As I was getting ready for bed the other night, I started thinking about what I do the night before to create a calm and stress free morning. Of course some things are out of my control and that is just part of life. However, there are many things I can control and do the night before that help tremendously with setting the tone for the following day. I truly enjoy peaceful mornings where I feel like I’m not waking up with a “to-do” list or rushing from one thing to the next. I always keep the motto in mind “wake up the day, don’t let the day wake up you”.

I thought I would share some simple things I do that have made mornings not only manageable, but enjoyable!

1.Meal Prep 

I have done this for years with work for me and my husband. I get everything food related ready the night before so I just have to throw it in a lunch box and walk out the  door. This also includes our morning coffee! I shared my current prep for my husband that you can check out here: Morning Meal Prep IGTV

2.Teaching/Work Materials 

Since I wake up early and teach for a couple of hours I like to have everything ready to go the night before. I set out anything I need for that morning in our office so I am not trying to get things together minutes before class. I also made sure when I was teaching in the classroom that my work bag was packed and ready to go for the morning with everything I needed.

3.Tidy Up

I am pretty type A when it comes to things being put away in our home and I definitely do not go to bed with anything “messy”. Our son always cleans up his toys as part of his night routine so the only things I clean up are the kitchen and living room which usually takes 5-10 minutes. It is so nice waking up with the house tidy and everything put away!

Maintaining A Tidy Home

4.Set Out Clothes

When I was teaching in the classroom I always set out clothes the night before so I wasn’t wasting 10-15 minutes trying to decide what to wear. This can also be done with workout clothes to help with motivation if that is something you are wanting to integrate into your morning routine. It is just one less thing you aren’t spending time on! If you go to the gym after work consider having that bag packed and ready to go!

5.Kid Items 

If you have children you know thinking of their stuff is a whole other ball game. Prepping anything for your kids really depends on what stage they are in. For example, when I was nursing and working in the classroom I would make sure I had all my son’s bottles ready to go in the fridge for our parents to use and have my pumping bag with all the parts packed and by the door with my school bag. It could be anything from their lunches, clothes to extra curricular activities.

Do you do anything the night before? I would love to know!

Blessings,

Jac

I recently just celebrated my 31st birthday with my boys and best friend. It was a very laid back and good for the soul weekend, which was perfect. Each year I like to take some time to reflect on the year in general and lessons I learned along the way. You can read last year’s here…What I Learned In My Twenties. I thought I would share my take aways from this past year as I welcome this next year!

1. Change is a good thing. It encourages you to grow, get out of your comfort zone, and trust in God’s plan.
2. You will never know your full potential until you try.
3. Do things fearfully and turn to God every step of the way.
4. Keep grounded in faith and prayer….make it THE priority.
5. Mindset is everything.
6. Take care of yourself in all aspects…you will never be able to pour from an empty cup.
7. Don’t let anything external determine your value or identity.
8. Things don’t matter, people do.
9. Always do what is best for you and your family, don’t worry about what other people do or think.
10. Happiness is a choice.
11. Consistency is the secret sauce to so many things.
12. Encourage and uplift other people and the journey they are on.
13. Surround yourself with people who fill you up and are a source of light.
14. Collect memories.
15. Your children are always watching and learning from you…many times when you don’t realize it.
16. Listen, learn, and educate yourself.
17. Be careful with what you are consuming on a daily basis (mentally), especially with social media.
18. Set goals for yourself and be intentional with your time and energy.
19. There isn’t a certain time you have to do something or be something by. Embrace the season you are in.
20. Smile

 

Blessings,

Jac

If you know me personally, you know I love all things food. I try to be as intentional as I can with filling our house with a good variety and nutrient rich options for the three of us. As my son has gotten older he has gravitated towards certain foods and has decided what he likes and does not like (changes with more exposure). I thought I would share what has worked for us when encouraging him to eat and try a variety of foods since that can be a challenge with children.

I would love to know anything that works for your children!

 

1.Only Buy What You Want Them To Eat/Drink

I only purchase food and snacks that I am comfortable with my son eating on a daily basis. I tend to buy snack items like trailmix, squeeze pouches, bars, veggie straws, etc for the pantry and load up on cold foods. I also keep the drink options to water, milk, or bubble water. I have learned that I set the tone for the food options and control what comes in.

2. Allow Choice

I recently rearranged our pantry to have the bottom shelf as an “all access” zone for our son. He has a couple baskets of snack items he can choose from and all of the fruits we keep outside of the fridge (halos, peaches, apples, bananas,etc). He has learned that he can go and grab something from the bottom shelf when he wants a snack and it has worked great with encouraging choice and independence. If he wants repeat snacks I remind him he had that for the day and can choose something else or I can get him something from the fridge which has also worked great for us.

3.Offer Variety 

We try to provide as much variety as we can when it comes to meals. We have found that for us, dinner is the best time to introduce something new or reintroduce something he wasn’t willing to try previously. We do not cook or make anything different for him if he doesn’t like something because we will only have one new item at a time during a meal. I have found that he is more willing to try something if his plate has items he already loves and it isn’t as overwhelming. I also try to offer variety with his breakfast, lunch and snacks to provide a good balance of nutrients and food groups.

4.Try It Different Ways

If our son didn’t like something the first time, we always reintroduce it but try cooking or making it a different way to see if his preference changes.

5.Exposure

We have learned that we have to keep exposing different foods for our son to get to a point where he is comfortable trying it. He will never know if he likes something unless we keep offering it and exposing it.

BONUS: Model Eating Healthy/Balanced

There is so much power in modeling healthy eating habits to your children with your own choice! Our son is able to see that our eating isn’t that different than his and we all enjoy the same things as a family.

 

Blessings,

Jac