My Day (more info than you ever wanted) and Theme Thursday (Orange)

Challenge to Blog Daily: Day 5

(See this post for the background info on this challenge and please forgive whatever you find "imperfect, incomplete, potentially uninteresting, and quite possibly incomprehensible.")

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I really enjoyed Jen's (at Conversion Diary) post yesterday and the quote "The days are long but the years are short."  It flowed so well with a concept I've been mulling over recently - the seasons of life and how quickly they pass, except when you're in the midst of them.  Some "seasons" seem like they'll never end.  But life ebbs and flows with busy days and quiet days, my chaotic mental state and my calm and ordered mental state, spiritual plenty and spiritual dryness, bounty and need, the list goes on and on.  

Since I'm committed to posting every day for a week, and since I haven't prepared anything ahead of time for today, I've chosen to record my day. It may not interest ANY readers whatsoever, but it will serve as a future reminder to me how blessed and treasured these ordinary days are - these days that are seemingly unimpressive and even tiresome, but are the anchor of this season of our family life.  Fun family outings, exciting field trips, and out of the ordinary events may be easier to recall when we all remember "the past," but they will feel hollow and contrived without the foundation and structure that ordinary, structured (ha!), stable, safe home life provides.  

(for Theme Thursday: Orange, just skip all this to the marigolds in the middle!)

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I got out of bed at 6:10, wishing I had gotten up earlier.

Russ made waffles, though I helped because he'd never made them from scratch before, and then I hopped in the shower.  Tried to save time by skipping shampoo and just using conditioner - this is supposed to be a salon tip for great hair.  My hair does not look salon-fabulous today.

Coffee.

Breakfast was delightful.  We chatted about a property out in the "country" we had looked a few days ago and all tried to weigh the pros and cons of rural living - things like the beauty of deer in your yard vs. attack of the killer mosquitoes.

Forgot to check Aaron's blood before breakfast.  Ugh.

Russ got a call from work and had to leave early.  Knowing that this is a trigger for me going Scary Monster Mom, I light my Yankee Candles so that even if everything else crumbles to pieces this morning, at least the house would smell good.  

I made an agreement with the kids.  They work on being obedient immediately and without questions or complaining.  I will work on not yelling.  We decide to hold each other accountable. 

Chores.  They got done.

I love having magnet chore boards so that the three big kids know what they have to do without me saying it over and over!  To keep track of when a task is done they get to move the magnet to the right.

Aaron asks if he can start Math, but I'm unprepared, so he rearranges his flashcards in the dining room and practices the -7 facts.

The kids start playing house.  I interrupt because I forgot to give Aaron insulin after breakfast.  They start cooperating to clean up the basement (in the hopes of an indoor football game when Dad gets home from work) so I postpone starting lessons until 8:45.

I quickly get the lessons boards together.

8:45 - We gather on the couch, sing our morning prayer.

Catechism lesson.

Singing - we all practice Holy God, We Praise Thy Name and Hail Holy Queen

For the first time ever, we have quiet personal prayer time.  I tell the kids to choose a prayer book or picture Bible and find a secret spot to pray.  When I ring the "bell" (a wooden spoon banging on the lid of a kitchen pot, reminiscent of my childhood...) they come back to the couch.  They love it!  And so do I!  (Clare stays with me in the living room while the kids are praying in secret.  She alternately looks at the Stations of the Cross book and at the squirrels in our front yard.  I practice the Sign of the Cross with her.)

Bible reading.  Narrations.

Poetry memorization practice.

9:30 - We move to the dining room table.  The girls color at our little table in the living room.  

Both the boys do Math. 

Dominic does Handwriting.

Aaron takes a Spelling test.

Clare begins her requisite morning mess-making.  I've come to terms with it.

10:15 - Break time.  Snack of dried fruit and peanuts.  Insulin for Aaron. 

10:30 - It's garbage day in our neighborhood and here come the trucks.  We all go outside to watch the action on our street.  This is a weekly activity, the garbage crew know us and give the kids lots of attention.  

usually a boy's job... I don't know what came over her  (yep - they're both still in pajamas...)

"see ya next week, guys!"

well, this makes me see how badly the front of the house needs to be painted...

I see how colorful our garden still is and decide to cut marigolds to bring in to the house.

My spur of the moment submission to Theme Thursday... sorry it's buried amid the drivel of my day...

10:41 - we sit back down to more lessons when the leaf patrol trucks (front loader and two dump trucks) come through the neighborhood.  More distraction.  We don't easily recover from this one.

10:52 - We sit back down.  Clare needs a diaper change.

Dominic does Spelling - it takes him 17 minutes to write five words.

