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A Day in the Life

ETA: OH! I forgot that today is Company Girl Coffee at Home Sanctuary. It's been a couple weeks since I've last participated due to my schedule so I'm happy to be able to join in this week! I can't wait to find something to do for someone today -- the Small Thing Rachel Anne has posted for this day. Head on over to visit with other Company Girls and comment (you don't have to be a blogger to participate) or add a link to your page so we can visit you too!
Look at what these ladies did yesterday. . .35 kids, 4 moms. . .a live blogging adventure. I was tired after reading about their days!!!! I'm going to re-construct yesterday the best I can. . .it's fun to go back and see what "life" was like. . .you forget the "little" things that make your life at certain points. . .for instance, all the kids are in my room right now (7:39 a.m.) -- three are on the floor, fully dressed in new clothes we bought yesterday, playing spoons and Margaret is in bed with me, reading over my shoulder. I've had to referee the game twice now. . .and I've already had two text messages too :) O.K., on to yesterday:

5:30 a.m. - Tom's alarm (the radio) goes off. He has Men's Bible Study on Thursday mornings. The station is doing a 2-day St. Jude's radiothon fundraiser so the lead disc jockey, at 6 a.m., said a prayer rather than the usual moment of silence "to thank the Good Lord for another day". It made me realize, again, how blessed I am to live here -- that a local, secular radio station prays out loud over the airwaves for the Lord's blessing on this fundraising effort. I eventually fall back asleep (very unusual for me but it was spring break and we had no where to go!) and Marie climbs into bed with me sometime after 7. Margaret heads downstairs too and I snap a picture with my phone of them cuddling together in our bed. Once Frederick shows up, about 7:38, I allow them to turn on the television even though it's not 8 a.m. (no t.v. before 8 on no school days). As soon as Thomas is up and the 7:30 PBS show is over, they run upstairs to finish the movie they started the night before -- The Fox and the Hound. It doesn't take much to please them around here :)

8 a.m. I get out of bed, wash and brush up, make some hot chocolate and toast for myself, and spend an hour or so blogging and checking e-mail and facebook. I was texting Amanda during that time too. . .it was her last day of exams. . .yea!

9:15 a.m. I text our sports coordinator at the Y to see if he's in so we can do some final touches on the spring soccer season. . .he is there so I get the kids moving. . .brush, wash up, dressed. We were out the door by 9:40. . .not bad.

10 a.m. Put the kids in YPlay -- they discover they are the only ones in the 6+ group because the county the Y is in is not on Spring Break this week. I promise not to leave them for too long.

11:15 a.m. Pick the kids up and meet Tom for lunch at Chick-fil-A. Definitely a treat -- we haven't been there in FOREVER. The kids sit at one table and Tom & I have our own table. . .it's a mini-date!! They even go out to the van and get a deck of cards and play at their table together when they are done eating to give us a little more conversation time -- yea! Afterward we head to Old Navy to do some spring/summer shopping. The boys went off to find a few outfits while I shopped with the girls. Marie needs several things but Margaret has a lot of things from Marie last year. They both get Easter dresses with matching sweaters, an outfit each, and a few extras for Marie. The boys did well choosing some shorts outfits -- one of which they can wear for Easter -- and then Thomas also got a new swimsuit and rashguard shirt for the upcoming summer. I had a 30% off friends and family coupon and saved a great deal! I love/hate shopping. . .I love getting the kids new things (that's so much fun!) but it is EXPENSIVE too. They really appreciate their new clothes and that makes it even more fun. It is *impossible* to bargain hunt with 4 in tow so I generally just give them guidelines like "two nice shorts, at least one church shirt", etc. Sometimes they'll come to me with something additional and are very price-conscious and tell me how much it is and we discuss if it's a good buy (something they will wear a lot and well-made) or not. I like that they are older and can have these kinds of debates/discussions with me.

1:15 p.m. Leave Old Navy and head to Food Lion to pick something up for Tom to grill for dinner. . .I have school. Also, although I get a phone call to play tennis I decline because I have a lot of school work that is not yet completed and not only do I have a class tonight, I have a paper due Friday and a discussion due Sunday. It was a BEAUTIFUL day (65 degrees?) so extremely hard to turn down that invitation.

1:45 p.m. Arrive home and bring purchases in. Make the kids ice cream cones then send them outside for one hour. I told them I need to get school work done. . .I check e-mail and reply to my MIL. . .by 2:26 (yes, I remember this!) I had been interrupted 7 times. Ugh!!!! I set the timer to go off at 3 so I remember to stop and start getting ready for swim team practice at 4.

2:55 p.m. Frederick comes inside complaining about something. . .I ask where Thomas is. Turns out he sneaked inside to turn on the television. . .so. . .text Tom to make sure he knows that Thomas has NO MORE television privileges today. UGH.

3:30 p.m. Remember that I forgot to drop off a folder this morning at a neighbor's house so on our way out the door I grab it to drop off on the way to the Y. Luckily the neighbors are outside playing so I don't have to send someone to the door but we start chatting. . .you know how that it. Finally pull away.

3:56 p.m. I'm in the YMCA parking lot. . .Margaret, Thomas, and Frederick have 4 minutes before needing to be ready and on the pool deck.

4:00 p.m. Marie brought a DVD player with her so she plugs into that while I get out my school books again and attempt to catch up for class that starts in 2 hours.

5:25 p.m. Text Tom. . .where are you? Did you remember I have class tonight??? He walks in the door 10 minutes later, just as I called him to ask if I should take the kids to campus and meet him there. We trade vehicles and I leave while he goes to get Thomas out of the shower (always a challenge at the Y after swimming).

5:55 p.m. Meet a classmate while walking to class. We both note that we are generally not this late. I also notice how different the campus looks in the daylight -- until now it had always been dusk or darker when I've arrived for my 6 p.m. Thursday night class. Yea to Daylight Saving's Time (but boo to how tired the kids were at school last Monday)!

8:58 p.m. Class runs over 8 minutes tonight. It's statistics. Yuck. But I really like our teacher. He tries hard to give us education graduates reasons for needing to know this stuff.

9:00 p.m. I call Tom to let him know class let out late (as the bell chimes in the background) and I'll be home soon. I wanted to know how the kids were. . .he said fine. . .all in bed now. How was dinner? He had to nuke the burgers again after taking them off the grill. . .he has a new burner, just needs some good weather so he can install it. Will you be able to do it for Saturday? I really want to make BBQ Pork Tenderloin. . .yes, he thinks so. I then call my mom for our weekly chat -- many times the only time each week I'm alone in the car :) She's doing well and going to send John's painting light down with my dad this weekend as I mentioned that I'd like to do some more painting around here and John (my stepfather) had an awesome light. My brother had already made arrangements with him so he could get it for me. . .I hadn't been able to get hold of my father earlier in the day. My brother is currently living with my mother as he and his wife sold their house and would like to eventually move to FL but Mom was widowed almost two years ago and really needs to get her house is order to sell so they are there to help move this process along. . .

9:20 p.m. Arrive home to a quiet house. . .everyone, even Tom is in bed. Tom "lets" me talk to him for awhile (at him?) and when it's decided that he's too tired to watch a video, I wash up, change, and get my laptop and school books out and work on homework until midnight. I close everything down and turn out the light. It's 12:03 a.m. I feel good though. . .I have accomplished quite a bit in these two hours!!!

March 19th, 5:50 a.m. The radio turns on to signal the start to another day :)

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