Family Time

We had such a great weekend! Derek is taking a much needed break from work and was off all last week. It was great having 3 extra days off with him. We got a ton of stuff done around the house! On Saturday, we all went to Crater Lake and, overall had a great time.

We hiked to this beautiful waterful, the kids loved it!

Besides a rather embarrasing fit from Kiera, it was an awewome day!!

Derek will be back to work tomorrow, so the rush routine will be back also ;)
And Jacksons been rocking the potty training this week! He's been telling us when he needs to go and going. ;)

First Day of School

 

Yesterday was Natalie's first day of 2nd Grade and Kiera's first day of Kindergarten. The knidergartners have phase in days this week so I was so glad Kiera got to have hers on the first day with Natalie.

 

 

 

They were so excited!

 

 

Kiera is home now for the rest of the week, then she'll start everyday. Jackson wont know what to think! It'll be strange having just him but I'm looking forward to some one on one time with my boy :)

 

 

Morning Routines

Last week, we had a hectic, crazy morning. I was not finished getting ready before my kids had to be up and as a result I was running very late! I had to be to work and take my kids to daycare. We were rushing around, couldn't find shoes, couldn't find my stuff. I was yelling at my kids to get this, and do that. It was so stressful that on the way to town, I felt defeated. I felt like a failure. I hate starting my mornings that way knowing it'll be a long day before I see my kids again.

  There are a couple areas that I need to improve. The first would be my own morning routine. My dream morning is to get up around 530, exercise for at least 15 mins, drink a cup of coffee while reading my bible, get my shower and be completely ready- dressed, hair and make up done- before getting the kids up so that my focus can them be on them. This, however, rarely happens. I am usually able to get a couple things done but not everything. I either work out or read my bible but struggle with doing both. Probably because I do not get right out of bed at 530. I did the Proverbs 31 study through goodmorninggirls.org this summer and will be starting a study on Colasions in a couple weeks. I hope to have things down more consistently by then. Working out is something I struggle with because I don't enjoy it, but I know its important. I prefer getting it done in the morning before my shower since I don't like being sweaty ;) I've played with the idea of working out and showering at night to give myself more time in the morning but then theres my hair and I really enjoy my morning shower. This routine is something I'll continue to tweak until I can find something that works.

The other are is having my kids prepared. School starts next week and I need to be more organized in getting them ready. The morning after our hectic morning, my day off, the girls and I sat down and talked about how to make our mornings more smooth. It was nice to solve a problem together. We decided to have shoes and clothes picked out the night before and ready to go. I usually have their clothes laid out but we seem to constantly be missing a shoe! We talked about having backpacks ready also. I think we came up with some great ideas! Now, we just have to put them into practice.

Hopefully, with lots of prayer, our mornings will see an improvement in September!