Sunday Mornings

Sunday mornings can be very rough, trying to get out the door earlier than usual and everyone looking their best.  Sometimes instead of being a day of rest and a day set aside for the Lord it becomes a stress filled, icky, grumpy day.

But what if you could have an enjoyable and even fairly restful morning and still have a lovely breakfast and get everyone out the door on time looking great?  It can be done!  It just takes a bit of thought and planning.

Prepare the clothes ahead of time.  If you do your ironing throughout the week all of the clothes should be set and ready to go.  Look over all of the clothes on Friday or Saturday to make sure they really are clean and ironed.  I pull out tights and such for the girls as well and put them on the hangers with their dresses.  Remind yourself throughout the week to check on these things and see what you can do.  Sometimes I'll have everyone change out of their "Sunday clothes" as soon as we get home if they are still clean.  That means less laundry and ironing for me, and their clothes are all ready for next week!  If you do this you will want to inspect to make sure everything was hung up again properly, otherwise this method does you no good.

Little girls playing "church" on Sunday afternoon while Daddy reads out loud to all of us.

Check the diaper bag, make sure it is well stocked on Saturday afternoon/evening.  Is there anything else you need to take with you?  Potluck?  Snack? Returning something to someone at church?  Make sure anything you can do ahead of time is done and sitting out where you will remember it.  I'm finding that I need to actually put things in the car or leave a note at my space at the table the night before to help me remember. No matter how well I plan getting nine of us fed and out the door can be enough to think about! ;)

Breakfast.  That is a big one.  Sunday morning can be a long one, it is important to start it with a good meal that will stick with all of you.  I need protein to keep me going, and some of my kids do better after a meal with plenty of protein so we generally have some eggs, bacon, or sausage.  Coffee cake makes the meal fun too.  I prepare it the night before so all if have to do is pop it in the oven in the morning, this mix makes it easy while still being homemade!

 

Think about what you will be eating when you get home as well.  We often have something simple like bagels with cheese melted on them or cheese, crackers, salami and fruit for lunch.  Sometimes our church has a potluck after service though and we LOVE that, the fellowship is great and it is fun to share a meal with our friends.  I try to have dinner in the crockpot so that I don't really have to cook all day, that makes the day much more restful!