Day in the Life (School Edition)

I'm finally getting around to doing a day in the life post for our school routines just in time for both of my kids to be moving to virtual learning.  Boo!!  

Olive starts on Thursday and Fletcher's PreK is just closing for the next few weeks.  She said her teacher cried when they talked about it yesterday.  I just hate all of the learning that they're missing out on and the social interaction.  We are all so sad about it.  Life is so unpredictable this year and that's hard for someone who thrives on schedules and routines.  I'm hoping and praying that they can return to their classrooms ASAP.  Are your kids going to school in person?

Day in the Life School Edition

6:55 My alarm goes off.  I lay in bed a couple minutes longer and then get up.

7:00 The big kids wake up and head straight for the playroom.  I do the basics to get myself ready.

7:15 Wake up the house.  Lights on, curtains open and breakfast for the big kids.  They watch a little show and I get them both dressed and ready for the day.  I assemble lunch boxes and water bottles.  Check my planner for any important school reminders.  I change into real clothes and the three of us head to take Olive to school around 7:45.  We talk about what we're looking forward to and I say a prayer for Olive to have a wonderful day.

8:00 Fletcher and I head home.  I get him a second breakfast and turn on Wild Kratts for him.  I sip some iced coffee, take care of anything urgent on the computer, monitor and schedule things for the social media for my mom's group and I finish getting ready.  Kevin is getting ready for the day.

8:30 We wake up Leo if he's not already up and get him ready to go.  We also feed the cats.

8:45 We all leave home.  I do the same routine for Fletcher - talk about what he's looking forward to doing at school, what job he hopes he gets and say a prayer for him to have a great day.  I walk him up to school.  He get his temp checked and I send him off to his class.

9:00 Leo and I are set to go!  We run errands and get all the things done.  It's so easy to run errands with just one kid especially one that's thrilled to ride along in his car seat and can't touch all the germy things in stores.  We do grocery pick up at this time, too.

10:30 Head back home for Leo to nap.  I try to get all the things done at home while he naps.  I do chores, jobs and exercise when I can.  This is prime time for me to make phone calls or workout.

11:30 Leo wakes up and he tags along with whatever I'm working on.  He's usually just happy to crawl around the house and play while I work.  I try to soak up my hours with just Leo during the day.

12:30 Lunch time for me and Leo.  Eat and then make sure all the dishes are loaded, unloaded and washed.  I continue working on things like laundry, cleaning, blogging, computer work and projects.  Sometimes Leo will nap again before we get Fletcher. 

1:50 We load back up in the car to pick up Fletcher.  He always has a great day and TONS to say.  He gives me the full run down of who did what, who got in trouble, who got hurt, who spilled their lunch, etc.  He walks in the door, changes clothes, washes his hands and cannot wait to show off all the hard work he's been doing at school.  His presentation of his daily work is so sweet.  He's very proud of his school work and can't wait to tell me about each activity.  Then he wants a snack and a show.  We try to squeeze in some quality time here - games, read books that Fletcher picks and snuggles.  Then, I get some more things done before it's time to get Olive.

3:00 I load up the boys and head to the bus stop.  We greet Olive and head home.  She does the same routine - changes clothes, washes hands and shows off her school papers.  She's not as excited to go through everything, but she does it.  I empty lunch boxes and put all the yumboxes in the sink.  Snacks and a show for everyone.  Olive has an early lunch so she's starving.  Another snack or two and she's ready to talk about her day.

3:30 Turn off the TV and play.  The kids are usually excited to be together again and are eager to play.  Leo goes down for another nap.  I prep things for dinner.  Chop, set out and get everything ready to make dinner a little easier.

4:30 Homework time.  The big kids sit down at the kitchen island and get their work done.  Fletcher doesn't have assigned homework.  Olive has several things to work through unless she snuck a pencil in her backpack and already completed it on the bus ride home.  She's independent like that.  Leo sits in his high chair and devours puffs or Cheerios while we work.  If the kids aren't needing much help, I do dishes or fold laundry while they work.

5:30 Kevin gets home.  We try to go for a walk or play outside.  Often times he'll take the kids while I get dinner started.  I love to cook for my family so it's a treat to be able to do this alone some days.

6:15 Dinner time.  99% of the time we eat together.  We talk about the highlights of our days and I clean up the kitchen.  I usually try to pack lunches for the next day at this time.  The kid play together or with Kevin.

7:15 Bath time.  Reading time. Game time.  We try to do a little bit of everything and then the kids have a bedtime snack.  Olive has been enjoying reading to all of us from whatever chapter book she's reading.  We try to focus on Olive and let her pick things we do.  Then we tidy up the house together.  The house is all picked up for the night.  Teamwork!

8:15 Kevin puts the big kids to bed.  They read a chapter book together and do devotions. I feed Leo and put him to bed.  Lately, he's just been going down for a cat nap and then ready to play an hour later.

8:30 Kevin and I watch a show together and have a dessert.  Longmire and ice cream is our favorite combo.

10:00 Sometimes Leo is back up.  Sometimes not.  Kevin usually heads to bed and I stay up to do whatever I want :)  It's my favorite time of day for me time.  I set out everything we need for the following morning, do one last tidy up of the house, blog, watch shows, snuggle cats and work on projects.  I'm currently watching Hart of Dixie.

12:00 Midnight rolls around and I try to get in bed ASAP.  The put the kittens to bed in their bathroom - they're still too little to wander the house alone.  Oliver and Topher head to our room to sleep.  Sometimes Leo wakes up again around this time.  And then he's usually up once a night or three times if he's teething.  Drift off to sleep and hope all the kids sleep through the night.

Here are a few real life pictures from our school days.  I snapped pictures all throughout the week on school days so it's a mix of pictures from a few different days.   

Do you ever snap a picture and then later realize that it's the perfect snapshot of your life right now?  This one is true for me.  The kids are getting so big so fast.  I'm trying to soak up all these little days of character pjs, bedhead and sweetness.

My shadow.  I get ready.  He plays with hair ties.

Hold me, Mommy!

Laundry helper.  Basket to contain sweet baby.

Leo naps.  Kittens wanted attention, too. 

Both big kids want the kittens when they get home.

Lunch packing tip;

Pack similar lunches for your kids so make your life easier.

Do our routines have anything in common?