Mom Confession #2

When I am on a diet and I really want something candy, I steal my kids Flintstones vitamins. In my head I can justify eating like 5 because they are vitamins... not candy. It is also why they are always stuck with orange ones and the red ones are the first to go.

Sorry kids.

Wake Up Call

I think I need to put more effort in my appearance.

Not just my family anymore.

I fully admit to being in a rut. I don't do anything except take my kids to school, go to the gym, and go to the grocery store. It is literally all I do. Doing those 3 things, I don't need to dress up. So every single day for the last month, I have thrown my hair up into a bun, put on a headband, and worn some variation of a sweater and leggings. Not very inspired.

On Friday I washed and straightened my hair, so I have been wearing it down. Today, when I went to pick up Harlow from her class, her classmates didn't recognize me. Then her little friend (a 4 year old boy) told me "Wow! I like you hair like that!" Ummm.... I am not sure, but I think when a 4 year old boy notices your hair, it means you need to step your fucking game up. Thanks, kid. I will try to look human more often.

In other news, I had to go to the gym twice today because of my cheat day yesterday. Macaroni and cheese and champagne is a combination that only happens when you have kids.... and it was awesome!

Conversations With My Daughter

When I found out that I was having a girl, I was ecstatic! As soon as I left the ultrasound, I headed to Nordstrom and bought cute pink, sparkly outfits. I pictured in my head this sweet, gentle, soft spoken little girl. Well... she isn't exactly what I pictured when I was pregnant.

She is SOOOOO much better. She is sassy, sweet, so feisty, and I will never have to worry about her not sticking up for herself. She is the funniest little girl that I have ever met and the things that she says never fails to make me laugh (even if it is later because I am mad at first).

Here are a few things that she has said in the past week that have stood out among the rest.

1- As posted before, Harlow told me I smelled like a llama. So rude. Well, she has continued with her insults and we have turned it into a (very inappropriate) game. She tells me I smell like a pig, I tell her she smells like a horse, and we keep going until we run out of animals. Well, yesterday she won the game after her second turn when she told me I smelled like a donkey. I laughed so hard I couldn't even think of another one! She told me I smelled like an ass!!!!

2- She has been asking me for the past 3 weeks to straighten her hair. I usually say no and she will forget about it. I don't like doing it because not only is it super time consuming, it is also bad for her hair. Well, on Thursday I finally agreed to do it while DJ was at school and Dash was napping. When we were doing it, I let her pick a movie on Netflix. She usually chooses something horrible like 'Bratz Babies' or 'Lego Friends' but this time she picked 'Grease'! I was so excited! I love that movie!!! I will say, I never realized how completely inappropriate that movie is before I watched it with her. I am thinking that since it took me until I was 26 to notice, she should be fine. Of course, out of the entire movie... her favorite part is when Danny sees Sandy at the carnival and they start singing "You're the one that I want". Now she keeps walking around the house saying "Tell me about, stud". Way to go, Alexa. This leads into my next point.

3- She remembers everything and repeats it often. We went to go get Halloween costumes on Wednesday. While in the car, J. Cole's song 'Crooked Smile' came on. Out of allllllll of the phrases in that song, can you guess the one that she repeated for the rest of the day? This one "Let my brother out of jail" So the entire time we were in the Halloween store she kept randomly saying it. It was really embarrassing. Today she has been walking around saying "If you are going to call me Rosa, say it to my face." I have no freaking clue where she got that from.

