Tuesday, January 21, 2014

A Day in the Life

I've always wanted to do a day in the life type post as I like to read others, but somehow the keeping track of what we were doing while we were doing it always seemed a little too difficult and I never actually made it through the entire day. This time, however I typed out notes on my phone as the day progressed and I actually kept up with it. So here it goes, our day in the life with kiddos in 4th, 2nd, K and a 4 and 2 year old.

Tuesday/Thursday are our most school heavy days at home. Monday/Friday the kids go to their tutorial from 8:30-2:30 and the only other school that happens on those days is a math lesson for Gabe when he gets home and maybe some read alouds in the evening. Wednesday mornings look very similar to Tues/Thurs but Wed. afternoon the kids have swim team practice for 2 hours. We then usually have friends over to play after swimming and Gabe has soccer practice on Wed. night. So, this is a pretty typical Tuesday for us.

5:00 - alarm goes off and I get up and head out the door to run (probably for the only day this week as it's supposed to get pretty cold.) I'm back home by 6:15, shower, and get ready for our day. (Nae leaves a little after 6 for work.)

7:10 - Laney begins banging on her door and wakes everyone else up. Gabe has been up for a while in his room working on school work. The big three are allowed to get up before 7 but they have to do their daily Bible reading and work on school work. No coming in Mommy's room, demanding breakfast, or asking Mommy questions. Eden and Laney stay in bed until 7 (even though this has been a trial lately with Laney. Hoping she learns soon!)

7:40 - Breakfast begins. While they eat, we listen to our IEW poems (odd numbered one day, even the next), have our Bible time, Scripture memory work, and catechism. If we don't get this done first thing, then it doesn't happen and it's much easier to accomplish when Laney sleeps late. Today there are lots of breaks as I deal with Laney who doesn't want to eat any breakfast and then has to be sent to her room because she's being so loud.

9:10 - Finally finish and send kids to get dressed and do chores. Alena stays and finishes up the final kitchen clean up from breakfast. I eat a quick breakfast, check email, etc. This is where things can quickly get off track if I don't watch the time and make sure everything is accomplished quickly. I fix the girls' hair and check to make sure chores are done before they get back to their school work

9:35 - Big three start working on their school work. Gabe in his room and Mya in the dining room while Alena works in the kitchen. Eden and Laney are playing with the Duplo blocks but this doesn't last long and they're out in the kitchen begging for something "fun" to do.  I get soup in the crockpot for dinner and then make an emergency trip outside with Gabe to gather up the recyceling that is all over our yard from the recycling bin blowing over in the wind. I also put in some laundry

10:15 - I get out "fun stuff" for Eden and Laney this is usually art supplies, playdough, blocks, something to keep them busy while I help Alena with her work. Today we do a couple of the Lauri kits but they don't play with them for long. Gabe practices piano for 15 minutes and then does 30 min of computer stuff (geography/typing) and eventually Laney joins him to watch. Mya is doing math (Tues. she has to do 2 lessons and today that takes forever!) I go over the work Alena has done and we do reading and spelling as well. Eden finally is happy playing with the geoboards.

11:15 - I'm finished up with Alena so we move to the couch and I read to her, Eden and Laney some Sonlight books and others from our shelves before sending them off to play.

11:45 - Start going over Gabe's work with him while Mya who is finally finished with math practices piano and starts some other school work

12:20 - We break for lunch and I read some history books aloud while the kids eat.

1:00 - Mya helps with lunch clean up and everyone else goes to play. This is usually where I send everyone outside if it's above freezing which today it is not so I must endure much screaming and noise as they all "play" inside. I sit and eat lunch while checking blogs and pretend not to hear the noise at all.

1:30 - Read Laney a couple of books and get her in bed for a nap. Everyone else plays until 1:45 and then starts to clean up (how in the world did they make such a mess in 45 min?)

2:00 - Eden goes in her room for rest time. Alena practices her piano and works on her computer stuff. I finish going over Gabe's work and make sure he knows what he needs to work on for his tutorial homework. Mya is still plugging away at her school work.

2:30-4:00 - Oldest three kids have piano with a highschool girl in our neighborhood. This is a great set-up and they usually just walk over but today because of the cold I drive them meaning I go back and forth for pick-up / drop-off four different times. In between that I get a cake in the oven (having a friend over for dinner) and work on laundry.  Eden plays on the Starfall website for 30 minutes and then plays with Alena when she's finished with piano.

4:00 - Mya and Gabe are finished with their school work and we enter the worst part of the day for me. I'm tired and the kids have been cooped up inside all day. I send them off to play in their rooms but there's much arguing and they never really settle down on anything. I attempt to get the rest of supper prep finished, work on this post, fold laundry, and try not to kill anyone

5:45 - still waiting on Daddy and our friend to come for dinner. I pull out our read aloud Toliver's Secret and read a couple chapters to pass the time.

6:15 - Nae is home. We eat dinner and Gabe does clean up while I assist. Typically Nae does bath time for the little girls while the older three take turns with their showers. We skip on that tonight since we've been inside all day and instead they play for a while after dinner.

7:45 - Everyone in pj's and ready for bed. We're trying Laney tonight in a big bed since she's been climbing out of her crib for months in hopes that she'll sleep better. We'll see how that plays out.

8:00 - Kids in bed and lights out. Gabe and Mya are allowed to read in their beds until 8:30. I head to my room and finish up this post, do some surfing, talk to Nae, and plan to watch the latest episode of Downton Abby that I missed on Sunday. I try to be in bed by 10 so I can get up and do it all again tomorrow.

4 comments:

Anne said...

Sounds like a FULL day to me!!

Anne said...

Sounds like a FULL day to me!!

Julie said...

Goodness! I'm tired from just reading!!!

Amanda said...

Really fun to read -- I love these types of posts. :) Thanks for sharing!