What do you do all day?
Not that you asked for it... but on a forum I am part of, we were sharing "a day in the life" through pictures. I thought I'd share our submission here as well. This was our day yesterday. Warning... very long, lots of pictures. :)
Okay, we are back from our vacation and ready to play!
We tried to empty our fridge before we left, and we just got back last night and unpacked... so we haven't gone shopping yet, so our fridge is empty. Thankfully, Tuesday is errand day anyway, so we'll be shopping in a bit.
8:15am - Because we have no milk or eggs, we had cinnamon toast for breakfast. I put jam on my toast, but my kids hate jam for some reason (weirdos), so they stuck with the cinnamon & sugar (the boys just had a tiny bit of butter on theirs). J2 (in the blue) was mad because he'd already finished one slice and wanted more.
While I was in the kitchen, I also pulled some meat & beans out of the freezer to thaw for our "Taco Tuesday" dinner tonight. We'll pick up the rest of the food for that at the store today.
After breakfast I jumped in the shower and told the girls to start their morning cards. They pretty much did nothing while I was in the shower, but at least they didn't make a mess. After I got out I was able to direct a bit more. Here's C brushing her teeth. 9:10am
While I was encouraging the girls to get ready, I got the boys dressed, and sat down to read scriptures. I have the scriptures on my iPod.
The girls finally finished their morning cards, and passed morning inspection. Here's D moving the last of her morning cards from her "start" peg to her "finished" peg.
9:45am - C finished her morning cards first, and earned the privilege of leading us in Circle Time. We said a prayer, then C lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance (with the wrong hand over her heart...but oh well).
She also got to put our calendar number up for today (we're apparently missing the "4").
We also discussed the weather for today, and what outer clothing we'll need to wear when we go shopping later today. Then we worked on our memory work. These cards are part of our history memorization, a "History in Action" timeline packet from Timelinesetc.com. Each one has a short catch phrase & action and they rhyme. We have done the first 16 events for "Modern History" so far this year. We're a bit behind, but we're doing 2 per week instead of only 1 now, so we should catch up soon. We recite what we have learned during Circle Time so that they continue to remember it.
We also work on a new scripture. Here's what the kids are usually doing during Circle Time. :)
10:00am - After Circle Time is Family Work Time! We start by unloading the dishwasher. Dave does the dishes after dinner... but he won't do them if the dishwasher is full... and this is the best time to get it unloaded. And I know there's a ton of pictures of this, but it was so cute to see the boys helping with this (which they do about half the time now), so I just had a ton of cute ones to share.
After unloading the dishwasher, we usually pack lunches for the day... assembly line style. But, since we used all our bread for breakfast, we don't have any left for sandwiches, so our lunch doesn't really require much prep... we'll mostly be eating leftover road-trip snacks. More on that later.
So, we skip lunch prep, and go straight to kitchen clean-up. I wipe the counters, and the kids move the stools out of the kitchen so I can sweep.
After kitchen clean-up, we have a Zone Task. This week, our zone is the kitchen/dining & entry areas. We choose to mop the kitchen floor for our task this morning. While I grab a wet rag, the kids grab wipees and start scrubbing sticky spots they can find.
The main reason we have Family Work Time as part of our School Day is so that I can teach the kids the proper way to clean things, and what I expect in terms of quality. So, here I show D how to scrub a particularly stubborn spot, while I'm also showing them how to work one section of the floor at a time, and work our way out of the kitchen.
The boys have lost interest in helping at this point... and have raided the shoe & coat cupboard. Here's J2, with his favorite pair of shoes (mine), and DH's favorite winter hat.
10:30 - After Family Work Time is our official School Time. We have our history lesson first, where we learn the 17th event for our History in Action. We have discovered that the timeline packet's description of the events is usually a bit dry for little ones, so we are supplementing with the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia.
Then we are doing our etiquette lesson with The Etiquette Factory. This involves watching a 5-10 minute DVD clip each day and discussing the stories & songs presented. Here's all of the kids watching the clip for today.
Next is literature. We are reading Little House on the Prairie. I sit on the couch & read a chapter or two (depending on how much time we have), while the kids mostly sit still and listen. We usually stop when the boys get mad and beg for lunch. Today they were begging for food earlier, so I sat them at the table with a couple crackers while we read.
11:15 - Then it's lunch time! Today we're having leftovers from the road trip. The boys don't generally eat meat (unless it's ground beef with taco seasoning, and with lots of beans in it), so they just get cheese, crackers & a carrot. The girls also get pepperoni, but two of them didn't want the cheese. I also cut up an apple for them after they started eating.
11:45am - After lunch is my favorite part of the day... NAP TIME!!! (The girls were finishing lunch while I put the boys down.) I usually wrap the boys one at a time, but they were holding so still I just got them ready at the same time and snapped a quick picture. This is just after I nursed them on the bed. They each have their special stuffed frog, and their sippy cups of water.
Then I wrap them in their blankets and put them in the pack & play. They LOVE nu-night time!
After I put the boys down, I got K & D started on individual school-work, then read a story to C and left her for naptime. D started with her reading lesson (on the computer), and K started with spelling.
12:30pm - I took a quick break after they finished these lessons to check on the nappers. Everyone sleeping soundly!
Next for individual lessons. D does math (she's learning about the value of money right now), and K does her reading.
When D finishes her math, she's done for the day and she grabbed the crayons and started coloring. K finished her reading, then did her math lesson with me, then started coloring with D. We finished all lessons about 1:15, and had free time until the nappers woke up. So, I jumped on the computer to upload our first half of the day! C woke up about 1:45 and came out to color with her sisters. The boys just barely woke up about 2:10, so it's time for me to get off the computer and start our busy afternoon!
Part 2 - If you follow the timeline on this, you'll notice how blessed we are to live so close to all our shopping & such. :) We like to run errands in a single path, so we don't have to back-track a whole lot. Luckily, our grocery store is usually the closest errand to our house, so it's easy to make it the last stop so I don't have to worry about perishables.
2:50pm - We're all settled in the car, K is standing in front of C to help her get her buckles on. We usually have a snack around 3pm, so today we just brought a box of Cheez-its.
3:00pm - Errand 1. Had to drop something off at my sister's. Here's her yappy little dog, Jasper.
3:10 - Errand 2: craft store. Here we are holding hands in the parking lot. J1 insists on being carried, so he was in my arms.
Why are craft store shopping carts always so small?
3:30 - Errand 3: health food store (nearly across the street from the craft store). I had to return some kids vitamins I got, because I had accidentally bought the wrong ones. Then we bought the right ones, and a treat for the kids because they'd been super good to this point.
J1 was super mad because he wanted his fruit leather NOW, and did not want to wait to pay for it and get back in the car.
4:00pm - Errand 4: groceries (final stop). Quick story: our grocery store has the best shopping carts EVER for a family with lots of little ones. However, they have a very limited number of them, and they're a pain for the cart boys to bring back to the store, so they're almost never actually in the store. Also, there are lots of young families that tend to take these carts even though they have only one or two children... sometimes I honestly think they should have a special check-out procedure for these, so that those who NEED these carts can actually get them.
I have discovered that the best way for me to get one is to drive around the parking lot until I find one that hasn't been taken back to the store yet. Then I have K jump out and stand by it to "claim" it for us, and then I park as close to it as possible... regardless of how close it is to the store.
And here's why I love it. There's a little "car" for two children in the front. They used to have buckles, but most of the carts are so old that all the buckles are broken now.
But the BEST part of these carts... there are ALSO TWO child seats up by the handle!!! I always put my boys closest to me (I don't think they've seen the car part yet), and the girls rotate who is in/by the cart, and who gets to ride in the car. Usually C will ride in the cart while we shop the outside of the store. She especially likes to help me bag the produce, which we put in a separate hand-held basket on top of the car part, so it doesn't take up too much room, or get squished. Then D rides in the cart while we shop the aisles. She's really good at stacking cans & boxes neatly, so that we can fit lots in, and good at keeping it away from the boys, since they like to try to turn around and grab the food. And finally, K stands next to the cart when we get to the register. By then the cart is usually too full for anyone to ride in, and K is good at unloading the cart onto the belt, and is most likely to stay close when we go back through the parking lot.
4:45pm - Success. Grocery shopping done. We actually didn't buy that much today. We have quite a bit of canned goods & such, we mostly just needed to restock the fridge.
5:00pm - One final stop before going home. We get to pick up Dave from school. Normally he leaves about 5pm, then catches a bus home, and arrives around 5:45. But since we're out running errands on Tuesdays, we get to pick him up, save him some bus time, and get some help unloading groceries.
5:15pm - Home and unloading the car.
5:30pm - Dave and I get the groceries put away while the girls do a "clean-up basket" in the family room. It's nice to have a better-stocked fridge again. :)
The girls didn't completely finish their job... but close enough for now. And J1 is in the background pulling out all of our homeschool materials.
5:45pm - I prep our taco meat for dinner, while Dave chops veggies. I also work with the kids to try to get the family room picked up a bit more.
6:10pm - Dinner, but we didn't get any pics of that.
By 6:45pm we are done eating and have the kitchen mostly picked up. We're exhausted (Dave & me) and wired (the kids) from our long day. The kids run (literally) back & forth in the family room while I briefly check-in on facebook, email, blogs & forums.
7:15pm - Back to the grind for the night routine. Bath time for the boys to get the rest of the taco meat off of them. The girls are supposed to be working on their night cards at this point... but they pretty much don't do anything.
7:30pm - Dave gets the boys jammied, I lay out the kids vitamins for when they finish their night cards (ironically, the kids think their vitamins taste like candy, and it has become a great incentive for them to actually get stuff done... unfortunately, not tonight).
8:00pm - C has finished her night cards (first one again), but the other two have barely started. K has gotten side-tracked making sure that every blanket on her bed & her sisters' bed is perfectly straight. Sometimes I wish her perfectionism could be harnessed into things that actually NEEDED to be done... instead of making things take much longer than they need to.
Anyway... the boys are super excited to be going to bed. Here they are waiting on my bed for their nursing session just before being wrapped & put in the pack & play again. They're in the pack & play and I've left the room by 8:20.
9:00pm - The girls have FINALLY finished their night cards, and I pulled Dave off his computer long enough to have scripture reading & prayer with the girls. This is supposed to be done before the boys go to sleep, but the girls were taking WAY too long, and I was too tired to nag so much tonight. Instead, they have now missed all their reading time, and go to bed with lights out immediately after scriptures, prayer, hugs & kisses.
After the girls were sent to bed, Dave and I watched a show online together, and had a special treat. Dave had a mini-sorbet, and I got a purple cow (grape juice & vanilla ice cream). Dave is trying to lose weight, and while he doesn't really like the flavor of ice-cream anyway, he is also pushing for sorbet more because it's much less fat. I on the other hand, am trying to *gain* weight. I always have a hard time gaining during pregnancy, so I'm eating a purple cow almost every night before bed. :)
Our show ended about 10pm, and now Dave and I are just sitting on the couch together, each with our laptops. :) Dave is reading jokes online, and sharing some with me as he finds funny, appropriate ones. It's already 11pm, but I don't know if we'll be heading to bed soon or not. I think this is the last thing I'll be doing online tonight, but Dave may want to watch another show. We usually try to be in bed sometime between 11pm-1am... horrible, I know... but we're both night owls, and it's great to have so much quiet time with all the kids asleep.
Okay, we are back from our vacation and ready to play!
We tried to empty our fridge before we left, and we just got back last night and unpacked... so we haven't gone shopping yet, so our fridge is empty. Thankfully, Tuesday is errand day anyway, so we'll be shopping in a bit.
8:15am - Because we have no milk or eggs, we had cinnamon toast for breakfast. I put jam on my toast, but my kids hate jam for some reason (weirdos), so they stuck with the cinnamon & sugar (the boys just had a tiny bit of butter on theirs). J2 (in the blue) was mad because he'd already finished one slice and wanted more.
While I was in the kitchen, I also pulled some meat & beans out of the freezer to thaw for our "Taco Tuesday" dinner tonight. We'll pick up the rest of the food for that at the store today.
After breakfast I jumped in the shower and told the girls to start their morning cards. They pretty much did nothing while I was in the shower, but at least they didn't make a mess. After I got out I was able to direct a bit more. Here's C brushing her teeth. 9:10am
While I was encouraging the girls to get ready, I got the boys dressed, and sat down to read scriptures. I have the scriptures on my iPod.
The girls finally finished their morning cards, and passed morning inspection. Here's D moving the last of her morning cards from her "start" peg to her "finished" peg.
9:45am - C finished her morning cards first, and earned the privilege of leading us in Circle Time. We said a prayer, then C lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance (with the wrong hand over her heart...but oh well).
She also got to put our calendar number up for today (we're apparently missing the "4").
We also discussed the weather for today, and what outer clothing we'll need to wear when we go shopping later today. Then we worked on our memory work. These cards are part of our history memorization, a "History in Action" timeline packet from Timelinesetc.com. Each one has a short catch phrase & action and they rhyme. We have done the first 16 events for "Modern History" so far this year. We're a bit behind, but we're doing 2 per week instead of only 1 now, so we should catch up soon. We recite what we have learned during Circle Time so that they continue to remember it.
We also work on a new scripture. Here's what the kids are usually doing during Circle Time. :)
10:00am - After Circle Time is Family Work Time! We start by unloading the dishwasher. Dave does the dishes after dinner... but he won't do them if the dishwasher is full... and this is the best time to get it unloaded. And I know there's a ton of pictures of this, but it was so cute to see the boys helping with this (which they do about half the time now), so I just had a ton of cute ones to share.
After unloading the dishwasher, we usually pack lunches for the day... assembly line style. But, since we used all our bread for breakfast, we don't have any left for sandwiches, so our lunch doesn't really require much prep... we'll mostly be eating leftover road-trip snacks. More on that later.
So, we skip lunch prep, and go straight to kitchen clean-up. I wipe the counters, and the kids move the stools out of the kitchen so I can sweep.
After kitchen clean-up, we have a Zone Task. This week, our zone is the kitchen/dining & entry areas. We choose to mop the kitchen floor for our task this morning. While I grab a wet rag, the kids grab wipees and start scrubbing sticky spots they can find.
The main reason we have Family Work Time as part of our School Day is so that I can teach the kids the proper way to clean things, and what I expect in terms of quality. So, here I show D how to scrub a particularly stubborn spot, while I'm also showing them how to work one section of the floor at a time, and work our way out of the kitchen.
The boys have lost interest in helping at this point... and have raided the shoe & coat cupboard. Here's J2, with his favorite pair of shoes (mine), and DH's favorite winter hat.
10:30 - After Family Work Time is our official School Time. We have our history lesson first, where we learn the 17th event for our History in Action. We have discovered that the timeline packet's description of the events is usually a bit dry for little ones, so we are supplementing with the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia.
Then we are doing our etiquette lesson with The Etiquette Factory. This involves watching a 5-10 minute DVD clip each day and discussing the stories & songs presented. Here's all of the kids watching the clip for today.
Next is literature. We are reading Little House on the Prairie. I sit on the couch & read a chapter or two (depending on how much time we have), while the kids mostly sit still and listen. We usually stop when the boys get mad and beg for lunch. Today they were begging for food earlier, so I sat them at the table with a couple crackers while we read.