Random Harlow

4- I like to go boxing. It is my favorite workout that I have ever done. It is so fun and a really great workout. Well, today when I got home, I walked into a mad house. Harlow and DJ were having full on wrestling matches and running around chasing each other. Well, I guess Harlow was done and DJ didn't get the memo. Harlow comes up to me telling on DJ saying "Mom! DJ... YOUR SON... hurt me in the belly." then she rolled her eyes and walked away. #wtf

5- Now here is what I should be embarrassed to admit, but it amuses me so much that I have to share it. She has the sassiest damn mouth ever. She is always huffing and puffing and when she is mad she gets the biggest little attitude. It is so funny coming from her sweet face and tiny little body. The other morning she was in quite the mood. It was too damn early and she was pissing me the freak off. DJ came out telling me that she threw a toy at him, so I told her to go to time out. She laughed and said no!!!! I was livid. I picked her up, carried her to the stairs and told her she could either go sit in time out or go back to bed. Do you want to know what she said to me? She looked me straight in the eyes and said "I can't hear you." Ummm.... I am sorry, what? I carried her to her room and then she finally started to cry.* She stayed in her room until I got her out and was much better for the rest of the day. On Sunday, for my mom's brunch she went and picked her own outfit... It was quite the combination. She chose floral capri leggings and a pink, white, and yellow shirt that says 'Have more fun'. Everyone kept asking her about her outfit and I guess she was sick of it. So when my mom said "Wow, Harlow, that is quite the outfit you picked out!" Harlow looked at her, said "Whatever" and walked away. Sometimes I just do not understand where she came from.

Too much spice.

6- The past 3 or so days, she keeps telling me how much she loves me. So sweet. "Mom, I love you so much, I want to stay with you forever." It is very nice change because on Tuesday she said, "Sometimes I love you mom, but sometimes I don't." When I acted very hurt and said "You don't love me???" she responded with "Well, sometimes I do." and left. Sassy. Fucking. Pants.

What can I say? I love that little girl!


*when punishing my children, I do not feel satisfied unless they cry. It might sound mean, but otherwise I just don't feel like they understand that I am actually mad at them.

Things My Kids Do.

Here are a list of some things that my kids do that I think are awesome.

1- Obsess with pop culture. My kids love to have dance parties and always have a favorite song/artist. DJ loves Justin Bieber and I think it is hilariously awesome. I took them to Dairy Queen after school the other day and when we were there he looked through the cake book and informed me that he wants the Justin Bieber birthday cake. It wasn't the first time that he has requested Justin Bieber gear, also not the first time I said "We will see..." aka no. Harlow loves Madonna (as shown for her 3rd birthday) and right now her favorite song in 'Roar' by Katy Perry. We have to watch the music video multiple times a day.

She picked out her outfit, by the way.

This happened after her Roar performance and I didn't turn on 'Call me, maybe'

2- They think they are Power Rangers. Mainly, this is Dash, but the other 2 play along, too. Dash is always striking his Power poses. Seriously, it is pretty much impossible to get a picture of him just standing there.

Here are multiple attempts of me trying to get a picture of Dash with his twin cousin. She was NOT impressed with his Ninja skills.

3- Make awesome, yet not remotely accurate descriptions. Whenever I take them out, they are calling some random person a member of our family and then they laugh hysterically. When I was taking them to school on Monday, DJ pointed to the people in the car next to us and said "Mom look! It's Nonna and she is with Justing Bieber!"

They look nothing like my mom... or Justin Bieber. 

4- Cuddle. Now, I don't know if cuddle is the right word to use. It is more like they completely lack respect for personal space. Our couch is huge, but no matter what they end up right next to you. I have tried to escape to the chair, but that backfires.

5- They make awesome fashion choices. Harlow leads the pack on this one, but Dash and DJ enjoy choosing their clothes, too. DJ always wants to wear 2 shirts. I don't know why, but he likes to layer. Harlow just goes with what she feels that day.

 I tried to get a picture, but like I said, he always is in Power Ranger mode.

5- They are food thieves. It doesn't matter if I give them the most awesome dinner of kid food ever. If I am on a diet, they always want my food. Half of the time, I eat standing up just so that they cannot take my food. For my mom's brunch, we were sitting at the table and Dash walked over to my aunt, picked up all of her fruit on her plate, walked back to his seat, put the fruit on his plate, and then ate it. It was so rude... but also the funniest thing ever. 

