Day in the Life: 4th Grade, 1st Grade & 3

I wanted to squeeze in a day in the life post before Summer starts tomorrow!  The school year has flown by and I didn't want to miss documenting our routines.

I debate taking a nap most days, but rarely do.  

Age 3 is proving to be an exhausting one and it feels mentally and physically draining to keep up with our busy guy.  He's got big feelings about everything, opinions about everything, is very independent and he's very strong.  I think the days wear him out, too.  These are all wonderful adult qualities that I know will serve him well in the long run, but they're hard to help him manage in the day to day.  He's sweet as pie one minute and angry as a hornet the next.  

Crazy toddler life!!  I always hope for the best for our days.  Some days are so easy and fun.  Other days are hard.  But I'm glad to have a front row seat for all of it.  I'm super thankful to be a stay at home mom right now and try hard to savor the moments of our days together.  Even the hard ones :)

Let's get started.

 

6:15 Leo wakes up and gets me up.  He has set of requests and I groggily go along with them.

6:45 My alarm goes off.  Joke's on me because I've been up for a while.  We get dressed, sit on the potty and wake up the house - turn on lights and open curtains.

7:00 Big kids wake up thanks to Olive's alarm and come downstairs dressed.  Olive is dressed up for a choir concert and Fletcher is thankful he does not have to dress up.  We do breakfast of toast and peanut butter oatmeal and do all the things to get them ready to walk out the door.  I assemble lunch boxes, make 6 water bottles for the day and make sure the kids have everything from snacks to signed notes for their days.  I help with hair, knotted shoe laces and find missing items for everyone.

8:05 My school alarm goes off and we load up the van.  The kids fight over who opens the doors and the order they get in the van.  This happens most mornings.  Referee mom on duty.  On the way to school I ask the kids for their prayer requests for the day.  It's my favorite thing we do before I drop them off at school.  It gives me a good snapshot of what they're excited about or worried about their days.

8:15 Drop off the big kids and head back home.  I sip some iced coffee and get Leo breakfast and a show.  I check my emails and social media for the morning.  I tidy up the whole house and run upstairs to tidy up the kid's bedrooms and the playroom.  We tidy up all throughout the day so that the house doesn't get destroyed.  Leo likes to color or play with his cars.  We chat with Kevin before he heads to work and I share the kid's prayer requests for the day.

9:15 We head out on errands or outings like play dates or Bible study.  We got invited to play with a friend this morning so we headed over there.  We usually do grocery pick up, returns, appointments and everything first thing in the morning.  If we don't have things to go and do, we work on things around the house and go for a walk.

11:15 Back home for lunch and some down time.  I do dishes and take care of any family business.  This day I vacuumed the whole house and helped Leo write an apology note to his friend.  He broke a toy when we were over there this morning so we are dropping off an apology and replacement toy this afternoon.  Toddlers are tricky.

12:30 Time to put Leo down for a nap.  I rock him with a cup of milk and we read a stack of "Bi-brary books" about dinosaurs, cars and going potty.  He sleeps until I wake him up around 2:30.  This is the time when I get all the things done - bake, blog, projects and planning.  The house is quiet and it's a great reset for the rest of the day.  The cats nap and enjoy sleeping in peace. I like to hop on the treadmill during this time any chance I get.

2:30 My pick up alarm goes off and I wake up Leo to head to pick up the big kids from school.  He usually wakes up grumpy and it's a battle to get him out the door.  We wait in the pick up line.  I read, do crosswords or scroll my phone.  Leo snacks and watches a movie.

3:15 Back home with the big kids!  We check in for the homework situation for the night and feed them all the snacks.  They're usually starving.  They play on their tablets and snack.  They almost always ask for a smoothie.  I empty backpacks, lunch boxes and put things away for tomorrow.

4:00 Screens are off and we get homework done.  It was super easy tonight because it is almost summer.  We clean out backpacks and head outside to play until dinner time.  Kevin gets home at a different time every day, but it is always before dinner time.  He'll water the garden or hang out on the patio with us.  I like to grab a drink of lemonade or iced coffee and a book and head outside while the kids play.  They usually want me to watch their every move or every cool new trick.  This is one o fmy favorite times of day.

5:30 I come in to put the finishing touches on our charcuterie board dinner.  Heat up the bread sticks and start building our board.  The kids come in and wash up and we usually eat right at 6:00.  We try to share our rose, thorn & unicorn of our days (the good, the bad and the surprising!).  It makes for funny conversation and sometimes we talk for Leo and say his.

6:30 Clean up the kitchen, pack the lunches and play.  Kevin usually takes the kids out to play or ride bikes and I join them once the kitchen is tidy and the lunches are ready for the following day.  I tried going right out with them, but I really hated coming back in to a big mess in the kitchen.  So we divide and conquer and they love playing with dad because he's the fun one.

7:30 Come inside.  Everyone showers and changes into their pjs.  We watch a show like Lego Masters or part of a movie.  Then we eat a snack and the kids start the process of going to bed at 8.  I put Leo to bed with the same routine as earlier.  Kevin puts the big kids to bed.  Then I head to their room to read to them and chat.  We are currently reading The Penderwicks and it's fun!  I check their outfits for the following day, tidy up any laundry and hear about their days.  Fletcher always falls alseep first and Olive would stay up all night with me.

9:00 Adult hang out time.  We chat about our days, catch up on life, share stressors from the day and are watching Ted Lasso right now.  Olive usually makes a couple appearances downstairs to ask random questions, to check on us or tell us goodnight.  We both enjoy ending our day with a snack and time together.  Sometimes we turn on the fire pit and hang out in the back yard with a fun drink.  And some nights I do late night baking if I have a cookie order and sometime I'll work on my blog.

10:30 Kevin heads to bed before me usually and I keep working on things.  I try to be in bed around 11 but that doesn't always happen.  I like to be asleep before midnight.

And that is our routine for most school days in 2023.  Are our days similar at all??

Our day in pictures:

And that's a wrap!