The Morning Routine

Winter mornings seem to be the worst for the YD girls.

First, there's the matter of what time they got to bed the night before. Bedtime is normally 7:30 p.m., but that usually means a half-hour of teeth brushing, getting school clothes laid out, reading stories, prayer and general goofing around.

So the actual time the girls fall asleep is usually closer to 8:15 or 8:30 p.m. The first wake-up call comes about nine-and-a-half hours later: between 6:15 and 6:3http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif0 a.m.

The waking up process seems to take nearly as much time as the falling asleep routine. First, there's the back rubbing and general jostling. Then the push and shove method kicks in. And finally, when all else fails, it's time to turn on the lights.

First to come down for breakfast is usually Lauren. We recently instituted a 6:45 a.m. cutoff for hot chocolate, meaning you don't get a cup of hot chocolate if you're not downstairs by that time.

Dad juggles fixing breakfast with making cold lunches. On an average day, at least two girls have cold lunches. The most popular sandwiches are butter and hagelslag and peanut butter and hagelslag. The other sandwich options are peanut butter and brown sugar (Julia's favorite) and peanut butter and mini M&M's (Olivia's favorite). Chips and a fruit snack round out the lunch.

Emily is usually last to make it downstairs and she often takes her breakfast (a Pop-Tart, normally) to go. There's also a lot of shoe tying and readying of backpacks, coats, hats and gloves.

Dad often warms up the Suburban and puts a travel mug of Chi tea in the front drink carrier for Mom. She often packs a Slim Fast for later, too. Then it's time to head out. If they are running on time, the girls are out the door by 7:10, though we'd like to move it up closer to 7 a.m. so they're not so rushed on the drive to Bellevue.