It is amazing how when school starts all activities start back up in a flurry! Once again I have to remember how to make life easier on myself by keeping mornings organized and smooth by being prepared for the day. I have to plan my time in the evenings prepping for the next day, otherwise we would probably never get out of the house in the morning.

Organization keeps things moving smoothly in our house, especially in the mornings. I had a friend ask me how early I get up each morning to get everything done and all the kids ready. She asked “4:00 am? 5:00 am?”. NO WAY, NOT HAPPENING.  I am NOT a morning person. Anything before 7am is considered “early” to me. Charlie was calling to me this morning at 6:15 am on the baby monitor and I had to tell him it was still night time. In my mind, morning doesn’t come until 7:00 sharp. I try my best to get as much sleep as I can until 7:00 am, when morning magically arrives. (Unless of course we are on vacation. Scratch the word vacation. I meant adventure. On our adventures to National Parks I will get up at whatever time is necessary to make our plans work, even if that means 3 am!).

With my desire for sleep until 7:00 in mind, if we have to be out of the house by 8:00, 8:30, or even 9:00, things need to be well organized and ready to go before I even go to bed the night before.  For example, this morning I had to have the kids at church and checked into childcare by 9:30. I promised they could play at the Bubble Land at church before then, so we had to be at church by 9 am to make that happen. I then had to be back at my house to host a bible study for 15-20 ladies from 10:00 am to noon. In order to get ready the night before and make my morning easy I packed the diaper bags, backpacks, and lunches the night before and had them sitting by the door. Even their sippy cups are ready to go and in their bags. I then laid out all three of their outfits all the way down to hairbows and shoes. I put their outfits in the kitchen, so I can get them ready quickly after they eat (not before, because it can be guaranteed they will make a mess of their clothing while eating).  I had my own clothing laid out the night before, including jewelry and shoes. I use hot rollers and I even had those laid out and ready to plug in to use. I only spend 10-15 minutes getting myself ready, as I shower the night before. I also laid out all bible study materials last night. I printed all copies needed, made sure the DVD was set and ready to go (I previewed it to know when to pause), set up extra chairs in the living room, and then I laid out the refreshments (breakfast pastries, mini muffins, coffee cake) and covered them with Saran Wrap. Doing all of this the night before made my morning go much more smoothly. Now I can’t make my kids get along all the time, so there was some fighting over toys, but all in all, not a bad morning because I wasn’t stressed out. I was prepared and ready. Preparation is often more work that the actual activity. Keeping that in mind, I don’t minimize the need for preparation. Evenings are busy after I get the kids to bed, as I want my mornings to be as smooth and uncomplicated as possible. Preparation is key in making it smooth.

My friend that asked me how I get ready and out of the house in the morning asked me to share how I make this happen. It’s not magic. Just some planning I guess. I told her I would share the blog postings I previously wrote on this topic. Below is my three part series I wrote on “being a more or less well put together Mommy”: