Another Day in the Life

 Welcome to another day in the life post. I love doing these because I love looking back at them and seeing how our day-to-day has changed and stayed the same.

Our summer days have been busy, but fun. This last week, though, we have all been getting over some kind of virus and Michael and I were the last ones to get it. So today was a much needed home day. It felt good to fall back into our rhythm. I was reminded that the "school year" has such a nice flow to it much like today, whereas our summer is a little more chaotic. Both are good, but we definitely thrive more with a consistent rhythm. 

My day starts with either Michael or Eleanor waking up first by 6:00/6:30, which then wakes me up. Every once in awhile I wake up before the baby and it's my favorite. You would all be proud of me, I feel like mornings are s l o w l y  becoming enjoyable. Eleanor usually comes back to bed with me and nurses until we're both ready to get up for the day. When we finally do get out of bed, it's breakfast time!

Eleanor gets her breakfast first or else she screams and wakes the whole house up. She is literally a monster.

I make coffee for myself and breakfast for the kids (who are usually still sleeping).

If I have a moment, I read my devotions for the day while Eleanor eats her breakfast and the big kids sleep. 

The big kids are usually up by 7:00/7:30. We are working on going potty, making beds, and brushing teeth before coming downstairs, but that's hit or miss some days.

Cup 2 already for me!

After breakfast, I always clean up the kitchen. You'll notice throughout the day, I am either cooking or cleaning the kitchen. All.day.long. on repeat.

While I'm cleaning, the kids typically jump right into play. I love when they play together. They create their own worlds and know exactly what they're doing. After the kitchen is clean, I encourage them to get dressed and ready for the day. Eleanor still needs my help and Ewan still wants my help. So it's a bit of an effort to get everyone dressed still.

While they continue to play, I get ready for the day. It's quick and easy for me.

The first chore of the day is to start the laundry. My laundry system that I mentioned last time is still going strong. I wash all the clothes we wore yesterday and our pajamas. There's usually a stray towel or washcloth in there too. We pull the pajamas out of the dryer at bedtime, so it really only ends up being one outfit per person that has to be put away by the end of the day. That's a pretty good deal compared to the mountain of laundry I used to do once a week. It's a really good system. You should try it!

By 9:00 we are ready for whatever the day holds! In the summer, we go to State Farm pool, the park, the zoo, the ampitheatre, the library, co-op, playdates, horse riding lessons, or some other fun thing. I try really hard to schedule in at least one home day a week because I know we need it! Today, I told the kids to get ready because we would do a little school. They grabbed their backpacks and shoved as many things as they could fit inside and ran out the door to the apple tree. They LOVE to "do school". And because we are so busy in the summer, this is a special treat!

When we "do school" we read a lot of books. Always a devotion, a Bible story, a science snippet, a history character, a nature excerpt, some poems, and some kind of picture book. Isla wanted to do some letter worksheets and Ewan wanted to find things in the yard that started with certain letters. 

By 9:30 the kids are usually ready for snack. So we took a recess break while I made snack- berry smoothies, cheese, nuts, and popcorn. Yum!

After snack, I worked in the garden. I try to get out earlier than this because the heat is hard to work in. The kids are always welcome to join me and you can bet Isla is usually in there in the dirt. She is an expert gardener by now and I consider working in the garden to be a valuable part of her education too. Learning plant life cycles, the miracle of gardening, insects and wildlife, photosynthesis, where our food comes from, how to care for something bigger than yourself... those are all good lessons. 

And today some of our potatoes were ready to be harvested! So the kids went on a potato treasure hunt. You just dig around in the dirt until you find one. It's so fun!

The kids played outside the rest of the morning. So much so that they needed a change of clothes before lunch! But messy play is always encouraged here.

Between 11:00/11:30 we eat lunch. Today while I made lunch, the kids counted and sorted loose parts that I had put on the table. Their teamwork quickly turned into arguing, which means we are hungry!

Lunch today- peanut butter and (homemade) blueberry lemon jam sandwiches, garden veggies, mango and grapes, nuts, pretzels, and wafer cookies.

A new chore for everyone is taking care of their dishes after every single meal. Sometimes they even clean the dishes with me!

The kids found a one-winged lightning bug that they tried to rescue while I ate my lunch. Typically, they play for a little bit while everyone finishes eating and getting cleaned up.

My lunch- garden fresh caprese salad and a garden deli sandwich. If I'm going to be spending all this time in the kitchen, I might as well eat delicious food ;)

Sometimes I make Michael's lunch too. It just depends on the day and what he's wanting or has time for.

Clean the kitchen... again.

