Yesterday I took a little time to document our morning in pictures – as part of a Photo a Day challenge I’m doing (more on that later). I thought I’d share with you the photos I took and give you a little peek into our morning.

I had a few minutes to spare in between the kids getting dressed for school and having to get them bundled up to head to the bus stop and decided to read a picture book to them that I got like forever ago and then forgot all about. It’s called Peaceful Piggy Meditation by Kerry Lee Maclean and it’s just a really cute, simple story that explains why people meditate and how to do it.

The book suggests meditating with your kids every day for up to ten minutes and gives a few ideas about how to explain meditation and make it more fun. The kids were really into the book and we spent a few minutes meditating before we got ready to leave. It definitely set a nice, calm tone to the morning and I’m seriously considering making it a permanent part of our routine.

Leaving behind the calm and zen of our home, we tumbled outside to discover a newly fallen winter wonderland. The kids couldn’t resist having a little impromptu snow ball fight and I tried not to be too much of a party pooper (though I may have failed, momma is not much of a morning person or a snow person).

I snuck in a few pictures of the kids while we waited for the bus.

I cannot get over how big she is getting – she will be starting kindergarten in the fall and will officially be going to school full time like her big brother. Craziness!

And my elder child, he is getting big, too – he sometimes gets the short end of the stick of my attention but I’ve been trying to dole it out more evenly these days and make sure both kids are getting what they need and want out of our days.

I think I do okay. They both boarded the bus happily, excited about beginning the part of their day that I don’t see – the part of their lives that I can only piece together from report cards, classroom visits and half coherent ramblings in the afternoon.

And I went back home to my morning ritual:

Coffee, peace, quiet and a little time to watch the tv shows that only mommy likes. I like to start my mornings slow and ease myself into the day’s tasks ahead of me rather than rush into the to do lists face on. I’ve found I’m much more productive when I allow myself a small amount of time to be lazy and indulgent first.

The rest of my day will look like cleaning dishes, making a crock pot meal for dinner, chasing after a giant one year old dog, fetching children off of buses, karate classes, homework, folding laundry and anything else the day throws my way as we go.

What do your mornings look like?