Mondays. Yuck. That’s all. No, actually, it’s not. But that pretty much sums up Monday, right? At least, that’s how I see most of the world feels around Sunday evening/Monday morning that’s to Instagram and Facebook and the posts the people I follow create. I’m not going to lie; I like a good Monday morning. Of course, I also love what I do for a living. I have four kids, half of them go to school on Mondays leaving me with only two kids for the day, and my husband works from home now, so we share an office. What’s not to love about Mondays? Life is good in my house, but I also embrace them because they mean structure, schedule and routine.
Weekends, for us, are a whirlwind. Friday night is usually some event or dinner at a friend’s house with all our kids and our group of friends and all their kids. Saturdays mean a family workout followed by a family breakfast and then we either host our friends for the Gator game or they host us and it’s yet another day of a dozen kids and a half dozen set of parents (all of whom we love dearly). Sundays are church days, followed by family day. We might take the kids to Disney for the afternoon. We might have a pool party with the same group of friends and their kids. We do our grocery shopping for the week and we usually cook a big, relaxing dinner while the kiddos play in the yard, take a family golf cart ride or let them run around. It varies, but it’s always busy.
One thing that never varies, however, is the Sunday evening routine. It’s what makes our Mondays so enjoyable, so much less stressful than others, and so much more productive. I’m always amazed when people mention just how bad their Monday mornings are when ours are so seamless. Of course, we prep hard on Sundays because we enjoy beginning our week on the right foot. Here’s a good starting point for anyone looking to make Monday more enjoyable beginning on Sunday evening.
Get Prepped
One thing that always makes me feel out of control is laundry. We have a family of six, so it’s not something we ever get completely caught up on. We do this thing where we stick all the dirty laundry in the wash first thing every single morning and get it washed, dried and put away before bed that night. Sundays are no different, except we also do a load in the evening on Sunday so we wake up with no laundry on Monday. It makes a difference; trust me.
Get Situated
Monday mornings call for lunches, back packs, signed paperwork and all that fun stuff. We always put our kid’s school stuff out and double check that it’s all signed and everything is in order. We also prep all the portions of their lunches that can be prepped on Sundays. For example, we put all their prepackaged items in a basket so that we can just grab them when it’s time to put them in lunches in the morning (raisins, goldfish packages, apples, things of that nature). We also take out their school clothes and put everything together so there is no rush in the am.
Get to Bed On Time
Fridays and Saturdays our kids get to stay up a little bit later (not too much, because they are like their momma and they need at least 8-9 hours of sleep if there is any chance of waking up in a good mood the following morning, and they’re early risers like me, too). Sundays, they are all in bed early. The twins at 6:30 (which is their normal time because those babies like a schedule. Take them off of it for something they don’t think is fun, like just staying up a little later to play, and watch them go stand by the gate at the bottom of their stairs and ask to go up and go night night), and the big girls are in bed no later than 7:15. Their bedtimes are usually 8 pm, but on Sundays they need a little downtime to rest. They can go into their rooms and read, watch a show on television, color, or play; but they have to stay in their rooms and relax. By 8, all electronics are turned off and they are in bed; most Sundays, they’re fast asleep long before we make it in their rooms at 8 to turn things off).
On that note, we also like to have taken our shower and we like to be on the couch by 7:30 so we can have a glass of wine and watch something we love on television. It’s fun for us to sit down when we so rarely have that opportunity, and it’s such a nice way to end the week. By the time we wake up on Monday morning, we are ready for that 5 am alarm, and we are good to go.
Photo by Getty Images
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