to have a great day.

Too busy looking for his other friends to stop at the passenger side door and give me a kiss.

But I’m not willing to let go yet.

I open the passenger window and tell him I love him.

He only gets embarrassed when I follow him and proclaim my love for him by yelling “Michael… I looooooove you!”

The camera might be a bit much, I admit.

But it keeps me from being sad that this year, I’m just a ride.

We have a bit of an issue with food in this house.

I eat too much of it, and my kids don’t eat enough.

That’s not true. Michael doesn’t eat enough.

SO, we have been supplementing his breakfast with some sneaky calories.

He doesn’t seem to mind, and the rest of the family reaps some benefits, too.

In addition, I’m the Mom who gets breakfast requests from friends who sleepover. {Thankyouverymuch}

“Um… Becca, can you please make smoothies tomorrow morning? Please?”

“And, um… can I have a granola bar? Can you give my Mom the recipe?”

Do you know how happy this makes me??!!

No, you probably don’t. Because you don’t know that normally, I am not allowed to make breakfast.

I make a mean dinner, and some some pretty great lunches. But in the morning, Steve won’t let me near the kitchen.

Confession: I make horribly flat pancakes and soggy waffles.

Movingrightalong.

I thought I’d share my recipes with you. Along with some Pioneer Woman-esque pictures. A gift, if you will.

Feel free to give me something in return.

Yummy Strawberry and Banana Smoothies

Cast of characters:

Frozen strawberries

Yogurt – any kind.

Protein powder (I use unflavored soy, but I won’t try to control your smoothie… use what you like)

Milk – 2% is pictured, but we use whole milk for Michael and Jack.

Bananas

A few notes:

I showed you two types of yogurt because I know that yogurt is a very personal kind of thing.  Well, it is around here. I like the YoPlus (even though it has some added sugar) and the boys like the unflavored or vanilla.

What I love about this recipe is that it can be easily adapted for people who don’t need all of the extra calories and fat of whole milk and mucho protein powder. And you can easily make multiple (different) smoothies at the same time.

This recipe should adapt well to any blender/smoothie maker. I’m pretty bad at taking exact measurements when I make anything (no, that’s not what was wrong with the waffles and pancakes). Just look at the pictures and adjust the ingredients to fit your taste.

Here we go…

In the bottom of the cup/blender, etc. pour 6-7 small strawberries (or 4-5 of the hughmongo Costco sized ones).

Add one container or 2-3 large spoonfuls of yogurt. (And next time, make sure Jack moves his hands out of the picture)

Pour milk to the top of the strawberries.

Add 1/2 the amount of one serving size of protein powder (for a regular smoothie) or twice the amount of protein powder (if you need to gain a little weight).

Break up a banana and add it in there (and maybe a few extra strawberries to make it thicker).

I have a favorite smoothie maker (that also works for making awesome salsa). We just ordered our second one last week because our 2 year old one just started to die…

*affiliate link*

I’m a little controlling “by the book” when I add the ingredients. I stick to the order listed because I have found that there is less protein powder stuck to the side of the cup when I follow this order. But do what you want, I’m not going to control your smoothie (unless you’re making it in my house. then I might get a little weird).

If the blender isn’t blending well, you probably need to add a bit more milk. Test it out, and drink it up. 2 servings of fruit right there…Yum.

“Mom’s Really Good Granola Bars” (named by Jack, not me)

Cast of characters:

3 cups oats

2 tablespoons additive (I use ground flax seed, but you could also use wheat germ, 7 grain cereal, etc.)

1/4 cup protein powder

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon chunky peanut butter (or creamy. I’m not controlling your granola bars.)

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup chopped almonds and walnuts

1/4 cup dried cranberries and raisins, cut in half

1 cup bear naked granola (or any other kind you like, or not. you can skip this ingredient)

Some notes:

You could substitute chocolate chips for the raisins and cranberries, or for the nuts. This recipe is really flexible.

Sometimes I toast the oats and nuts on 400 degrees for about 13 minutes, but I haven’t been able to tell if it makes a difference. If I have time, I do it. If not, I don’t.

Here we go…

Put peanut butter and honey into a pot, and heat it on low until it melts together.

I use a handheld chopper to chop the almonds and walnuts and a knife to chop the cranberries and raisins because they are so sticky.

Pour oats, flaxseed, protein powder, nuts, raisins and cranberries, and granola into a large bowl.

