A Real Day in the Life of the Tribe
Could I make a quick suggestion before we begin? Grab some chocolate. Really. If you want to experience the fullness of my day, then you need to have chocolate close by to grab. It helped me tremendously. Seriously. I’ll give you a minute….I’m not kidding…..go for the chocolate now…..
Got it? Great. Now, take a deep breath, let’s begin……
I get up at a decent time. Not as early as I like but hey 7am isn’t bad considering I crashed at midnight! I run to the bathroom in the hopes of showering before anyone awakens. Right. Sure. Do we really think that I will be up and ready before my early birds? Caleb is up before I finish. I heard him running from his room to the kitchen. Not a problem. I am prepared!!
Monday is Laundry Day! It is necessary to conquering Mt. Laundry. But that is another post for another day! Focus, people!!! This means that sheets are removed from the beds and washed! So I call out to Caleb to remove his sheets and toss them in the washer. I go to grab the sheets from my bed as well. I then get the girls moving (awake and playing in their room; sneaky sneaky)and taking their sheets off as well. Then hustle, hustle; get dressed! brush your hair! brusth teeth and get at the table!!!!
Ah, breakfast. While they eat, I read our Bible lesson for the day and we go over our memory verse. (I will eat later; I must be up and moving for a certain amount of time before I can intake food.) They are still eating so we do a little poetry, the beg for Missionary Stories with the Millers, I give an evil laugh and say too bad. You have to wait til later. Ok, not really. No evil laugh. I can not do it justice; hubby does much better.
Sounds like a great day right? Sure! I agree. Now what in the world was my point??? Hmm, I’ll keep rambling and maybe it will come back to me and maybe not. Remember, in the case of an emergency you do have chocolate.
After breakfast is morning chores. They all have their jobs to do. Most everyone jumps in and begins to work. Except for one. He will remain nameless. He decided to try the old I’m tired and don’t feel good routine. Well, tomorrow don’t be the first one out of bed! Oh, I forgot to mention that I had to already bust one of the girls that was in her room reading. Hmm, wonder who that was??? No, it was not me!
Mary has to clean the bathroom. Today she decided she would clean the other bathroom as well. Ah, how sweet! Hannah was done eating my breakfast so she was tagging along behind the others seeing what she could do to hinder their progress. (She is almost two you know; she does her job well.) Mary is bringing the dirty clothes from the bathroom to the laundry room. Hannah is helping by bringing clothes as well. Unfortunately, she did not put down her little plastic toy piggie first and he went in with the dirty laundry. This meant Mary had to remove all the dirty clothes to find the pig. Lovely.
Time for Mary and Bekah to get started. Of course before I could even get Caleb and Lydia on task with something, they were at it. Ugh. At the table with the both of you! Sit quietly till I can get to you! Hannah begins screaming. Why? I have not clue. She is almost two? Is that a good reason? I deal with Hannah. Get back to math with girls. Hannah starts again. Finally, after some encouragement, I get her settled on a blanket with the money box. It does not last. Ha!
Get Lydia doing her “math” worksheets. Everyone is busy, busy. Oh wait. Someone has wondered off into la la land. Hellllllloooooo? It is your free time you are eating up, chick. Another falling out session with Hannah. Chocolate? None. Nope, I had none!!! Ahhhhhh!!!!!!
Send Caleb to his room with 100EZ lessons. Our daily spot for phonics. Ok, it is a sneaky way for my to lie down for a bit. Smart, ain’t I? Well, of course, Hannah has to join us. She begins with screaming “neigh, neigh” as she climbs on Caleb’s back. Is he bothered? Nope. Keeps right on reading. Got to love that one track mind! Then she sees she is not distracting enough so she sits in front of him and keep slapping the book. Is he bothered? Nope. Am I? Yes!!! WHERE IS MY CHOCOLATE????
When 100EZ lessons is over, Hannah has another screaming epidsode. What is her problem? I have NO clue!!! Child #5 and I am clueless what is setting her off!!!!! Someone is till on math. Ugh. Get with it girl! Stop staring out the window!!!
