For the first day of prompts I thought it was best to start off when we wake up…mornings. What does your morning look like? Is it crazy and rushed or slow and lazy? Do you wake up before the rest of your house or are you the last to get up? What does your morning look like today versus 5 years ago? 10 years ago? I know for me that 10 years ago I had a 3 year old, a 2 year old and a 9 month old…I’m just lucky I survived. But when I come across photos of that time in my life I love to see how we made it work, how we struggled and how we thrived (there was probably less thriving and more just hoping to get a good night’s sleep during those days).

What do you think your mornings will look like in 5 years? I know for me, mine is vastly different now than it has been and is so very different from where it will be.

In five years there won’t be three kids at home waiting to brush their teeth in the mornings…just two. One will be in college and the other two will still be here, but only for another year or two. Will we still live in this house? What will breakfast be like…will my littlest still eat his current daily special of “waffle toast”? (if you click on the post link below the image of his feet at the table you will see that just 2 years ago his daily special was something different than it is today). Will there be early morning swim practices that start at 5am? (oh, boy am I not ready for that!) The point is that although you feel like you’re living the same thing day in and day out, things change. And they change without us even realizing it. Before I knew it all my kids could sit at the table with their feet squarely on the ground. I do remember when that wasn’t the case, and I documented it.

This image above is from a post in 2011 about this very same thing…capturing and documenting those everyday little moments.

Toady, mornings for me and my family are very different from where they were back then. I’ve created a little collage – of phone pics – that show a little snipit of what our mornings look like with two middle schoolers and one elementary schooler.

I challenge you to take on photographing your morning. Even the little things. Focus on the things that you know will change. I love that right now my youngest (who was really pretty asleep when I snapped his photos) can sit up in his top bunk and not hit his head…for now. I love that he still has to sit in the back seat when I take him to school because he’s too young for the front. I love that my kids take the garbage cans out for garbage day…I remember when I was their age the garbage man came and got my small metal can out of the cubby in my driveway and carried it to the garbage truck.

So get that camera out (set it out the night before) or make sure your phone is ready and just snap away as you go through your morning routine. If you have a thirteen year old son like I do, he might just ask what you’re doing, why you’re taking so many photos (you’d think mine wouldn’t question me anymore on this subject, but it was early). If they ask…just tell them what I told my son.

I want to remember this.

This post is part of a 31 day series. Read the first post here about documenting everyday life.