Day In the Life

2:00 am wake up with baby

2:30 am get up with him again- he's just sitting in his crib whimpering.  Poor guy.  I think it's gas.

4:00 am I'm still waiting to fall back asleep from the first time I got up.  I'd gotten used to him sleeping through the night!  He went to bed two hours early, and I suspect he's trying to wake up two hours early.  That being said, insomnia in mothers is a bad joke.

7:49 Cocoa makes a noise and I pop awake...my student is coming in six minutes.  Can I do this?  Yes I can!  Throw on fresh clothes, thanking my lucky stars I washed my hair yesterday.  Cold water splashed on the face and scrub my teeth.  Quick brush of mascara.  I brush my hair while walking into the kitchen, and grab Cocoa out of his crib on the way, to start the kids' toast.  Ernie already has dishes and sugar out for the toast, and I send her down to the chest freezer to find more butter.  I slice a banana in half for the baby and I to share.

7:55 First piano student is here.  I listen to her play and butter the girls' toast.  Ernie pours milk.

8:25 Second piano lesson is here.  I finish listening to the first student sight read her new pieces, and invite him to the Bench of Doom.

8:55 Shoo my second student out the door to his waiting mother (so he can get to school on time!), and Ernie walks up with an armful of books.  She's ready for her piano lesson, do I have time to teach her?  We have a deal- I'll give her a lesson whenever she's ready, so we can go as slow or as fast as she wants.  She's only six, I'm not too worried.  She loves it though, and is actually making really good progress- I'm especially happy with her finger strength.  They give her nice dynamics, a good curved hand position, and good rhythm.  Very happy piano teacher!  She's good at note reading too.  Very happy piano teacher.  Her last lesson was last week, so this is great timing.  I give Cocoa his morning milk during her lesson- there are definite benefits to teaching your own kids! Sitting on the floor and nursing, while teaching a piano lesson, is just one of them.

9:15 Finish her lesson, and send her away to start her math work for the day (telling time.)  I wash the breakfast dishes and sit down to get some budgeting work done, Mimi plays the games in her Friend magazine- it seems to involve drawing lines between all the pictures she can find, and then cutting them out.  Cocoa plays with toys on the floor.

10:00 Check on Ernie- she's doing the written work for piano.  I'm still updating Mint (our budgeting tool) and my own grocery tracking spreadsheet.  (Drat it- I'm missing some receipts.  I've been lazy at entering things this month, they got lost in the shuffle.)

10:30 Pry Ernie away from her music books- it's time to do the rest of school!  I give her corrections for her math work to do, and head downstairs to switch and fold and sort laundry.  I get the girls and my clothes put away, and come check on Ernie.  I pour trail mix snacks for the girls.  Cocoa is crawling up my leg- he is ready for nap #1!

11:00 Cocoa has had a diaper change and his milk, and he's in bed.  I go over the use of the words "was" and "were" and Ernie writes a journal entry using those words.  We practice saying our name, telephone number, and address and I remind her to never give out this information to strangers.  (She reminds me that when we're on the computer, we never use our real names- always nick names.  That's my girl!)  We practice writing sentences in script, and go over the word "I."  (It's always capitalized.)

11:30 I make lunch for the girls- ham and cheese sandwich for Ernie, bread and cheese for Mimi.  Baby carrots for both.  Mimi eats 2 slices of cheese and three baby carrots, and a few bites of bread.  (Ernie decides it's time to spend half an hour in the bathroom, reading.)  It's bread day.  Our Saturday loaves got dry really fast!  While I'm getting lunch things out of the fridge, I cull last week's leftovers: shrimp coconut curry, some scrambled eggs, and a tablespoon of baked beans.  They get scraped into the compost bin, and I tip the dishes into my sudsy water leftover from the breakfast clean up.    I tear a bit of deli ham into the leftover cous cous and warm it up for my lunch, and dry and put away the breakfast dishes while it's heating.

