Sometimes I don’t give the Big Kid enough credit. Her unwavering independence and willingness to tackle mornings without any help whatsoever is nothing short of a dream come true. While I’m running at full speed to take a shower, feed the baby, comb my hair, make sure lunches are packed, find clothes that don’t look like they’ve been in a pile in the corner for a week, clean up the cat puke in the hallway, and the zillion other things I have to do before I can leave for work each morning, Alexis just does her thing.

She sets her alarm and wakes up on time every day. She gets dressed without any help at all every day. She has her homework done and often helps get Mila dressed. She lets the dogs out for me. She even makes her own breakfast. I don’t hear a peep from her the entire time.

That breakfast thing, of course, is a super big deal. I can’t seem to manage to feed more than one person per mealtime lately. Mila gets priority, so the fact that Alexis takes care of herself saves me from being the jerk mom who doesn’t make sure her kid is fed before school.

For years Alexis has lived on frozen waffles in the morning. Each and every morning she microwaves three of them and then watches TV while she munches. It’s great, except that lately dinners haven’t been the most balanced of meals. We’re running at top speed in the evenings just as much as we are in the mornings. Long of the short, there wasn’t enough protein happening in her day.

Boom.

I was asked to give Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches a try at what can best be described as the perfect time.  They met all of the requirements – microwavable so Alexis can continue to make her own breakfast, fast, delicious, and they pack the protein punch that she was missing.

The morning after I tossed two boxes in our freezer, one of the boxes was empty. Apparently Alexis isn’t the only one who is a fan of a Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Croissant sandwich early in the day (she takes the sausage off her sandwich since she’s still rocking the vegetarian lifestyle – that means the husband gets double sausage. Win-win.). The next day she destroyed the Delights sandwich with egg and spinach. I hid the Egg, Red Peppers, Onion, and Pepper Jack Cheese Croissant Sandwiches from her because I’ve decided I’m not sharing those. SHHHH!  (To learn more about Jimmy Dean and to see a complete list of product offerings visit Jimmy Dean's website or check them out on Facebook.)

More protein. Just as much independence. That’s exactly how I like to start my day. What about you? What’s your favorite way to start the day off right? Share your answer in the comments for a chance to win a $100 Visa gift card.

Entry Instructions: 

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

1. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post

2. Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post

3. Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post

4. For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older (or nineteen (19) years of age or older in Alabama and Nebraska). Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 2 business days to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 3/5/2015 – 3/29/2015

Be sure to visit Jimmy Dean’s brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!