::Mornings::

A lot of people wonder how I organize my day around five kids. Organize? Really, our life is a series of activities that have just fallen into place. I think that's how most mom's find their groove. Here is a look at a typical morning in our house.
6:30 {On a good day}: Don't hear the alarm. Ever. Do feel my husband poking me until I wake up. Use extreme will power to propel myself out of my super comfortable bed. Put on my UGG's and pad downstairs to sit in my favourite chair and read my Bible, plus THIS and THIS.

6:30 {On a bad day}: My kids start fighting and I wake up, because lying in bed and pretending that everyone is still asleep never works. (And yet I try and try.) Devotions get pushed back to mid-day.

I spend 20 minutes making the upstairs look perfect-- because I care way too much about this kind of thing, and knowing that one floor is clean helps me not go insane when everything else looks bombed. So, while my kids do make their beds, I still follow behind and re-make them to my liking, gather old diapers that have been stuffed under beds, and flush toilets that would otherwise remain unflushed for the day. Ugh.

While this is happening, Aidan makes the breakfast for the kids, which for the past year has been the exact same thing every day, apart from some eggs or pancakes here and there: Puffed wheat with maple syrup drizzled on top. Last year, for whatever reason, I decided to never buy sugary cereal ever again. Puffed wheat comes in a bag, and has no added sugar. Aidan doesn't get it. He figures we re-introduce all the sugar that wasn't there to begin with by adding piles of syrup. My aunt heard we fed our kids this stuff and reacted strongly; "What?! They still make that stuff?! My mom used to make me eat that when I was a kid!" Hey, the kids don't complain. Usually.

7:45 {On a good day}: I come downstairs, already sweaty. My wonderful husband hands me a fresh coffee, bless him. We read THIS together as a family and sing Psalms out of THIS. Each kid has their favourites. Isaiah has asked for Psalm 3 every single day.
7:45 {On a bad day}: I'm still on my knees scrubbing maple syrup off the floor and the kids are off making a new mess and our family time goes out the window.

8:30: Elijah gets dressed and goes to wait for the bus with two dogs to babysit him. Aidan drives to work. I holler at Caelah, who unfailingly has already become enthralled with a non-educational activity in the playroom, to start her work for the day.

And I wish I could crawl back into bed.