Tuesday, October 5, 2010

The Morning Rush

This is sponsored content by BlogHer and Kelloggs.




This is a perfect picture of what I am faced with when the morning rush is through.  Cereal bowls stacked up by the sink and a table covered in cereal dust, all of which are evidence that my children enjoyed their breakfast in a hurry!  With our schedule starting so early since school started again, I often find that I am chilling in my bedroom watching cartoons with Colin while my older kids get breakfast and get themselves ready for the day.  It’s not that I don’t want to be part of their morning ritual, it’s more that I want Colin to continue to rest in the morning so that I don’t have a crabby four-year-old all day long!  So, once my oldest two have left for the bus, Ellis usually makes his way into my room to tie up any loose ends (i.e. have me sign off on his homework that he “forgot” to have me do the night before!) and hang out with me and Colin.  Once Ellis has left for the bus, I am making my way out to the kitchen to get breakfast for Colin and me, and to clean up from the storm that must have blown through while my oldest kids were having breakfast!

It’s not unusual to find the dishes left by the sink (as there are still clean dishes in the dishwasher and I’ve asked my kids to not empty it in the morning because they make too much noise when they do!), a cereal bag (without the box in sight) left lying on the countertop, little spills of milk on the table surrounded by all of that cereal dust.  All of this is evidence of the fact that mornings are a rushing-around kind of thing in our home!  While the kids are incredibly helpful with cleaning up, I’ve given them the easy-out with breakfast, due to the fact that I want Colin to sleep longer than he usually does, and boy do they take advantage of that!  I don’t mind the mess so much, though, so there is no complaining when you know that the kids have enjoyed their morning!

The only time that the mess is a difficult thing for me is when I have somewhere to be in the morning.  This usually means that I’ve woken up earlier than usual, got myself ready, got Colin out of bed and got him ready (including rushing him through eating his cereal!) and am usually trying to rush through cleaning the mess before I head out the door.  This ends up in me enjoying my cereal dry in a sandwich bag while we’re in the truck on our way to our destination!  I don’t mind it that way, though, as I am usually packing a lot of snacks to bring with me when I’m out and about anyway, so what’s the difference of bringing my breakfast along, too?!

Mornings hold a lot of chaos in our house, but I really do love it that way!

--
Here's the fun part!  With this review, I get to give away a $100 Visa Gift Card to one of you fabulous readers!  It's incredibly simple to enter, and you can have up to two entries.  All you have to do is leave a comment on this post to enter.  To get a second entry, you may either tweet or blog about this post (including a link to the giveaway) and leave a second comment here, including the URL of your tweet or blog.  This giveaway will run from 9:00am PST (11:00am CST) today, Tuesday October 5, 2010 through 5:00pm PST (7:00pm CST) on Monday October 11, 2010.  The winner will be chosen using www.random.org.  To view the official sweepstakes rules, visit www.blogher.com/kelloggs-rules-9.

Make sure to visit the BlogHer Reviewer Round Up page to check out what other bloggers had to say and to take advantage of 23 more chances to win a $100 Visa Gift Card! BlogHer.com Kellogg exclusive offers page.

Mom's Breakfast Club was started to help educate moms and families about kids' cereal and share the scoop on their nutritional benefits and ingredients.  To learn more about the program, visit www.loveyourcereal.com.



113 comments:

  1. This morning was especially chaotic for us!

    mami2jcn at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  2. THANK U so much for such a generous giveaway..my children are grown up so mornings are a lot less
    chaotic for us than they used to be ;)
    aunteegem@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. WOW sounds like my mornings here but ours sound messier. Great giveaway. Thanks for the chance
    malleycc (at) hotmail. com

    ReplyDelete
  4. I tweeted

    https://twitter.com/jadenruby/status/26474251899

    ReplyDelete
  5. my children are still young so i have the feeling i haven't even seen the start of a chaotic am :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. we try to get as much done the night before to eliminate the morning rush- but of course we never do
    rmartinclarke at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  7. My mornings never, ever go as organized as planned I have a schedule and the kids always are 5 minutes behind.
    tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  8. tweet
    http://twitter.com/ChelleB36/status/26505640585
    tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  9. I lay out my daughter’s clothes the night before and plan out all the meals for the following day, the night before.

    pittsy82@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. Tweeted http://twitter.com/pittsy82/status/26515285897

    pittsy82@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm with you with not wanting a crabby child. Mine is one and I was hoping the crabbiness would go away by three :) Guess I'd better buckle down for the long haul!

    stephanierosenhahn at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
  12. Tweeted!
    link: http://twitter.com/asthepotter/status/26517280046

    stephanierosenhahn at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
  13. We could serious use this - thanks for the chance!
    cookiesandclogs[at]gmail[dot]com

    ReplyDelete
  14. we pack everything the night before & set our clocks for 20 min before we really need to get up so as to get a jump on the day birdson@roadrunner.com

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  15. our favorite to go breakfast are muffins. i usually bake a batch once a week and keep them in the freezer, then pop them in the mircowave when it's time to go.
    raggammuffin@gmail.com

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  16. tweeted
    http://twitter.com/raggammuffin/status/26546254986

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thank you Kami, Blogher and Kelloggs for this great giveaway!

