Often, when I tell Violet I'm taking a picture of her, she will stick her finger in her nose or her mouth. I have no idea what that's all about.

I gotta be honest - many mornings are not exactly relaxed in our house. Most of the time its a struggle to get everyone up, dressed, fed and out the door by 7:35am to ride our bikes to school. Gavin usually does pretty well getting dressed, but not always. Ezekiel struggles to get dressed when I need him to and Violet...well, she's got no say at this point :) I have tried to figure out how to make this a more peaceful time...(an example of a not so peaceful time: Thurs morn - G and E do not get dressed when asked. G only has a few minutes to eat breakfast; I have to get E dressed. He is SCREAMING because i put the Spiderman shirt on and he wants to wear Superman....he is kicking because he wants soccer cleats, not Transformer shoes and I am YELLING...we are late, so I have to literally SPRINT all 3 kids in the jogger the mile to school. G is about 2 minutes late, I am sweaty and bummed for how the morning went...)

This morning we had a great morning because:

* I got up super early and ran, showered, read my Bible and had coffee before the kids were up

*I got the kids up earlier so they had more time

* I had breakfast ready as soon as they got up

*I played worship music in the background

*I started a "star chart" for good behavior for the boys - they are both super motivated by it so they have more motivation for good behavior

I know this formula will not always "work"but today it did and that's a victory! At the last minute, G decided he wanted to ride with one of my friends from church (she has offered to pick him up and take him to school 2 days a week! last night he was worried about not having me take him but he woke up wanting to ride with her!), so that was even more awesome - we were way ahead of schedule and it was a peaceful, relaxing morning.

Ezekiel (at times) is sooooo sweet with V. She is scared of the trash trucks and he was talking her through it on the couch this morning.
Wow - can't believe Thanksgiving is in less than a week. Unfortunately, Jason has to work, but hopefully he will be off Christmas.