My Mornings

I just survived another morning of getting the kids up and off to school.

Why is this such a dreaded task for me?? If you ask me, "morning" is a dirty word.  My sister started a blog, once upon a time, that she titled "My Mornings."  She would take an artistic, peaceful picture to share of her morning.  I really enjoyed it.  It was the polar opposite of my real-life mornings.

Granted...I love to stay up late into the night and I am not a morning person by nature.  I struggle to pull myself out of bed.  But God has really done everything he can to help me out in this department.  He has provided a carpool driver that picks my kids up everyday so I never have to drive to school and I also work from home, so I don't need to get myself ready for anything. 

So what am I complaining about?   I essentially just need to role out of bed & wake up Carter and Taryn since Paige is up before me to shower.  But it is unfortunately never that simple.  For one thing, my kids are a little too much like me and don't have such a pleasant demeanor in the morning.  So all of our lovely personalities blend a little harshly at the start of a new day. Here is the progression of this morning:

7:00 -- Turn on the fireplace.
7:02 -- Wake up Carter & pick out his sweatpants and t-shirt for the day.  Fortunatley he could care less what he wears if it falls into the "sweatpants and t-shirt" category.
7:07 -- Physically pull Carter from bed.  5 minutes of saying "Get up Carter."  Have given me no results of movement.
7:09 -- Wake up Taryn.  Pick out three different options for her to select from while she lays there moaning.  Hold the outfits directly in front of her sleeping face and tell her to open her eyes & point to what she wants to wear.  She picks the girliest thing.
7:11 -- Put her selected outfit in front of the fireplace to heat up because I otherwise deal with her crying the
entire time she is dressing because she is so cold.
7:12 -- Physically pull Taryn from bed and plop her on the potty.  Dress her in front of the fireplace.
7:15 -- Carter arrives upstairs and immediately turns on Sponge Bob Square Pants
7:16 -- We start the litany of "What do you want for breakfast? ... Cheerios, toast, waffle, granola bar, yogurt?" (I should've learned long ago to give them only one option per morning ... that's how my mom did it.  Granted, my mom also actually prepared a breakfast of eggs or oatmeal or something good.)
7:17 -- I put waffles in the toaster.  Pour Carter and Taryn apple juice and Paige orange juice.
7:19 -- Paige arrives upstairs -- waffles are ready.  Taryn changes her mind and now wants yogurt.  I eat the waffles.
7:22 -- Kids are sitting like zombies in front of Sponge Bob without eating a bite.
7:22  -- Mom turns off Sponge Bob to a chorus of whining, "Turn that on."  To which I reply -- "You need to eat."
7:24 -- Charlie, the dog, is dragging his butt on the carpet -- we all yell at him to stop, and I comment "We should just get rid of Charlie, all we do is yell at him."  Bad timing...I immediately have two kids in tears... "But we love him.  Don't get rid of him."
7:25 -- Two kids smothering Charlie with more love than he has received in months.
7:26 -- "Finish your breakfast."  I brush Taryn's hair while she eats.
7:28 -- "Brush your teeth."  A fight ensues over the toothpaste.
7:30 -- Search for snow pants and gloves.  Shoes in backpacks.
7:32 -- Paige hauls out homework that she forgot to do.  "Mom, what is something I would stand up for?  I need to write a paper."  "Now? Are you kidding me?"
7:35 -- Carpool arrives and I kiss them all as they walk out the door.

Whew!  Not a minute to spare.  In fact, had we had a minute to spare, we might have gotten farther on a topic for Paige's paper, loved Charlie a little more, and in general been more civil to each other. 

I am fully aware that if I started our morning routine just 5-10 minutes earlier, I would probably have better results.  Yet, no matter how mature I might think I am, as I am laying in my warm bed every morning, I will always choose to wait until the last possible minute that I can reasonably get up and still pull off this whirlwind!