So not sure why I am writing this because I am soooo not the master of this. But I have been sick of the way my mornings are going.  They are frantic, rushed, so not peaceful, and everyone starts off in a grumpy mood.  So I resolved yesterday to make a change to our routine so we can start with peace and joy.   I can share what I am learning even though most my mornings feel frantic.  I listened to a podcast on simplifying your mornings(Simple Life Together, Episode 15 and here is a link to the blogpost on it http://simplelifetogether.com/slt-015-creating-your-morning-routine-and-living-without-a-printer/. I love their podcast, it is so life giving and inspiring me towards simplicity.  Here is much of what I learned from there.  I will try to keep it brief, for more details read or listen to her stuff.

Keys to a more peaceful morning for me:

1.  Get my butt out of bed before the kids get up.  Yesterday morning I allowed my kids to wake me.  not good. I prefer being up an hour or two before the kids so I can have me time.

2.  Write out a routine and stick to it.

• I had to decide the key things I want to get done each morning, put an estimated time for how it each task takes and then I added lots of margin time(50 minutes extra) because something always comes up
• Everyone is different. Start small and work up to adding more to your list if youre overwhelmed. 
• I have 10 things I want to get to in the mornings.  I got to 7 today.

1. Workout with Jeremy(30-45 minutes)
2. SOAP(search my blog for more info)- basically read my Bible and journal.  I am loving the Unglued devotional plan right now on youversion
3. Pray with Jeremy, take a few minutes to hear what each other needs prayer for the day and pray for each other
4. Drink a glass of OJ(helps with cursed kidney stones(tmi) and brush teeth
5. Get ready(dress, makeup-if i wear it that day, hair). Most days it is yoga pants and a ponytail.
6. Make bed(Never really done this consistently but it really makes a room look better!)
7. Review the day’s to do list(this blogger recommends writing out 3-4 keys things that must be done, and write it out the night before like on a postit)
8. Dinner Prep(take chicken out of freezer, or  start crock pot etc.)
9. Chores( I have broken my house stuff into days so only need to do 2 a day)
10. Juice(its not delicious- but we need it since we dont eat enough veggies or fruit)