Hobbits

Without fail, the first thing the Beans want upon opening their eyes every morning is breakfast. The Little Bean sticks his arms up out of the crib and whispers hopefully, "Breakfast? Breakfast!" The Big Bean pads from bed to toilet to kitchen and stands there in the doorway rubbing her face until I suggest that perhaps she might like some breakfast? Then, like the surly preteen she'll someday be, she turns silently to the cupboard where we keep the cereals in Bean-y reach.

They are delightfully inconsistent in their morning choices. Some days they want cereal, some pancakes, some waffles, others oatmeal. And I'm happy to play short-order cook, if only to celebrate the triumph of my genes over my husband's compulsively consistent ones.

We keep a stash of waffles and pancakes in the freezer (I use the recipes from The New Best Recipe) and granola on hand, as well as a cereal aisle's worth of Kashi, Grape-Nuts, Weetabix, Cheerios... I sometimes wonder why I buy any other groceries.

This weekend, to replenish the stash, we made flower pancakes:


I picked up this fun silicone mold at Crate and Barrel:
Very popular with my girly-girl Big Bean.

They should wake up any moment now, clamoring for breakfast. And after putting away a pancake each, they'll head off to school where they'll sit right down for a Hobbit-y second breakfast with their classmates. Then they'll run around a bit and be ready for snack less than two hours later.