Just Another Day

On Thursday I decided to keep track of what we did for the day. I did this once before and it is nice to look back on and reflect. We did nothing incredibly amazing and nothing too horrible happened. Just ordinary. When I think about all of the kids being forced out of bed and shipped off to a classroom, an ordinary day is something to be very very thankful for.

7:15 - I woke up and tried to sneak out of my room without waking Mirek for some alone time. He always hears me open the back door to feed the chickens though. Oh well. I start the coffee and sit with him.

7:45 - The other three wake up and lumber downstairs. I make them breakfast.

8:15 - Eaden does her copywork. She chooses a poem (usually a short one) from A Garden of Verses. We rented Frozen from Redbox yesterday so I let Naia and Taven watch that in my room.

 8:35 - Math. Eaden can do her math without help from me so I wash dishes and chug some coffee. She hears the "Let it Go" song from Frozen and runs into the bedroom to sing. She returns to her math. Taven dumps his food on the ground and crushes it into the carpet. He hits Naia in the head with a gun.

 8:55 - Phonics and reading.

 9:10 - Eaden finishes her work and takes a break. I clean some more. Taven asks me to help him clean his room. I do and then I take a quick shower. Naia is still watching Frozen. When the movie is over all of the kids go out back to play.

10:15 - Eaden comes inside and we read from Paddle to the Sea. There is a lot of geography in the book so we also learn about the Great Lakes and lakes and rivers in general.

 10:30 - Eaden asks if she can read the book she checked out at the library yesterday. I say yes and make the kids chicken noodle soup.

 10:45 - I read a story to Eaden from James Herriot's Treasury for Children (Only One Woof) while she eats. After reading a couple of pages I quit because the other kids are too loud and interrupting. They all go out front to play.

11:15 - Eaden says she heard a Woodpecker outside and that she wants to draw it. Naia heads upstairs to play with her dollhouse and the boys go out back.

 11:30 - We are all out back.

 Despite having a small backyard there are still plenty of things to observe.

 The kids dumped rain water from the wagon and apparently it is now mosquito season. There were also plenty of Mosquito Hawks (Crane Flies). We would let them settle into the grass and then run through and they would all fly up together.

 Mirek was copying me and trying to take pictures of a Mockingbird with an old broken camera.

 12:00 - Back inside. Mirek is shooting a hurt Mosquito Hawk. We feed it to the chickens. We also look up Mosquito Hawks online and learn that they do not actually eat mosquitoes. In fact, the adults do not eat anything at all. Darn.

 12:10 - The kids all go upstairs and I hear a boys vs. girls fight. Taven comes down and I work on letters with him. Eaden comes down and says "now I know why boys are not allowed in our room! They make messes!" She gets the vacuum and takes it upstairs to clean her room.

12:30 - We decide to make cookies.

 Mirek helps by sticking his fingers in them.

 1:00 - I take Mirek to bed and let the kids play with shaving cream outside.

 While drinking beer and watching the kids through the kitchen window I get the idea for a car wash.

 The car wash idea is a big hit and I am able to finish the cookies, iron clothes, and clean a bit.

2:00 - Everyone comes inside and I put on Mirror Mirror (Snow White movie with Julia Roberts) that we checked out from the library the day before. The girls watched it for a short time and Taven fell asleep. I cleaned.

2:30 - Eaden wanders from the movie and I finish reading Just One Woof  to her.

2:40 - Eaden reads her own book again and Naia draws.

3:00 - We start getting ready for gymnastics. I brush hair while they watch the movie.

3:30 - Ade gets home from work.

4:00 - We leave for gymnastics.

5:00 - 9:00 - Eaden is at gymnastics and I take Naia to my parents to visit. Taven and Mirek stay home with Dad.

9:00 - We pick up Eaden from the gym and head home.

10:00 - I put the kids to bed and watch Honey Boo Boo! 

11:00 - Sleep.