12:00 Remind Ernie that she can read later- if she's not going to use that throne she's sitting on, she'd best come eat her lunch!  She agrees, and eats her ham and cheese, and a few bites of the bread, and pours herself a glass of milk (Mommy forgot, whoops.)  I start grinding the wheat for our bread day, and Cocoa wakes up.  I refill the sink with hot water, clean the lunch (and leftovers) dishes.

12:15 I'm doing the final kneading on the bread dough, Cocoa is loudly reminding me that he hasn't eaten yet.  Ernie finishes her lunch and clears her dishes, and offers to read Mimi a story and tuck her in for her nap.  Thank you!!!  She asks if she can take her quiet time in my room today, and I say yes- she loves to take a stack of books and read in my bed for an hour or two.  I remind her that my room is so nice because it's CLEAN, and her room is currently buried under clothes and books.  She WILL need to clean her room today.  (Really, Mimi makes most of the mess, but Ernie's stuff is like icing on Mimi's cake.)  I also remind her that because she didn't start her math until AFTER piano lessons (she's supposed to do that during lessons) we still need to do spelling, science, AND art this afternoon.  And I'm teaching three piano lessons. This is going to be tight.

12:30 My dough is resting under a towel (I've been keeping Cocoa happy with nubbins of bread dough.)  I pop my head in and say good night to Mimi, and go sing a song for Ernie (Choose the Right, the current favorite song.  We've been singing it every nap and bed time for over a month.)  I pour some milk for Cocoa and get him set in his high chair, and peruse the fridge.  Roasted sweet potato...he loves roasted sweet potato!  I mash up a plate full for him, and he's a happy camper.  Dry and put away the dishes.

12:45 Mimi comes out- "Can I come out of my room now?"  NO!  I will TELL you when it's over.  Oh my.

1:00 Cocoa is done with lunch (and throwing it around.)  Kitchen is clean.  We head downstairs- I have my blogging work bag, and he plays with the pretend kitchen.  He's found a ring box and a spoon, and is eating lunch.  Yum!  He then excuses himself to a corner for some privacy- he has some business to do.  I excuse MYSELF to go find a clean diaper and some wipes.  Not yummy.  I bring down the rest of the dirty towels, fold and sort the dry laundry, switch the whites to the dryer, and put the towels in to wash.

1:30 Mimi comes downstairs- "Can I come out of my room now?"  OK, fine.  Let's go clean your room.  We put away the laundry, clear off the floor, re-dress the dolls, make the beds, put the books away, hang the church dresses, throw away trash, and put all the jewelry back in the jewelry box.  Ernie has chosen to stay in bed reading till 2.  I should be grumpy about that, but I'm not- it's easier to throw things away when she's not there!  (Crumpled paper bookmark, cut from a coloring book, I'm looking at you.)  Cocoa plays with the girls' toys while Mimi and I clean.

2:00 All that's left is Ernie's laundry from the second load, and some random toys that need to go downstairs.  I leave those things up to her, and go tell her so.

2:05 Ernie comes out.  Did you put away your laundry?
"No."
Did you put away the toys?
"No.  But I put away the books I was reading!  Now I'm going to use my magnifying glass to look at pictures in this book!"
Actually, no.  You're going to put away your laundry and toys, and then we'll do school.  Honey, yes you need to put away that book you're holding.  If you left out everything you were going to do later, the entire house would be a mess.  Mimi starts clearing off her desk (by tacking up every scrap she cut from her magazine this morning) to she can play with her mini microscope.  Cocoa experiments with eating random garbage on the floor.  Hmm.

2:15 Ernie still isn't back, but Cocoa has climbed into my lap and is signing for milk while saying "num-num-num-num-num-num."  A man of few words, I like that!  Ernie is wandering in and out putting things away.  Mimi is rolling around in the corner talking to herself.  A perfect portrait of my three kids!!