6- They make very strange requests. Harlow will only eat a sandwich cut into thirds. Really? Why must you make everything so difficult child? They also request that after they go to sleep that I check on them and take a picture of them. This started because they always asked me to check on them and then the next day they would say that I didn't check on them, so I started to take pictures of them so I would have proof (it is very important for me to prove my 4 and 5 year old wrong). Now they ask me every night to take a picture of them sleeping. I worried that when they are adults they might attract stalkers... "Mom! I love him! He takes pictures of me sleeping!" They will be excited and flattered by the creepiest thing ever. Oops.

Harlow's signature sandwich. 

 On vacation she fell asleep with the Bible. 

There are many more things that make my kids awesome... but I have to limit it, otherwise this would be a never ending post!

Morning Drinking...

But when I am feeling classy, I call it brunch. My mom's birthday was last week and we didn't have any plans. So, I asked her if she wanted to have a brunch at my house. I love brunch. Mainly, it's for the mimosa's, but the food doesn't hurt either.

For brunch I decided that it was critical to have a mimosa bar. It was awesome! I had 4 bottles of different champagne, 3 different juices (orange, cranberry, and grapefruit), and different fruits to put in your drink.  For the fruits we had strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries. I bought a pineapple, but i was too lazy to cut it. My favorite mimosa combo was grapefruit juice with a raspberry and blackberry. So good. It was a pretty setup and I was happy with how it turned out. I might have gone to Target the night before and purchased a few pitchers and a little bit of server ware.

I forgot to take pictures at the actual brunch (I was hungry!!!) but this is what I used for the mimosa setup.

For the menu....

Caramel French Toast Casserole. Oh yes. One of my best friends (Shout out Meghan Green :P) sent me this recipe maybe 3 years ago. After the first time I made it, it was an automatic hit with the entire family. We make it at every family get together when we are having brunch. It is the greatest thing ever and so so simple. You have to let it sit over night, but in my opinion that makes it easier, especially because I am usually running around like a mad person the morning of. It is so nice to just have to pop it in the oven. The recipe for this will be at the bottom of this blog.

Cheesy Hash browns. These were also easy and delicious. I found these on Pinterest and the best part is you make them in the crockpot! As soon as I woke up, I put everything in and then was able to walk away until it was time to eat. I doubled this recipe and it was very unnecessary. The only changes that I made were adding a cup or so of mozzarella and that was just because I didn't have enough cheddar when I doubled it. I love cheese, so the more the better, in my opinion. Also, I used cream of mushroom soup instead of chicken because we have a few vegetarians in the family.

Salted Caramel Pumpkin Muffins. Ok, we all now about my love of pumpkin and these actually changes my life (might be a slight exaggeration, but they were so amazing). I don't even know if I can call these muffins, they are more like cupcakes. Pumpkin makes everything so moist (I know some people hate this word... so sorry if you are one of them) and freaking delicious. They were very sweet so my kids loved them. I made these the night before so I wouldn't have to stress in the morning and I had an audience (my husband and his cousin) sitting in the kitchen fighting sleep so they could have before bed. They smelled as good as the tasted.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread. This too, was good. I had some extra ripe banana's so I figured a banana bread would be a good option. This wasn't my favorite part of the menu, but I would make it again just for the kids to have before school. It was also extremely simple, so that is definitely a plus.

The morning of I made a quick fruit salad with my kids favorite fruits and some extras that just looked good. It has strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and grapes. I also found some seriously amazing little appetizers from Target. I love Archer Farms brand, everything is so good and they have so many good options. All you have to do is pop things in the oven and put them on a tray...my way to go. I found mini quiche with bacon and asparagus, mini quiche with vegetarian chorizo and peppers, a variety mini quiche (cheese, mushroom, and spinach) and my favorite find... mini baked bries with cranberry. They were all a hit. I also cooked up some bacon and sausage, my aunt brought over roasted asparagus with roasted potatoes that were they best. I will ask for the recipe and post it here when I find it. It was a very successful brunch and everyone left stuffed.

The question that I know you all want to know is how many mimosa's did I drink? Answer... I lost count. I think it was less than 10, but definitely more than 5.

