What do you do all day?

A day in the life.

On being a stay at home mama to two three-year-olds (turning 4 in a hot minute)

This is a picture of what a typical day probably looks like for us. At the very least, it's what my written onto paper, daily routine in 30 minute increments, says a day looks like in our home. I am not a saint, I get tired easily and often, and many days vary from routine.  And we roll with it (ish.)

6:30 I wake up and do my 10 minute morning hygiene routine, in my sleep, trying to find my way to the coffee pot, my recliner and massage cushion, and the book I'm using for my bible study time.

Right now I'm working through Mission of Motherhood. It is life changing if you really dig in and deep and let it sink in slowly, over and over, day by day.

7- finish Bible study. Start cooking breakfast

It's true. We have something along the lines of eggs, bacon, grits, toast for breakfast every day.  I believe in a hearty breakfast to start the day off right. Seems to improve the moods of all.  

7:30 Babies are allowed to come out of their rooms (We use the "OK to wake" alarm clock) Most days the girl baby comes out of her room right around then and the boy is usually awake and out of his room by 8.

Morning cuddles, eat breakfast. The idea is that we eat breakfast together around the breakfast table. Some mornings we eat it in the den, by the fire, watching cartoons.  

8: Start working on cleaning up from breakfast, and get the 3 of us dressed, tidy the house. This is a good time to unload the dishwasher. (But I didn't say I actually do that every day...)

9-12 : Preschool.  During this time I either go to hot yoga or run errands or work on home responsibilities.

12-130- eat lunch. clean up from lunch.  cry about taking a nap.  read stories, sing songs, and get ready for...

Quiet Time. 3-4 out of 7 days of the week the kids are required to stay in their own rooms during this time.  The other days I don't have the umph to fight it  decide they're only little once, so I let them curl up on the couch and watch movies quietly.  

130-3: During their quiet time, I usually work on budget/bills, meal plan, plan the week, emails/blog, etc. Oh and sometimes I take a shower.

3-530: Snack, then straight outside.  We stay outside the whole time. Work in the yard, play with outside toys,  paint, sidewalk chalk, . It just has to be outside.

Sometimes we feed the ducks

Sometimes we feed the fish.

Somedays we hang out with 2 of our 3 favorite boys (my nephews)

Somedays we go to our other favorite boy's baseball games. (My nephew)

*Please note that the below photos taken at the park were after school when it was PJ day at school.  I don't always take my kids in public in their 'jams.  Only sometimes.*

Playing seek and hide at the park

Conquering the dinosaur at the park.

530: I start cooking and bathtime

She loves bathtime, NOT when it ends.

Sometimes we paint the
 bathtub during bathtime.
Because you're only 3
once and clean up is
sooooo simple.

630: Sit down at the dinner table and eat as a family.

We have fancy seafood over pasta with wine every night. OK we don't. This was a special occasion.

7: I clean up from supper/ while Luke starts bedtime routine.

730: Join in the end of bedtime routine, say night night, and kids are in bed.

Folks, this is a raw, rough draft, skeleton version of what our average day looks like.  Somewhere in there, I at least wash and dry the laundry, sometimes I fold and put it away.  And in the middle of the rest of that, I do all the mommy and wifey things that you probably can think of.  I also try to grow and maintain meaningful friendships, and mostly spend a lot of quality time with my kids and my husband.

I am so thankful for all the time I have to be at home, caring for my husband and kids.  Parenting and managing a household is by far the.most.difficult stage of life I've ever had.  However, I would not trade it for all the gold in the world.  My husband and my kids and my parents, siblings, friends, they are worth more than gold. They are my gold.

I LOVE to hear the daily routines of others, whether you're single, married, a parent, working fulltime, or all of the above.  Please share a comment with your daily routine!

Happy Birthday Yum Yum!

Thursday was my sister's birthday, and Friday we had the joy of having some of the family over to celebrate the blessing she is to us!   As we walked around the store on Friday afternoon, my children excitedly exclaimed to every passerby "HEY!  We're having Yum Yum's birthday party!!"  (Which essentially sounded like "HEY! We're having a Yum Yum Party!!") That got us a few good looks but we figured, heck, its Valentines, let em' have their cake and eat it too.  Side note- Yum Yum is the knickname she affectionately accrued when my niece was a child.

We had a great night filled with lots of laughter and pizza and cheesecake brownies.

Her with a lap full of a lot of love and laughter.  We are blessed!  

So on the blog today I feature the girl who loves my babies like they are her own, was my maid of honor, is the mother of my favorite nephews, and never says no when I ask to "look through your closet b/c I can't find anything to wear for this or that". And who would always belt out "Cheeseburger in Paradise" with me at the top of our lungs when we were younger :>)

My beautiful maid of honor!

You can count on finding my children in her lap when we're
together.  They love her lots.  

With her twin boys, in 2011, at our brother's rehearsal dinner

With my twins in 2011.  Told ya, always count on
 finding my children in her lap! 

The Bemis girls at our brother's wedding in 2011 (minus my Collins
 who was too young to attend the wedding and Douglas who wasn't around yet!)  

The day my babies were born.  

Bemis triplets with our girl babies.  2010.  

Happy Birthday Yum Yum!!  You are a beautiful, devoted, strong, loving  woman, sister, daughter, mother, friend and aunt.  You give it your all always, tirelessly.  We are blessed by you!