A Day in the Life

I documented a day in our life this week. I like to look back on these and remember the way we spent our days. Our school/activity schedule is a little different this Spring. We shifted a few things around, and for now Mondays are our only day of the week with no activities (at least out of the house activities). It's a day that we stay at home, and I've been enjoying the slower pace on Mondays to catch up from the weekend. 

6:00- I wake up, run on the treadmill and get ready for the day (which is pretty minimal since we weren't going anywhere). My days always go better when I'm disciplined enough to get up early and exercise. I find that I have more energy and motivation to get things done for the entire day. 

Matt got me an Apple watch for Christmas and seeing the progress in my rings at 7:00am always feels good too!

The kids usually start waking up around 7:30. Katherine usually gets up a little earlier. If I'm still getting ready, I'll let her watch a show on my bed while I finish getting ready. I recently shopped at a consignment sale and bought her this little OSU dress. I bought it for next season- you know not the middle of winter, ha! But she was so excited she got dressed before she even left her room that morning. 

All the kids actually woke up on their own this morning, which isn't always the case. Usually, I'll start waking them up around 7:45 if they don't get up on their own. Our days do go better on the days they wake up by themselves. From 7:30-8:30, they eat breakfast, get dressed, brush teeth, and get their morning chores done. I write down their chores on the fridge every morning. It's not pretty, but it's a good system that works for us. 

Samuel eats cereal almost every morning. 

Nathan asks for pancakes, so I make pancakes for the rest of the kids. 

While they're getting ready, I also work on their school lists. I've found that lists work well for all of us. It gives them more control/independence over their work and eases some of my burden. Monday is a pretty heavy school day since we don't have any big, time sucking activities during the day.

I keep all their school stuff on the dining room table, but they end up doing school all over the house. 

I snapped this picture to document some of the daily crazy that goes on in our house. 

The kids get their chores done and everyone is ready to start school (mostly) on time for the day. 

8:30- This is our target time to start school every morning. We generally hit it pretty closely. Sometimes the kids are a few minutes late. They look at their list and choose the order in which they want to do things. Nathan always starts with the hardest/longest activities first. 

Samuel and Elisabeth ask to redo our school calendar sine it was a new month. They are really excited about all the holidays in February! Elisabeth asks to stay in her jammies for the day, and I let her since we weren't leaving the house. 

Katherine's favorite game is Sleeping Queens. We play it multiple times a day, so of course we play a round or two this morning. 

10:00- Samuel is enrolled in a Gifted and Talented Epic Live class on Mondays. It's a Storybook Math class and he's really enjoying it. He's such a shy kid, that I get tickled at how much he participates in his class. He was even telling math jokes to everyone. I'm so glad he likes it! He was a little hesitant about doing it- he's usually not a fan of zoom meetings. 

While he's at his class, Elisabeth and Nathan keep working on their school.

I don't know why Nathan likes to work on the stairs. 

After Samuel's meeting, he is back at it crossing things off his list. 

Elisabeth wrote about her favorite food in her journal. Her handwriting is improving everyday!

11:30- Nathan and Elisabeth are finished with their schoolwork for the day. I fix lunch for everyone, and then Nathan and Elisabeth use their screen time for the day while Samuel finishes up school.

1:00- After I eat, I get busy on my lists for the day. Mondays are my laundry and bathrooms day. I've been changing out laundry all day and after lunch I clean my bathroom. Nathan cleaned the other two as his chore for the day. 

At 1:00 Nathan also has his Gifted and Talented Epic Live Class. Samuel and Nathan both have the same teacher who is also the same teacher Nathan had last semester for his Shark Tank class. This semester he's taking a debate class and loving it. Katherine loves it too, ha! 

The Gifted and Talented classes have been an unexpected surprise for us this year. Matt and I had been very unimpressed with BA's GT program. It felt like an afterthought in the district, but these classes have been wonderful for the boys and they're getting so much more enrichment than they had been. (They didn't even have a GT program for second graders at our old school). 

While Nathan has his class and Samuel is still finishing school, the girls and I play Pretty Pretty Princess. When Elisabeth was three she always wanted me to play school with her. She has always been into the relational play, but Katherine always asks me to play games with her. It's funny how kids can be so different. 

