Make Your Home a Haven: Morning Routine

What do you do in your home to create a haven for your family? I am looking forward to sharing what I do to make our home more peaceful and beautiful as I participate in the Make Your Home a Haven weekly series from The Homespun Heart. I encourage you to leave me a comment and let me know what you are doing in your homes to make it place of peace and serenity!

Last week the focus was on a morning routine. (I am a little behind on the series and plan to catch up!) I have always had a morning routine but once I put it down in writing, it seemed to work much better for me . I use a FlyLady Control Journal (CJ), and I place my routines and goals in the very front. There are definitely times I put my CJ aside but I always seem to come back to it when life seems a little unbalanced.

Here is my morning routine and/or what I strive to accomplish:

6:30 a.m. Wake, quiet time: read and Rosary, make bed.

7:00 a.m. Girls wake, get dressed

7:15 a.m. Make breakfast and smoothies, vitamins

7:30 a.m. Make school lunches and snack

7:45 a.m. Empty and reload dishwasher, start laundry
Girls brush teeth, hair

8:15 a.m. Drop girls off at school

8:30a.m. Tidy living room, dining room, and kitchen,
Start dinner and plan after school snack.
Shower

10:00 a.m. Start schooling: reading and activities

This schedule changes often but it has been working well for me lately. I am not an early riser so it is something I constantly struggle with. When I do wake early and start my day with some quiet time and prayer, my day is so much better and I am a much better mom. Because I am nursing my toddler and co-sleeping (often with both my toddler and preschooler), it is difficult to keep the little ones asleep when I get up. I often just stay in bed and read and pray the Rosary with a small book light.

If you are struggling with your morning routine, I recommend looking at www.flylady.net and the book, Sink Reflections by Fly Lady, Marla Cilley. I also recently found a free e-book called Maximize Your Mornings at www.inspiredtoaction.com. It is a great blog and resource to help you start intentionally using your mornings to jump start your day.

So what type of morning routine do you have?