It’s been a loooong time since I’ve done a day in the life! This day is looking at a Monday, March 3rd. Monday is “hit the ground running” day around here. As with many things while being married to a first responder, our Monday is the opposite of the rest o the world, and it’s actually the last day of Theo’s work week. So I always hit Monday morning feeling extra tired after mostly solo parenting for the past four days. But Monday is also the calm before the storm for the kids and I, as we gear up for the week ahead. We do homeschool, hit up the library and get prepped for school tomorrow. We attend a hybrid school, so we only go into school two days a week, but homeschool three days a week.
Here is our Monday:
6am- alarm goes off, I am up and give Theo a quick goodbye hug and kiss. I head back to my bed to do my devotions, read about 10 minutes in a nonfiction book, and work on a blog post.
7am- almost everyone is awake and I am scrambling to finish the blog post while fielding lots of questions, comments and early morning snuggles with my babies. Ori was upset, so we Facetimed with Theo. (Also, yes, his uniform has his initials- T.J. Hines. People call him T.J. at work all the time and drives him crazy haha)
8am- we are all up, and breakfast is cooking. I usually start piddling around with some chores like putting away the dishes, cleaning up any messes that have already been made in the house, start a load of laundry, getting Orion changed and dressed, directing the bigger kids to make their beds and get dressed, etc. The kids usually eat breakfast and then run off to play together!
9am- it’s usually around this time that we start our homeschool day. Today was a light homeschool day since we had worked so hard to get our work done on Friday and Saturday. We were able to use Monday as a review day and fit in all those review tasks (spelling words, memory verse, math flashcards, sight words) that sometimes don’t get covered on regular homeschool days.
10am- Since we got through school so quickly today, we decided to go to the library in the morning. I got dressed, we grabbed our library books and headed to the library! We typically max out our library cards and some librarians don’t seem pleased when they have to check out 150+ books for us. Oops!
12- Back home for lunch. I get Ori’s lunch first, lay him down for a nap, and then gather up leftovers for lunch for the big kids.
1pm- Once I know everyone is set up for lunch, I hop on the treadmill and knock out 4 miles. I’ve been struggling SO much with running lately and I’ve felt really teary and overwhelmed by a half marathon. I’m seriously debating just cancelling my half marathon in May because it seems like no matter how hard I try, I cannot get my runs in. So it was encouraging that I got a run in on this day. While I ran, Kiah and Ezra played with their magnettiles and Tera read a book.
2pm- I hopped on the computer to answer some work emails and send a couple emails. I always find myself thinking of a list of things to do while I’m running, so if I can tackle that list as soon as I finish my run, it’s so helpful!
I made a deal with the kids that if they didn’t play on the tablets at the library, they could have some computer game time at home. So once I was done with the computer, they pulled up their computer games and played for about an hour. I ate my lunch, started making bread and washed the dishes. Ori woke up somewhere in there and hung out with the kids or played with his toys.
3-5pm- We started tackling our afternoon chores. I made muffins and cleaned up a bit around the kitchen. The kids went outside and worked on taking out the trash, feeding the chickens, feeding the rabbits and taking out the compost. I also fit in a short piano practice time. Once the kids finished their outside chores, we all worked on packing lunches together.
5pm- Theo clocks out of work at 5 and has about a 45 minute commute. Once he texts us that he is on his way home, we start cleaning up the house. The kids clean up any messes they have made and start getting out their clothes and backpacks for school the next day. I start making dinner at that time.
6pm- we are usually sitting down to eat around 6pm. The kids opted to play outside once they had finished the cleaning up the house.
7pm- Dinner is over and now we move into the evening portion of our day. By this point, I am usually exhausted and so ready to tap out. Theo is equally exhausted and we are just making it on pure adrenaline and love for this life 🙂
After dinner, we have been trying to do family devotions. This is a HARD habit for us to establish, for some reason! After devos, each kid does their weekly chore- dishes, laundry, or floors. Theo and I put away leftovers and assist with whatever chores or sibling rivalry we need to.
I completely forgot to take pictures after this, but we played “The Game” after chores and then started the bedtime routine!
Ori typically goes to bed around 7:30, and then the bigger kids start their bedtime routine around 7:45. We typically get everyone to bed by 8:30.
On Monday nights, Theo usually leaves at 8 to go play Futsol, but it was cancelled on this particular day. Instead, we were all in bed by 9. I read for an hour or so, and then we were all asleep by 10!
And that is a day in our life! To be completely honest, I was feeling pretty blah this whole day. I had low motivation and was just convincing myself to do the next thing on the list. It wasn’t a particularly bad day, or a very good day, either. And some days are just like that.
Stay tuned next week when I write a similar blog post chronicling a week in our lives!