1:45- While Nathan finished his class, the other kids and I bake a tie dye cake. I asked Elisabeth to pick out a new dessert to bake, and she picked this one. As the kids are getting older, I'm finding I have more time for cooking again, so I've been trying to be more intentional with trying new things. 

It looked so pretty when we poured it in the pan. 

2:30- I put Katherine down for a nap, and the kids and I do some "fun" learning. That's what they call our group/topical units. Right now, we're working our way through the different systems of the human body. This week we're learning about the digestive system. Each week we've been watching a Magic School Bus episode, reading a book or two, doing a few worksheets and ending the week with a fun, hands on activity. 

After the show is over, the boys work on their digestive system worksheets. 

3:30- While Katherine finishes her nap, the big kids help with laundry. I wash and dry all their clothes on Monday morning, and then in the afternoon we have a sorting party all together, and then they take their basket of clothes to their room to fold and put away. We've been doing this for a couple of months now, and it's been a huge success! They've had total control over picking out their clothes each day since COVID hit last year, so I don't even care how it gets put away. I've removed myself from all their dresser drawers/closets/clothing choices (except for church days), and I'm not sad about it!

4:15- The laundry is finished, Katherine is awake, and I send the kids outside because it's sunny and not too cold which is a rare occurrence these days. They ask me to jump with them on the trampoline, so I go out with them for a few minutes too. 

They teach  Katherine how to play "What Time Is It, Mr. Wolf" and it's her new favorite game! They continue playing outside while I go inside to start dinner prep. 

5:00- The kids come inside- Elisabeth listens to her audio book in her room, Katherine plays by herself, and Samuel reads a few pages of Harry Potter. He recently started the first book, and he's loving it! He's adorable. He told me one morning that he didn't want to go to sleep the night before because he wanted to keep reading, and he told me he likes it more than the Land of Stories, which has been his all time favorite book series forever. 

We're having tacos for dinner. They're one of Nathan's favorite meals, and he always makes them for us when they're on the menu. 

5:30- Daddy's home and dinner is served. We have the tie dye cake for dessert. It turned out great! Elisabeth was especially proud of it. 

6:00- The kids all scatter. Samuel uses his screen time for the day, Elisabeth plays on her gymnastics bar and listens to her book, and Nathan reads downstairs/plays with Katherine. Matt cleans up the dishes, and I pick up a few things around the house/finish laundry.

6:30- Elisabeth asks to play Skipbo. None of the other kids want to play, so it's just the three of us. Samuel reads and Nathan and Katherine chase each other around the house while we play. 

7:30- We head upstairs to get ready for bed. Everyone brushes their teeth and puts jammies on (if they haven't already). I read a chapter of our read aloud. Currently, we're reading Wishbreakers. 

Then Matt leads our family devotional. 

8:00- We tell the kids goodnight. They're allowed to play in their rooms until 8:30 and then they have to be in bed. The boys stay up and read. Nathan said he stayed up until 10:00 reading 😮. We might have to change those bedtime rules in the future. 

8:15- Matt has brought Katherine down and read to her/tucked her in, but she always asks me to check on her and read her another book. Those fourth kids have all the power 😉. She also always asks me to come and read my book in her room and lay with her for a few minutes too. I read my Bible reading in her room and then tell her goodnight. 

8:45- I've finished straightening up and getting ready for bed, and I call it a night. Matt and I watch TV in bed until we fall asleep- which is usually around 10:00 (a little earlier for him).

I know I'm going to miss these days! They are long and busy and ordinary, but so very special!
 

The Rest of Christmas Break

After an eventful Christmas week, we put on the brakes, and had a slower paced couple of weeks. Aside from New Year's Eve, we didn't have much else on the calendar. We spent the week after Christmas playing with (and finding homes) for our new toys, trying to get the house organized and all the Christmas decorations put away and resting and recovering from our fun Christmas activities. 

Elisabeth finished her first pot holder from her weaving kit. Samuel made one too. They turned out cute!

Many hours have been spent swinging on the new gymnastics bar and putting on gymnastics performances. 

And lots of new Lego sets have been constructed. Nathan finished all his new sets within the first couple of days after Christmas. It took Elisabeth a little longer to get hers finished. 

Nathan also built a radio with his new snap circuit kit.

