Mornings are challenging at our household. We are most definitely late night people. Want to start a movie at 11 pm...we are with you. Sleepover parties...not a problem. BUT....try to get us up for school at 6 am and you have a totally different issue. Here is a typical school day in my household.
5:45-my alarm goes off..of course I hit snooze at least twice.
6:05- I yell upstairs "Time to get up!" Not one child stirs or acknowledges that I have spoken. I head for the coffee maker to start my deathly strong brew of life.
6:10-"Really! You all need to get moving!" A few mumbles are heard but no feet hit the floor.
6:20-" I am not joking around here! You need to get up now!" By this time I have taken the dog out, picked up the paper and am pouring my first cup of coffee for the day. I judge my mornings often based upon how many cups are needed to get me going. Is is a 4 cup day? 3? On rare occassions just 1?
6:25-"This is your last call! I am not telling you again!" Generally by this point I begin to hear feet, lights going on and showers beginning to run.
Now mind you the bus comes at 7 am at our house. At this point it becomes a race against the clock to see who can make the bus with lunch bag packed, track and other sports equipment, homework and any miscellaneous items in tow. For anyone who has school aged children you know this list can be endless. It seems like it is always: Crazy Hat Day, Silly Sock Day, Wear School Color Day...need I say more!Breakfast always seems to be the issue. I do not win the award for always feeding my kids a nice hot and healthy breakfast in the morning. They are known to run out the door to catch the bus with a pop tart or granola bar in hand.
Now, before you judge me and offer all kinds of organizational tips, please don't bother! Believe me, I have tried them all. I am extremely organized in most, if not all, other areas of my life. Mornings are just Mayhem! I have tried all the tested and true methods to avoid this chaos. Each night before bed they are supposed to: lay out their clothes, pack their backpacks, put lunch bags together and in the fridge, get athletic bags ready etc. I have purchased loud obnoxious alarms and even threatened to get the one that walks all over the bedroom until you get up and turn it off. They can sleep through them all!
Here is the problem.......MY KIDS ARE ALL TEENAGERS! They thrive off chaos. Of course they do not want me to help in any of the above departments...they have it COVERED! They also do not want suggestions the night before about how to make their morning easier...let the eye rolling commence. If I pack their lunch they will not eat it. If I make a nice breakfast, they just claim they do not have time to eat it. So...I feel trapped in this crazy Morning Mayhem!
This weekend, in one more attempt to push at least a somewhat healthy breakfast, I dusted off an old recipe for 6 week Bran Muffins that I used to make quite frequently. This recipe gets its name from the fact that it makes a large batch of batter that can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 6 weeks.
Here is the recipe:
1 15-20 oz. box of Raisin Bran
3 cups sugar
5 cups flour
5 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. salt
1 cup shortening
4 eggs
1 qt. buttermilk
Mix dry ingredients in a very large bowl ( I use an old batter bowl from Tupperware). Melt shortening. Cool until room temperature and wisk in eggs. Add to the dry ingredients and thoroughly combine. Store in a covered container in the refrigerator until ready to use. When ready to bake, fill greased muffin tins 2/3 full. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Makes approximately 6 dozen.
For the last two days, in between yelling upstairs for them to all get moving, I have made a fresh batch of muffins. Yesterday, they each grabbed one on the way to the bus. After school they wanted to know what those muffins were...they were great! YAY! Today they actually came down a little earlier than usual to get one while it was hot. Check mark for mom!
I don't have any illusions that this will last long. If the past is any indication, it will get old by next week. But for today....my kids have a semi-healthy breakfast!
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Oh good for you! Our daughter is the same way about her alarm, and she got really offended when I suggested one of those "walking" alarms. (Heh heh, I may still do it for Christmas as a gag gift!) The ONLY way we can get her out of bed is if my husband goes in and jumps on her...then the dog to lick her hand.... and here comes her brother, joining in on the fun! That poor girl, she's probably really happy to get to school by then!
ReplyDeleteAt my house those alarms would be "walking" all over the house and the kids would still be sleeping! My dad used to come in the room, turn on the light and begin singing to us in the morning. He was a morning person... I am not!
ReplyDeleteOh we are sisters in the "not a morning person" department! I am SO not a morning person it's not even funny. This has been a hard transition year for me as it's my son's first year in middle school....which means my alarm now goes off at 6:30. My son is 12 1/2 and spiraling towards teen-hood quite fast. So far he's doing well getting up by himself....yes, he may get up with only 20 min. before he has to walk out the door. But for now that's all the time he needs. He doesn't yet care about how he looks, smells or presents himself. He's getting there just a little bit with clothing, but barely. Oh, and I DO NOT COOK IN THE MORNINGS!!! Sorry, didn't I say I'm not a morning person? They get cold cereal, a granola bar, or occassionally a toasted bagel (which I can't stand because that's ALMOST cooking for me, LOL). But, hey, it's organic cereal, milk and cereal bars. That's got to count for something, right? No one is getting a hot breakfast in this house unless someone else makes it ;o)
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