Send Caleb and Lydia to living room to play with designated toy. Warning to be quiet; time for spelling. In the middle of spelling with the girls’, high pitched scream from living room is heard. Caleb and Lydia at the table, heads down, mouths quiet.
I’m tired. Aren’t you? Seriously. I was worn out!!! Preggy mommy needed a serious, long chocolate break!
Spelling is done. We press onward. Time for our read aloud. Charlotte’s Web. One chapter. Lovely story. The spider dies. Caleb tells me this everyday. Yes, she dies. I have to read over the sound of Hannah screaming “moo”, “neigh”, “dog” etc. She is reading “The Big Red Barn” by Margaret Wise Brown. Lovely book. Guess I can mark that Hannah had vocabulary building today?
Finally, I make the Mother of the Year move. Yes, my children, it is time for Missionary Stories with the Millers. We read about a sweet missionary lady in the 40′s, serving in China. When we are done we are going to mark China, Japan and the Yellow River on our map. They love this. My kiddos all love a map. I say “let’s look at the map” and there is a stampede! I grab “mommy’s box”. This is the pink pencil box that holds THE SHARPIES and THE WET ERASE MARKERS. Step away from the box and no one will get hurt. So we are at the map. Bekah marks Japan. Caleb marks China and Mary takes care of the Yellow River. Hannah keeps trying to take markers but I keep intercepting her attempts. This makes her so much happier than she already was!
After the map, I think that it is time for a break. I need one. Just a quick break. So I come to the computer to just check in for a second. Well, her comes Hannah. Hmm, interesting. She has something blue on her forehead. Hands have red markings. New decorative touches to her dress. Lovely. Yep. Looks a lot like something from MOMMY’S BOX!!!! (which for some insane reason I did not put in the high place, but just sat on my sewing table because I felt I would need it again.) So I call for Bekah to start casing the joint to see where she may have written with the markers. Sharpie or Wet Erase???? Both. And you know where she marked???
Yep, oh wise mothers of the cyber world. On the map. Smart girl. Guess she was a bit miffed that I did not give her a turn at the map so she took matter into her own hands. She clearly marked the southern hemisphere in a rainbow of colors. She, being a diplomat, used Sharpies and Wet Erase. Had to be fair, you know. I seriously thought of taking a picture. Really. I was quite impressed that she would go to the box. Now she didn’t take the box. She just removed the markers as needed. So, she made her selection. Marked the map. Returned the marker for a new one and so on. On the map. No where else (except herself).
The reason I did not take a picture, is that I have children about the age of two who still have issue with decorating our home with writing utensils. I did not want to send the message that it was cute or whatever. Tough call. Hannah was clearly confused on what my problem was. I mean, she was only doing geography, right?
I have everyone gathered up, prepared to begin science. I hear the door. Yahootie! Eddie is home from grocery shopping (another post, trust me). Chocolate!! I will be patient. Get everything put away and then I’ll get some chocolate. The girls help and we get everything put away. Um, NO CHOCOLATE!!!!!!!!!! What in the world????????? Mayday, mayday. Someone send up a flare. Alert, Alert. Sweetie is going down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Deep breath. Breath, breath. You can do it. Hang in there. It is lunch time
. You can make it. Oh! I did get a cool gadget. A stopwatch! Woo hoo! But I digress, lunch. This leads to rest time and nap for Hannah!!!!
I’m getting Hannah down and Eddie lets me know that he is going to run to the local grocery store to get produce he didn’t get at Walmart. Oh honey, could you bring me some chocolate?
Is it on the list, Sweetie?
Um, yes it is.
Where, Sweetie?
Right under laminating refill or stamps or wherever else you want it to be. Bring me some chocolate!
He brings home chocolate. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. (Go ahead, eat yours. If you are still reading this, you need some!)
Over rest time, we get Science done and after 2 or 3 yrs of having the curriculum, we actually do Spanish. They loved this. Woo hoo! I can see this as a regular quiet time activity!!!