If you’re using chocolate chips and you decided to toast the granola, you should let it cool down so the chocolate doesn’t melt. But if you have picky kids and you need to trick them into thinking that they are eating chocolate granola bars you could let it melt and change the color of the whole granola bar. Not that I have ever tricked my kids into thinking they are eating lots of chocolate when they in fact are not.

Pour the melted honey and peanut butter  into the bowl.

Let your 9 year old helper use Suzy, your beautiful mixer:

Or you could do it the old-fashioned way (how I used to do it before Suzy came into my life) and get out a wooden spoon and stir, stir, stir.

But this way is much more fun.

While Suzy was mixing away, I grabbed a 9×9 pan (well, stone, because I have no pans. Only stones.) and lined it with some parchment paper.

Pour the mixture onto the parchment paper:

And cover it up with another piece of parchment paper.

If you have a small rolling pin (this might be where I have to admit my Pampered Chef addiction) you could use it to flatten down your granola bars. If you don’t, you could use your hands. As Darcie shared with me last night, you could also use a wine bottle. Hmmm… if your wine bottle is too big, I bet a beer bottle would work just fine.

But your husband may or may not give you a weird look.

After your granola mixture is nice and flat, throw the top piece of parchment away and use the bottom one to lift out your granola onto a cooling rack.

Push the granola into a nice firm square on all sides, then let it sit and harden for at least an hour.

I use a pizza cutter to cut my granola bars.

And I store them in a ziplock container in the pantry. They last for about 1 week, but you could get a little more time out of them if you store them in the refrigerator.

Oh, and if you bring some into your co-workers every once in a while, you get lots of smiles!

Completely irrelevant fact about my kitchen: After proof-reading this post, I realized that everything except for Suzy and the blender are from Pampered Chef. Hmmm…

I found this in the freezer today.

I decided to let it sit on the counter and defrost.

It looked like a cup full of frozen water to me.

It sat and it sat.

Then it defrosted enough that I could dump it out.

I had a feeling that it wasn’t just a cup of frozen water.

Because – you know Jack?

Yeah, he lives here.

And when Jack’s in the house, nothing is what it seems.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen.

He froze rocks inside a cup of water.

Here’s to our future Geologist.

This week, Mom was spotted a couple of times.

The first was on Valentine’s Day, when she went out to dinner with her one and only:

And the second was Wednesday, when the temperature hit 75 degrees and a trip to Dairy Queen was in order.

The boys laughed and laughed at Mom’s hair flying out of the sunroof!

There’s nothing better than a trip to Dairy Queen after school – before dinner – on a warm day.

Well, rolling the windows down and pretending your hand is an airplane takes a close second.

It’s coming up, you know.

Our trip.

What, did you forget?

I didn’t.

To be honest, it’s coming up a little too fast.

I’m constantly reminded of all of the cookies and Coke I consumed during the past few months.

You know, the ones that are stuck on my butt?

Yeah, those.

I find myself daydreaming about this:

And then thinking about this:

Yeah…  oops.

It’s only been 4 months, but that bikini doesn’t fit me quite the same anymore.

I guess during the Christmas party season I forgot that I might need to wear it again.

Good thing that Athleta still had these in stock:

Because I may or may not have purchased one this week.

But despite what it seems, I’m not admitting defeat quite yet.

I’m working hard at being able to wear the bikini top, and I still have a fighting chance.

Thanks to these:

and this little piece of magic:

Oh, and this bar thingy? Amazing. I’ll tell you a secret – I can’t do a sit up without it.

This is helpful, too. Just don’t let the kids get a hold of it. Or do. It’s kind of funny.

Oh, and this helps, too. It’s my favorite. Except for the “Cardio Party.” Yeah, notsomuchaparty.

I am not one to be giving out exercise advice, but somehow {giving complete credit to the above products} I have lost about 20 sticks of butter since Christmas. I have yet to see where those sticks of butter came from (my toes do look a little slimmer), but I’m happy nonetheless.

Secrets? No, I don’t have any.

I run when I can, sneak 15 minute workouts in whenever Jack gives me a free minute (or 15), and try not to eat too many girl scout cookies. Oh, and I stopped drinking my daily Coke.

Because though they are Hawaiian in origin, I can’t fathom having to wear a muumuu in Hawaii.

Though if I had to, I would rock one.