One last thing. I posted last weekend about waffle recipes. This Saturday I made buttermilk waffles with a fresh strawberry sauce and whip cream. An oldie, but a goodie. I think these were may favorite so far. For the strawberry sauce all you do is core and cut a 16 oz container of strawberries and put them in saucepan with 2 tbsp of lemon juice and 1/4 cups of sugar. Heat then and stir over medium high heat for about 5 minutes and then turn down the heat and let simmer for abut 5 more.

Caramel French Toast Casserole.

Equipment needed:

Saucepan

13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish

Ingredients: 

1 ½ cups firmly packed brown sugar

¾ cup butter 

¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons light corn syrup

10 (1 ¾ inch thick) slices French Bread

4 Large eggs, lightly beaten

2 ½ cups half and half

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons sugar

1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

¼ cup butter

Combine:

First 3 ingredients in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat. Stirring constantly, 5 minutes or until mixture is bubbly. Poor syrup mixture evenly into a lightly greased 13 x 9 in baking dish. Arrange bread slices over syrup.

Combine: 

Eggs and next 3 ingredients; stir well. Gradually pour mixture over bread slices. Cover and chill at least over night.

Combine: 

3 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon; stir well. Sprinkle evenly over soaked bread. Drizzle ¼ cup melted butter over bread. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Serve immediately. Yield: 10 servings

My Truth.

Right to the point here. I do not enjoy being a stay at home mom.

Here's the thing... I have always wanted to be a mom and to have a big family. I know that I sound ungrateful for my chance to stay with my kids, I know that. I have felt guilty about this for about a year, but you know what? It still hasn't changed. I am beyond thankful that I was able to stay with my kids for the first years of their lives. I just do not find it fulfilling. The longer I do it, the less confidence I have in myself. Because of being a stay at home mom for the last 5 years, I constantly doubt my ability to do anything worthwhile outside of the house. I have gone to register for classes 3 times and each time I freak out that I can't do it and put it off another semester.

I always took pride in the fact that I was smart and I worked hard. I am also somewhat of a perfectionist. You want to know something? There is absolutely no such thing as a perfect mom. No matter how hard you try, there will be something you feel like you did wrong. Mom guilt is the biggest bitch in the world. So the fact that I can never get it all right kills me. What do I do? I don't bring anything into the house, even though my husband has never made me feel this way, it makes me feel useless.

I don't buy it.

Being a mom is a thankless job. This past weekend I took DJ to Chuck E Cheese by himself because he filled up his behavior chart and he chose to go there as his reward. We had so much fun, it was a great night. The next day? He didn't like me, I wasn't invited to his birthday party, and he wanted to live with my mom. I am always mean, apparently. I shouldn't care, but it drains me. I try to be a good mom. I try to take them to fun places, make them yummy treats, play with them, but it is never enough. Today Harlow had a massive fit because she didn't like her outfit. Her brand new outfit that she helped pick out on Tuesday. She told me "I don't want to go to school ever again"... because of her OUTFIT! She is 4, I should just look the other way, but in my mind I am just screaming... "I just paid too much for the outfit as it is, you can't be a little grateful??! I don't understand!!!!". I don't think I am overly needy, but sometimes I just want to feel appreciated for all that I do. I think that everyone needs some validation in their lives.

After school. I think the outfit is adorable!

Now, I am in NO WAY saying that stay at home moms have it harder than working moms or vise versa. 1. Because I don't believe in the mom wars. 2. I think that being a mom is hard no matter what. 3. Everyone is different, what one person loves, another might not. I am also not saying that I don't absolutely love being a mom, because I do. I wouldn't trade my life for anything in the world. What I am saying, however, is that if I end up being a stay at home mom for the rest of my life, I might kill myself. Agree or disagree, love it or hate it, that is my truth.

The Sweet Life

I have a bone to pick. It is with all these "healthy, clean eater" people on my news feeds (facebook, instagram, life in general) who are constantly posting pictures of their food. Not their food, but their dessert.