Then around 12:00/12:30 we start our rest time. I will admit, this summer has been difficult to enforce rest time when half the time we are still out and about doing all the things. If we are at the pool or something similar, I just pray Eleanor sleeps in her stroller or the car ride home. Ewan also still needs a nap, but doesn't take one anymore. So by the end of our busy days, the kids are dead tired. On home days, they get to actually rest. Isla and Ewan head to their room to listen to their audiobooks, play, look at books, lay down, whatever they want to do. And Eleanor *hopefully* takes a nap. Sometimes it's 20 minutes and sometimes it's 2 hours. 

I spend rest time frantically trying to do all the things I need to do before Eleanor wakes up. It's just a wild guess how much time I'll actually have. Today I was able to squeeze in a lot. I moved the laundry over to the dryer,

got a loaf of bread into the oven that had been fermenting all night,

talked to a friend on Marco Polo, did 15 minutes of yoga,

and put all my freshly washed garden produce into recipes or cans.

I told Michael the other day I just didn't realize how much time you have to spend in your kitchen when you garden. The winter is when I usually think of spending time in the kitchen, but I have spent more time preparing and preserving this summer than I ever have. Every day I have a whole basket of produce that I have to do something with. You can only eat so many cucumbers before you have to do something else with them. (By the way, if you like pickles plan on getting a jar for Christmas ;))

Between 1:00-2:00 Eleanor wakes up (or is woken up). Since being sick, she's been asking to nurse again after nap. I have mixed feelings on this, but it is what it is.

Around 2:00/2:30 everyone is out of their rooms and about ready for their next snack. The kids love it when I get the juicer out and I needed to use up the excess beets, cucumbers, and carrots from the garden... so juice it is for snack! And fresh baked bread with chive butter. Yum!

Whether we spent the morning out of the house or had a home day, I still try to get us outside in the afternoon. Our back deck and yard is shaded in the afternoon, so it's a good time for us to enjoy some hours outside. Today the kids painted while I "sittervised" and looked through some recipes.

We did get pretty hot, though, so back inside we went. Just before dad gets off work, around 3:30, we do "blessing time". This is where we go around and pick up the house, clean the messes we've made, and put our house back in order. It is our time to bless the family, meaning give back to one another. We all live in this house and we want it to be peaceful and enjoyable for everyone, so we work towards blessing one another in this way. This doesn't happen every day (especially in the summer), but it's a habit I am aiming to be more consistent in because I think it's important.

Around 4:00, Michael is off work and comes upstairs. This is my least favorite part of the day, but probably the kids most favorite part- the darn wrestling. Michael and the kids love to turn on music and wrestle, snuggle, dance, run around. It's probably everyone's way of debriefing after a long day, but I tend to find more chores to do during this time ;)

Many times in the summer when Michael gets off work, we go to Nana and Pop Pop's pool to swim and have dinner. Or we might go to the ampitheatre with takeout. Or we might go out to eat or State Farm pool. It varies.

Otherwise, I usually start dinner sometime around 4:30. Because Michael was climbing tonight, he helped me out by doing the kids's bath early while I cooked dinner.

We eat dinner between 5:00-5:30. Tonight we had breakfast for dinner, a family-favorite! Ricotta pancakes with homemade blueberry butter, eggs, bacon, and garden fresh fried potatoes.

After dinner, we clean the kitchen (again) and get started on baths usually (if it's bath night). There's a little more time for play, wrestling, cleaning, etc. before we get ready for bed. Tonight we called Mimi and Bupa.

We are early bedtime people. The whole process takes about an hour, so around 6:00/6:30 we usually get started. We get jammies on, brush teeth, fill up waters, and pick out books. Each kid picks 2 books and we all snuggle up to read. During this time, I sneak away to nurse Eleanor and lay her down in her own room. But tonight, we just all did books.

Then it's prayers and lights out. But not before a million questions, a couple threats about staying in bed, a water refill, a search for a missing stuffed animal, and some other shenanigans. Finally, they are in their rooms by 7:00. Isla and Ewan stay up and look at books or talk for another half hour or so. I think it's sweet.

After bedtime, I always pack lunches and set clothes out on the bench for the next day. 

Then I feed my sourdough starter (my other baby) and clean the kitchen one last time.

I pick up any straggler toys or items, get whatever we need ready for the next day, change out the toys or prep for school, and generally put the house to bed.

Then I spend my night in a little self-care. I read, take a bath, journal, chat with Michael, watch a show, talk to a friend... whatever fills my cup. A well rested mom is the best kind of mom. Tonight, I opened a package that had some homeschooling materials in it, so you can guess how I'll be spending my night :)

Lights are out for Michael and me between 9:30-10:30. Man, these days are long, but the years are so short. I just treasure these days, even on mundane, average ones like today. I don't want to miss a thing.