2:20 Ernie's done cleaning, and I send her to find a clean shirt, hers is spotted and smells like she's been sucking on it.  (I know she doesn't!)  A week's worth of laundry consisted of 2 pairs of pants, 1 dress, 1 skirt, and 4 shirts.  1 pair of underwear.  1 pair of socks.  We have another chat about changing our entire outfit, EVERY day.  Every SINGLE day.  She only had one bath night last week between laundry days, we'll try and remember to do more this week.  (I just realized what the smell is- she licks and bites and picks at her lips constantly, and probably does it more while she's thinking and reading during quiet time.  It's just a thinking habit she has right now.  She must wipe her wet fingers on her shirt.)  Mimi is clearing off her desk, and gets out her mini microscope.

2:25 Ernie's back.  She still stinks.  I tell her to go wash her hands from her wrists to her fingertips, and in between.  Scrub for 20 seconds.  Rinse really well.  Her face turns red, she starts to cry and stress, it will be harder! (Harder than the two second rinse she just did.)  "Do you want me to wash your hands for you?  OK."    I scrub her hands, and wash her face, and scrub her with a towel- she's giggling madly, and we're OK again.  She smells great.  Mimi asks for the Mancala game, AND SHE PUT AWAY HER MICROSCOPE ALREADY.  I feel like giving her a medal, that kind of thing rarely happens here.  Woot!

2:30  Spelling test time!

2:40 Spelling is over (she only misspelled one word- it's definitely not "dersses."  She found the problem and wrote "dresses" correctly four times at the bottom of the page.)  We read our science pages and talk about how heat can change liquids- it will melt solids and turn liquids into gases.  She does a word search while I get the art project ready.  I can hear her singing and cheering to herself.  "Woohoo!  I found evaporate!  Evaporaaaate, evaaaaaporaaaaaaate!"

3:00 I'm done with my painting, and notice my bread dough.  I thiiiiink it's done rising, yeah?  I punch it down and form it into loaves, and Cocoa toddles through the kitchen holding a piece of white chalk and a bracelet, singing, while I'm washing the dough bowl and knife I used to divide the dough.  I love that kid, and it tickles me pink every time I see him walking of his own volition.  He's just so darn PLEASED with himself- definitely walks with a little swagger in his step and a twinkle in his eye.  We're drawing an undersea picture with crayons on watercolor paper today, and then using watercolor to paint the whole thing blue.  The wax resist effect is pretty cool!  My watercolors are leftover egg dye from Easter- I filled some mini glass jars after we dyed our eggs.  I made our own dye, following the instructions on the package of food dye.  I was tired of mixing up new ones with water and food dye every time we wanted an art project :)  We were burning through the food dye!  These ones are nice and bright- I used "neon" food dye drops.  (Mimi chose to draw big blobs all over the page, and paint the whole thing spring green.  That's so Mims.)  Ernie based hers on my drawing- bed of sand, and oysters, and bull kelp.  I'm happy to see that she made a few oysters, with technicolored pearls.  She added her favorite sea creatures, like dolphins and narwhals, too.  I'm happy to see her using her imagination!

3:20 I put corn tortilla chips in the girls' bowls for a snack, and search for Cocoa.  I find him, lonely, in the playroom.  I see that he rooted around in my plant pot by the front door on the way by, and sweep up the dirt and dump it back in the pot.

3:30 My first afternoon lesson is here.  Kids are happily munching on chips, Cocoa is eating Cheerios.

3:45 Mimi has requested MY bowl of chips from the kitchen, and Cocoa has tossed his milk across the room- I mop it up.  Student plays me his own composition, from memory.  Awesome!  Yes, it's just arpeggios and I chords, but it has a key change in the middle!  I love it!  We just need to decide what meter it's in.  He says 3/4, but can't find all the beats when he counts it out.  We'll get it sorted out next week, when he brings the written copy.  Love seeing him stretch himself like this.

