My Days...

Boy. It seems like it was so easy for a while there to find time for myself. And now all of the sudden it takes a whole lot more work to get everything just right so that all four of my kiddos are quiet and contained and I have moment alone.

Mind you, I'm not complaining. In fact I've quite enjoyed my busier time of really being in the moment with my family. We're doing more fun stuff with school as the year moves along, which I know my bigger boys both enjoy. Goose is starting little bits of preschool stuff, too. He loves numbers right now so I'm trying to take time here and there to go do some fun counting and manipulative work with numbers. He loves it when I can carve out the time. It's far from daily though. I'm working on that. And Girly Pie is at that really fun interactive stage at six months. she's still not crawling or sitting up on her own, but she can roll across quite a large space, and will soon (I'd bet within a week) figure out that she can span a room to get where she wants to go. So I'm just busier with her drinking in all the cuteness and fun of one of the most pleasant stages of childhood, I think. She really is in that "golden age" of babyhood. She's all smiles and sweetness, and she really can light up a room just by being in it right now. So when she's awake, it's much harder for me to just plunk her in my lap and type away. I just can't ignore that girl! She's irresistible right now!

And in a perfect world I would really be on top of keeping a better schedule. I've read Managers of Their Homes and while I agree that having a schedule is ideal, I have yet to manage my home as efficiently as the author of the book seems to. I think I am more of a routine person than a schedule person.

So are you curious about what our routine is? I'm happy to share it. It's a fluid thing, but we are beginning to see the real routine of life with four children 6 and younger take shape... Here's what a typical weekday looks like around here, barring any outings, sickness, temper tantrums, potty disasters, visitors or other such unexpected interruptions (so you can imagine that it's not exactly a constant thing! But we're working on it!):

6am: I wake (new to me... just trying the early rise thing... it works great when I have the will power to get out of my warm bed!) and heads downstairs for what Bible reading and quiet time with the Lord I can find. Girly Pie is often awake with me at this point, but sometimes she still dozes in bed with her Daddy.

6:30-7am: Boys start waking up and tumbling downstairs. They generally start the day off with free play time for a bit.

7-7:30-ish am: Big boys work on their daily chores while I prepare breakfast and tend to Girly Pie. Daddy is up and Goose is most likely following him around as he prepares for his work day.

7:30-8-ish am: We eat breakfast together and kiss Daddy goodbye as he heads out for the day around 8 (unless it's the busy time of year, at which time he's gone before most of the kids are up).

8-9 or 9:30am: Boys finish any lingering chores and Punky whips out two pages in both his Singapore Math book and his Spectrum reading comprehension workbook before their free time starts. Most days (when our ancient computer is cooperating with its failing sound card) Punky will do some online learning programs to supplement his math and spelling skills at this time, too. Goose plays on his own for the most part during this time and he flits in and out of my routine and the big boys' free play as I go about my morning chores. Girly Pie is usually in the Moby Wrap at this time or in her exersaucer or rolling around on the ground with toys. This is my work time and my free with the babies time of the day. Often, too, I will spend this time in the morning investing in the wonderful friendship that God has blessed me with in Mary Grace. I know it is a bit of a guilty pleasure to spend time on the phone in the morning. And we don't talk every single day. But more often than not we will check in with one another and talk about our day, our children, our faith, our husbands, our worries, our achievements and our failings... we support each other and laugh and cry together. And with nine kids between us at this point, all of whom are homeschooled, many of whom have various appointments for doctors, therapy, etc... it is just getting really darn hard to physically get together and enjoy each other's company. So that time in the morning I look at as fellowship and support. I do know that the actual routine and schedule of my days would go better if I spent that time more wisely... but I fear that my heart and my spirit would fade more quickly through the day if I did not spend that time with the friend God has blessed me with.

All that as a good excuse for chatting on the phone for an hour or so most mornings. Can you tell I feel just a little bit guilty for that indulgence? But it's worth it. ;o)

OK. Moving on.

9:30 or 10am: Girly Pie starts her morning nap and I get going on any handsfree school work I have planned with the boys. Often Goose does playdough or plays with his little diggers in a tray of rice at the table with us during any project time. On Fridays we usually bake something tasty during this time. Some days it's a craft, some days it's sit down lesson stuff. Some days we just play board games. Today I did some laundry and played battleship with Punky while a very cranky Goose watched a video and Finny floated between the two activities.

10:30 or 11am: Girly Pie's nap is wrapping up and the boys are revved up and ready for some free time, so usually Punky and Finny play Legos or dress up as knights or Egyptians or scuba divers... whatever we're doing in school or reading in our books at the time that inspires them... Goose will float with them or hang in the kitchen with me while I putter around and prepare lunch or tidy any messes left from our project or Goose's play time.

Usually we eat lunch around 12, give or take 30 minutes. up to this point in the day, the times really move around and some things take longer and others are skipped. I throw laundry in and out of the machines and fold in fits and starts when I can. Girly Pie is up or down at varied points, since I still have not pushed her to a strict sleeping schedule yet. Goose floats a ton in the mornings. I want to make the perfect time to have just mommy and Goose time... I'm working on that one.

12-1pm: At some point in here lunch is over, and I excuse Goose and myself upstairs while the big boys finish up their food and clear their places to have a few minutes of quiet free time downstairs. Goose still takes naps and we really enjoy the time of reading and snuggling while I get him ready for his nap. Girly Pie is usually with us, but she's happy to roll around on his bed and chew on his toys while we read.

