Nightly Routine

Making sure we all get out of the house on time takes some work! With just 3 weeks under my belt I am still learning but have a little process going. Every week I seem to be adding a little more to the nightly routine, I'd rather miss some of whatever is on TV after the kids are in bed than be rushed in the morning!

I totally want this for our girlies room! So cute.. 

picture is link to more gorgeous stuff!

After dinner we make sure it's not right to work, we spend time just doing family stuff, lately it's been baseball a few nights a week. We do it this way because I don't want them to only remember dinner and then chores.  But when it's time to get ready to do our evening work (sometimes it's 8 before we get home!) we turn some music on and just get it all done as fast as we can. I think dedicating a little time at night makes the morning SO much easier!


Kids have their own list (mostly from their chore pack)
~Pick out clothes for tomorrow
~Put dirty clothes in basket
~Empty lunch box
~Repack lunch box, partially
~Tidy their rooms
~Put clean clothes away
~Help Mommy and Daddy


Our list is not as fun!
~Load dishwasher
~Couple loads of Laundry
~Check dinner plan for tomorrow, prep what I can
~Set coffee pot up.. MAJOR requirement! hehe
~Pack our lunches
~Pack backpacks
~Pack baskets for the next day
~Tidy the kitchen
~Tidy family room
~Get breakfast stuff ready
~Clothes for tomorrow
~Check Planner for appointments, activities

Yup, that's it, just a little  big list but we get it done most nights, and it's ok if we don't. Just makes the next morning a little more busy.  If we didn't do most of it though, mornings would be a disaster!

What do y'all do at night to make the morning run smoother? Any tips?!!

I'm kinda figuring this thing out!

This being gone all day AND keeping the house clean (not spotless) while not spending all weekend doing it. Weekends are for family stuff and being outside, I can't get on board with cleaning all weekend.

These are the little things I have been doing to get stuff done without designating a chunk of time to them!

The kitchen was/is my Monday chore. Not spending an hour doing it but while I am making dinner, or prepping dinner, waiting for coffee I try to spend every down minute doing something. I haven't deep cleaned the kitchen in weeks but there is nothing growing anything so it's good enough.
I am still using my Scheduled Cleaning but I don't get to it all.
Still a good guide for the few minutes I do have time!

Love this!

And I am in NO way saying I have gone from being a stay at home (or never home) mom to being a working out of the home mom pro in just a few weeks. BUT I do think the same organization that made things flow well before can work for the few hours I am home now.
Keeping our home orderly IS important to us, and home cooked meals are just as important to keep our kids healthy, and our budget healthy!

Speaking of budget, I haven't figured out how this is all going to work, there are obviously new expenses with me working, needed a couple things to wear, and gas is a bit more and daycare will be THE biggest adjustment. But I think since I started 2 1/2 weeks ago I have only been to Target 2 3 times, that will be a change in the right direction. My lunch hour is not nearly long enough to browse Target properly!

So right now, even though I may be working out of the home and it wasn't our ideal situation. I am going to do my best to embrace every single part of it! I don't want it to sound like I am complaining, I feel SO blessed to be given such an amazing opportunity.

And I know that what I will have to share coming up may not apply to everyone, but I hope to be sharing my NEW daily checklist, same checklist, just has different stuff on it. And that I will have some fun 4th of July stuff going on, hoping I still have a good hold (or better even) on time than I do now.
Some time management tips, how I am keeping my sanity and spend quality time with the fam.

How we wrangle everything (right now)

With Baseball in full swing when I started I KNEW we would have to have everything prepped, together and where it was supposed to be. Even though it's May it still is super cold some evenings, so we go to the game in shorts and need sweatshirts and blankets by the 5th inning!

I grabbed these big baskets at Target (of course, right?) last year for our garage, thought they would be a good size to help keep that stuff organized, they weren't so we had 5 or 6 in our garage. They needed to be used for something and I think having a "Baseball Basket" was a necessity.

So in this thing

 I have

~A blanket

~Snacks that won't melt because the concession stand does not have anything I would want my kids to have after dinner but before bed, trust me I have spent hours in there selling corn nuts and sno-cones to little freezing kids.

~A Sweatshirt for everyone

~Couple of water bottles

And even though Baseball only lasts a few months, we have swimming lessons that will start soon too! Good thing I have more baskets! Sure we will need to have  

~Towels

~Snacks

~Extra hair tie for the girl

~More snacks (cause they are always STARVING after swimming)
~Sunscreen


How do you keep everything together, or ready on busy days? I am sure that with only 2 weeks as a working mom I have barely scratched the surface on things I need to wrangle and keep packed, and finding the easiest way to do that is my goal! Using something we already had was a solution for now, but if there is a better long term one I am all ears!



1st week OVER

And we all made it out alive!

I didn't starve anyone, no one went to school nekkid so I guess those are both good things.

I missed my babies like crazy but I am SO SO thankful for family that is picking up our slack and making this transition a lot less stressful!

I thought I might need to lower my expectations of myself and how things would run around here but so far things are just working out, yes there are still some kinks but nothing major like I had envisioned going wrong. And I am sure 1 week is not the best way to judge it. I could tell by dinner time before 6 on Monday though that things were going to be better than I had anticipated

I do think having a plan is THE only way this all worked out.
Weekends are full of prep and family time. But I already feel like this Sunday was less hectic than last Sunday. Getting in our groove of laundry, tidying and dishes and all the little things that add up!



Today is my 1st day!

And I am so nervous!

But I think the prepping I did last week and last night has things going as well as I can hope!

Here is our meal plan for the next 2 weeks (not weekends)

Monday/Today~Chicken, veggies and sauce in the crock pot, rice made yesterday

Tuesday~Tacos

Wednesday~Pork Roast.

Thursday~Stroganoff, everything is done ahead of time, just putting it all together

Friday~Chicken quesadillas
Monday~Baked Potatoes & stuff
Tuesday~BBQ Pork Sandwhiches
Wednesday~Chicken Tortilla Soup
Thursday~Little Pizzas (made on english muffins or smooshed canned biscuits)

 Friday~Crock Pot Lasagna

We have T-Ball/Baseball x4 and Concession Stand Shifts

So my favorite days at the gym probably won't happen this week, I need to ease into this new routine and not jump right in full force to everything. Just making it to work on time and getting everyone fed and out the door is my goal for the first week.

I'm off to work on my Monday chores before everyone else gets up. Happy Monday!