Breakfast Without the Morning Chaos
Most mornings start with someone yelling that they can’t find their other shoe, someone else asking why cereal “tastes different today,” and me standing in the kitchen trying to remember if I already brewed coffee or just dreamed about brewing coffee. So anything that saves my brain a few steps before 8 a.m. feels like a tiny miracle, and make-ahead breakfasts have basically become my love language.
Overnight oats are my favorite because they take about 90 seconds to put together, and yet the girls act like I engineered some gourmet masterpiece. I throw oats, milk, a little honey, and whatever fruit is hiding in the fridge into a jar. By morning, it’s thick and creamy and tastes like something I should eat on a porch swing. Krysta always asks for extra cinnamon, which means she wants half the container dumped in. Wynonna, meanwhile, wants hers with blueberries, but only the “big ones.” I don’t know who appointed her the blueberry inspector, but she takes her job seriously.
Muffins are another lifesaver. I make a whole batch on Sunday and pretend I’m the kind of mom who meal-preps. Half the time the kitchen smells cozy and warm, like a bakery married a candle store. The kids love helping, which is adorable until flour ends up in someone’s hair. Wyatt usually hovers around waiting for the first tray to cool, claiming he’s “just checking the texture,” which really means he’s eating them before anyone else gets a chance. But that’s fine—every family needs a snack thief.
Freezer-friendly breakfasts feel like cheating in the best way. Pancakes, breakfast burritos, even egg muffins—just pull one out, warm it up, and suddenly I look like I have my life together. There’s something magic about opening the freezer and seeing stacks of little homemade things ready to rescue me from the morning meltdown. It’s like a tiny army of breakfast soldiers saying, “We got you, girl.”
And honestly, on the days when I’m juggling too much and feeling stretched thin, having food ready to go helps me breathe for a second. It’s one less choice, one less task, one less moment where I feel pulled in every direction. These breakfasts don’t fix everything, but they do make the morning feel just a little softer, and sometimes that’s exactly what I need.