: Working it :: School Style :

I don't know about you other Mama's out there, but sometimes school mornings are HECTIC!

We've got homework that needs to be taken back to school plus the other random items that are required for the day {insert 100 day}, then the lunch kit with the well rounded meal and a good snack.

Let alone a full {half decent} dressed self and children, teeth brushed, breakfast eaten, bed made, hair done...the list seems never ending!

And that's only with one child going to school full time!!! Honestly I don't know how you Mama's with more than 2 kids do it?!?!?

Last year I was driving back and forth from preschool 5x's per week but school didn't start until 9 am so from 7 am - 8.45 am we could make it out the door as a loving family...this year feels like a different thing! It's been a HUGE learning curve and I hate leaving a disheveled home to return to so something had to change!

Jacob needs to be dropped off between 8.20 & 8.30 am -- some mornings we try to walk which means we're all out of the house by 8.10 am but as I need to get Cole to school for 9 am 3x a week we often end up driving, which means we're out of the house at 8.15 am.

Some mornings a week Mr. L is home but there is not really any help coming from him, sometimes it's more of a pain cause he get's in the way of our groove and then we all end up frustrated!

So in my need to get more of a grip on what is happening in our home {in the pm & am} I've made some changes and I can't believe how much of a difference they have made in our routine!

Here's the after school/evening routine that we have going:
Backpack is unpacked at kitchen table, notices&homework is left on the little desk in the kitchen.
lunch kit is emptied and put in cupboard {kids cupboard}
Backpack is hung on the hook in the laundry roomHomework is completed during snack time
Lunch for next day prepared

Now to the evening routine, when we're tucking the boys in bed I will be laying out their new clothes for the next day on the end of their beds. I used to have them downstairs waiting for them but then it was on my plate to get them dressed. This way they get themselves dressed when they wake up. They know what to where and there is no arguing {even boys can be VERY picky with what they wear}. It has easily given me back 15 minutes of my morning routine!

The morning routine is the same every school day:
Get up
Make bed {Jacob helps Cole}
Get dressed
Get breakfast {Jacob can do this for both of them if I leave a bowl out or leave a muffin in a ziplock bag on their plate}
These are our favorite {healthy&easy} breakfast muffins ~ recipe to come..Brush teeth, comb hair, wash face w/ wet wipe {all in the powder room on the main floor, if they end up going upstairs, they get sucked into the toy room...NO GOOD!}I get the lunches/snacks together and place their bags at the foot of the stairs, if they forget their bag - tough beans! They know it's their responsibility and they have to take it to school {obviously if I see it still hanging there I will remind them}.

As for my routine, I don't get out of bed until I've already thought up what I'm going to wear...I find nothing more frustrating then going into the black hole that is our closet and humming&hawing over what to wear. So while I'm listening to the news on the radio and checking my email messages on my phone {this drives Mr. L nuts!} I also think up my outfit, most days it's nothing special but it's clean and so am I ;)

I usually eat a shake for breakfast and try to eat it while I'm getting ready, but some mornings {like Wednesday's} I'm heading out the door with it in hand, such is life!

All this organization helps me {& them} out SO much...it keeps the peace when getting out the door with 2 other littles {hats off to all the other women who do this with more kids and don't look like Cruella Deville!}

I would love to know your morning routine and what keeps your family ticking and running on love not frustration -- I'm sure I've got much to learn!

{XoXo}