4:00 Second student is here.  We spend half the time playing songs, and half the time sight-reading from a different book and practicing finding notes on the staff on the chalk board.  I let the girls start their screen time- they play games at "PBS Kids Go!"

4:30  Third student is here.  Cocoa has wandered away with the red and green chalk we were using in the previous lesson.  He comes back with the green, and starts to draw on her foot.  I take it away.  He comes back with the red, and starts to draw on my collar.  I take it away.  He is beyond tired, but doesn't want to fall asleep for a nap.  I start tapping the beat with some rhythm sticks for my student, and he takes the rhythm sticks.  This is our sixth piano lesson today....he is just so DONE.  

5:00 My last student has walked out the door.  I shut down the girls' game, and give Cocoa some milk.  The girls come in- can they please have some measuring cups and some stuff to make trail mix outside?  For tomorrow's snack?  (I think a character in the latest Friend magazine made trail mix??)  No, I'm going to make dinner.  We've been waiting for sunshine all day- GO PLAY!  Everyone is pretty hungry, the girls barely at any lunch at all.  Dad calls, he's just leaving the office on bike, he'll be home in about an hour.  Glad there's a sunbreak for him to ride home in, hope it stretches all the way to downtown.  (Y'all know what sunbreaks are, right?  It's...when the sun breaks through the clouds for a little bit.  Just a hole in the cloud cover.)  

5:20 Cocoa falls asleep in my arms and I lay him down for a nap.  I finish making the meal plan for this week, and start poking in the cupboards for my ingredients.  It's potstickers, sauteed eggplant with black bean sauce, and rice tonight.  I know the kids will eat 2 of the 3 dishes....

5:50 Cocoa wakes up with a yell.  Poor guy.  I wonder what's eating him, and why he can't sleep?  I didn't get dinner started before- I saw the girls in the yard with sunglasses and umbrellas, and snapped on my telephoto lens to capture some candids.  Wonderful girls, I love watching their childhood :)  Cocoa and I measure rice, and I show him how he can run his fingers through the rice and watch it drip out of his hand.  He's slightly disgusted at the feel, and mostly fascinated.  I measure out the water into the pot, and hand him a frozen turnip cake to hold.  I forgot I had that in the freezer!  My sister's MIL gave it to me before she left for home a few weeks ago, she's a fabulous cook.  He's done with the radish cake, so I stick it in the microwave to defrost, and start dicing an eggplant, and call my sister for a recipe.

6:15 Wonder Daddy gets home, and scoops up Cocoa.  Hooray!

6:30 Dinner- steamed rice, boiled dumplings, stir fried eggplant with fermented black bean sauce, and slices of steamed radish cake.  YUM.  After I finish eating, I leave Wonder Daddy to wipe the rice off the three kids, and I start washing the dishes.  Wonder Daddy gets all the kids in the bath, and I decide it's a good time to take my shower today.  

7:15 Everyone is clean, dry, and jammied (including me!) and we start Family Home Evening.  Ernie gives the opening prayer, Mimi picks the song (Once There Was a Snowman, which is HER perennial favorite right now), and we discuss family business- it's going to be a busy week!  Daddy asks what my Primary lesson was on yesterday (Following Jesus Christ) and gives a mini lesson on that.  I pull out some extra activities I did with my class yesterday, and we have a nice lesson.  We play Simon Says for our activity- the girls get a glint in their eye when it's their turn to be Simon.  Bossing folks around is fun!!  

8:15 We've done family night, and Daddy pulls everyone to the table for dessert: chocolate chips.  (Daddy's choice tonight :)  By this point, I am prostrate on the couch with a sharp headache, and nothing is going to get me up.  Not even a handful of chocolate chips.  Ernie asks to do exercises (in the past, Daddy and the girls have run laps around the house when they need to burn off steam.)  Daddy biked 18 miles today, so no running- they do sit ups and jumping jacks, and the girls go brush their teeth.  We can hear the girls arguing- Mimi wants Ernie's toothbrush, because it has a Princess on it (Tiana.)  Ernie vehemently tells her "No!  It has my germs on it!"  Ernie comes back, but we can hear Mimi stomping in the bathroom, beating the counter with her toothbrush yelling "But I WANT that toothbrush!  I LOVE PRINCESSES!"  Oh my.

