In the past, I've gotten some questions about what a typical day looks like around here (if you have no interest in that, just pass on this lengthy post and come back another day). I was curious about that myself. I mean, obviously I have a better grasp of it than anyone, but I've never actually really stopped to think about each moment of a typical day and what it would look like from a distance. After taking the time to jot it all down (it's hard to write down everything that goes on in one day!), I'm not quite sure what to think. It definitely seems like there could be some better organization of time. But really, how feasible is that when the needs of your kids are ever changing? You can't plan those variables into a day. I've tried to incorporate more routine into our homeschool days, and in the end, it always seems to fizzle out after a week or two. Perhaps in the future, when the kids are a little older and can be given more responsibilities, we'll be able to stick to a routine more. For now, I feel like we're meeting everybody's needs, that we are teaching them foremost about God's Word, and that they all know they are loved.
Kaethe recently sent me an article that resonated strongly with me-- All I Have to Do Today. And it is an encouraging reminder that everything else will wait- “You just have to love them, that’s all you REALLY have to do today.” I may have done an inordinate amount of laundry on this particular day (that usually happens on Monday), but I smiled when I heard the girls over the monitor after we put them to bed just jabbering away, happily, until it finally got all quiet. They played hard today. And I played hard with them.
Please excuse the run-on non-sentences of the below write-up.. Here is a summary of our day, which obviously doesn't include every little thing...
7:28-- roused from sleep by big kids going downstairs-- they get their own breakfasts, I lie in bed until I hear O in her crib around 7:40, I go down to get her a bottle and help the kids get milk, etc. while it warms... go back up, make O laugh in her crib (one of my favorite times of day) before feeding and changing her, Mike takes O down while I wash my face, etc., get O cereal, eat my own breakfast (leftover chicken, tomato, cannelini beans, spinach dish and an english muffin with cheese)...
8:15-- have kids go upstairs to get dressed, make beds, brush teeth while I clean up breakfast and wash some dishes from the weekend... I don't notice A has gotten out paint supplies and started to paint, have kids get school books out, help J with math while A finishes a painting and O and I play with detachable high chair and babies in the basement... threaten to take away painting supplies for the rest of the day if A does not put paint away and get out her schoolwork... A puts paint supplies away, we say our Morning Offering and read Ezekiel 37:14, discuss questions in Lenten Adventure Book and make a list of people we are going to pray for for the remainder of Lent...
8:50-- go down to help with dispute in the basement (O has been buckled into seat by I and cannot get out), glance around the basement and choose to ignore the scraps of ripped up paper (kitty), go back up and get J started with Language Arts, help A with reading/writing, change O's diaper...
9:15-- help A with math, check on J's progress, I get Teddy Bear's Picnic (a shapes/colors game) from the basement that I has been asking for, begin to fold laundry in basket and notice more in the dryer ready to fold, remember the full basket of dirty laundry upstairs, go up and get it, get dressed myself, take laundry down and start a new load, continue to fold laundry, carry fussy O while I prepare another bottle for her and decide today needs to be a two-nap day for her...
9:45-- put O down for nap, come down and turn on Fit Kids, we all do 20 min. of aerobic exercises in the family room (I do my own, big people, version- everyone laughs), I finish folding laundry and move new load to dryer, kids have snacks, J continues Spelling in the living room, I spend some time catching up in my weekly planner book while I draws beside me...
10:45-- big kids go outside to play (it's already 52!), I play a game of Teddy Bear's Picnic with I and then wake O from her nap so she'll take an afternoon nap, change O, O and I have yogurt with granola and berries, I pick up a bit around the kitchen and sweep the mudroom floor, covered with dried mud from kids' shoes, I doesn't feel good, so I snuggle her for a bit then turn on an episode of Little Bear for her on Amazon Prime, O joins her, I sit down and finish my morning tea and fold more laundry...