12-1p: Still in the window of time but after goose is down for nap, I try to tidy the kitchen from lunch, but often just skip it for now. This is when we begin our Goose-free school stuff that really takes my (mostly) full attention. We read our Sonlight books during this time... We all enjoy this part of the day, though I admit it is definitely the most time consuming part of school for us. Often we'll skip basics even, like Punky reading his own books, for the sake of reading our Sonlight stuff. But many days he does get to read on his own to me, and I think it's OK for now that he's not reading books daily. He reads something in his morning workbooks daily and often will finds something on his own throughout the day. Right now we are reading Jack Plank Tells Tales together, taking turns reading paragraphs. It's a very cute book. I'd recommend it so far. For Sonlight right now we are still working on Egypt. Our projects have included building several kinds of pyramids and making sledges to see how simple machines aided in the construction of the real pyramids. I need to get a raw chicken leg so we can try to mummify it later this week. When I came down from putting Girly Pie down for her nap today, my boys were role playing something unfamiliar... it involved swords made of Zoobs of course... but the costumes were new as was what I could catch from the plot. They were playing Egypt. Only it was kind of like Tarzan and Swiss Family Robinson. Only not really. Anyway, take 4 and 6 year old boys, just enough knowedge of history to be dangerous, some plastic construction toy weapons, a bucket full of random dressup items and a healthy lust for certain Disney films... and voila! You get my family!

1:30-2 pm: At this point I am usually finished with our school reading time and Goose is still sleeping. Girly Pie is usually ready for her second nap now (if she's not already sleeping) and if I can manage just right... I can scoot the big boys upstairs to their shared bedroom and put on a book on CD for them and they begin their 90 minute rest (the CD player is set on a timer and clicks off after 90 minutes). They start out in their beds with a quiet activity (reading, coloring, resting...) and after a set number of chapters they are allowed to play quietly together in their room. They usually choose a combination of Lincoln Logs, Playmobil "guys," other characters and some home made wooden toys and play castles or pirates or Egypt... that sort of thing. I think it's one of their favorite times of day. And they have heard some great stories on CD, too. Usually something like a Little House book or one of the Freddy the Pig books, some Magic Treehouse, some A.A. Milne, a bit of Hank the Cowdog, Mr. Popper's Penguins... and a ton more. And if it's all just perfect... that is when I have all four of them happy, quiet and occupied... and that is when I get to sit here and post this (like right now.)

I also pay bills at this point, or make business calls or set up appointments, or plan some school or finish cleaning up the kitchen from lunch. Sometimes I will indulge in a catnap, but that is rare at this point.

by 3 or 4, depending on the day, everyone is up and moving from our daily rest time. The afternoons are mostly free, and I get to spend more time with Goose or play games with the bigger boys if we missed that earlier. This is when we go outside if weather allows.

4:30-ish: This is when I usually start dinner prep, or at least figure out exactly what I'm feeding the troops if it's a usual week and I've once again managed to forget to plan meals for the week. Tonight it's ranch chicken and stuffing. Unless my hubby tries to bring home Thai food for a grown up date night later in which case the kids get corn dogs while we have a family movie night. We'll see. I'm waiting on the call from him that will dictate when he's home and what plan he picks. His call, not mine. Finny sets the table for dinner. Girly Pie floats in the Moby or exersaucer, Goose plays with the big boys.

5:30 pm: Family dinner time. Daddy is home, food is hot and ready. We always eat dinner together and though it is something I take for granted at times, I do feel very blessed to be able to count on that almost every night for the vast majority of the year.

6-6:30 pm: Dinner wraps up. Punky clears the table, Finny and Goose run upstairs. If it's not a bath night, they all get in jammies and have some train table time in their rooms for a bit. If it's bath night then play time gets skipped.

7-7:30 pm: Daddy and Goose do bedtime routine together in Goose's room while I read with Punky and Finny in their room. Girly Pie rolls around on the floor and chews on their wooden train tracks or blows on the toy kazoo (it's so cute to see a six month old play a kazoo. She's brilliant, I tell you!).

7:30-10 pm: Kids are down, baby is still up until 9 usually, hubby and I wrap up work stuff (I will catch up on emails or organize school stuff, he will finish up business calls or emails that were missed in the work day) and then start whatever evening activity is in store for us. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I do my best to work at real school planning or cleaning up and organizing my desk and office (where all the school stuff tends to pile up and never get sorted out). Other evenings are pretty much free and we usually read a book together or watch a movie, or we just hang out. Some nights we fritter away wasting time on email or the computer. I don't like those nights as much, but my hubby and I are both putterers, so it does happen more often than I'd like.

So there is the basic rundown of my day. Like I said, it's all fluid still. But it's looking pretty consistent within that framework. My goals include making more school planning time, and making more efforts for one on one time each day with each child. But with four of them, I may not get complete one on one with each of them each day... but we get lots of little snippets here and there, and lots of Mommy and a couple of kids time.

So I've typed too long and Girly Pie is waking up. So up I go to rescue her from her nap. And then on to the afternoon of our day. I wonder what we'll do this afternoon... I'm thinking making something tasty. I'm hungry for a sweet something. Wonder if those boys are up for baking?