So, since this is the very first blog post, I thought we could start with our regular school term morning routine.
Our mornings get really busy and tend to go real fast due to the fact that we are a one car family and I have to take my husband to work every day. We are fortunate in that we also live with my mum so I do not have to get all the kids up and bring them with me.
So my day starts at 6am, when my alarm goes off and I keep pressing the snooze button until 6:30am mainly due to the fact that I am NOT a morning person. As soon as I do get up it is time to wake up the babies!
First up, my 8 year old son. He usually wakes up pretty easily and I don't have to keep going back to get him out of bed. He is also the one who, when he feels helpful, gets the bowls out for breakfast along with the cereal.
Next is my 7 year old daughter. She can be a little tough to get up some mornings, but generally speaking she gets up within a few minutes of waking.
My 10 year old is next if she managed to stay asleep and in her own bed all night. There is a reason for this but that is for a whole post in itself (assuming she lets me post it ;)). What we hope for here is that she wakes up in a good mood, otherwise the morning will be a bit more difficult. (Can you tell she has special needs?)
Now it is time to wake up the hardest one... the 12 year old. I hear you asking why don't I start with the hardest one to wake up? Here's why: she is at the other end of the house from my bedroom, so I start with the closest and pray she wakes up in time (or there are those fun consequences that our mothers did to us when we didn't wake up for school ;) ).
Then I head back to the kitchen to get the jug on for coffee and get the kids their breakfast. We don't do hot breakfasts here because a) we don't have time unless we get up super early (read 3rd paragraph) and b) the kids prefer cereal. As they are eating their breakfast I get the lunch stuff out. I have been blessed with an awesome husband who makes the sandwiches the night before so I take this time to chop fruit and dish out yoghurt into tubs if they are having that. I have their lunches in piles on the bench for the kiddos to pack it into their lunch boxes. They usually have to do this because they hardly ever bring them to the kitchen the night before.
If I still have time and I haven't already either organised this or got the kids to organise their own uniforms, I get them started on this task. We are phasing into this being solely their responsibility and it has to be done the night before to avoid any unnecessary strain on everyone in the morning.
Usually by now it is almost 7am and with very limited coffee (like seriously a couple of mouthfuls is all I manage to have by now) it is time to take my husband to work. It takes about half an hour round trip if the traffic isn't too bad. By the time I get back, the kids are almost ready to get to school. My son is almost always completely ready by the time I get home, so he is encouraged to help the girls with whatever they still have left to do or to do some reading.
Getting the girls hair done is my next task and with three girls, two with hair that needs to be tied back for school (the oldest has her hair above her shoulders so she puts hers up on the days she has science for safety reasons) this task takes a bit. My 10 year old has hearing issues so she needs to get her hearing aid on and make sure her hair is out of the way of that.
The last task before we get in the car is to make sure they all have everything they need for the day. Diaries, hats, lunches, water bottles, homework bags, library books etc. are all included in the list I recite every morning. Once all that is packed they all pile into the car! On days when I don't have to go anywhere my mum takes the car (she also works at the same school), but most days I do have to go out during the day so by 7:45am we are all in the car and off to school.
It does sound like a lot to get through, but it all goes so quick and the more prepared we all get the night before, the smoother our mornings go. Afterwards, I get my quiet time (which is easier to have when all are out of the house...), put on some music and get to cleaning up after the tornado that was our morning!
Thank you for reading until the end!
Next week I hope to publish my evening routine when we all get prepped for the following school day!
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| Our Morning Routine |
So my day starts at 6am, when my alarm goes off and I keep pressing the snooze button until 6:30am mainly due to the fact that I am NOT a morning person. As soon as I do get up it is time to wake up the babies!
First up, my 8 year old son. He usually wakes up pretty easily and I don't have to keep going back to get him out of bed. He is also the one who, when he feels helpful, gets the bowls out for breakfast along with the cereal.
Next is my 7 year old daughter. She can be a little tough to get up some mornings, but generally speaking she gets up within a few minutes of waking.
My 10 year old is next if she managed to stay asleep and in her own bed all night. There is a reason for this but that is for a whole post in itself (assuming she lets me post it ;)). What we hope for here is that she wakes up in a good mood, otherwise the morning will be a bit more difficult. (Can you tell she has special needs?)
Now it is time to wake up the hardest one... the 12 year old. I hear you asking why don't I start with the hardest one to wake up? Here's why: she is at the other end of the house from my bedroom, so I start with the closest and pray she wakes up in time (or there are those fun consequences that our mothers did to us when we didn't wake up for school ;) ).
Then I head back to the kitchen to get the jug on for coffee and get the kids their breakfast. We don't do hot breakfasts here because a) we don't have time unless we get up super early (read 3rd paragraph) and b) the kids prefer cereal. As they are eating their breakfast I get the lunch stuff out. I have been blessed with an awesome husband who makes the sandwiches the night before so I take this time to chop fruit and dish out yoghurt into tubs if they are having that. I have their lunches in piles on the bench for the kiddos to pack it into their lunch boxes. They usually have to do this because they hardly ever bring them to the kitchen the night before.
If I still have time and I haven't already either organised this or got the kids to organise their own uniforms, I get them started on this task. We are phasing into this being solely their responsibility and it has to be done the night before to avoid any unnecessary strain on everyone in the morning.
Usually by now it is almost 7am and with very limited coffee (like seriously a couple of mouthfuls is all I manage to have by now) it is time to take my husband to work. It takes about half an hour round trip if the traffic isn't too bad. By the time I get back, the kids are almost ready to get to school. My son is almost always completely ready by the time I get home, so he is encouraged to help the girls with whatever they still have left to do or to do some reading.
Getting the girls hair done is my next task and with three girls, two with hair that needs to be tied back for school (the oldest has her hair above her shoulders so she puts hers up on the days she has science for safety reasons) this task takes a bit. My 10 year old has hearing issues so she needs to get her hearing aid on and make sure her hair is out of the way of that.
The last task before we get in the car is to make sure they all have everything they need for the day. Diaries, hats, lunches, water bottles, homework bags, library books etc. are all included in the list I recite every morning. Once all that is packed they all pile into the car! On days when I don't have to go anywhere my mum takes the car (she also works at the same school), but most days I do have to go out during the day so by 7:45am we are all in the car and off to school.
It does sound like a lot to get through, but it all goes so quick and the more prepared we all get the night before, the smoother our mornings go. Afterwards, I get my quiet time (which is easier to have when all are out of the house...), put on some music and get to cleaning up after the tornado that was our morning!
Thank you for reading until the end!
Next week I hope to publish my evening routine when we all get prepped for the following school day!
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| Lunch is ready! |
P.S I know that the clock in the picture is showing the time as almost 1 o'clock. This was just the time I took the photo ;)
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