11:35-- comfort A, who comes in crying because she's climbed too far up the Learning Tree and was scared. I tell her not to climb trees when no adults are out, even if J tells her to. She finds an unfinished wooden peg doll and asks if she can color it. Why not? I read some fairy library book to I and O until O starts fussing too much because she has to share lap space, I give her a board book and a baby, which seem to pacify her, and go to make lunch...
12:05-- warm leftover frozen pizza and cut up apples, kiwi and cucumbers for the big kids, and turkey, kiwi and cheese for O, get everyone milk, say prayers, wash and cut broccoli for broccoli salad I've been craving, clean up spilled milk (which is dripping down between a crack in the table to the floor), kids finish meals, bring dishes to sink and clean off table so I can wash tablecloth (one too many spills), clean O's tray, get girls some paper, they draw, J goes up to play with Legos, O plays in containers cabinet while I start laundry, put broccoli on stove to steam...
12:40-- big girls unload dishwasher (they keep telling me not to look at what they are doing because they want it to be a surprise-- I pretend not to notice and act so surprised when it is empty and they tell me I can look), I take broccoli off stove, give some to I, who is begging for it, I make broccoli salad and eat half of the bowl before putting it into the fridge (It's supposed to be chilled... I still haven't been able to make it as good as my mom's), clean up another spill (just water this time, from a sippy cup missing the plug-thingy), clean up the kitchen while the girls draw at the table, O plays with plasticware on the floor...1:05-- big girls go downstairs, I fold laundry while O plays on kitchen floor, she asks for "Song! Song!" So I run down a list and she picks "A-C." I sing the Alphabet Song to her a few times while folding in the mudroom until I no longer hear her occasionally chiming in and go to check-- she has climbed over the gate at the bottom of the stairs, I go to collect her and direct her back down. She heard I and A in the basement and happily slides down the stairs backward to go play with her big sisters...
1:30-- I put on more water for tea, take folded laundry upstairs to put away and am interrupted by the whistling kettle downstairs, go to take the water off, prepare tea, go back up and start putting laundry away, go check on Jack, who tells me all about the buildings he has been making, Opal wonders in. I find her a wooden animal puzzle from her closet, she sits on her floor and works on it. I finish putting the laundry away, pick up some dirty laundry from the floors upstairs and add them to the dirty clothes basket.
2:05-- put O down for a nap, check on the girls and allow them to have quiet time together in the basement, assuming they play nicely, grab a partly-eaten bag of Cadbury mini-eggs from the pantry and have the rest while I check some emails.... look over proposal for the master bath we are planning to add, assuming all goes well (part of the reason we offered as low as we did on this house was because it only has one full, and we planned to add a second this Spring), A and I go outside, to play...
2:45-- A and I come back inside to put sweaters on (they wore short-sleeves, and it's not quite as warm as they initially thought), A closes the door over I's foot, which sets I wailing a shrill, deafening scream, I try to calm her and reconcile the two, I finally calms down, they head back out...
2:50-- I hear O upstairs, roused from her nap by the screaming >:O, I try to ignore it for a while and give her a chance to go back to sleep, J comes down ready to be done with quiet time, he wants a snack, I tell him QT is not over yet, he heads outside with the girls, I finally give up on O's nap and go to get her, change her and take her outside...
3:30-- I realize it's about time to pay the mortgage, I write the check and put it in the envelope to mail, I grab some turkey and cheese to snack on and put on O's shoes and jacket, we go outside, I drag the jogging stroller out from behind a bunch of stuff in the breezeway and buckle O into it, I realize she doesn't need the jacket and ditch it, I rally the others from the yard, and we all walk down to the mailbox. J and A get the mail and run back up to the house ahead of us slow-pokes, we get out the bikes and Cozy Coup and ride around on the driveway, it's windy, but the sun comes out, and its SO nice and WARM (63!)! The big kids get out chalk, we play outside for a while.