Fruit is NOT dessert. Fruit can be breakfast. It can be a snack, but it is not freaking dessert. I have fallen into this lie. I have posted a picture of my "dessert" on instagram. Ugh. I hate myself. I think I was trying to trick my mind into believing that I was actually satisfying my need for something sweet.

Not dessert, this was just a nice big bowl of denial.

Dessert. See the difference?

As you know, I am trying to watch what I eat. I had 3 weeks (yes... not days, weeks) of eating like shit and now I am trying to get back on track. Last night ALL I wanted was chocolate, I needed it. Well, of course we don't have any because I have cleaned my house out so that I can't give in. So you know what I had? I had grapes. Bull. Shit. This did not satisfy my sweet craving in the least. It made me actually want to punch somebody, it made me angry. Let's be honest here, the only way grapes are going to satisfy my craving is if they are in the form of wine. I would say that I feel better about myself this morning for making a good choice, but I don't. I still want chocolate... or a cookie... or ice cream. You get the point.

Exactly.

Smooth Sailing

This morning I decided that I was going to try something new. I set my alarm, woke up 30 minutes before my kids, made cinnamon rolls (DJ's favorite) and ironed all of their clothes. I was so on top of it. DJ and Harlow came down at 7:30, I got them dressed and did their hair, then they sat down to eat. While they sat down to eat, I got Dash and then let him eat while I threw on my gym clothes. It was awesome. It was going so smooth that I started thinking "Damn, Alexa... wake up early everyday! Your life is so much easier." Which is why I have no idea how shit hit the fan so fast.

It was actually 8:25.

I seriously cannot even pinpoint where things went wrong. All I know is that waking up early got the kids to school 5 minutes late. Dammit. And Dash? That little jerk. He did not help at all. All of a sudden he hates his carseat. He wants to sit next to Harlow, so when I go to strap him in? It is like I am trying to torture him. He goes stiff as freaking board and SCREAMS! It is too early to act like that, I don't understand!!!! All I know is that I have never been so happy to put them in their classes and run out of there. 

Now I am sitting at home, writing this blog, telling myself that going to the gym will help me relax. You know what else is relaxing? Wine. I might pretend it is brunch so I can spike my orange juice. Happy Hump Day, everyone. 

Our Day at the Park... Meadows Mall.

Do you see how two words changed my title to a fun day with the kids, to something every mom basically dreads?

Basically.

Today I had to brave the mall with Thing 1 and Thing 2 (aka Harlow and Dash). Harlow has been moved up to the Pre-K class at school and now has to wear uniforms. It is great, the only problem is that she really only has pink shoes... hot pink, light pink, pink and green, pink with flowers, you get the point. The colors of her uniform are red, blue, khaki, and white, so the pink just wasn't working. We went to the mall to get her 2 pairs of shoes... that is it. Fail.

This is what I got NOT including Harlow's shoes.

Peek... Opened right next to Nordstrom. I am in so much trouble! This is my favorite clothing brand for kids.

Shopping with Harlow is crazy. She loves everything and wants everything, even things that she doesn't really want. She also talks to every single person she sees, most people think she is adorable, so it only encourages her. She is lucky DJ wasn't there... he takes stranger danger very seriously. Today she went up to a stranger and said "You have an apple! Where did you get that?" Really girl? Let the poor lady eat her apple in peace! Dash is equally as embarrassing. He yells as loud as he can as soon as we enter a store... or a new section... or whenever the freak he feels like it. It is mortifying. People just stare at me and I just stare at the stroller without looking up. He also growled.

What? You don't speak caveman?

Harlow also gave me another example as to how kids are assholes. We were walking into the mall and she looked at me and said "Mom, you smell like a llama." She was dead serious and looked really upset with me when I started laughing. So rude. For the record, I did NOT smell like like a llama... I smelled like roses (thank you Lush... the products, not the fact that I drink a lot). She also kept calling the model in the picture on our table a boy. I kept trying to correct her, but she just did not believe me. Sorry, model, it's nothing personal.