Aaron does Handwriting - he writes a letter to his pen pal!

Clare pushes the doll stroller around the circle of our house for the 47th time.

11:20 - Break.  Everyone goes outside!!!!!

I have no idea what they're doing or why their pants are like that.  I just take the pictures and don't ask questions...

I make lunch, which is peanut butter and banana sandwiches because I forgot to get jam out of the freezer.

Someone intentionally urinates outside and comes in for clean non-pajamas and a timeout in her bed.

12:15 - I sit the girls down for lunch and run to the basement to do laundry.  I usually wouldn't do this, but since I was keeping track of my activity today, I figure I'd better do something to sound a little more productive than usual!  I also get jam out of the freezer while I'm down there.  I do a quick clean-up of the school area.

The boys come in, change because they're muddy, wash up, Aaron checks his blood.  They sit down to do Latin.

12:30 - The boys eat lunch.  While they eat, we discuss what they're reading in Literature at tutoring.  Mr. Dave, the mailman arrives with catalogs and a long-awaited package - long sleeve undershirts for Dominic who WILL. NOT. wear the button-down pajama tops that go with his pajamas. 

During lunch, in an attempt to squeeze a "music" lesson into the day, I try to play a CD about the life of Beethoven.  No one's really listening though, and even I know when it's time to quit.

Someone puts baby carrots in his nose and looses the privilege of finishing lunch.

12:45 - I change Clare's diaper and figure it's a good time to get her out of pajamas.  I put her down for a nap.

I put Ruth down for a nap.  She whines about that a little bit.  The boys do Grammar and they each do a short Reading lesson.  They go to the basement for quiet time - today they play Legos and listen to Robin Hood on Audible.

1:45 - I do more laundry and get a batch of oatmeal bread into the bread machine for dinner.  Then I eat lunch - a cup of yogurt, an apple, and potato chips :)  I write some of this post and page through the catalogs the mailman brought.  I LOVE afternoon quiet time!

3:15 - the timer goes off and the boys are back up.  We do a History read aloud.  

3:30 - Ruth's awake.  We all do a short drawing lesson.  And they all go back outside with a box of chalk I got on end-of-summer special.  I keep working on writing this since I made soup the other night and don't have much get ready for dinner this evening.

This was a crazy productive lessons day!  Look at all they did!!  Same method as the chore boards - lessons on the left are not done, lessons on the right are done.  Tomorrow is Friday, so we'll probably do about three or four and call it a day.  Whew!

4:30 - Clare is up.  She and I join the other kids outside - we walk to the corner and fool around with chalk.

Mom in Action, by Dominic

And... it starts to rain.

5:15 - we all come back inside.  I get dinner ready, kids do chores.  Aaron checks his blood.

5:30 - Russ comes home.  We have delicious Winter Veggie Bisque and bread for dinner.  Aaron eats it because his "taste buds are developing."  He gets insulin.

6:30 - the boys bounce around their room like the walls are made of rubber instead of just quietly getting pajamas on.  Ruth looks at a book in the living room, Clare raids the food left on the dining room table.

Dominic dashes down the stairs shouting, "the Allied forces are coming!"

The boys go down to the basement to play some football.  Dominic dashes up the stairs shouting, "The Allied forces win the peewee championship."

Russ takes a couple shots of Clare and I hamming it up in the kitchen...

6:50 - We sit down to have leftover apple pie for dessert. 

7:15 - I'm exhausted and wonder how quickly we can get everyone in bed.  Russ puts Clare in bed and cleans up from dinner because he's amazing.  I supervise night-time insulin and "teeth and toilet" routines, convince Ruth that her owl pajamas are not uncomfortable, and tuck her in next to her meerkat, Mumford.  Ruth and I sing Amazing Grace and Sing a Song of Sixpence.  Lights out!

7:30 - I pray with the boys and we read from Rare Catholic Stories.  We chat about the day tomorrow and they ask if we can go to Mass!  Wow!

Lights out!

It's 8:08.  I intend to spend a quiet evening chatting with Russ about the day and starting to make plans for next week's Fall Soup Party - menu, shopping list, and cooking schedule.

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Day is done, gone the sun,

From the lake, from the hill, from the sky.

All is well, safely rest,

God is nigh.

Thanks and praise, for our days,

'Neath the sun, 'neath the stars, 'neath the sky.

As we go, this we know,

God is nigh.

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Thankfully, only two more days left of this challenge.  This was pretty painful :) and I'm so embarrassed that I'm even posting it but I've got nothing else.  Goodnight.

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For more "Orange" photos and less rambling about the boring goings on of an ordinary homemaker, visit Cari's latest installment of Theme Thursday!