That was the question I asked myself.

I’ve done projects in the past where I try to find a tiny slice of beauty during the pre-dinner hour.

But in the morning? Before school?

That’s the definition of crazy around our house.

I’m still drinking coffee. The kids can take a while waking up. The light in the house is anything but ideal.

But, by now you probably know that I’m always up for a good challenge.

And in all honesty, doing these types of personal projects helps me realize how special my life really is….how lucky I am to mother these tiny humans each and every day.

It’s all too easy to get caught up in the grind of it all and to not appreciate it.

So, for the month of September, I kept my camera handy and I committed to picking it up before breakfast from the first day of school through to the end of the month.

I thought I’d hate the project and that I’d keep it quiet just in case I decided I needed to quit.

What actually happened, though, is that I loved the heck out of this crazy idea of mine and the project that developed.

I slowed down and looked for moments worth documenting.

I saw how my girls interact when they’re both still bleary-eyed.

And, I realized how monotonous breakfast can be and so I stretched my creativity while I tried to figure out how to make it look different each day.

If you’re struggling to enjoy the crazy times in your life, I encourage you to consciously look for tiny fractions of a second that are magical. Grab your phone (or your camera if you have one and are into that), find the moment, and then snap. The trick is to not go overboard so that it consumes your whole morning. Find the moment, take the photo, then carry on.

My guess is that you’ll start to feel the same way I did…..that even in the hard times of your day, there’s always something that’s worth remembering.

At the end of the day go through your phone and narrow it down to your favourite image from the day, then make a digital album of those images. When you’re struggling, or just feeling the daily slog that can happen, pull up the album and you’ll be able to see all these tiny bits of delight that are all around you.