Our day today

Here’s what happened today: 

  

5:30 a.m.  My alarm goes off and I hit snooze.  When it goes off again I glance over at my prayer notebook and get excited.  I’ve had two amazing answers to prayers in the last two days and am eager to pray through the whole list!  Then I start reading Romans.  Meanwhile my husband does his quiet time, takes a shower and goes downstairs with the boys (ages 4 and 5) to eat breakfast. 

  

6:15  I get a shower and go downstairs.  I’m surprised the little girls aren’t up yet.  They usually wake between 6-6:30.  

  

6:45  As I’m starting to get my breakfast, the baby (16 months old) awakes.  I change and dress her.  We go downstairs to eat toast and cereal. 

  

7:05  Daddy goes to work.  The boys unload the dishwasher and I straighten things up.  I also check online to see which books are due at the library. 

  

7:30  The 2 yo wakes up.  She has a fever, so I give her some medicine.  She doesn’t feel like eating yet, so I just leave her toast on the table for later.  I call the babysitter to cancel the field trip she was going to join us on today.  We’ll just have to reschedule. 

  

8:00  I tell the 5 yo to get his violin out and ready.  The baby is very fussy, so I take her upstairs for nap.  After reading her a book, singing a song and laying her down,  I go into the boy’s room to collect the library books.  Finally, I’m back downstairs to help B. with violin practice. 

  

8:20  B. practices violin, M. eats her toast and J. is instructed to clean up the parlor (play room) and search for the mallet which goes with my set of resonator bars (xylophone).  He had been playing with it a few days ago, and I need it tonight to teach a class of Musikgarten.  Usually during violin practice the other two are folding clothes, but we did 3 loads yesterday, so there aren’t any clean clothes to fold today. 

  

9:00  We start Bible Time.  I read Matthew 2 and the boys and I discuss it.  The 2 yo is happily playing in the other room, and I decide to just leave her there.  Then we read some of  Leading Little Ones to God (Marion Schoolland).  Today’s section is on being punished for our sins.  We pray and go over memory verses. 

  

Next I do a phonics lesson with the 4 yo and then one with the 5 yo (from TATRAS).  After that we read 6 of the library books which I had brought downstairs. 

  

10:30  I announce, “Everyone outside to play!”  They don’t resist at all.  I go upstairs to wake up the baby.  When she notices that the others are outside, she makes it very clear she wants to go, too.  I quickly check my email and reply to a lady who said she wanted to come to the class tonight. 

  

11:00  After a fun time outside, we head to the library.  I was going to just drop the books off, but I’m feeling energetic and the 2 yo is feeling great, so we go in to find books, DVDs, CDs and play puzzles and legos. 

  

Noon  In the car on the way home, we listen to our Spanish CD (theeasyspanish.com) and a little bit of Elmo and the Orchestra (as requested by the 4 yo).  Then back at home for lunch.  They eat yogurt while I make peanut butter and honey sandwiches and heat up some leftover pasta. 

  

12:30 p.m. The 2 yo is very tired so I take her up for a nap.  Meanwhile the boys are cleaning up the sitting room (play room #2) and searching for the mallet.  The baby is in with them.  

  

12:45  I take the baby in for her nap and help the boys finish cleaning the room.  They can’t find the mallet, and the 5 yo says, “Mom, only God knows where the mallet is.”  I thought, Yeah–and I prayed that He’d help us find it. 

  

1:00  The boys are sent to their room to clean it and continue looking for the mallet.  I go downstairs to clean up the Musikgarten area (bookshelf, instruments, CDs).  Yeah, I find the mallet!  Thanks, God! 

  

1:20  I read 3 of the new library books to the boys and leave the 4 yo in his room.  The 5 yo and I go to my room.  He starts a new reader today, from Rod and Staff, and reads two lessons to me.  I then read an Aesop fable to him (The Boy Who Cried Wolf) and he narrates it to me.  His narrations have gotten really exciting.  When he first started it a few months ago, he was shy and hesitant about retelling the story to me.  Now he is theatrical, animated and creative!  Finally I read a chapter of The Sign of the Beaver to him.  He turns on a CD of The Last Battle (C. S. Lewis) while I go over my lesson plans for tonight and read some of  the “Practical Homeschooling” magazine I checked out from the library. 

  

2:45  I try to rest. 

  

3:15  I go downstairs to work on the computer.  My 4yo hears me and comes down.  

  

3:20  The 2 yo wakes up and comes down to join us.  My 5 yo asks if he can listen to the second CD.  

  

4:00  I go upstairs to wake up the baby while the 2 yo and 4 yo are straightening up the downstairs so I can vacuum. 

  

4:15  I vacuum the downstairs while the kids eat a snack of Cheerios and raisins. 

  

4:45  The kids watch a new Veggie Tales DVD we checked out from the library while I make dinner. 

  

5:30  We start eating dinner. 

  

5:45  Daddy gets home. 

  

6:15  I teach the Musikgarten class.  It was wild tonight.  I’m going to have to figure out some classroom management strategies for this one.  And, we ran out of time and didn’t even play the resonator bars! 

  

7:00  I take a phone call from a basement finisher–we hope to get our basement finished soon, and we start to put the kids to bed. 

  

9:00  They’re finally all in bed.  Husband and I are able to do some computer work now and then we’ll be off to bed.