My dad is in town visiting right now, so I thought it would be fun to watch a movie with him and the kids and make a treat to go along with it. As I was trying to think of a fun movie-themed treat, I couldn’t help but think about Arrested Development and the banana stand. But since Arrested Development isn’t exactly geared towards the elementary-school set, I had to get a little creative. Here was my crazy thought process.

First, my dad grew up in the Costa Mesa-Newport Beach area. Balboa Island is famous for its chocolate-dipped frozen bananas, something Nate and I have gotten with the kids on vacation before. Not only do I have memories of eating frozen bananas with my kids, but my dad has his own memories of eating them when he was growing up, too. (Pssst, my dad has a secret: he never really liked the bananas. We, on the other hand, do!)

Second, Nate and I were diehard Arrested Development fans when it was first airing. Like, before it was on Netflix and got all trendy and cool. (Don’t get me wrong, I love that it’s on Netflix and I can watch it whenever I get a hankering for a loose seal or two. Plus, Netflix gave us a new season, for which we will be forever grateful!)

Third, we are having a heatwave right now and I thought a frozen treat would be mighty delicious.

Fourth, I love the book Jumanji (I even have a first edition as a decoration in our living room) and was super excited when I found out the Jumanji movie was on Netflix (thanks to my sister for letting me know – she was obsessed with that movie when we were kids!). There are lots of monkeys in Jumanji. Monkeys love bananas. I hear they even go for frozen bananas occasionally.

Where does all this lead to? Homemade chocolate-dipped frozen bananas, of course! I decided frozen bananas would be a great treat to get us excited for watching Jumanji. And, after the kids went to bed, maybe a few episodes of Arrested Development, too.

This chocolate-dipped frozen banana recipe is super simple, and it is amazing how incredibly cute and professional-looking the bananas come out! Seriously, when I took them out of the freezer, Nate thought I had bought them at a store!

In addition to being fast and easy, Anna my 6-year-old was a huge help while making the bananas and we had a lot of fun cooking together.

So, basically, everything went as planned. Anna, Owen and I had a blast making frozen bananas together. We all had fun eating them with Grandpa (who liked the frozen bananas, by the way). And we watched Jumanji! Okay, well, some of us watched Jumanji. Anna totally chickened out and retreated to the bedroom, where she and Nate watched science shows together. But 3rd-grader Cate stuck it out with Grandpa and me. I told her we “had to finish the game no matter what!” when she was freaking out and wanting to run from the room. She told me we weren’t really playing the game. I told her the movie wasn’t really real. Luckily, we made it to the end and declared “Jumanji” in victory! (Okay, so that was Robin Williams, but who’s keeping track?)

Also, we have determined that there really is always money in the banana stand. The frozen bananas were so cute and so delicious Nate and the kids decided we should start a business. And that we would most certainly make a big fat profit on frozen bananas (there was math involved). And that the banana stand should be called “Jane’s Bananas” (10 points to Nate for the clever name). The whole time they were talking I just kept thinking “This is awesome blog post material.” They didn’t even know that I was going to be writing a post about the bananas we were eating. This post practically wrote itself, people.

(>> Find out more…)

Please note: the giveaway in this post is now closed.

It’s Saturday. And I’m kind of feeling like a movie. And a giveaway. Let’s do it!

First off, we love Netflix in our house. The kids especially love Netflix. It’s actually a little terrifying how adept they are at using the iPad. Even little 2-year-old Owen can find his way around an iPad, inevitably landing himself on the Netflix app watching an episode of Thomas the Train. In fact, if the house is ever a little too quiet, I usually find him hidden away in a corner with a stolen iPad cuddling with Netflix. It would be cute if it wasn’t so naughty!

So, you know, I have to be the mean mom who says “no” like twenty times a day when the kids ask if they can “watch a show on the iPad.” It’s not that I never let them watch shows, it’s just that they would seriously go onto Netflix 24 hours a day if they could. But, when I think back to my own childhood, I realize I must have watched way more TV than my kids do. I mean, I have about 3 billion movies completely memorized. Not to mention all the TV shows I remember watching. I’m not saying my mom just stuck me in front of the TV all the time. I also remember roaming with friends outside everyday, too. (Ah, the good old days.) But what I am saying is that I think I can cut my kids some slack.