8:30 We read scriptures, and Mimi is just about melting down.  What a tired girl!  We all say our prayers.

8:45 Girls are tucked into bed, and lights out!  Wonder Daddy brings his poor, pathetic, invalid wife a glass of water and some Tylenol, because he's a darling man and I love him.  Cocoa is climbing all over me on the couch- he's exhausted.  He asks for milk again, so we do that, and he's still just cranky and wired.  I remark to Wonder Daddy that I have a BOGO coupon for Krispy Kreme that expires tonight...and they close at 11.  He suggests I get in the car with Cocoa!  I'm sure that driving through the donut window at 9:30 at night, in my pajamas, for a free chocolate-covered sprinkle donut is just a little pathetic.  He says "No- it's normal!  Why else would they have a drive-thru window open so late?"  The man loves donuts.  

9:15 I peel myself off the couch and grab the broom to sweep up the day's crumbs from under the table- Cocoa comes over for a snack, and snags some Cheerios.  Yum.  He always comes running when he sees me with a broom near the table- it's really kind of gross.

9:30  That's it, Cocoa.  Bed time.  I hold him close, sing "I Am a Child of God," and tuck him into bed.  Lovingly and firmly.  He knows I mean business, and doesn't make a peep.  G'night kid!  I shut the girls' door, and put the kitchen to bed for the night- package up the bread I baked today, clear off the counters, put away the dishes.  I want you all to know that this is the first time, possibly ever, that my kitchen has stayed in control the entire day.  I want a medal.

11:30 Bed.  I spent my evening blogging, studying my scriptures (I'm so excited the new conference edition of the Ensign magazine is here!!!), chatting with Wonder Daddy, reading a few blogs, etc.

A productive day...but I still wish I'd had time to go plant some veggie starts in my garden beds...haha.  Not sure where I would have fit that in :)  I can't believe we went to bed with a clean house.  Like, every room is picked up and tidied.  What's happened to me????  I didn't even lose my cool with the kids.  Am I an adult now???

Too Early

I'm sitting at this computer with a babbling Wonder Boy in my lap.  It's way earlier than I would like to be up, all things considered.  I do enjoy going to bed early and getting up early enough in the morning to feel like I have a head start, just....not when I've been up and down with a baby all night!  I really thought the head cold that moved through our house two weeks ago was over, but we all seem to have caught a new one and all three kids have this fantastic cough.

I heart these humidifiers.  These are the ones in the kids' rooms right now, but I see some amazing new ones at that link (Target.)  Owl?  Elephant?  I die.



If you DON'T have a humidifier in your kids' rooms yet, I suggest you go get one.  Now.  They're on sale, too! These totally help with the stuffed up noses and the coughing at night.  Plus, these ones are "cool mist" so they never get hot, and they shut off when the tank runs dry.

We spent our Saturday doing a crazy amount of chores and errands.  I'm kind of afraid to get the credit card total next month, but new tires had to be purchased, and I've been stocking up on Christmas presents, and I bought some necessities at Costco (pot stickers and Nutella are necessities, right?)  Then Wonder Daddy needed to replace his suit, and this week he needs new tabs and an emissions test.  Feeling awfully blessed we have the means to do these kinds of things right now.  As I re-read an article last night on paying tithing (10% of our income goes to the Church) the author made the point that we learn to live better on that 90% that remains than we would have on the full 100%.  I think that's completely true.  If you learn skills to make the dollars stretch farther, by focusing on needs rather than wants, making things yourself, and going for quality rather than quantity, we really DO live better than if we'd kept that extra cash each month.