I think she is very pretty and feminine, I could do without the pose though.

Food court. I don't even know how to really explain my time in the food court. As soon as we pull up to the mall, Harlow asks if we can eat there. Her request? Rice and broccoli. So weird. This never changes, either. She even requested it last year for her birthday. Dash just wants the cinnamon sugar pretzels, I think his choice sounds better. They ate really well and were actually really well behaved so they got ice cream once they finished their lunch. I, however, did not eat ice cream thank you very much!

 Harlow and her mall special.

 Dash on his sugar high from pretzels.

 Ice cream!!!!

Harlow's face after I caught her LICKING the ice cream she dropped off of the table. Disgusting.

What else is a mall good for if not people watching? I got some good ones today. While my kids were taking their sweet, sweet time eating, I was able to get some awesome shots. I was so excited because I saw 2 people (who were not together) wearing... FANNY PACKS!!!!! 2 people who were not together, wearing fanny packs, shorts, and extra long white socks. It was amazing.

And a visor.

Trucker hat.

We were also sitting by the cutest couple. I think I might have a slight obsession with old people couples. The khaki shorts couple has been pushed to number 2 on my list of 'Cutest Old People Shopping'. The couple I saw today might hold the forever crown. They were so happy together. I was just creepin and staring at them eat their lunch together. Cutest. Thing. Ever.

I mean... right??? She was so little pushing him! She took all those bags and piled on his lap and then they went on their way. I loved them.

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Confessions Of A Stay At Home Mom: Volume 1

Ok. So I am not really sure if my husband reads my blog and after this one, I kinda hope he doesn't.

Not relavent to this post, but still relevant to life.

Confession time. Sometimes I spend too much money at Starbucks (and other places). I would go there everyday and $4.16 (the price of a grande vanilla latte with tax) adds up if you do it 5-6 times a day. So my wonderful, amazing husband started to get on my back about it a little.

Well... you know how now grocery stores sell gift cards to other places...Starbucks, iTunes, Nordstrom, etc.? There have been times that I have bought myself gift cards so that he won't be able to see that I am still going there. If he looked at the account, he would just see groceries.

I know, I know. Judge me if you must, but we all know it is basically brilliant.

Sunday Fun-Day

Happy Sunday. Only one day left to the weekend and tomorrow my kids go to school... hurry up Monday!

I have decided that I will post with a list format today because my kids are going nuts and I don't have enough concentration to form real, full thoughts.

Things my Sunday consisted of:

1) Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. DJ was able to go to Chuck E Cheese last night and since Krispy Kreme is in the same parking lot, we went there after. He has never been inside and was super excited to see how the doughnuts were made. Dash, like always did not take bites, and literally shoved full doughnuts in his mouth. It is equally as impressive as it is disgusting.

Watching the miracle of doughnuts being born.

2) Mommy and Dash day. My mom took DJ and Harlow to the circus, so I was able to spend alone time with Dash. In theory, this is awesome. In reality, it kinda sucks. I don't understand how one child can be so nuts. Seriously, the kid is crazy. He took off through the doggie door in nothing but a diaper and would not come back inside. I had to cave-man style carry him back in the house.

3) Baking. In order to get Dash to calm down after his cave-man style carry back, I bribed him with cookies. One thing you should know about me, I am not above bribery. Not at all. I made pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting and Dash was a great mixer licker. The cookies were awesome. Thank you, Pinterest. They are sweet without being too sweet.

4) The pajama trap. Dash always manages to take off his pajamas while he is in bed. This results in him taking off his diaper. This results in him peeing all over his sheets. I have been trying to find an effective trap to keep them on and I think I have finally found a winner.

A onesie OVER the pants. #lockdown

5) Katy Perry who? At the circus, my kids got their faces painted to look like tigers. Now my pop music obsessed daughter keeps running around the house singing "You're gonna hear me ROAR!!!!" over and over.