But I have decided it’s time that the kids don’t always get to choose what they watch. (I told you I was a mean mom.) There are just so many great movies from back in the day that they have never seen. They prefer watching shorter shows like Wild Kratts (which I actually think is fabulous). But, kind of like our music education, I think it’s my responsibility as a parent to make sure my kids see all the awesome, especially the awesome that takes me back to my own childhood.

So, whenever I tell them “Movie Time!” they get excited. And then when I tell them “And you’re watching this!” they groan at me. They say things like, “I only like watching what I’ve seen already.” Or “That’s going to be too SCARY.” (We have wimpy kids. The Little Engine That Could was too scary for them, even our 3rd grader. Wimps, I tell ya.) But I hold my ground and insist that they are watching what I’ve chosen. And I tell them they will love it, just like I did when I was a kid. And, you know what, they always do. And then I say, “I told you so.” (Okay, not really, but I want to.)

Today I decided it was time for them to watch The Sword in the Stone. I LOVED that movie when I was little and it turns out Nate did, too. The kids complained so much when I started to put it on, it was like I was torturing them. (Silly kids.) But I persevered. I made them cuddle on the couch and suck it up. And they loved the movie. Owen honestly guffawed through the whole thing. It was awesome.

In celebration of my victory over my children, I think a Netflix giveaway is in order! One randomly-selected person will win a 3-month subscription to Netflix streaming! To enter, simply leave a comment telling us your favorite tv show or movie from childhood. I can’t wait to read all your comments and take a little walk down memory lane with you! (Comments must be posted by Midnight, PT on Thursday 5/1.)

The giveaway winner was Karen G., who said, “The Jetsons was good! My brother and I would fight over a time slot that showed GI Joes on one channel and Jem and the Holograms on another. Jem is outrageous! :)”

I am a member of the Netflix Stream Team, which means they send me cool stuff from time to time. For the record, I would be addicted to Netflix in spite of said cool stuff.

Happy Valentine’s Day! No matter your feelings on this oft-beloved and oft-detested holiday, I hope it’s filled with chocolate and cookies!

I have a bunch of stuff to share today. Get ready!

First, I’m now officially a member of the Netflix Stream Team (basically a bunch of bloggers who like Netflix). Our family uses Netflix ALL the time, so I am happy to be working with them! Also, I started a TV blog to help alleviate the guilt associated with my excessive TV watching because I love TV, so obviously I have no problem talking about television shows and movies! To kick off my stream teaming, just a few quick things:

• If you aren’t using Netflix already, you DO know it’s only $7.99 a month for the streaming service, right? My friend Rebecca loves TV as much as I do but hasn’t signed up yet. When I told her it was only $7.99 she was like, “That’s it? I had no idea!” and I think she might have even stopped at Best Buy to get a Roku that night. So, I’m just making sure those of you who have no idea how inexpensive Netflix streaming is now know. Totally worth it, even if the only thing you ever watch on there is Breaking Bad (please note that you should only click that link if you’ve seen the last season or you might hate me forever).
• Netflix profiles are the best. You can set up profiles for different members of the family. This, in my opinion, was the greatest improvement to the service that Netflix could have made. Now we always make sure the kids login with their account, that way Nate and my queue isn’t filled with kids’ shows and the kids never get inappropriate content (ahem, Breaking Bad) suggested to them.
• House of Cards season 2 is back today. Happy. Valentine’s. Day. To. You. WOOHOO! (Even Pres. Obama is down with Frank Underwood.)

Here’s all my Babble stuff from the week!

• A post with a little more detail about how to cut bread properly for stuffed French toast.
• 20 Chocolate + Pretzel Recipes (SO YUMMY)
• 15 Delicious Ways to Enjoy Root Vegetables for Dinner

And my posts on Cosmopolitan this week!

• 10 Copycat Fast Food Recipes That Taste Better Than the Original
• 20 Ultimate Last-Minute Party Snacks
• How To Cook Kale and 19 Fabulous Ways to Enjoy It

My kids don’t have school today, so I’m off to quickly finish work and then have some fun! We started the day with stuffed French toast and chocolate from Mimi. It should be a good day!

As always, please share anything you would like – links to funny/interesting/sad/inspiring stuff you found on the Internet this week, links to your own blogs, or just tidbits from your lives, it’s all good!