4:15-- Everyone is playing well outside, so I run in to quickly use the bathroom and take a drink of tea... when I come back out, O is nowhere to be seen, "Where's O?!" No one knows. I tell them to split up and we run around all around the house, searching and calling her name (she couldn't have gotten too far, definitely nowhere near the road, so I'm not that worried). The big kids find her by the playset in the backyard. I stay back there with O and I and push them on the swings. I is getting very demanding/whiny, so I take them inside, I has a meltdown because I told her no graham crackers (we made this rule because she doesn't eat good dinners), I tell her I think she should go spend some time calming down in her room, she goes up, crying the whole way and promptly falls asleep...
4:45-- J practices piano, I help A practice her piano assignments while J watches a documentary on Mauryan Empire of India, A practices phonics on Starfall.com, coached by J, I read a flap book to O an have some more broccoli salad and jalapeno chips while O has some crackers. She has some bottle, I tidy the kitchen some, picking up everything that has found its way onto the floor, and start to think about what to make for dinner, some sort of tenderloin, rolls, and veggies, it is.5:30-- get out dinner ingredients and consider making the big kids go outside again, but then I'll have to try to distract a nap-lacking O while she fusses to go outside too, so I start to prepare dinner while the kids continue to be entertained by Starfall- this time, classical composers/music... 5:35-- O starts to pull the tissues out of the box on my desk and pulls a speaker onto the floor, I bring her in the kitchen and give her a bag of playfood and a babydoll to distract her and tell the big kids to go outside, I put the tenderloin in the oven, O fusses by the backdoor, I peel and cut up a clementine for her, put her in her high chair and begin to prepare some russet and sweet potatoes for baking (they're really just going in the microwave)...
5:50-- O has finished her clementine and starts back with the "Ou'side!" requests. I tell her to go look out the back window, which keeps her occupied for ~ a minute, she comes back in the kitchen and finds a handmade drum that holds her interest while I pierce and turn the potatoes, wipe down the microwave, load the dishwasher... J and A come in to clarify the tree-climbing when no adults are out rule, they go back out, O just stares at the door for about three minutes. I send M a message asking if he's even left work yet (he hasn't). I think about waking I from her nap and decide I'll wait a little while longer, O plays with two babies on the floor...
6:05-- A comes in with her Nutcracker doll, its arm has broken off again, I tell her we'll glue it back later, she complains of a headache, I give her some Children's Tylenol, she goes back out, I put some peas on the stove, go wake I from her nap, set the table for dinner... 6:20-- take the tenderloin and rolls out of the oven, cut the potatoes, call the kids to dinner, get milk for everyone, say prayers, feed O, just sit at the table, talking about travelling east next week, where the kids want to sleep when we go to Mimi and PopPop's, etc... I feel the baby move and feel blessed. I look up and see a beautiful sunset out the window and go to take a picture. I notice that all of the snow on that side of the house has FINALLY melted. Praise God!
6:50-- M gets home, everyone finishes dinner, we clear the table, I make a bottle for O, load dishwasher, kids pick up first floor some (we told them if they did, we would do something fun outside) while M goes out to build a fire in the pit, I start getting O ready for bed...7:15-- I join M and kids outside, they play on the tire swing and climb trees while we wait for the fire to catch (it's very windy, so M gets the portable fire pit, which helps a little... lighter fluid helps a lot), kids roast marshmallows for s'mores and each eat a couple. It's a special day...
7:45-- bring everything in, kids head up to brush teeth, put on jammies while I start dinner dishes and M puts out fire/finishes cleaning up outside, I read The Seven Silly Eaters to I, then a chapter of The Hobbit to J, while M reads to A... M takes bedtime from there and I look at the pictures I've taken throughout the day (effortlessly uploaded by Eye-Fi- I love that little card) and do a quick blog post on the peg dolls I painted over the weekend. M comes down, and we can do whatever we please with the rest of the evening (he had more work to catch up on, and I worked on this post, if you must know). The kids are in bed, and that's all that matters right now :^)
"Keep the joy of loving God in your heart and share this joy with all you meet especially your family. " -- Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
