As a reader and writer of blogs, I often am curious about how other people order their days. I am not nosey, but what I am looking for is something to make my day easier or more organized. You know.... a better way to do a common chore. I have decided to share with you a common week in my world now that school has started. Please keep in mind this is a loose outline of how my time is spent during the day. Each and every day has unexpected things come up in the day. Some of those things are good and some of them are bad, but they all have to be dealt with one way or the other.
My day usually starts somewhere between 5:45- 6:00 a.m. It is during this time that my husband is getting ready for work and I am downstairs making breakfast, packing his lunch, and trying to get my eyes open! (Before we go to bed at night, I usually ask a child to put coffee on for the next morning. This chore consists of grinding the coffee beans and filling up the pot with water. The next morning all I have to do is pour the water in the maker. This not only saves me time in the morning, but it makes me happy. You know like somebody else made coffee for me)!
6:30 a.m. Michael is out the door, and I have a few minutes to take a quick shower and get dressed. By 6:45, I am waking up all the kids to get ready for school. We have about 30 or 35 minutes to get ready and eat breakfast. The high school junior drives himself to school. (I am so thankful that he has a car to do that)! I take the two middle school students to school. I arrive back home around 8:00 a.m. This is when the fun begins! Seth and I eat a quick breakfast so we can get ready to start his school. He is in 2nd grade this year. By 8:30, we have finished breakfast and checked the kids rooms to finish anything that they may have left undone before school. My kids are pretty good to make their beds and at least pile up their dirty clothes. We are still working on them getting their dirty clothes to the laundry hamper!
Now it is time to work with Seth for school. He gathers his backpack and heads to the kitchen table. He spends a couple of hours working through his assignments. ( I have always loved the idea of having a school room. The first house we lived in here in Tennessee had an area that we devoted to the school room. It lasted about 2 weeks, and we moved school back up to the kitchen table. This was when all of my kids were little and I was still home schooling the three older ones. The school room concept didn't work because I was stuck away from the kitchen. When I home school, I take the extra time in between kids' questions and I work on dinner or folding laundry. I couldn't do this if I wasn't in the kitchen area). Now my days are a bit different because I am only home schooling one of our children. I have more time in between questions to work on daily chores. I teach the concept and while he works on it, I am busy preparing things for dinner or cleaning up the kitchen. I am right there to answer any of his questions, but I want him to learn to work without me having to sit right beside him. (If you are working with a child that still can't read, this method is not as effective). After seat work is finished, I always give Seth a little bit of time to play. He will often choose to go outside for a few minutes or sometimes he will play with toys. This gives me a few minutes to check the computer or take care of any business things for our family. We then come back together for reading, science, and social studies. We always curl up together to read on the couch. It is a fun time that we both enjoy. After reading, we are finished with formal school time. Here in Tennessee, I have to fulfill 4 hours of school time. In order to do this, he will work on an art project or he may get on the computer. He loves Webkins and he has learned a lot using this teaching game. He then has about 2 hours to spend playing toys before the rest of the family starts coming back home.
After I finish school with Seth, I have about 2 1/2 hours before I have to leave to get the other kids. It is during this time that I do housework. Some days I may really concentrate on the floors other days I may hit all of the bathrooms in the house. It kind of depends on the need at the moment and the mood that I am in at the time. I also use part of this time to exercise on the treadmill. Around 2:00, I am usually ready for a few quiet moments before it is time to head out the door again.
2:30 p.m. finds Seth and I back in the truck heading out to get the middle school kids. We are back home around 3:15 p.m. The school kids are usually famished so they are raiding the refrigerator and getting ready to start home work at the kitchen table. I am busy helping them while preparing more of dinner. Michael gets home around 4:00 p.m. We take a few minutes to chat as a family. The kids are always ready to share their day with him. He helps with any math homework that they have. I stay in the kitchen for that!
Football season puts a kink in my usual dinner plans. We have to eat in shifts because of the kids' schedules for practice. I hate that, but I don't have any choice during the season. After football season, we will all be back around the table for dinner once again.
Michael's new job comes with 16 months worth of school. He did Nuclear Power School once already in our first year of marriage. Now he is redoing it, but in a much shorter amount of time. He is in an accelerated program that requires a lot of study time in the evening. This has been a huge change for our family. He spends a large chunk of his evening studying nuclear things. His job depends on him doing well during this training so we are all very supportive of him. We just don't like it very much. I spend my time with the kids in the evening. Sometimes we are watching t.v. together or sometimes we are sitting on the porch relaxing. We always find time to talk no matter what we may be doing.
Tuesday evenings find me and Hope at ballet. Thursday and Friday evenings find our family at football games. These nights I have to plan easy meals. I usually have something in the crock pot or something like homemade pizzas or tacos.
Around 9:00 p.m., we are all getting ready for the next day. Kids are taking showers and clothes are being set out for the next day. Any kitchen chores that need to be finished are getting completed. 9:30 p.m. brings bedtime for the kids. The high school junior is allowed to stay up a little later. By this age, I figure he is mature enough to go to bed when he needs to. If he doesn't, then it is he who has to pay the consequences the next day. I am almost always in bed between 10:00 to 10:30 p.m. If I had my way, it would be more like 9:30!
As I said earlier, each day comes with its own set of challenges. I try to multitask as much as I can. While Hope is in ballet, I will do my grocery shopping for the week. (Her instructor won't allow parents to watch or I would stay and watch her dance). There are always errands that need to be ran or other things that are unforeseen. I try to do all of these things when I am already out picking up or taking kids to school. Fridays are my cleaning days. I want the house cleaned and in order for the weekend. We cherish our weekend times together. Michael doesn't have to study on the weekends so we can enjoy being with him more.
What must get done everyday in my world? Meals and laundry are always a part of my day. The other chores can wait until the next day, but I have to feed everybody and they must have clean clothes. I also make it a priority to spend some one on one time with each child.
Our life can be hectic. We could slow the pace down by quiting sports and ballet. However, I believe those things are good for our kids and they enjoy them. We just have to make sure that the extra activities don't steal away all of our time as a family. We have to purpose to find the time to be together and laugh and make memories.
grace and peace,
julie
There is no magic way to thread the items on the skewers. You can do it any way you want. Just make sure you leave some space in between the meat pieces so they can cook well. Here is the secret part. Melt a stick of butter or half a stick if you aren't cooking for an army. Add Worcestershire Sauce. I add about a 1/4 of a cup, but if you are doing a half stick add less. Add salt and pepper. While the shish ka bobs are grilling, spread the butter mixture over the shish ka bobs. I use a large brush. Be careful because the butter mixture may cause your grill to flare. Grill until the meat reaches the desired doneness that your family likes. For my carnivores, it doesn't take very long for the meat cook. They like their meat rare. I like mine more done so I leave one on a little longer to cook. You can serve them on the skewers or you can do what we do. We take a large platter and slide all of the shish ka bobs off the skewers and let everyone choose what they want. This would also be a great dinner party idea. Ask your guests to bring enough steak for their family and a specific veggie. Ask each guest to bring different vegetables so you have different things to cook on the shish ka bobs. This would help alleviate the cost, and everybody could pitch in and thread the skewers. Squash and zucchini would also be great on the shish ka bobs, but my mom never did that so I don't venture out and do it either. There are some things that I am traditional about, and my shish ka bobs are one of them! Do me a favor. Don't tell my mom that I am giving out her secrets!