(That reminds me- watch for a Deal of the Day post soon, there are some good things up right now!)

My little choir started up on Sunday- did I mention I'm the new choir director at church?  I was so nervous Saturday night that I spent hours laying in bed.  But, we were all dressed and out the door bright and early, and at 8:15 I started conducting my choir: my husband, my children, and the accompanist's husband.  We were joined by one more family, which added a soprano and a bass to our two tenors (plus some assorted kids) and we made good progress learning the parts for our song.  Of course, I wasn't too worried because we have next week AND the week after that to learn our song to sing on the 30th...which is the annual Primary Program, so I guess we're not singing, are we?  I'm accompanying a girl next week, so I guess we're not singing next week, either.  Which pushes us to November?  Gracious, and November is really short because of other things being pushed around...I sure hope my boss lady (the ward music chair) gets us the Christmas music soon!

Sunday night was our weekly Family Meal.  I made an enormous pot of pureed veggie soup, and my sister brought some fresh bread.  Dad brought an enormous pan of brownies (seriously, he has this huge Pyrex pan...I think it's 13x20 inches?)  We ended the evening with a tired nephew being carried ignominiously to the car, someone serving Ernie a brownie roughly 36 cubic inches (4x3x3, is my math right?), a bath for our potty-training Mimi, and a Christmas concert from Ernie's new piano book.  Oh, and a clean kitchen.  Because my mother and sister are awesome: if we cook, they clean!  Let me tell you, I will cook for anybody, any time, who will clean my kitchen!

October 12, 2011

10:00 Go to bed
11:00 Finish studying scriptures, saying prayers, sending one last e-mail, scrubbing down the table one more time as I walk by, etc.
3:30 MY FIRE ALARM IS GOING OFF.  I cross the room in two steps and slap at the button till it stops, and turn on all the lights.  Look around...sniff...no smoke.  Nothing in the kids' rooms.  Nothing.  Turn off the lights and get back in bed.
3:36 AUGH IT'S DOING IT AGAIN!  Slam the button, and go get my husband and tell him to do something.  He's sleeping on the couch, and wakes up to find his wife wild-eyed saying "the-smoke-alarm-is-going-off-come-take-the-batteries-out!!!"  It goes off again as he's wrestling it off the wall.  More button slapping, and he sprints downstairs to do something (anything) to it.  I hear it go off again as he's going down the stairs.  I get back in bed and turn out the lights.

4:45 I'm still trying to fall back asleep.  I think about how the smoke alarm didn't wake anybody but me up.  That's bad.  I think about how my babies are all sleeping through the night for the first time since the beginning of August.  That's good.  I think about how I'm NOT sleeping.  That's terrible.

6:00 I eventually fell back asleep, but now Wonder Boy is up and ready to eat.

6:30 Wonder Boy is back in his crib, I can see the girls' lights on and Mimi comes out to use the bathroom.  (Potty training is doing great!)

6:35 No, Wonder Boy isn't actually going to sleep any more.  Alright, the night is over!

The girls troop out around 7, and I chat with Wonder Daddy.  He says he found a spider on his shirt, when he was in the basement with the smoke alarm...and we conclude that insane arachnid crawled inside the smoke detector, got between the synapse sensors, and set it off.  Repeatedly.  BOY, I'll bet this was the worst night of his life!  I get breakfast for the girls, play with Wonder Boy, shower (for the first time in two days), and get ready for a piano lesson.

8:30 Piano lesson!  She's my most advanced student, and is just FUN- music is fun when you're playing advanced stuff :)  This is something she brought in recently.  We're still working out the kinks :)



9:00 Lesson is over, Ernie and I start school.  She aces her spelling test, learns about animal habitats, identifies plane vs. solid shapes, and how to give a constructed response (This shape belongs in group A, because it is a plane shape.)  She then hemmed and hawed over constructing and writing two sentences for nearly an hour.

