24 hours of our current normal
Over the years, I've started a habit each September of jotting down a typical 24 hours in our life together. I have these documentations from all the way back when Gracie and Luke were just babies. While I kind of doubt they are interesting to anyone else, I love them. I absolutely love to look back and reminisce. It's the everyday that makes a life, you know?
So, the past twenty four hours of our life together, just because---
Wednesday 6:00 PM: Dinner. Spinach ravioli, steamed carrots, and garlic breadsticks- a crowd pleaser of a meal at this house. Ben has a work dinner, so it is just me and the kids.
Wednesday 6:30 PM: The evening wind down routine begins. There are lunches to pack, showers to take, homework to be put away, piano minutes to finish, and teeth to brush.
Wednesday 7:00 PM: Gracie volunteers to swap a chore she didn't have a chance to finish for putting Kate to bed for me. This happens at least once a week around here on nights when Ben is not home. I appreciate the help, I appreciate the sister time they share, and I appreciate the practice that Gracie gets for eventually getting to babysit. While the girls read downstairs, I read a few chapters of a Magic Tree House book upstairs with Drew and Luke.
Wednesday 7:40 PM: The littles are asleep. Luke is reading on his bed and Gracie is finishing up her homework. I finally get a chance to clean up the dinner mess. I fold a load of laundry and run the garbage totes out to the curb.
Wednesday 8:00 PM: Gracie and Luke come downstairs and ask if we can watch something together. This is a fun habit we've started over the past couple of months as they've discovered Little House On The Prairie episodes. The three of us cuddle on the couch and enjoy the show together.
Wednesday 8:45 PM: The show ends and Gracie and Luke go to bed. I feel like I could either get up off of the couch and get a few more things done around the house or I could call it a day and turn on an episode of Lost. (At Ben's urging, I recently started watching Lost. I am almost through season one and I am hooked.) Relaxation wins over productivity.
Wednesday 9:25 PM: Ben gets home and joins me on the couch. We watch another two episodes of Lost together before calling it a night.
Thursday 4:15 AM: As has been the case for many nights in a row, Katie shows up at the side of our bed wanting some attention. I have to tell her, once again, that the middle of the night is not the time for crackers, for milk, or for reading books together. She is not happy with the situation.
Thursday 4:30 AM: Back to sleep for all.
Thursday 6:20 AM: Our day begins. Drew and Luke wake up first and I get up too. Katie is asleep on my bed, Gracie is still asleep upstairs, and Ben is already gone for work because of an early morning event. The boys watch a cartoon together, I have coffee and slowly wake up, and the house is calm and quiet.
Thursday 6:40 AM: Calm and quiet is over. Everyone is up, everyone needs to eat breakfast, everyone needs to get dressed for the day. It is a work day for me too (still a very new thing), so the morning feels even a bit more rushed than normal.
Thursday 7:13 AM: School shuttle #1 as we take Gracie to school. We are back home fifteen minutes later and the boys finish getting ready while I take a shower at super human speed. I get Katie ready for her day, help the boys double check their backpacks and lunches, and we are off.
Thursday 8:03 AM: School shuttle #2 as we take the boys to school. We are home twenty four minutes later. It was a slow drop off line and I feel rushed. I calculate that I have about fifteen minutes before we need to be out the door. It is not a pretty fifteen minutes, but it all gets done.
Thursday 8:40 AM: Kate and I leave for preschool. I help with the drop off car line for about ten minutes before taking Katie to her classroom. She blows me away with her confidence as she walks into the room. It's hard to believe it is her first ever week of school.
Thursday 9:00- 2:00: My new gig as a teacher's aide and Katie's new gig as preschool student. This was a longer school day than normal for us because it was one of the two times a month that I teach for the Extended Day program. At noon, I get to pick Katie up from her teachers and she gets to work with me for this program. It is fun to get to watch her among all of the bigger kids.
Thursday 2:20 PM: Katie and I get home from preschool. She wants a quick snack of raisins and a cartoon. I want a huge glass of iced tea and a chance to just sit for a moment. It was a very busy morning of work as well as a very hot morning of work. Most of my time was spent outside and the heat index in St. Louis was 100.
