A picture is worth a quiet cup of coffee...which is worth much more than a thousand words.

I don't know about you other mommies out there but morning around her are nightmarish.  Now I have a 2 year old and a 3 year old so in actuality the word "nightmarish" describes a lot of daily activities, but having no ever in my life been a morning person this particular time of day happens to be the MOST nightmarish for me. The kids are always in my room at some crazy hour demanding that I get up and make pancakes or french toast or bacon. At this point the might as well be asking me to  climb Mt. Everest because I can't even muster up the energy to open my eyes.  At which point the begin to jump on my head and and scream things like "GET UP, GET UP
... IT'S NIGHT NIGHT TIME ANYMORE! THE SUN IS UP YOU HAVE TO GET UP TOO" (News flash: The Sun and I are NOT on the same schedule.) But despite every muscle in my body screaming NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
I pop out of bed and head to the kitchen (where I will be spending most of my day between cleaning it, dishes and feeding the 2 lil bottomless pits) On the way to the kitchen I walk past the children's room and catch a glimpse inside which always leads me to question... WHEN did they have time to make THAT mess?!?!

SO FINALLY, I decided I was going to save a bit of my morning SANITY.. granted it will still be a very tiny small bit, but I'll take it!  So I spent a little time on the computer making a little Morning Routine chart for the kiddos.  It's all numbers and pictures so they can "read" it all by themselves.

©Mommy Hauteline 2012

And we have been using it for a couple weeks now and it's going well ... SO UTTERLY FANTABULOUS! They are still coming in my room some morning when they first wake up and all I have to say is did you do your chart and they are GONE because they know we aren't heading downstairs until the make it to the breakfast part of the routine.  That's enough time for me to get my bearings... head downstairs and start breakfast and have my first cup of coffee in peace! The 3 year old will help the 2 year old make her bed and I lay out their clothes for them or they can pick their own on days we aren't going anywhere in particular.  They really like doing so much themselves and then after breakfast I head upstairs with them. I help them brush their teeth and double check the bed making and room tidying.  Then #6 which is actually the picture for PLAY!... and start your day.  Not the best picture I know but once I explained it the kids know that it basically means HURRAY you are done although I just realized maybe  I should have made it balloons or something.  OH WELL.  If you have a suggestion for a good #6 picture leave it in the comments and maybe at some point I'll do a revised one.  But for now, you can Download this version! =)

I hope you find it helpful if not LIFE CHANGING! haha.
It's an 8X10 so you can throw it in a frame and place it on a shelf or dresser easily.  
ENJOY and have a fabulous day