Our morning meeting...

We tried something new this morning. I called it our "morning meeting." I recently read about a "morning meeting" in the book "The Creative Family" by blog author Amanda Blake Soule (SouleMama.com) and I decided to customize her morning meeting idea to our little family.

First, the participants:

I led the meeting, but no picture of me, sorry (the chicklets are much cuter to look at, anyway). I assured the participants that we would not be taking pictures at every meeting: just the first :)

We met, after breakfast and after Daddy had hopped on his bike and headed downtown to work. We met in our bed. I brought a notebook and some crayons (I figured crayons would be safer in white sheets than pens or markers). We discussed the things we first needed to do today. And then we discussed the things we wanted to do today. And then we put numbers by which things we should do first, then next, etc. We all got a say. Sawyer wanted to go to the Zoo. Aspen wanted to play in the Jungle Gym. I wanted to walk to the park. And then, of course were the errands and chores we needed to do. I am such a list person, I felt like this was a way to start the day with mini-goals to accomplish, but to also include the fun little things we do so that at the end of the day I can see how many things I have crossed off the list - even though the list may still be long in my planner. I like how we all have a say and by doing this I am hoping to teach my children that what we need to get done and what we want to do are all important, and that we can do most of these things if we prioritize. If we can't do it all in one day, I hope we can learn that it is not the end of the world and that there is always another day ahead.

We also took the time at our meeting to look through the Gospel Art Book, which is a recently published book of artwork depicting Gospel topics from the Bible and Book of Mormon. Because our kids are so little, this is one of our favorite ways to talk about Gospel topics with them without having a more "formal" scripture study that they may lose interest in. So, we talk about the stories and the people in the pictures. It was a lovely way to start the day.

Of course, there was plenty of time for some snuggles, cuddles, laughs, and giggles. There may even have been one little Monkey jumping on the bed...

After we concluded our meeting, I nursed little sister and this was the result:

(And then we got dressed and packed up and headed off to the Zoo!)