Thursday 2:43 PM: All too soon, it is time to head out the door for elementary school pick up. As a parent of a kindergarten student, I am required to get out of my car and walk up to the building to get Drew. While it is a little bit of a pain (parking is not the easiest), it is also a fun chance to talk to other families. Because of all of this walking and talking and then walking again, elementary school pick up is not a fast process this year.
Thursday 3:16 PM: We arrive back home. Gracie is there and we hear about her day. The kids all have a snack around the kitchen island. I love this time of day more than almost any other.
Thursday 3:30 PM: The kids scatter off in different directions. Katie is worn out from her first week of preschool and is kind of in a mood. I give her a bath both for necessity and for distraction. Drew is happy to play with the Pokemon cards he proudly purchased this week with some saved allowance. Gracie quickly finishes up some piano homework before her weekly lesson. Luke starts in on a massive amount of homework he has been given for the night. There is a bit of grumbling from him about this.
Thursday 4:15 PM: Weekly piano lessons at our house for Gracie and Luke. I have a couple of things I'd like to get started for my etsy shop, but Katie and Drew alternate between being sweet to one another and growling at one another, so I am not able to work on any of it. I am frustrated, but also can tell they are just tired. The beginning of the school year is so tough. I do manage to complete Drew's book order, call and get Gracie signed up for the next session of gymnastics, and return an email. Small accomplishments. :)
Thursday 5:00 PM: Ben arrives home early (a happy and rare occurrence!) and we decide to head out to dinner once piano is over.
Thursday 5:30 PM: Dinner at Sweet Tomatoes. Not a favorite for the grown ups in the family, but the kids love it more than enough to make up for our lack of enthusiasm. (And, to be fair, there is nothing wrong with it…. we like that it is fast and healthy…. we just have gotten a little tired of it over the years.)
Thursday 6:30 PM: Back at home to begin another evening's wind down routine. Ben helps with Drew this evening while I read to Katie. She is asleep as soon as her head hits her pillow. I begin typing this blog post….
So, the past twenty four hours of our life together, just because---
Wednesday 6:00 PM: Dinner. Spinach ravioli, steamed carrots, and garlic breadsticks- a crowd pleaser of a meal at this house. Ben has a work dinner, so it is just me and the kids.
Wednesday 6:30 PM: The evening wind down routine begins. There are lunches to pack, showers to take, homework to be put away, piano minutes to finish, and teeth to brush.
Wednesday 7:00 PM: Gracie volunteers to swap a chore she didn't have a chance to finish for putting Kate to bed for me. This happens at least once a week around here on nights when Ben is not home. I appreciate the help, I appreciate the sister time they share, and I appreciate the practice that Gracie gets for eventually getting to babysit. While the girls read downstairs, I read a few chapters of a Magic Tree House book upstairs with Drew and Luke.
Wednesday 7:40 PM: The littles are asleep. Luke is reading on his bed and Gracie is finishing up her homework. I finally get a chance to clean up the dinner mess. I fold a load of laundry and run the garbage totes out to the curb.
Wednesday 8:00 PM: Gracie and Luke come downstairs and ask if we can watch something together. This is a fun habit we've started over the past couple of months as they've discovered Little House On The Prairie episodes. The three of us cuddle on the couch and enjoy the show together.
Wednesday 8:45 PM: The show ends and Gracie and Luke go to bed. I feel like I could either get up off of the couch and get a few more things done around the house or I could call it a day and turn on an episode of Lost. (At Ben's urging, I recently started watching Lost. I am almost through season one and I am hooked.) Relaxation wins over productivity.
Wednesday 9:25 PM: Ben gets home and joins me on the couch. We watch another two episodes of Lost together before calling it a night.
Thursday 4:15 AM: As has been the case for many nights in a row, Katie shows up at the side of our bed wanting some attention. I have to tell her, once again, that the middle of the night is not the time for crackers, for milk, or for reading books together. She is not happy with the situation.