    Breakfast time around our house is pretty laid back. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that our son is in afternoon preschool though. So it is lunchtime around here when things get crazy. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  18. I try to do as much as possible in advance the night before but you still never know when the little ones will wake up tired or grumpy which slows everything down.
    rmartinclarke at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  19. tweet
    http://twitter.com/#!/rsmc1/status/26580554099
    rmartinclarke at gmail dot com

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  20. I always got up before the rest of my family and I HAD MY BREAKFAST AND WAS READY TO ORCHESTRATE THE MORNING

    ReplyDelete
  21. tweet
    http://twitter.com/Grandma3710/status/26581010006

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  22. http://twitter.com/fostertam/status/26589501580

    ReplyDelete
  23. When my step-daughter was school aged, I made sure she got up in plenty of time to get ready and have a good breakfast. We always organized her clothes and back pack the night before so she could maximize her morning time and get off to a good start.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I tend to grab a breakfast bar and banana to take along with me when I'm in too much of a rush to sit down for breakfast.
    chainmail(at) iwon(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  25. I tweeted
    http://twitter.com/The_Sunshyn/status/26591022380

    ReplyDelete
  26. Thanks for such a great giveaway.. Mornings aren't very chaotic for us since my kids are early birds but I love reading other peoples tips for a smoother morning.
    dgoodridge84@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  27. Wow,I hope I win.I could really use 100 bucks with all the holidays coming up
    jacksoncrisman@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  28. Every morning is a battle with my kids.They hate school and they hate waking up

    truthhole@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  29. We do our best to go with easy peasy and eat cereal, and waffles or muffins that we make in bulk and freeze.

    Jenni Carlisle
    carlisleclanconversation@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  30. It's pretty easy now, as I only have me to get breakfast for, but I sure do miss the crazy mornings with the kids.
    marybug2@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  31. I tweeted
    http://twitter.com/marybug2/status/26605517158
    marybug2@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  32. Thank you again for this chance at winning! I am truly grateful! Thank you to Kelloggs too!
    gmissycat@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  33. Tweeted giveaway here!
    http://twitter.com/gmissycat/status/26613901476
    gmissycat@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  34. Prepare whatever you can the night before.

    scoopster(nospam)at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
  35. Tweet
    http://twitter.com/LuigiFranco/status/26614526137

    scoopster(nospam)at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
  36. I don't have kids, so I have no explanation about why my mornings are chaotic! :)
    adrianecoros(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  37. Tweet! http://twitter.com/LAMusing/status/26617508417
    adrianecoros(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  38. The best thing I do in the morning happens the night before...setting up the coffee on the timer so we wake to fresh brewed! My teenagers get themselves going, and have even been trained to put their dishes in the dishwasher! Paper plates are great too!
    Thanks for the great giveaway.
    Megan: mnatherson at comcast dot net

    ReplyDelete
  39. Yeah, crabby kids in the morning just drive me nuts! I find myself thinking, "YOU JUST GOT OUT OF BED! What is there to be mad about already?!?"

    ReplyDelete
  40. I keep reminding myself....(my kids are 1 college, 2 in high school) that my mom time is almost up.
    They're leaving the nest.
    So that rushing around thing...is almost over!
    I'm cherishing each one!

    ReplyDelete
  41. I'd love to win this! We usually eat cereal every morning but weekends- then I try to make something special!

    ReplyDelete
  42. http://twitter.com/tigergal01/status/26656696297

    tweet

    ~eunice b
    tigergal01 @gmail .com

    ReplyDelete
  43. Some mornings just are like that. :-) I like to make a batch of baked oatmeal and then have it on hand to warm up for breakfasts throughout the week. Super easy and no cold cereal dust on the table! :-)

    ~eunice b
    tigergal01 @gmail .com

    ReplyDelete
  44. Since it's been getting colder, I've taken to oatmeal. And it's easy to make at work even.
    shutterboo at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  45. We like easy breakfast on the weekdays, like cereal or oatmeal. Thanks!

    shevilkenevil1 at aol dot com

    ReplyDelete
  46. I tweeted:
    http://twitter.com/lipstickncandy/status/26658391758

    shevilkenevil1 at aol dot com

    ReplyDelete
  47. My daughter is a senior in high school so I have relatively no chaos in the mornings. Thank you.

