A Day In Our Life: September Edition

I've been wanting to do a post about a day in our life and I think I might make it a monthly thing. One day it will be fun to look back and get a snapshot of our days. I realize no one will probably read this, except maybe the grandparents, but I want to remember what our life is like on a "normal" day.

Monday, September 19th

5am...My alarm went off and I immediately hit the snooze. :) I always "build in" a snooze and that give me time to give myself a pep talk to get up and exercise. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. Today, it worked. I got up, changed and hit the ground running. I love this time of day. I'm a total morning person and I love having some solitude before the day begins....I spend my treadmill time thinking about everything from what I'll wear that day, to what we'll have for dinner, to praying for each of my children and their day to letting my mind wake up and watching TV. This is my time. I need this.

6:15 -- 6:45am...Hope off the treadmill and start the coffee. I start a load of laundry and "refluff" the clothes in the dryer....for the 3rd time. I turn on Madeleine's light and snuggle with her to try and get her moving. I open Charlotte's door to let the noises start to wake her up. I make lunches and pack bags.

6:45am -- 7:15am...Harrison wakes up too. I make Madeleine & Matt breakfast. Charlotte gets up and scrounges for food until they leave and she can eat. :)

7:18am...Charlotte, Harrison and I give Madeleine & Matt their usual big send off. I think they get the best send off in the neighborhood. :) Charlotte yells "byebye" in her loudest baby voice and blows kisses. Harrison yells "see you later crocodile" to Matt. It's fun. I love this part of the day!

7:20-8:00am...I get Harrison and Charlotte some breakfast and refill my coffee while cleaning up the kitchen. We sit and eat and talk about our day. Then, I take a quick shower and get ready.

8:00-9:30am...I fold the laundry and start another load of the neverending laundry. I do a quick blog update and check email. I finish up the minutes from our recent PTO meeting start working on our directory forms. Harrison and I play cars and Charlotte plays her favorite grab n' go game with the cars. I really enjoy mornings when we don't have to be anywhere too early.

9:30-10:30...I get Harrison and Charlotte dressed and we head out to mail some letters and run by the bank. Some days, I just need to get out, even for a little bit. :) Harrison gets a sucker at the banks, so it's been a good morning in his eyes.

10:30...Home again. We play a little bit and I fold the next load and start yet another load of laundry (I said it was neverending).

11:00 -- 11:30am...I make lunches. Charlotte is napping much earlier these days, probably because I wake her up at the crack of dawn, so we eat lunch early. Harrison is always counting the minutes until her nap because that's when we build his traintrack. We eat lunch and talk about what kind of traintrack we'll build that day: grey traintrack with Sodor Company (which he pretends is the Dieselworks), Cranky the Crane, Tidmouth Sheds and Misty Island. I talk him out of the bridge because that thing is a nightmare to build around! After lunch, I read to Charlotte and put her down for her nap. She's such an awesome sleeper and goes right to sleep. It's not uncommon for me to check on her and find her in the same position that I layed her down in.

11:30-2:00pm...Harrison and I build our traintrack as well as the must-have trainyard. He plays with it while fold laundry again. :) Then I do my habitual Monday Morning Pickup. Basically, I just pick up the house then I run the vaccum and sweep. It make the house seem clean again and I like starting the week that way. When I'm done, Harrison and I snuggle on the couch and watch Caillou. Then we play trains and work on counting. He's doing great on his counting....I line up mini M&Ms and he can have as many as he can count. :) We also work on his "th" sound which is coming along great thanks to help from our good friend Allison!

2:00 --3:45pm...I hear Miss Charlotte babbling in her room and get her up. We cuddle and read some more. Then we all head outside to play for awhile. It's a nice day and Charlotte is pretty happy in her swing while Harrison alternates between me pushing him on the swing and playing in his muddy sand box. After awhile, we walk around the pond and look at the turtles. Then we head in for a quick drink and snack.

3:45-4:00pm...We head back out to the front yard to wait for Matt and Madeleine to get home. Charlotte and I play with bubbles while Harrison digs in the flowerbeds with his Thomas the Train. We're about to redo the flowerbeds for fall/winter, so he can dig to his heart's content. We see Matt's car and Charlotte helps him "drive" in.

4:00-4:35pm...Give my big girl a hug!!! I miss her like crazy while she's at school! Then I fix Matt a snack while the kids all play in the playroom. Madeleine likes to come home and veg out for the first 30 minutes or so. If I try and get her to do her homework then, she's quick to tell me "mommy, I've been working hard all day. My mind needs to rest!" Can't blame her. :) She usually watches Arthur on TiVo. Matt and I have a chance to catch up about our days.

4:35...Matt heads back out to Harding to teach a class that night. Let the fun begin!

4:35-6:00pm...The kids and I head back outside to play. We do another lap around the pond and see some BIG turtles as well as several baby ones. Charlotte and I come in so I can start dinner. She's very unhappy about this and lets me know it. It's funny how she can go from sweet and shy one minutes to sassy and fit-throwing the next! She stands at the door and cries "weeee" which is her word for swing (because she says "weee" while she's on it -- smart girl!). It's pitiful. Eventually, she gets in her highchair and plays with the measuring spoons and bowls. There were also Yogurt Melts involved in keeping her happy....they're like baby candy for her. :)

6:00pm...The kids come inside and get a bath. I let them take a bath in my tub, which I'm still regretting 2 days later since I can't seem to get all that sand out! But, nights Matt is gone I try and do that since it's easier to keep Charlotte out of the water. I get them both bathed and wash their hair. Madeleine goes first because she can get out and get dressed while I bath Harrison.

6:30pm...I feed Charlotte in the kitchen with me and let Madeleine and Harrison eat at their table in the playroom, which is an extra special treat. Even when Matt's gone I try and have us sit down at the table. They were so hungry and gobbled up their turkeydogs, corn, and applesauce! I managed to get Charlotte bathed while they were eating and the kitchen cleaned up as well.

7:10pm...The beginning of bedtime. They have some milk and I put Charlotte in her bed with some books while I tend to Madeleine & Harrison. I read a chapter to Madeleine from her newest Boxcar Children Book & we make some predictions and talk about the setting which is what they're working on at school now.

7:20pm...Then I brush Harrison's teeth and read 2 Arthur books to him.

7:30pm...He looks at a book while I go in and brush Charlotte's teeth and read a couple of books to her. I rock her and snuggle with her and put her to bed.

7:40pm...I tuck in Harrison, help him with his prayers and sing him a lullabye. This is our nightly ritual and he cannot begin to go to sleep without his lullaby and me rubbing his face. I hope he'll do this for a long time! I love that he needs that each night and I cherish those moments. I give him a kiss after this and he happily rolls over to go to sleep.

7:45pm...Madeleine brushes her teeth and I lay down and snuggle with her for a few moments. I tuck her in.

7:50pm... *sigh* They are all in bed! I finish up cleaning the kitchen and check on the kiddos -- Charlotte & Harrison are asleep already, as usual. Madeleine just takes longer to unwind.

8:00pm...I sit down and answer some more emails. I go over the stuff in Madeleine's Monday Folder and do a little prep work on lunches for Tuesday. I set out Harrison's backpack for preschool and line up lunchboxes on the counter.

8:30pm...So tired! I watch some TV and wait for Matt to call and let me know he's on his way home. I talk to my sister for awhile and check on Madeleine again....she's asleep!

9:45pm....Matt gets home. He fixes himself a bowl of cereal (kitchen's closed for the night!) and we talk about how his class went.

10pm...I head to bed and Matt relaxes and watches some TV. He deserves it after his long day. And, me? I'm asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.