One thing our family loves to do is look back at past years in our "blog books". It is so fun to see the changes and remember all the little things that I might forget, had I not written them down.
I was lamenting to a friend the other day that it seemed my life used to be so routine and predictable as young kids would eat and nap at such regular times. I love routine and predictable:)
Now that the five are all school age and involved in activities, it seems each day is so different from the other. I am learning there is joy to be found in this as well.
I strive to be available to help friends in need and so we tend to have other kids with us a couple of times a week as well as people for dinner at least once a week. It's a tricky balance to be involved in a variety of activities, yet still have enough time open to be available to help others.
These are the regular activities this year.
Mondays we have piano from 10-1:30 and girls gymnastics from 3:30-4:30. Tuesdays are boys gymnastics from 3:30-4:15 and bible study from 6-7:30. Wednesdays we have another child arrive at 4 and then Awana from 5:30-8. Thursdays Sean is often off so we try to have a family outing. Fridays are for afternoon get togethers with friends and then movie night.
Saturdays are reserved for catching up around the house/school planning and adventures with the kids.
Sundays are church.
In an effort to keep our days remembered, the following is a documented Tuesday in February. I hesitate to call it typical because I am finding there is no such thing............
Tuesday, February 23, A little after 4:00am-
I hear Sean's alarm go off and he resets it to get a little more sleep. He has been working even longer hours lately (20 hours one day last week!) and so he's feeling pretty exhausted.
6:00 -I hear Sean heading to work and realize my alarm didn't go off. I had set it for Wednesday by mistake.
I head downstairs, make coffee and find Jordan awake on the couch. He snuck into our room at some point last night and then moved down to the couch. I put the dog outside and sit down with my coffee for some quiet time.
6:30- I unload the dishwasher, put breakfast in the oven (baked oatmeal prepared the night before), get dressed and start a load of laundry. I manoeuvre around Aiden's moldy bread samples for his science experiment.
Kids slowly emerge into the living room.
7:00- Breakfast is ready. Kids are tired and dragging themselves today. I grab a second cup of coffee.
7:10- We sit down to eat, choose chores, and read our current read aloud, "Prairie Thief."
(Chore sticks. The kids randomly choose two each day. )
7:30- Kids scatter. Some read quietly in the living room, some get dressed, Caileigh starts on Spanish. I switch the laundry over.
8:00- I officially call the start of school. This used to happen earlier but with our current schedule, the kids seem to need more time to sleep and wake up.
Kids work from their spiral notebooks and can choose to work in any order they wish. Their work load this particular Tuesday is light. ( I plan out a week's worth of school each Saturday and then divide that into the five days of school. Busy days we're a bit lighter on the school work, home days we accomplish more. It all works out by Friday.)
Alex starts writing while Jordan plays piano with me, Mikayla works on spelling, Caileigh works on math and Aiden is now doing spanish. For the next couple of hours I move from child to child assisting them and keeping them on track. Lot's of "Back to Work" encouragements. Squabbles break out from time to time and kids need to be redirected. This time is busy!!
10:30- Alex and Jordan are finishing up school. They're doing some research on rabbits to prepare for our field trip on Friday.
Aiden takes Buddy for a walk. He started walking Buddy daily since Christmas and it's great for both of them.
The girls are continuing to work on school.
11:00- Caileigh finishes school. Either I didn't assign enough, or she worked extremely diligently. I'm excited to think it's the latter! She boasts to the others about her new finishing school time record. She reads the boys a book on rabbits. I fry up meat to save time on dinner prep later.
11:30- Caileigh and the boys are head outside to play. Aiden is still working on school.
Mikayla is working hard to finish up her school. She wrote out a goal of completing school by lunch each day for a week. If she meets her goal, she gets some computer time. This is her second day of her goal and she's working well.
11:45- Kids each lunch. Normally we eat together as I read, but today the girls want to eat outside while visiting with the neighbours. (also homeschooled!) It's a beautiful sunny day so I say yes so they can have full advantage.
Alex and Jordan eat at the counter while I read to them. Aiden eats while working on math.
I putter, clean up school materials, tidy house, make a phone call to confirm field trip, send emails etc.
I collect eggs and feed chickens.
1:00- Outside for a bike ride!! I walk/jog beside the kids. It's gorgeous and sunny, although theres a cold wind. We go for 3 km. We come home and kids play outside.
2:00- Kids continue to play outside while I fit in a quick 30min. workout.
I collect library books, complete school spiral notebooks for tomorrow and do a quick house tidy.
The kids play at the neighbours helping him collect sticks for his fire.
3:10- I walk next door to collect the kids and visit with the neighbour for a few minutes.
We drive into gymnastics. Everyone smells like campfire smoke.
On the way Aiden tells me that maybe we shouldn't have the boys in gymnastics as it causes them to get super hyped up. I ensured him that their teacher says they're doing extremely well. Aiden scoffs and says, "Oh Mom! Don't you know that's textbook for what teachers tell parents. They have to say that!"
3:30- Older three and I head to the library to check out books. We take our time browsing. We go for a short drive, then head back to the gym to collect the boys.
4:30- We arrive home from gym and I work on preparing dinner. Kids browse through the new library book selection.
5:00 - My friend drops off 2 (of her 5) kids so we can watch them while they celebrate their anniversary.
5:45- Kids sit down for a lively dinner and continue to play afterwards.
(Alex, Jordan and their friend Rally are all the same age. I often call them "The triplets" as they look so similar. From the back it can be very difficult to tell them all apart!)
7:15- Sean arrives home from work early! He heats up his dinner.
7:30- My friend picks her boys up. Everyone pitches in for a "quick tidy". Kids get ready for bed.
8:00- Kids are all tucked into bed. A few pop into the living room here and there while Sean and I are watching TV/chatting. Bedtime can be such a dragged out process.
9:00- Kids are all finally asleep. Sean and I watch TV.
9:30- I'm fighting a cold and feeling extremely exhausted. I head to bed to get some rest before it all starts up again!