11:15 - Then it's lunch time! Today we're having leftovers from the road trip. The boys don't generally eat meat (unless it's ground beef with taco seasoning, and with lots of beans in it), so they just get cheese, crackers & a carrot. The girls also get pepperoni, but two of them didn't want the cheese. I also cut up an apple for them after they started eating.
11:45am - After lunch is my favorite part of the day... NAP TIME!!! (The girls were finishing lunch while I put the boys down.) I usually wrap the boys one at a time, but they were holding so still I just got them ready at the same time and snapped a quick picture. This is just after I nursed them on the bed. They each have their special stuffed frog, and their sippy cups of water.
Then I wrap them in their blankets and put them in the pack & play. They LOVE nu-night time!
After I put the boys down, I got K & D started on individual school-work, then read a story to C and left her for naptime. D started with her reading lesson (on the computer), and K started with spelling.
12:30pm - I took a quick break after they finished these lessons to check on the nappers. Everyone sleeping soundly!
Next for individual lessons. D does math (she's learning about the value of money right now), and K does her reading.
When D finishes her math, she's done for the day and she grabbed the crayons and started coloring. K finished her reading, then did her math lesson with me, then started coloring with D. We finished all lessons about 1:15, and had free time until the nappers woke up. So, I jumped on the computer to upload our first half of the day! C woke up about 1:45 and came out to color with her sisters. The boys just barely woke up about 2:10, so it's time for me to get off the computer and start our busy afternoon!
Part 2 - If you follow the timeline on this, you'll notice how blessed we are to live so close to all our shopping & such. :) We like to run errands in a single path, so we don't have to back-track a whole lot. Luckily, our grocery store is usually the closest errand to our house, so it's easy to make it the last stop so I don't have to worry about perishables.
2:50pm - We're all settled in the car, K is standing in front of C to help her get her buckles on. We usually have a snack around 3pm, so today we just brought a box of Cheez-its.
3:00pm - Errand 1. Had to drop something off at my sister's. Here's her yappy little dog, Jasper.
3:10 - Errand 2: craft store. Here we are holding hands in the parking lot. J1 insists on being carried, so he was in my arms.
Why are craft store shopping carts always so small?
3:30 - Errand 3: health food store (nearly across the street from the craft store). I had to return some kids vitamins I got, because I had accidentally bought the wrong ones. Then we bought the right ones, and a treat for the kids because they'd been super good to this point.
J1 was super mad because he wanted his fruit leather NOW, and did not want to wait to pay for it and get back in the car.
4:00pm - Errand 4: groceries (final stop). Quick story: our grocery store has the best shopping carts EVER for a family with lots of little ones. However, they have a very limited number of them, and they're a pain for the cart boys to bring back to the store, so they're almost never actually in the store. Also, there are lots of young families that tend to take these carts even though they have only one or two children... sometimes I honestly think they should have a special check-out procedure for these, so that those who NEED these carts can actually get them.
I have discovered that the best way for me to get one is to drive around the parking lot until I find one that hasn't been taken back to the store yet. Then I have K jump out and stand by it to "claim" it for us, and then I park as close to it as possible... regardless of how close it is to the store.
And here's why I love it. There's a little "car" for two children in the front. They used to have buckles, but most of the carts are so old that all the buckles are broken now.
But the BEST part of these carts... there are ALSO TWO child seats up by the handle!!! I always put my boys closest to me (I don't think they've seen the car part yet), and the girls rotate who is in/by the cart, and who gets to ride in the car. Usually C will ride in the cart while we shop the outside of the store. She especially likes to help me bag the produce, which we put in a separate hand-held basket on top of the car part, so it doesn't take up too much room, or get squished. Then D rides in the cart while we shop the aisles. She's really good at stacking cans & boxes neatly, so that we can fit lots in, and good at keeping it away from the boys, since they like to try to turn around and grab the food. And finally, K stands next to the cart when we get to the register. By then the cart is usually too full for anyone to ride in, and K is good at unloading the cart onto the belt, and is most likely to stay close when we go back through the parking lot.
