A Day in the Life

So, my friend Donna asked me to share a typical day in the life.

That is your cue to hit the X and find something very productive to do...

but if you choose to read through this picturesque post of my pampered life, feel free.

First, to dispel any myths that I might be...

...trust me when I say even if I had a cape, it would be crumpled underneath mounds of laundry.  I am always looking for ways to simplify and organize!

Although I strive for structure and simplicity, because it works well here for everyone, especially ME, our days vary a lot depending on therapy, doctor's appointments and my work schedule.  But a typical day goes something like this ~

My alarm goes off at 4, to which I either respond by hitting snooze or hitting the floor.  Since we've been home from China I've started a new fitness plan (which I LOVE!), so I dress for exercise before starting the day's first load of laundry.  I take a break midway through my routine to put the load in the dryer and start another.

Once that's done I wake up Mr. Greenthumb (because no girl likes anyone watching her work out!), have my quiet time and try to hit the shower before waking up the school kids at 6:55.

Mr. Greenthumb leaves at 6:45 to drive the school bus, so the kids and I have a routine down mostly.  I help Kayden, Kambry, Kinley and Kaeleb get ready for school, striving not to wake up the 3 littles.  By 7:30 six kids have left for school, Kooper is getting ready for home school, and hopefully I still have three sleeping beauties.

Once the girls are up, around 8-ish, I fix breakfast and get them ready for the day.

While I'm tidying up, I let them watch Dinosaur Train or some other thing while Khloie snacks on the remote.

A very important part of Kasidi's day is therapy and stretching, usually 3 to 4 times per day.

Meanwhile, I'm helping Kooper with homeschool, doing laundry, planning supper and trying to keep all systems running smoothly.

Sometimes I spice it up a bit by making laundry soap and body lotion.

The girls love to color, make Play-Doh masterpieces, have tea parties and dress up.

We are waiting for super nice weather so we can spend lots of time outside.  

Three days per week I take Kennah to school for speech therapy, and 1 day per week we spend 8 hours at medical visits.  Sometimes we're super lucky and have dental, ortho or other doctor appointments.  But this is a typical day at home.

I usually am surprised that noon has snuck up on me, and I need to fix lunch for the girls.  Once they've eaten, I put them down for a nap around 1. Kasidi insists I rest with them, and I'm quite obliged to get a 10 to 20 minute power nap!

Ahhhh, me time!  Yeah, right!  This is when I scramble to get as much done as possible before they wake up.  Or I blog.  I usually have an hour, and then someone wakes up or the bus brings the school krew home.

Just gonna say we had to have a family meetin' last week to remind the 4 elementary school kids they simply cannot drop their backpacks, coats and shoes, leaving a trail from the door to the living room.  Khaos and klutter make me krazy!  We have a hook thingamajig in the laundry room where they hang everything as they come in the door.

After they clean sweep the pantry, we start homework and reading.  I figured out we can only open 1 backpack at a time or I will get everything mixed up and once again, khaos rules.  Never.a.good.thing.

I try to serve supper by 6:30, and fortunately since we've been home I'm still pulling pre-made frozen dishes out!!!  But before we can eat, we put all this away:

The homemade tents don't come down till later :)

Since Kolton and Kenzie are heavy in sports, our evenings vary.  During football season, everyone goes to the game, no matter where it is.  During fall fast pitch softball, we try to make most of the games because the weather is good.  During basketball, one of us goes, sans kids.  During spring slow pitch softball, one or all of us make the games when it's warm enough.  Spring baseball, same deal.  We don't make the track or power lifting meets.  If it were just me, or me and 1 kiddo, I'd be at all of my kids' sporting events, but we've come to terms with the way it is, and our athletes are okay with it.

Okay, so where were we?  It's 7-ish.  Two people clean up after the meal, and I start bathing kids.  Daddy reads with Kambry while I get the next day's clothes out for 3 kids.  By 8 or 8:30 everyone is ready for bed.  Daddy tucks Kayden, Kambry, Kinley and Kennah in, and I tuck Kaeleb in.  Then Kasidi, Khloie and I spend some quality rocking chair time.  By 9:30 or so they are tucked into bed, and Mama and Daddy are ready to crash.

And if any of these things didn't get done this day, I surely will finish them tomorrow...