Organised Chaos

I have people asking me on a daily basis just how I managed to have all my children ready in the mornings. My reply is simple, organisation.

As well as my own four children to get washed, dressed and fed, I also look after my friends little girl every weekday and take her to school.

Everyone thinks I'm mad, sometimes I think I am!!!

Like I said at the beginning, organisation is key. There are two things I make sure that I do the night before :

Get the school uniforms and playschool clothes out ready

and

Prepare the toothbrushes, that way they only need to wet with water the next day.

A typical day for me starts at 5.45am when Daddy Hazelden's alarm goes off. What a dreadful time to get up, after nearly 8 years of it, I still wake up grumpy, noone likes a rude awakening do they!!

This however gives me a full hour before I have to wake the kids up from their slumber. In this time I manage to :

* Get myself washed and dressed. (atleast make myself look awake)

* Do 200 sit ups.

* Make my bed and tidy my room.

* Get Daddy Hazelden's and the kids lunches prepared.

* Get a load of washing put on.

* Get the kids breakfast ready and waiting on the table

I wake the kids up 6.45am (cruel mummy). I have to get them up reasonably early because my friends little girl gets dropped off at 7.30am so I like to have my little monkeys all ready for when she arrives, otherwise they would be too busy playing instead of concentrating on getting themselves ready.

Whilst they are eating breakfast, I pester them by putting their hair up, todays request was for 3 pony tails for each of them, not sure why 3 was the magic number but who am I to argue. After breakfast is getting washed and dressed. I am quite lucky where the oldest two can sort themselves out, so I can concentrate on getting Gracie and Layla washed and dressed.

This then gives them a full hour to go ahead and play and make a nice mess for mummy to clear up after they have gone to school, oh the joys.

Now I say this is a typical day but there are always things that go wrong which means my mornings don't run as smoothly as I like. Gracie will decide to not eat breakfast because she no longer likes the cornflakes she ate the day before, or Layla will decide to wake up early to "help" mummy make the lunches and breakfast and there has got to be some sort of sibling argument to start the day, right?? 

Do you have a routine in the mornings or is it always a manic rush to get out of the door? I would love to know!!!

xxxx