4:45pm - Success. Grocery shopping done. We actually didn't buy that much today. We have quite a bit of canned goods & such, we mostly just needed to restock the fridge.
5:00pm - One final stop before going home. We get to pick up Dave from school. Normally he leaves about 5pm, then catches a bus home, and arrives around 5:45. But since we're out running errands on Tuesdays, we get to pick him up, save him some bus time, and get some help unloading groceries.
5:15pm - Home and unloading the car.
5:30pm - Dave and I get the groceries put away while the girls do a "clean-up basket" in the family room. It's nice to have a better-stocked fridge again. :)
The girls didn't completely finish their job... but close enough for now. And J1 is in the background pulling out all of our homeschool materials.
5:45pm - I prep our taco meat for dinner, while Dave chops veggies. I also work with the kids to try to get the family room picked up a bit more.
6:10pm - Dinner, but we didn't get any pics of that.
By 6:45pm we are done eating and have the kitchen mostly picked up. We're exhausted (Dave & me) and wired (the kids) from our long day. The kids run (literally) back & forth in the family room while I briefly check-in on facebook, email, blogs & forums.
7:15pm - Back to the grind for the night routine. Bath time for the boys to get the rest of the taco meat off of them. The girls are supposed to be working on their night cards at this point... but they pretty much don't do anything.
7:30pm - Dave gets the boys jammied, I lay out the kids vitamins for when they finish their night cards (ironically, the kids think their vitamins taste like candy, and it has become a great incentive for them to actually get stuff done... unfortunately, not tonight).
8:00pm - C has finished her night cards (first one again), but the other two have barely started. K has gotten side-tracked making sure that every blanket on her bed & her sisters' bed is perfectly straight. Sometimes I wish her perfectionism could be harnessed into things that actually NEEDED to be done... instead of making things take much longer than they need to.
Anyway... the boys are super excited to be going to bed. Here they are waiting on my bed for their nursing session just before being wrapped & put in the pack & play again. They're in the pack & play and I've left the room by 8:20.
9:00pm - The girls have FINALLY finished their night cards, and I pulled Dave off his computer long enough to have scripture reading & prayer with the girls. This is supposed to be done before the boys go to sleep, but the girls were taking WAY too long, and I was too tired to nag so much tonight. Instead, they have now missed all their reading time, and go to bed with lights out immediately after scriptures, prayer, hugs & kisses.
After the girls were sent to bed, Dave and I watched a show online together, and had a special treat. Dave had a mini-sorbet, and I got a purple cow (grape juice & vanilla ice cream). Dave is trying to lose weight, and while he doesn't really like the flavor of ice-cream anyway, he is also pushing for sorbet more because it's much less fat. I on the other hand, am trying to *gain* weight. I always have a hard time gaining during pregnancy, so I'm eating a purple cow almost every night before bed. :)
Our show ended about 10pm, and now Dave and I are just sitting on the couch together, each with our laptops. :) Dave is reading jokes online, and sharing some with me as he finds funny, appropriate ones. It's already 11pm, but I don't know if we'll be heading to bed soon or not. I think this is the last thing I'll be doing online tonight, but Dave may want to watch another show. We usually try to be in bed sometime between 11pm-1am... horrible, I know... but we're both night owls, and it's great to have so much quiet time with all the kids asleep.
Comments
Oh, and I ran into one of your husband's cousins here in Heber the other day. I figured when I heard the last name that you must be related.
I got the Mary Hunt book you recommended for financial organization, but I can't remember your recommendation for household organization. What was it? I want to know more about your "zone" cleaning. I know we've talked about this before at playgroups, but I need to be exposed to things about thirty times before I can begin to internalize them. :O)
I really do admire you. I talk to Luke often about you and your amazing-ness! :O)
This is completely unrelated but I saw this frog hat and thought of you! (you might have to scroll down to see the frog hat)
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Aloha-Twist-Creations/114475411960948