*There are affiliate links in this post*

I just can’t figure it out.

On Friday night, we took the boys to Outback with some friends of ours. We recapped the rock story for her while Jack made all of his crayons “naked” (tearing all the paper off of them).

Saturday was relaxing… went running, cleaned the house a bit, and walked around Target with a girlfriend. Perfect day.

Sunday was Valentine’s Day. But you all know that, right?

I woke up to beautiful tulips and after going running with a girlfriend, I came home to fresh pancakes (with peanut butter and bananas, of course) made by my Valentine.

Last night, we went out for dinner with some great friends. We sat at the restaurant for 2 hours drinking fan-cee white peach and hibiscus margaritas, eating way too much chips and guacamole, and laughing at unsuspecting fashion failures people watching.

After we ate our weight in Mexican food, we walked on over to AJ’s and decided to do some window shopping.

If you’ve never been to an AJ’s, you should probably get on a plane and get on out here. It’s that cool. Amazingly beautiful bakery items, a sushi bar, a huge meat counter, and holycowthosearehugestrawberries produce. All at crazy expensive prices, but hey, you can’t have everything.  Hence, the window shopping.

I did manage to snag a picture of their beer selection.. It’s Steve’s favorite part of the store:

And I left with only one frivolous purchase:

Because isn’t she the cutest thing you’ve ever seen? It’s a dish scrubber. With it’s own little holder. Her name is Nicole, but she has friends… you know, in case you need one too.

So, we ate, we shopped, we came home.

And then.

Because the rock incident of the last 2 weeks didn’t wear me out enough, we hear this from Pauline, our amazing friend that loves on our kids when we go out:

“I need to tell you something.”

OhhhKayyyyy….  What?

“Jack cut his hair.”

Of course he did. He’s Jack. I’m not surprised.

“I’m sorry. I sent him in to brush his teeth, and he came out with his hair cut.”

Yup. That’s the Jack I know. But don’t be sorry… It definitely wasn’t your fault!

We couldn’t get a good look at it last night because he was zonked face first on his pillow. So we waited until this morning.

Before:

After:

Beautiful.

He’s proud of it.

I asked him why he cut his own hair.

He said, “It was too long.”

I took him to get it fixed today and the hairdresser gave him a hard time.

She told him that if he does it again, he’ll be getting a mohawk.

I completely agree with her.

Short, short, short… ugh.

He’s still adorable.

He told the hairdresser that it was ok to cut your own hair…

as long as your Mom says it’s ok.

I guess I must talk in my sleep.

*In the interest of full disclosure, there are affiliate links in this post*

Mom is super-proud today.

Michael earned straight A’s on his recent progress report and earned a slot in the top 3 of his class in the science fair.

Do you know what he asked to do to celebrate?

Go to work with Mom.

Seriously. That’s all he wanted.

I let him skip his Valentine’s Day party and half day at school and come see the world of middle school speech therapy.

Proud, proud Mama today.

For more Where’s Mom pictures, go visit Carin!

Apparently, yo-yoing (is that even a real word?) is the newest trend.

All the cool kids do it.

If you’re in 4th grade.

Or have an older brother in 4th grade.

And you live in Tucson.

Michael bought a yo-yo 2 weeks ago during a school assembly about character development.

Character development = yo-yoing?

Ok then.

Anyway, the lead character in the assembly is a yo-yo master.

Enter Michael and Jack. The newest yo-yo masters.

(Yes, you can be jealous that my kids are in bare feet and t-shirts. But you can’t yell at me about it.)

Michael’s yo-yo broke last weekend. We heard that a game store in the mall had some yo-yo supplies, so we made a trip out there.

At the mall, we met Fred. Fred is another yo-yo master.

Fred showed the boys tricks that made my jaw drop.

Fred obviously has way too much free time on his hands.

But Fred was kind, and very patient with the non yo-yoing Mom that was asking him a lot of yo-yoing questions.

This is where the post gets informative. Are you interested in yo-yos? Because I honestly feel that if I spent 40 minutes talking to a yo-yo master in the game store (where they sold “energy bites for gamers.” Seriously.), I should share the knowledge. If for no other reason than maybe it’ll save you a trip to the yo-yo store.

You see, this is a butterfly shaped yo-yo:

And this is an imperial shaped yo-yo:

There’s no big difference between the two – Fred says it’s all based on preference.

