A Day in the Life - January 25, 2016

Like most of you, some of my favorite posts are "Day in the Life" posts that we all love to do to record what real life is like :).

So here is a fairly typical day in my life...

Alarm goes off at 6:00 and all four trickle in to me bed.  This morning I cheated and put Curious George on the iPad to get a few more moments with my eyes shut...happy Monday!!!

7:05...coffee, coffee, coffee!

Then making sure all three big kids are dressed, have their lunches, hair is done, meds taken, and teeth brushed.  I remember to remote-start my car so our trek to the bus stop is a bit warmer.  Then kids bundled up and loaded in the car.

It's a chilly morning to stand out at the bus stop even if it's only a few houses away (around a corner so we can't just watch from our house!).

Probably has to do with the white stuff that we got on Saturday!

Here are my crazies while we are waiting!

I also use this time to complete my daily bible reading and share by reading aloud to the kids until the bus arrives.  They love to here the Word and it keeps them under control while we wait!

I started the new year reading the "As It Happened" plan on the YouVersion app.  Nice manageable selections and an interesting way to approach reading the entire bible in a year!

Bubba and I head home to snuggle on the couch with some more Curious George!

Once he's settled, I head to the basement and pull out the girls' summer clothing bins.  It may seem silly to do this with snow on the ground but I'll let you in on a little secret...I HATE changing my kids' clothes each season.  I may have mentioned moving to a deserted tropical island so that we could become nudists (true story!).  So I've developed a new method.  I pre-sort all their clothes in bins and then I can do an easy swap.  It saves me HOURS!!!  So I planned this week to get their clothes all set...and it also helps me to know what each child still needs.  Today I discovered that Tater needs more shorts (after wearing her previous shorts for 2 years!)...so now I can be on the look-out at thrift and consignment stores.

And while I was doing the clothes, I ventured into the basement playroom and noted what the children will be doing after school...CLEANING!

Bubba was still playing so I poured another cup of coffee and settled in my office to read some blogs!

I took a little break to chase Bubba up the stairs and carry him back down as soon as he got the train he wanted.  

Which led to this...putting the gate back up!

Bubba LOVES to climb the steps but refuses to come back down.  He stands at the top and screams for me to get him.  So gate = sanity!

I take a few minutes to a few titles to the list of books I want to read this year.  I love to read but having kids has taken me away from reading...so I'm making a conscious effort to read more.

Then laundry.

One load folded and put away and another put in the washer.  I added this table and am trying to be more prompt with folding to reduce the need to iron.  I've also changed my folding style and am loving the way our dressers are working (more on that in another post!).

10:00...settled on the couch to get caught up on my reading...I was a few (5!!!) behind the schedule I had laid out.

While I was reading, Bubba gave me a complete check-up and made sure to super-check my ears!

Bubba had lunch and a show...usually yogurt, popcorn (Pirate's Booty), and Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  Today he also got a bit of Doc McStuffins!

After I rocked him and settled him for a nap, I finally took a shower and fixed my hair.  I'm trying to grow it out so I can pull it up and I'm hitting that annoying in-between when I usually cave and cut it...but I'm trying to stay strong so summer becomes easy in the hair department!

Then I devoted an hour to sorting the girls' summer bins...all set and ready for warmer temps!

And then I settled down in my office to work on our elementary school's yearbook.  Last year while I was still teaching, my co-worker and friend roped me in to help her and I really enjoyed it.  In fact our yearbook was good enough to raise $15000 for our school (I'm a bit proud!!).  So I volunteered to keep this side volunteer job this year and I'm trying to stay way on top of it!

The mail came and I had quite a haul from www.paperbackswap.com ...check it out if you have books to trade!

Bus pick-up...still chilly and a few minutes to read while I wait!

Things get crazy when the kids get home so I forgot to get pictures of homework and snack!

But here is Bubba after nap...he's snacking on goldfish with his brother's spy gear glasses near by!

And, yes, he's still in his pjs (we had no where to go today!) and has his lovies stuffed inside his sleeper...we have no idea why but he does it every day!  Lol!

Dinner was prepped...cheeseburger pie to be served with salad.

Meanwhile, the big kids were having some time on the x-box and veggie out!

This lasts until the screaming starts...and it always does with 4 kids!

Yet another load of laundry!

Finishing dinner prep with a salad.

And this boy refused to eat and made such a fuss he got sent to the dining room to eat alone :(.  Food and eating is such a battle with him and his sensory issues...but trust me when I say we aren't asking him to eat anything wild and crazy!!!!

We got this devotional book from my in-laws for Christmas and have been using it after dinner.  The kids are responding well to readings!

We FaceTimed with Papa like we do every night.  Tonight was an extra treat as my brother and his family were there for dinner.  We had fun chatting with the cousins and teasing my brother (because he makes it so easy!)

We finished with pjs, teeth brushing and nightly meds.  Tater was coughing up a storm and wheezing away so we talked about the plan if she needed to stay home from school.  It's not usually an issue because I'm home but Bruiser has an appointment that can't be missed or they charge you, no exceptions...sigh.

Once all the kids were in bed I settled on the couch with Daddy and worked on the afghan I started a few weeks ago.  I progressed from scarves to a full-sized blanket.  I plan to use it in my office when I'm working on the computer.  A few episodes of The Following (sooooo good) and then we headed to bed.  I fell asleep watching an episode of Switched at Birth on the iPad.  We love our Netflix!!!