6) Animals don't wear clothes. After deciding that she was over Katy Perry, Harlow stripped out of all of her clothes and will not wear any. I don't know if she thinks she is an actual tiger now? All I know is that that little girl is crazy and needs to put on some damn pants.

7) I am becoming fluent in another language. That language is Dash and it basically goes like this. Argh! Grrrr! ARRRGH!!!! GRRRRRR!!!!!! We had a conversation that went exactly like this-

Me: Dash, what show do you want to watch?

Dash: Grrrrr!

Me: Ninjago?

Dash: No! GRRRR!

Me: Oh... Power Rangers?

Dash: Yeah! ***Runs off to sit on the couch***

The night is not over and I am sure some more excitement is bound to happen, but I will just talk about it tomorrow. 

Dammit. Just before I hit publish, I heard Harlow yell "DJ!!!! We flushed the toothpaste down the toilet!" Seriously??? What the fuck? This blog only took me like 10 minutes to write? You can't just play in the toy room for 10 minutes???? Ugh. Monday. Monday. Monday.

Weekend Waffles

It is no secret that I hate mornings. I just suck at waking up, (it might have something to do with the fact that I never go to sleep before midnight) so on school days I don't have enough time to make the kids a big breakfast. On weekends I try to make up for that and I have started doing weekend waffles. Thanks to Pinterest, I am able to make a good variety.

Last Saturday I made banana waffles with a peanut butter glaze. They were so good! At first I searched for peanut butter waffles, then I searched for banana waffles, then I decided I needed a combination. The kids devoured them, I think they each had 2. A definite success and I will make them again.

On Sunday, DJ requested pumpkin waffles. I was obviously all over that request. I love that I have pushed pumpkin on my kids so often, that they ask for it now. These were also good and super easy. I just used regular syrup, but I have seen a few recipes for apple cider syrup... I think I will make that next time. I don't have pictures from this because it was the morning of Harlow's party and... quite frankly they were lucky I didn't just give them a Pop-tart. Speaking of, I really want to try to make the homemade poptart recipe. It kinda looks like a pain though, if you have made them and they were successful, let me know.

Today, I made red velvet waffles. Holy moly. These were probably the most difficult waffles that I have made. Don't get me wrong, they weren't hard... there were just more steps and they took a little bit longer than the others. These looked amazing and the bite I tried was really good. They were just extremely rich. The kids had 1 and were done. I just tried a bite because even though it was extremely tempting, these are not conducive with my attempt to lose weight. This recipe called for almost 2 sticks of butter (YIKES!!!) and buttermilk. I always have a lot of butter in the house because I like to experiment with baking, but I did not have buttermilk. I made a substitute that worked well and was able to skip running to the store.

 For substitute buttermilk I just added 2 tbsp of vinegar to 2 cups of milk. Easy and effective.

They look pretty, too! 

The best part about all of these waffles is that I always have leftovers. I use all of the batter, then I put the extra waffles in the fridge. On school days I just pop them in the toaster and the kids get a good breakfast in no time at all. I also like to bake breads during the week so that they can have that for breakfast when the waffles are gone. I already posted my favorite pumpkin bread recipes and will post new breads soon. I feel better if my kids have something homemade for breakfast, but don't get me wrong... there have been plenty of mornings that consist of cereal and yogurt.


Banana Waffles

1 1/4 cups flour 
3 tsp. baking powder 
1/2 tsp. salt 
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg 
1 1/4 cups milk 
1 egg 
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 small ripe bananas, mashed

In a large measuring cup or batter bowl, whisk together egg, oil and milk. Add flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir until mixture is smooth. Add in mashed bananas and stir lightly until combined.

Pour batter onto a greased waffle iron


Peanut Butter Glaze

4 tbsp water
2/3 cups powdered sugar
1 tbsp peanut butter

Stir together all ingredients until smooth.

Tell me if you try any of these recipes or if you have other waffle recipes that I should make. Oh... and follow me on bloglovin! Hope everyone has a good Saturday :)