You can yo-yo with cotton string or polyester string. Polyester string is better because it doesn’t shred, and it’s thinner.

Yo-yos need friction in order to spin correctly. If your yo-yo is out of control and not yo-yoing correctly, you should buy some of these:

They’ll help your yo-yo yo-yo better :)

So, that’s my 40 minutes worth of knowledge from Fred, the yo-yo guy.

Please comment and let me know that in some area of your life, this was helpful.

Anyone?

Last Tuesday, February 2nd. 4:51p.m.

Jack takes off his shoes, the sandstorm ensues.

I hear clink clink clink.

“Jack, what is that?”

“Rocks. I brought them home for my fish.”

“Jack, please don’t bring rocks home for your fish. He has rocks. We bought them with his tank.”

“Ok.”

Last Thursday, February 4th. 4:49p.m.

Jack takes off his shoes, the sandstorm ensues.

I hear clank clank clank.

“Jack, what is that?”

“Rocks. I brought them home for my fish.”

“Jack, I asked you to stop bringing rocks home. They’re all over the house.”

“Ok.”

Last Saturday, February 6th. 11a.m.

clink clank clink clank clink clank

“Boys, what was that?”

Michael: “Mom, Jack just threw a handful of rocks into my room!”

“Jack!!! What are you doing?”

“Sorry.”

“Where did you get those rocks?”

“My backpack.”

“Bring them to me. NOW. And no. more. rocks.”

“Ok.”

Last Sunday, February 7th. 2:34p.m.

Enough said.

Today. February 9th, 3:43p.m.

“Come on Jack. Time to go home.”

{Mom picks up coat and backpack}

“WHY are there ROCKS in your POCKETS?”

Jack’s teacher: “He said that it was ok to bring them home. We kept asking him and saying that you probably wouldn’t like it. He seems like such a good kid, we believed him.”

{This is where I explain the past week’s events to the teacher. She laughs, I laugh}

“Jack, NO. MORE. ROCKS.”

“Ok.”

{Picks up lunchbox}

“Jack, why didn’t you eat your… WHY ARE THERE ROCKS IN YOUR LUNCHBOX???”

{Teacher and Mom run out of the room laughing}

We had a long, long talk on the drive home.

I’m fairly confident that there won’t be any more rocks in the house. Or backpack. Or lunchbox.

But you know, this is Jack that we’re talking about.

If you were a fly on the wall at my house this weekend, you surely may or may not have heard these quotes…

From Michael:

Mom, can I play PSP?

Jack’s bugging me.

I’m full. Do I have to finish my breakfast/lunch/dinner?

Can I play PSP?

I’m hungry. Can I have a cookie?

Jack’s bothering me!

Mom, can I play PSP?

From Jack:

Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom?

Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad?

Michael, what are you doing?

Graciiiiiieeeeee…. (dog #1)

Rileeeeeyyyyyy… (dog #2)

Can I have a lollipop?

Michael, can I play?

Can I play with Molly?

Michael…  I want to come in!

Dogs… want a treat?

From Mom:

Jack. Stop. bothering. the. dogs.

Jack, if you don’t leave the dogs alone, we’re going to give them away.

Michael, no. You have played enough video games this weekend.

Jack, if you touch her collar one more time, you’re going to your room.

Jack, go to your room. And stop smiling.

No, it’s not ok to say that word.

I don’t know why God lets your mouth say it, but it’s not appropriate to say.

Michael, if you don’t eat real food, I’m never going to let you have sweets.

Of course you’re hungry at 4:30. You didn’t eat lunch. You’ll have to wait.

Jack, get the handcuffs off the dog.

Yes, I know she can still walk. I don’t care. Get them off her.

Don’t say that during dinner. It’s not appropriate to say at the table.

Michael, how can you not be hungry? You were starving an hour ago.

NO! You can’t have dessert! You didn’t eat dinner!

No, Jack. No lollipops. Because you’re not behaving today and you don’t need more sugar.

Yes, you have to go to bed right after your bath.

Because Mommy is tired.

No you can’t stay up with Daddy. He’s tired, too.

No, you can’t stay up by yourself.

Because I said so.

Because I said so.

Because I said so.

Goodnight.

I love you too.

I love you too. I already told you that.

Yes, I already tucked you in.

Michael, did you just call me from across the house to ask if I would turn your fan on?

Good. Night. Boys.

{waits 10 minutes}

Love you too.