    MCantu1019@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  48. My son eats breakfast at school during the school week. The weekends are wonderful because we all sleep in!

    rsmstahley @ adelphia dot net

    ReplyDelete
  49. I tweeted http://twitter.com/rsmstahley/status/26678160377

    rsmstahley @ adelphia dot net

    ReplyDelete
  50. thank you for the giveaway- we could buy a lot of cereal with that money :)
    tcogbill at live dot com

    ReplyDelete
  51. My kids are pretty self sufficient for breakfast. They love yogurt cups, so that is a no brainer. What I do do that makes life easier for them is pre-cut the English muffins and bagels. My older son is old enough to toast them himself, but I don’t quite trust his knife skills yet, so if they are already cut, it’s one less thing we have to worry about.

    ReplyDelete
  52. i try to avoid the morning rush by waking up earlier than the rest of the family and getting things done so i can head out the door before anyone wakes up

    ReplyDelete
  53. I don't have kids yet - but I can imagine how hectic my life will get when I do some day! :)

    ReplyDelete
  54. tweet!
    http://twitter.com/#!/leahforlove/status/26717829506

    leahforlove(at)aol(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  55. We have chaotic mornings too. We try to keep the chaos down with chore charts, but chaos always seems to happen from time to time!

    leahforlove(at)aol(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  56. It is so hard to get my kids up in the morning

    floatingonabiscuit at gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  57. I prepare most things the night before so that our mornings run more smoothly. I make lunches, prepare bags and place them by the door, pick out clothes, clean up, etc. We also usually have a "quick" breakfast of a cereal bar, cereal or toasted waffles with peanut butter :) I think everyone's mornings are like this!

    ReplyDelete
  58. very difficult to wake up my son... cereal bars make it easy breakfast wise

    ReplyDelete
  59. It looks the same in our kitchen after the morning rush, that's for sure!

    ReplyDelete
  60. Thanks for the giveaway! If I'm the lucky winner it would put a smile on my face every morning for at least a week!

    ReplyDelete
  61. We eat something quick--like cereal and milk! thanks for a chance to win!
    kmassman gmail

    ReplyDelete
  62. I keep cereal and fruit on hand for busy mornings.
    amandarwest at gmaildotcom

    ReplyDelete
  63. Tweeted http://twitter.com/amandawk/status/26806096026

    ReplyDelete
  64. I tweeted
    http://twitter.com/tracylr233/status/26807509089

    ReplyDelete
  65. Sorry ur day was chaotic. I like it peaceful and running smooth

    ReplyDelete
  66. http://twitter.com/sodahoney/status/26808779340

    ReplyDelete
  67. I make & Freeze Lunches for the week ahead of time to help my kids get ready every morning! ...can't miss that bus.

    panicxduh[at]yahoo[dot]com

    ReplyDelete
  68. Thanks for the giveaway! Our mornings usually run pretty smoothly...but when they don't, WATCH OUT!
    bleatham*at*gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  69. tweet
    http://twitter.com/#!/sleatham1/status/26818308125
    bleatham*at*gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  70. What a fantastic contest you have. Lucky you.

    kibbles0905@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  71. Tweeted

    http://twitter.com/Sarafan2/status/26818297358

    kibbles0905@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  72. I try and keep mornings as easy as possible
    bepoia(at)hotmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  73. I pack bookbags and lunches and lay out clothes the night before to save time in the mornings.

    s2s2 at comcast dot net

    ReplyDelete
  74. https://twitter.com/susan1215/status/26878161444

    ReplyDelete
  75. Cold cereal is our staple for rushed mornings, sometimes with a banana added. Pop Tarts are good, too!
    HobartsMama {AT} AOL.COM

    ReplyDelete
  76. No morning people at our house, so everything has to be organized the night before or everyone will be late!
    susitravl(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  77. Getting everything together the night before makes mornings run much smoother

    gevin13{at}gmail{dot}com

    ReplyDelete
  78. tweeted
    http://twitter.com/pixie13sweeps/status/26893803657

    gevin13{at}gmail{dot}com

    ReplyDelete
  79. I try and get up early enough so I don't have to rush :)

    ReplyDelete
  80. Tweeted the giveaway:

    http://twitter.com/#!/calidreamin87/status/26894494526

    ReplyDelete
  81. We have quick breakfasts during the week and save the pancake making for the weekends!

    couponboss at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  82. We try to do as much as possible the night before. We get their snacks ready, put their clothes out. Most importantly, we get a good night's sleep the night before.

    pauleyd68 (at) yahoo (dot) com

    ReplyDelete
  83. http://twitter.com/lpauld68/status/26958946767

    pauleyd68 (at) yahoo (dot) com

    ReplyDelete
  84. Your description gave me a chuckle. Isn't the key to handling chaos a good sense of humor?

