Friends… I hear you. We are struggling! This back to school business is hard. After a summer of relaxed bedtimes, come and go as you please schedules, and meals at all the odd hours of the day, this whole getting back into the swing of a rigid school schedule is tough.

I never thought that having 4 kids in 3 different schools, on 3 different starting and ending schedules would be difficult. Not to mention going 4 different directions after school for the various activities… tutoring, football, volleyball, dance, school of religion, etc. I’d love to be one of those bloggers posting 25 great back to school breakfast recipe roundups or 50 quick and easy after school meals, but to be honest with you, after 1 week down I can tell this school year we are going to be lucky to hug and say goodnight at the end of the day, let alone sit down to elaborate meals at the same time every night. My mojo for the 2014-2015 school year is simply going to be to survive.

I’m not complaining… just keeping it real. I love my life, my kids and our crazy schedules and wouldn’t have it any other way! I just know we, like so many of you, are going to be facing challenges this year to stay connected and sane….

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Of course, I was about ready to duct tape his mouth shut about an hour into our morning when he decided now would be a good time to remind me just how little time he has left at home before heading off to college. SIX years. What the heck? Then he continued to do the math for the rest of my kids, which was absolutely unnecessary. His mention of 6 years had already thrown me into a tailspin of disbelief and after that everything he said afterwards was pretty much “blah blah blah blah” in my head. When it comes to my babies, I am in no way whatsoever even remotely close to prepared for thinking about the day I have to send them off to college. Denial is happily my middle name….

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Leah starts school tomorrow and as much as I’m not ready for school to start, there is a part of me ready to take back my mornings. You know, “happy hour“? The time I wrote about way back when where I wake up early in the morning and have an hour to myself before everyone else gets up. I use that unplugged time to drink my morning coffee, read the newspaper, catch up on my happiness book and more. I treasure that time, but will be honest when I say during the summer, when getting up early is optional, sleeping in has won out.

I am slowly starting to take back my mornings. When I wake up early and have that time to myself, the entire household seems to run better. Because of my morning “me time”, I feel more organized and on top of it and ready to deal with the chaos that is getting 4 kids ready for school and out the door. …

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The older three kids all got started off to school without a hitch. I was the only emotional one, as I tend to be. They all have had a great first few days and are happy to be back in school!

My wild sidekick and I are getting to spend more one on one time together than ever before. Also known as – Leah’s getting into everything under the sun and I’m chasing around behind her cleaning up her trail. She’s helping me in the kitchen and with cleaning and all of that though. And who wouldn’t be happy looking at that sweet smile all day? She makes me laugh, and that makes me happy!

Guess what I spied being carried by Green Mountain Coffee in their online store? It’s that time of year again, and that makes me happy!

Getting creative with friends and making Hotel Sangria makes me happy. (For the inside story, visit Heidi’s recipe and recap here).

Just a few more random things…

I’ve fallen head over heels in love with this blog, especially this post…

I’m headed here on a date night with my hubby this weekend…

I listened to Tina Fay’s Bossypants via audiobook and laughed out loud over and over…

Shannon Curtis is releasing a new single next week AND is having a private concert at my house! Woo-hoo! (Listen to her new single, Anti-Gravity, HERE).

And I had some great conversations with friends who just “get it”… all that makes me happy!

Now it’s your turn to spill the happiness. What’s brought a smile to your face this week?

Disclosure: This blog post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

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Leah starts preschool this year, Ella will be in 1st grade full time (Kindergarten was just half days), Kelly is headed into 3rd grade, and Jacob is beginning his last year of elementary school. I am totally not ready for them to get so big.

If you are sitting around with eyes on the brink of tears, like me, you might like this comfort filled giveaway from Kellogg’s Frosted Mini Wheats.

My kids love Kellogg’s Frosted Mini Wheats. On those mornings when I don’t have enough time to make breakfast, Kellogg’s Frosted Mini Wheats come to the rescue. I feel just fine sending my kids off for a day of fun at school with full tummies from Kellogg’s.

Kellogg’s is all about making your mornings a little easier… and if you are like me, these first few days easy is going to mean “comfort” as I sit in my empty house with my babies all at school. My friends at Kellogg’s have offered one lucky Dine & Dish reader to win a “Comfort Gift Basket” including a gorgeous plush robe from Liz Claiborne, Pajamagram fluffy white slippers and a box of Kellogg’s Frosted Mini Wheats.

To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment on this post telling me how you make school mornings a little easier.

All entries must be received by midnight, CST on Sunday, August 26th 2012. Winner will be chosen via Random.org and notified via valid email address.

This is a sponsored post on behalf of Kellogg’s, who is providing the giveaway product for one of my readers. All opinions are my own.

