So I guess stuff probably happens to us, but lately when I go to this blog, I am hard-pressed to think of what. My typical day goes like this:
-Wake up at 6:30 and read scriptures for 15-20 minutes. Sometimes this is great; sometimes I can barely keep my eyes open and focus.
-Get kids up at 6:55 if they don't get themselves up. Make lunches, get them off to the bus stop. Usually the little girls wake up at this time too. I wouldn't mind except they like to wake up and make a bunch of demands.
-Do morning things. These don't come at particular times. I usually clean up the kitchen and sometimes on a good day clean up some other stuff too. Then I get the girls dressed, teeth brushed, hair combed. This takes approximately 72 hours. Which is maybe why our life is so boring because we have to do this before they're allowed to do other stuff. Once they are finally ready, I put a movie on for them while I exercise for 20-40 minutes. Then it's usually close to lunchtime because those small things have taken so very long. So I don't really want to go out because everyone will melt down. Or they won't, but we'll get home so late that it will cut into quiet time and I'll melt down. Sometimes we go out anyway--to the park (though not lately because the weather--blah) or the grocery store (loony) or maybe even a friend's house. Sometimes we just read books (my favorite kid activity hands down). And often the girls play and fight together until lunch. They play lots of games where they are kitties or mommy and baby or mommy/baby kitties or something kind of along those lines. Sometimes they do art. Sometimes we cook food together. Thursdays I have a meeting and some morning piano lessons.
-Around noon we eat.
-And if all goes well, we have quiet time from 12:30-2:30, but it usually is more like 1:00 or 1:30 before it begins. Which is fine. During quiet time the girls do more play/fighting and I check email, do my food blog, take care of business, read, and--on a good day--nap. I'm always surprisingly tired by this point in my day, even though to look at our itinerary you wouldn't think I'd done all that much. Maybe that's why at home moms get a bad rap sometimes--because people ask them what they do all day and they're like, "Er, um, well, could you re-phrase the question?"
-At 2:30 I try to give the girls a little "extra time." This started out as a good intention with Mark--he could have 15 extra minutes at night to hang out with the parents. But then everyone wanted extra time, but of course everyone couldn't have it at night because then it wouldn't really be extra, now would it. So the girls get a little at the end of quiet time sometimes. On good days we read or I help Savannah with her letters. On other days, it's like a crazy free-for-all where the girls just get to play out of quiet time for a few minutes.
-At 2:40, the kids get home. They have to do homework (they don't have a tone), practice piano, clean rooms, and do bathroom jobs. That might sound like a lot, but it should only take them 20 minutes. Then they play or fight or a combination. Mark reads A LOT.
-On Tues and Thursdays I do piano lessons for 1-1 1/2 hours.
-At 4:00, I get dinner started (on a good day) and the kids are allowed screen time if their stuff is done. The idea is for it to go until 5:00 when dinner is done, but sometimes I'm late on dinner and it always bothers me because I just feel that screen time stretching out.
-At 5:00 we eat. If Kip is working, we eat at this time for sure. Other days it's usually a little later. After dinner, the kids do their dinner jobs. Kip heads to work at 5:25 if he's on.
-The kids beg me for dessert and extra screen time. I usually say 'yes' to the dessert (a smallish one) and 'no' to the screen time. I'd like to say that after dinner/dessert we have baths and creative learning activities, but we don't. Well, maybe sometimes on the baths, but not as often as we should. And as for the creative learning activities, well I guess they do happen, but not usually in a way that is led by me or organized. Usually in a way that is like Elizabeth tying up hundreds of blankets to various pieces of furniture in their bedroom (something I will not, by the way, discover until it's bedtime and all the blankets are tied with an elaborate system of knots to other things). Sometimes I read or talk to the kids (or even play or dance with them, though that not as often). When Kip is home we hang out and he often plays with the kids. So even though I made this evening time sound really lame because I can't exactly pinpoint what we do with it, it's actually usually super nice. I have thought several times in the last few weeks how sad I'll be when the kids get older and have more extra-curriculars and we have to kiss a lot of this unstructured and usually pleasant time good-bye.
-At 7:00 we start getting ready for bed. It always takes as long as possible. We read scriptures (like, 2 verses), say prayer, and if there's time I read a story or few.
-I put the little kids to bed while Mark and sometimes Elizabeth have "extra time." Again, this was originally supposed to be time with me/Kip, but then became an excuse for an extra 15 minutes of computer gaming, and then just recently I'm trying to pull it back into what it was originally meant to be--a time to sit and relax and cuddle with the parents. At bed time everyone gets tucked in and cuddled and kissed by Emma 100 times because she uses that as an excuse to keep getting out of bed.
-After that, I sit at the computer. About 2 minutes later, Emma comes in. We repeat this about 10 times (arg) and I wish it was cute, but usually I'm just done by this time. Once she finally gets locked in the tower (not literally, folks), I check my email, facebook, and kill a little time doing worthwhile things like reading informative Yahoo articles. I try not to make this too much time because I always feel sad if I do. Then I do whatever needs doing. Sometimes it's my blog or some family business that needs attention. Sometimes it's planning my weeks/days (what? they don't sound that planned? I didn't say a spent a lot of time doing this) Then I usually spend 1-3 hours writing my novel. One if Kip is home and more if he's not. I always intend to do a little relaxing yoga, but usually get too caught up in the novel and have to force myself to quit at 11:00 (or maybe even 12:00, though since I got sick in January I've been trying not to push it that late). I often read a little right before bed just to relax and decompress, but I don't read that long. When Kip is here we usually relax together for a few hours, and it's nice.
And that, my friends, is my day. You're probably asleep on your keyboard by now, so sweet dreams to you.
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