    ReplyDelete
  85. Mornings are chaotic here too. Often we have breakfast on the go.
    whitbrit AT gmail DOT com

    ReplyDelete
  86. Luckily, if there's some reason we don't have time to eat at home my son is able to buy breakfast at school. Some days I think he does this by choice rather than necessity. It is a nice fallback plan in case he's running late or just needs more time in the morning.

    ReplyDelete
  87. I have 2 boys ages 3 and 7 both with two totally different schools and schedules and on top of that both my husband and I work full-time, so our mornings are always crazy, busy. To make our busy mornings easier, we have cereals, yogurts, fruits, toast and instant oatmeal as fast and easy breakfast options.

    ShawnaMichelle@ymail.com

    ReplyDelete
  88. Tweeted
    http://twitter.com/ShawnaMichelle2/status/26982458823

    ShawnaMichelle@ymail.com

    ReplyDelete
  89. Our mornings are not too bad we generally get up early enough for breakfast usually poptarts, cereal, toast etc.
    sweokgrl@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  90. I tweeted
    sweokgrl@gmail.com
    http://twitter.com/bdiane34/status/26985482126

    ReplyDelete
  91. I miss having elementary school kids. We didn't have any trouble getting to the bus stop at 8:45. 6:39 for high schoolers is a killer!

    Email address is in blogger profile

    ReplyDelete
  92. I tweeted http://twitter.com/#!/bsw529/status/26986412322

    Email address is in blogger profile

    ReplyDelete
  93. Thanks for the great giveaway!
    nuthouse(at)centurytel(dot)net

    ReplyDelete
  94. tweeted: http://twitter.com/KerryBishop/status/26992211586
    nuthouse(at)centurytel(dot)net

    ReplyDelete
  95. cereal and fruit are big time time savers :)

    deeg131 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  96. http://twitter.com/DeeGee13/status/27000269253

    tweeted

    deeg131 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  97. WE ALWAYS STOCK UP ON CEREAL OURSELVES BECAUSE THAT IS THE MORNING ROUTINE- MAKE YOUR OWN LOL kytah00@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  98. SECOND ENTRY TWEET http://twitter.com/#!/kytah00/status/27022432228 kytah00@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  99. Breakfast can be chaotic. Thank goodness for cereal and frozen waffles!
    marcia.goss@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  100. Tweet.
    http://twitter.com/mgoss123/status/27022971469
    marcia.goss@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  101. when my son was real young i'd bring my sons cereal and milk in separate containers and feed him his breakfast when we got where we needed to go if we were in a rush
    nannypanpan at sbcglobal.net

    ReplyDelete
  102. I cook breakfast before the kids get up and pick their clothes out the night before. uheeter @ comcast.net

    ReplyDelete
  103. WE ALWAYS STOCK UP ON CEREAL OURSELVES BECAUSE THAT IS THE MORNING ROUTINE. THERE IS ALSO DAYS WHERE I JUST GET UP AND COOK BREAKFAST BE FOR MY KIDS GO TO SCHOOL. WHITECARRIE69@YAHOO.COM

    ReplyDelete
  104. The morning rush is really not an issue for us (heaven knows, we have enough other ones!). We just know we have to get up and get moving, so we do so in plenty of time.

    That’d be my tip…to get up in plenty of time.

    ReplyDelete
  105. http://twitter.com/#!/won2x/status/27049352157

    Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  106. Thanks for the chance! We avoid the rush by getting up a bit earlier than we have to.

    ReplyDelete
  107. http://twitter.com/#!/rmgm/status/27055020333 Tweet!

    ReplyDelete
  108. Bagels and cream cheese and cereal and fruit are a great breakfast that doesn't take a lot of time.

    ReplyDelete
  109. Tweeted

    http://twitter.com/jillyrh/status/27061105973

    Thanks so much

    ReplyDelete
  110. I love muffins and cereal - little/no prep work :)

    m8usi@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  111. tweeted:
    http://twitter.com/cappytweet/status/27067851640

    m8usi@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  112. i remember those chaotic days when my daughter was young!


    debbiebellows[at]gmail[dot]com

    ReplyDelete
  113. tweeted

    http://twitter.com/bellows22/statuses/27080056846

    debbiebellows[at]gmail[dot]com

    ReplyDelete