Thursday 4:30 AM: Back to sleep for all.
Thursday 6:20 AM: Our day begins. Drew and Luke wake up first and I get up too. Katie is asleep on my bed, Gracie is still asleep upstairs, and Ben is already gone for work because of an early morning event. The boys watch a cartoon together, I have coffee and slowly wake up, and the house is calm and quiet.
Thursday 6:40 AM: Calm and quiet is over. Everyone is up, everyone needs to eat breakfast, everyone needs to get dressed for the day. It is a work day for me too (still a very new thing), so the morning feels even a bit more rushed than normal.
Thursday 7:13 AM: School shuttle #1 as we take Gracie to school. We are back home fifteen minutes later and the boys finish getting ready while I take a shower at super human speed. I get Katie ready for her day, help the boys double check their backpacks and lunches, and we are off.
Thursday 8:03 AM: School shuttle #2 as we take the boys to school. We are home twenty four minutes later. It was a slow drop off line and I feel rushed. I calculate that I have about fifteen minutes before we need to be out the door. It is not a pretty fifteen minutes, but it all gets done.
Thursday 8:40 AM: Kate and I leave for preschool. I help with the drop off car line for about ten minutes before taking Katie to her classroom. She blows me away with her confidence as she walks into the room. It's hard to believe it is her first ever week of school.
Thursday 9:00- 2:00: My new gig as a teacher's aide and Katie's new gig as preschool student. This was a longer school day than normal for us because it was one of the two times a month that I teach for the Extended Day program. At noon, I get to pick Katie up from her teachers and she gets to work with me for this program. It is fun to get to watch her among all of the bigger kids.
Thursday 2:20 PM: Katie and I get home from preschool. She wants a quick snack of raisins and a cartoon. I want a huge glass of iced tea and a chance to just sit for a moment. It was a very busy morning of work as well as a very hot morning of work. Most of my time was spent outside and the heat index in St. Louis was 100.
Thursday 2:43 PM: All too soon, it is time to head out the door for elementary school pick up. As a parent of a kindergarten student, I am required to get out of my car and walk up to the building to get Drew. While it is a little bit of a pain (parking is not the easiest), it is also a fun chance to talk to other families. Because of all of this walking and talking and then walking again, elementary school pick up is not a fast process this year.
Thursday 3:16 PM: We arrive back home. Gracie is there and we hear about her day. The kids all have a snack around the kitchen island. I love this time of day more than almost any other.
Thursday 3:30 PM: The kids scatter off in different directions. Katie is worn out from her first week of preschool and is kind of in a mood. I give her a bath both for necessity and for distraction. Drew is happy to play with the Pokemon cards he proudly purchased this week with some saved allowance. Gracie quickly finishes up some piano homework before her weekly lesson. Luke starts in on a massive amount of homework he has been given for the night. There is a bit of grumbling from him about this.
Thursday 4:15 PM: Weekly piano lessons at our house for Gracie and Luke. I have a couple of things I'd like to get started for my etsy shop, but Katie and Drew alternate between being sweet to one another and growling at one another, so I am not able to work on any of it. I am frustrated, but also can tell they are just tired. The beginning of the school year is so tough. I do manage to complete Drew's book order, call and get Gracie signed up for the next session of gymnastics, and return an email. Small accomplishments. :)
Thursday 5:00 PM: Ben arrives home early (a happy and rare occurrence!) and we decide to head out to dinner once piano is over.
Thursday 5:30 PM: Dinner at Sweet Tomatoes. Not a favorite for the grown ups in the family, but the kids love it more than enough to make up for our lack of enthusiasm. (And, to be fair, there is nothing wrong with it…. we like that it is fast and healthy…. we just have gotten a little tired of it over the years.)
Thursday 6:30 PM: Back at home to begin another evening's wind down routine. Ben helps with Drew this evening while I read to Katie. She is asleep as soon as her head hits her pillow. I begin typing this blog post….
Comments
I love that Katie has adjusted so quickly. She is definitely a person!!