10:45 School is done!  Put all the school stuff away, the girls unloaded the dishwasher, and I made lunch for them.  After lunch we finished cleaning up their room.  We got the sheets changed last night, plus putting away all the random book piles, taking out all the toys that belong downstairs, cleaning out underneath Ernie's bed, putting away clothes, hanging up hats, etc.  Ernie cleaned out under her dresser today, and I vacuumed everything from the reading chair to the corner behind the door.  Spic and span, tucked the girls in for their naps at 12:15.  Wonder Boy took a 20 minute nap after they went to sleep, so I got the kitchen cleaned up and folded a load of laundry before starting another.  After Wonder Boy got up, he and I went downstairs to play.

2:00 The girls got up from their nap- I sent them to make their beds, get shoes and socks on, and we'd go visit their cousins.

2:30 We finally leave.  We played with their cousins while Aunt LoLo taught piano.

5:30 Home!  That 20 minute nap was the longest Wonder Boy had all day.  He is one grumpy dude.  I warm up soup from last night and find 4 lonely biscuits to bake from the freezer.  While that's cooking, the girls are in charge of keeping Wonder Boy happy and I vacuum the rest of the bedrooms, the front room, and the school room.  (Sometimes I give them chores to do, sometimes they're in charge of keeping him happy while I work fast.  It's a pretty good system!)  We eat dinner, and I take 20 minutes to chat with a friend about her upcoming wedding reception.  I offered to help plan the food, and she's given me Total Control.  I kind of like it- I have a budget, and can plan anything I want.  She'll give me a list of names of her friends who have offered to help.  Right now we're thinking finger foods and a sandwich bar, plus punch.  If I can figure out a way to heat up enough water, we'll have a hot cocoa bar with lots of "stir ins" set out.  The reception is in a month.

7:30 The girls are ready for bed, and we read scriptures and then a few pages of Harry Potter.  We're only a chapter in so far, and I wonder if this is the right story for them?  Probably not, I think we'll switch to Little House on the Prairie, as soon as I remember to borrow it from my mom's "Grandma Library."

8:00 Tucking girls in, singing silly songs at the top of my lungs, and then turn around to discover they've graffitied and tagged their entire window sill, plus part of the track and pane.  Talk about a downer.  I don't even know when they did it!  While they were supposed to be getting their socks on this afternoon??  Ernie says it wasn't her that did it, Satan told her to.  NO.  Just NO, NO, NO.  You made that choice, and no one can make a choice for you.  No blame game in this house.  The girls will meet Mr. Magic Erase tomorrow.  After I take a picture.

Now it's night time, Wonder Boy is asleep, another load of laundry is running, the kitchen is clean, and day's over!  

September 30th

My new poem:

Roll me in butter.
Dip me in lard.
Fry me up-
I'm big as a barge!

Pretty  much greatest day of my life today: I went to Five Guys, twice.  Umm...and then my husband bought a peach milkshake, from Herfy's, to split.

My body is hating me right now, but a "little cheeseburger, all the way" is SOOO good.

