my early morning routine

I arise at 5:30am every morning and my husband is already showered and dressed, ready to head out the door to work. I throw on some warm clothes and head out to the kitchen to begin my early morning routine. I firstly get the lunch boxes ready for the school day. Matt helps me by placing some food items on the kitchen bench that he knows I will use, kisses me goodbye and heads out the door.

I start preparing the lunch boxes. It is not a job I enjoy but I quickly fill each lunch box with items that I know each child loves and will eat. Each has different tastes and I use what I have available to fill those needs. I then open the bedroom door for my oldest daughter who arises just before six to get ready to head out the door at 6:30am.

When I am running I normally get up 30 minutes earlier and hit the treadmill before I do the lunch boxes. At the moment I am doing my running during the day or at night time so it means I get an extra 30 minute sleep in!

I then head to the lounge room where I turn the heater on, sit down at my desk and spend about 15 minutes checking emails and writing a blog post. If I am happy with my blog post I publish it but if not I leave it until later. I then move towards the laundry to prepare the uniforms for my cherubs. We have a variety of children wearing different uniforms on different days. It is a choice of a sports uniform or a formal uniform. I keep a chart in my laundry to remind me what is happening each day. 

My daughter by this time has hit the shower and when she has finished I hit the shower and get dressed for my day. I get myself ready in time to say goodbye to my daughter and then wake up my other children to start getting ready for school. 

Then the chaos begins. Kids complain it is too cold, try to stay in bed longer and others grab a blanket and lay on the kitchen floor. I encourage them to get breakfast, to get dressed and to start moving. It is during this time when bodies and minds are waking up that I get my own breakfast. I enjoy it whilst checking a few of my favourite blogs and reminding my kids that time is ticking away.

After having a quick read of a few blogs I then head into the kitchen and help those stragglers who have not yet had breakfast. I remind children to brush hair, to brush teeth and to make beds. I help tie shoelaces, braid hair, wipe up the mess on the kitchen table and leave the dishes until later. 

Some mornings when I get a free moment I pop onto my Seven Cherubs facebook page and leave an update and some mornings I leave it and pop onto facebook a lot later. Depends how my morning is going with getting the children ready. 

When lunch boxes are in bags and homework and school notes are all added, we all gather in the lounge room. We read a scripture together, kneel together as a family and say a prayer before heading out the door. There is then a mad rush out the door for the car. I jump in the car last and drop the kids off at school.

After dropping the kids off at school, I come home to face the mess of the morning. I often stand in my kitchen and shake my head at how much mess can be made in such a short time. There is cereal on chairs, on the floor, spilt milk, toys, discarded socks and often a forgotten musical instrument, school jumper or laptop. 

Often I smile and laugh because some days I want to cry at the destruction and work I have ahead of me. I then set Liberty up to do some activity, turn on some music in my kitchen and set to work to clean it up. After doing the kitchen I head into my bedroom where I keep a simple set of cards I made out of a cereal box. I cut up the back of a cereal box and made some square cards. Super easy! I then listed all the activities I wanted to accomplish each morning to bring order and happiness. 

For me it involves: 

Having a tidy bedroom 

A quick clean up of the kids bedrooms 

Putting on a load of washing 

Saying my prayers 

Having a shower and getting dressed 

Decluttering the kitchen table 

Checking emails 

Preparing dinner for that night 

Quick tidy up of the loungeroom 

Exercise 

Sweeping the kitchen floor and 

Tidying up the kitchen from breakfast. 

I leave my cards in my bedroom and every time I complete a task I turn over a card. It is simple and easy. If I get held up or distracted or simply find myself wondering what I am supposed to be doing, I can just go to my room and see where I am at. Liberty loves to help me out and she knows that the faster we get the housework done the faster we get to have more fun together.

Some days I spread my routine out over the whole day and other days I love to get it all done as early as I can. It all depends on what we have happening that day and what mood Liberty is in. I find having a routine to follow helps me feel happier and takes less effort and time. On days when I don't feel like doing any of it we often go out for a while first and when I come home I am in a much better mood to tackle the housework.

Do you have a morning routine you follow in your home?