We randomly got snow the week after Christmas. It surprised everyone in our area because we all were expecting rain. It was a beautiful snow with giant flakes. 

The kids weren't super interested in playing in it. We didn't get much- just one or two inches, and I guess after the huge snow we got a couple of weeks before, this just wasn't that exciting. 

Matt took off the week after Christmas and spent his week sanding and starting the process of restaining our kitchen cabinets. That's a good husband, right there folks!

We've been on a Lego kick lately, and one day the boys decided to have their own Lego Master competition. They timed themselves, and Elisabeth got to be the judge. 

Nathan built a race track with fans, a pit station, and cameras. 

Samuel built a beach waterpark and a beach house. 

And Elisabeth finished her first big Lego set. I'm glad she's starting to like Legos, because they have so many fun girly Lego sets these days that I've been itching to get for her. 

Katherine got Pretty Pretty Princess for Christmas, and we played it (and her other favorite game, Sleeping Queens) multiple times over the break. I remember playing and loving this game as a kid. I'm glad she likes it too. It's especially cute when she convinces her dad and brothers to play with her. 

When Brooke was over on New Year's Eve she told me about how she had spent the week cleaning out and organizing all her kids' toys, and it lit a fire under me to want to do it too. 

My poor kids had no idea how crazy their mom was going to go over the weekend. It took me all weekend long, but I got all four of their rooms and closets and the playroom cleaned and organized. I was afraid if I stopped, I'd lose all my  momentum, so I just kept going. It felt so nice when I was finally finished. 

I didn't take any before pictures, but I did take pictures after we were all finished. I realized that I don't have many updated photos of their rooms really since they were babies and we moved into our house. I always think that pictures of their rooms might be something they want to look back at when they're older, so I snapped a few of the freshly cleaned and decluttered spaces. 

The kids had good attitudes with helping me and being willing to part with a lot of their old toys. 

Samuel finished building his robotic hand over the break. He needed a little help from Matt, but he did most of it on his own. 

We started back to homeschool the week after New Years, and I videoed Elisabeth reading a story to me. She's doing so well with her reading skills. It's been a joy to watch her progress. 

Even though we were back at school, some of our friends were still on break, so we took the opportunity to do some fun things with them. 

We met the Shondelmyers at the zoo one afternoon. 

Katherine constantly asks me to take pictures of her now, and she always has to pose. She seems so much older than three sometimes. 

These girls took all the pictures of the animals at the zoo. They documented our entire visit. They seem so big too!

We had a fun afternoon, and the kids ran and played and burned off all their energy. The new playground at the zoo if super fun. I think they played on it for close to 90 minutes and then we still walked all over the rest of the zoo.

Matt was out of town the week after New Year's and everyone was worn out after our zoo afternoon, so we ran through McDonalds on the way home and called it a win. The kids must have known that I didn't have any fight left in me when they asked if they could have a picnic in the living room and watch a show while they ate. 

The next day we spent the morning with some more friends who were still on break. We planned just to play for a couple hours and leave after lunch, but the kids kept playing so happily and peacefully that we ended up staying like four and a half hours. Don't mess with a good thing, ha!

Michelle and I both noticed how the play dynamics continue to change with our kids. The "babies" of the family now tag along and are playing with the big kids. Geez, they are all growing up so fast. 

I'm always surprised with how close these two are even with the three year age difference. Emma is such a great role model for Elisabeth. Thankful for her!

Michelle and I had a great time visiting and catching up with each other while the kids played. It's been harder to get together with her lately with COVID and school and work, so I treasured the quality conversation we got to have together. It had me wishing for summer when we can spend lots more time together. 

When I was finishing cleaning out the kids' toys, they all rediscovered their love for all our kitchen and play food. They all played so well together with all of it. Elisabeth made her own sweet shop. Just when I start to think, they're outgrowing things, they do things like that! 

We spent a Saturday evening over at the Shondelmyers. Our weekends are more open and free in January, and I try to take advantage of it to spend time with friends. Wyatt, Kaydence, and Keaton got hoverboards for Christmas, and my kids found them and had to try them. They were hilarious, and of course hoverboards are now on all three of their birthday lists, ha!

Kaydence was vlogging/documenting them all learning how to ride. It was a great night! We love our friends!