Uh oh. What was that? Hannah, The Sequel begins. She awakens from her nap screaming. Oh my.
Not a problem. I have had chocolate and I am ready!!!! Blanket on kitchen floor, water, a few cookies and some plastic animals. Once she sees that there will not be a better offer, she accepts and settles in. Yahootie, score one for mom!
The kiddos are so excited to not be working that they are actually quiet. Mary comes and plays with Hannah. Caleb and Lydia are playing wth cars on top of the case of tomato sauce. Bekah is reading.
Yummy dinner of subs!!! Mmmmm. Little family worship. Dishes all cleaned up. Baths begin. Yelling begins. Fighting begins. Everyone banished to their beds. Except Hannah of course. For some reason she loves to play in Caleb’s bed. I walk by his room and they are sitting there together playing with her baby dolls. What a good brother he is!!!
Baths are done, teeth are brushed. The sky is dark (woo hoo fall is coming, fall is coming). Hannah is wound up. Ugh. Mommy is not reading. (The other night I read by candlelight. Nice you say. Well since some un-named boy broke my flashlight I used for reading, yeah candlelight was my only option. The kiddos love it; very Little House on the Praire, you know.) But tonight, I’m exhausted. No way. I’m just going to sit while Hannah falls asleep. Yep. After 4 awesome sleepers, I have on who fights it every night. *sigh*
Finally, everyone is in bed. Quiet. Still. Ahhhhh.
You know. It is almost too quiet. No one laughing. No hugs. No tickles. Kind of lonely.
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You know, as I type all of this out, I’m laughing. It doesn’t really seem like that bad of a day. I know when it was happening, I felt so on edge. Why? I have no clue!! I look back now and I see a daughter who is just like me. Any chance she gets, she is reading. What an answered prayer! Seriously! When she was a baby, I prayed that she and all our children would love books. I made the promise that anytime she wanted me to read, I would. And now, all my kiddos love to read. Books are everywhere in our home!!
Mary, without being asked, went above and beyond today. Doing extra chores and getting Hannah to help. What a sweet mommy she is going to be one day!! And she played animals with Hannah, read to Lydia I don’t know how many picture books and was a great right hand gal today.
Caleb loves to do his phonics. He is working so hard and doing so great. And I get to see it! It is just as exciting now as it was with the girls. He is all boy but he is so so sweet. Willingly playing dolls with Hannah and making her laugh. Letting her climb all over him and always being so careful. What a blessing to see!!!
Lydia, always keeping me on my toes. Giving me a glimpse into how her daddy was at that age. Yes, he admits that she is just like him, lol. A glimmer in the eye, stubborn, hmm determined. Smart! so smart! That brain is alway turning. Gives the best hugs and winks. Drawing pictures for everyone. Leaving no one out. Loves her big brother beyond measure. She is his shadow. What would I do with out her???
And Hannah. She is our joy. She was a balm to our heart. When she was a little infant we thought she would be our serious one. We were so wrong, lol. She has all of us laughing. All the time. Precious to us all.
The other Sunday we sang Blessed be the Name. I always have a hard time with this song. It has the line taken from Job about how God gives and takes away. It was very meaningful to us when we lost Joshua. So by the time we get to that line, I’m in tears. Thinking of how Joshua was “taken away”. Well on this Sunday, when we sang that song, as we got to that line Hannah gave me a kiss, Caleb had his arm around me and Lydia was holding my hand. Finally, I was able to focus on all He had given me. I am so blessed with these 5 wonderful kiddos. I can’t wait to see how Sarah Michal will fit in, lol.
So even after what felt like a long day, I wouldn’t trade it for anything! I am blessed beyond measure!!
So glad you listened to me and posted about even the not so great day! I’m also amazed at how well you can write about that and turn it around to sound like a fabulous day! WE are so blessed with these little ones!
Isn’t it amazing what a difference the angle of our perspective makes!Sounds a lot like my day today. Both the first half of your post and the 2nd half. Thanks for sharing your day. (And I’m still wondering whether it really was your day, or you were watching mine on hidden camera.)-Dell