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I start each summer off with high hopes and big plans. We make summer “bucket lists” – essentially outlining the fun things we want to do before summer ends. In reality, I spend the last one to two weeks of summer cramming in as much activity as I can so I don’t suffer the post-summer mama guilt that seems to haunt me at the end of each and every summer.

To try to make up for my lack of ability to actually check off every item on our summer bucket list, I start each school year being super on top of things at breakfast time. There’s no cereal, bagels or pop tarts… only home cooked, hot of the stove or out of the oven breakfasts. This lasts for, oh, about one week then we are back to our typical grab whatever you can and rush out the door mornings. Tell me you can relate… please!

I make a version of these handy little egg cups wrapped in bacon, but thought I’d try them without the bacon and instead adding a little bit of chopped ham. Friends… these are so incredibly easy, I promise. Send your kids off with these delicious, breakfast goodies in their bellies and you’ll feel like a parent who has their stuff together, even if you are only faking it.

Recipe: Ham and Egg Breakfast Cups

These can be placed in the refrigerator after they are baked and reheated in the microwave for a quick and easy breakfast on the run!

• 12 eggs
• 1 cup chopped deli ham
• 2 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
• salt and pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Spray a muffin pan generously with Pam cooking spray
3. Crack one egg into each hole of the muffin pan, using a fork to gently break the yolk.
4. Sprinkle each egg with ham, salt, cracked black pepper and cheese.
5. Bake for 20 minutes.
6. Pop out of muffin tins and serve.

The post Post-Summer Mama Guilt {Recipe: Ham and Egg Breakfast Cups} appeared first on Dine and Dish.

This post has nothing to do with this recipe for Bacon and Egg cups, which you can find here, but since I’m talking about back to school, I at least wanted to share a delicious and quick breakfast recipe with you!

This giveaway is now closed. The winner, chosen by Random.org, is Comment #277 – Laura from Vegetarian Hausfrau. Congratulations Laura!

Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter, may have noticed that I was having just a bit of a meltdown moment yesterday. You see, my kids started back to school today and yesterday morning, when I opened up my fridge to get out the milk, I noticed our “Things to do this summer” list tacked up on the door. I realized as I was glancing through the things on the list that very few items were checked off. Looking through that list of unchecked items really hit me hard.

This summer went by so quickly. I’m going to be 100% honest with you when I say that I have had a very difficult time balancing things this summer. My “real” job with HireBetter, that I am lucky to have, has kept me busy. Freelancing opportunities are continuing to flow in at a great pace. Blog trips, events and activities are in abundance. Things, professionally, are going very well.

The truth of the matter is though that my #1 job is to be the mom of my four kiddos. It has been my goal since my first baby was born to stay at home with them. I’ve been blessed enough to work from home part-time for some pretty amazing companies, but even so, I feel so torn sometimes about how I can balance my professional life and nurturing my goals with my life of being a stay at home mom. Is it possible to be able to do both well, without feeling like one thing or the other getting neglected?

This has been the summer of the professional me, and because of that, I have a horrible amount of mama guilt about not doing enough with my children this summer. Time is slipping away, and sometimes I feel like I need to just shove the whole career thing aside and focus 100% on my family. But would I be happy then? Who knows. Who knows…

Anyway, after my meltdown and some peptalks from some of the most amazing family and friends around, I began to reflect on the summer. I was searching through pictures and found actual proof… proof that my kids and I had a fabulous summer together. We vacationed, we played, we had lazy days, we swam, we visited family… we did so many things that will hopefully be embedded in their minds as part of the great summer of 2010.

I also have more proof. I took some really fun videos of my kids using my Flip Video Camera. Can I just tell you how much I LOVE my Flip Camera? I got it right before Leah was born when I was doing some work with the Chevy Traverse and it is the must have piece of equipment for Moms everywhere. If you are horrible about capturing things by video because you never have your video camera with you, you need a Flip cam. Lucky you, because this week, I’m giving you the opportunity to win one! I believe that every person on the planet needs to have one of these great cameras. Since I’m not Oprah Winfrey, I don’t have Flip’s to giveaway for every person on the planet, but I do have one to giveaway to a lucky Dine & Dish reader.

The details:

Up for grabs us is one white & silver Flip video camera, brand new in the box, with 4 GB of Memory. Enter to win by:

• Leave a comment, including a way for me to contact you if you win, on this post anytime between now and midnight CST on Friday, August 20th.
• For an additional chance to win, become a friend of Dine & Dish on Facebook. Come back to this post and leave an additional comment letting me know you did so. If you are already a friend of Dine & Dish on Facebook, thank you! Just leave an additional comment on this post to let me know!
• And you know what, I’m easy. If you don’t Facebook, which I know not everyone does, and you want a 2nd entry, just leave a second comment on this post telling me just that.
• Winner will be drawn by Random Number Generator and announced on Saturday the 21st.

Disclosure: This blog post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

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