I know days like today are few and far between, but gosh did I enjoy it-

• Wonder Boy slept from 9:30 to 9:00, only getting up to eat twice.
• I was in bed by 10 last night.  Wow.
• Mimi was up at 6:30, but I let her crawl in bed with me and she slept till 8...an hour later than normal!
• I slept in till 9.  When was the last time that happened?
• Breakfast for everybody, and by 10 we were at Grandma's for Ernie's weekly playdate (joint, with Ming Wai.)
• Went thrifting with Aunt LoLo, Mimi, Wonder Boy, and Siu Jeun.  It was a bit hairy at times, but I found two sprouting jars, four gasket-lid mason jars for storing grains and pickles in, and a fabulous new dress.  Score!
• Talked Aunt LoLo into lunch at Five Guys.  WITH three small children.  Memorable, but delicious....
• Naps at Aunt LoLo's house (although Mims never did fall asleep,) then dropped Mimi off to join the big girls with Grandma, and took Wonder Boy to Costco.
• Costco with one happy-to-be-out-and-about baby is a dream.  He's my easiest baby yet.  No one else believes me, because if he's not with me, he's most likely crying.  But he loves his mama, and we have fun on our adventures!
• Home for another nap for baby, and got the kitchen cleaned up.
• Played with musical instruments with Wonder Boy till Daddy got home, and we hit the town for our date night.  I don't know how I got so blessed- we've had a weekly date night almost every week since Ernie turned one.  
• Back to the thrift store.....*blush* to pick up gaskets for my jars.  I didn't see them on the shelf, but Aunt LoLo asked me about them as we were driving away.
• Since we were in the area...yeah, let's hit Five Guys again!  Wonder Daddy was feeling left out, you see.  Had to take one for the team.  (Shall I take this moment to announce that I've lost 7 pounds in the last two months?  I promise I'm not a pig all the time :)  

This weekend is another General Conference for our church- it will be broadcast from Salt Lake City, Utah, to all over the world.  Amazing.  Every Latter-day Saint church building will receive it via satellite broadcast, and it will be on the internet too.  When I was little, we had to watch it at church....all 10 hours.  I'm pretty sure we didn't go to all those sessions!  There will be two general sessions on Saturday and two on Sunday, with a special session for the men Saturday night.  (The women's special session was last weekend, and the special session for the teen girls aka "Young Women" was before that.  The "Young Men" are lumped in with the men's broadcast Saturday night.)  I am SO excited.  

I know last time, I kind of "live blogged" my notes from conference, but I don't think I will this time.  I thought this would be a good place to store my notes, but I found out after the fact that someone on my friends list (I still don't know who) in Facebook marked my blog posts I shared there as "offensive", and this blog was blocked from being shared on Facebook.  I have an old friend who works at Facebook, he got me unblocked, but.... ouch.  

September 29th

Remember that school work we didn't do yesterday?  Did it today.  And today's school work.  And the lesson we're not doing tomorrow.



I don't want to say "Focus!" again until at least Monday, yeah?  Haha.  She really is a rock star, and she loves school so very, very  much.  She's smart as a whip, and has a great memory.  She almost got in trouble today during her spelling test, because I would give her a word, then go help a sibling, and come back to give her another.  Well, one of the "helping a sibling" moments went on a bit long, and when I came back, she'd nearly finished the test by herself.  Did she look at anything?  No, she just memorized the list.  (And yeah, she got all the words right.)  Handwriting and spelling are the only truly challenging things for her right now- everything is just challenging enough that she sees it as a good puzzle.  I should clarify- her spelling tests, she aces.  It's when she needs to come up with a sentence, with a noun and verb and punctuation and all that, and then write it down.  System overload!  I help her break the words down into phonemes, and she does pretty well.  Smart cookie.

We had a WELCOME break this afternoon, when friends came to visit- she has a two-year-old and a newborn, and is just as eager as I am to have adult conversation.

We ended the day with chicken-black bean nachos, a poop-painted bathroom floor, a shower, and finally a late-night run to the library for Wonder Boy and I.  Poor girls, I didn't even wait till their "lights out," which made Wonder Daddy chuckle.

I found some new-to-me Garth Nix books, some color and letter board books for the Mimster, and a collection of chapter books for Ernie.  With Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Magic Treehouse, and Magic School Bus on her reading stack, we'll know if she likes any of the popular series- that would make library trips easier!  I also found some used books in super condition on the sale shelf- they'll be Christmas presents :)

Summer's End

All day long I've had this crazy, anxious feeling.  Like I'm supposed to be doing something, but I don't know what it is, so I didn't do it.  Part of it might be the change of season- I feel like I missed summer.  Should have made better use out of the few gorgeous weeks we had!

Yesterday I processed two crates of apples.

I ended with 6 quarts of sauce, 6 quarts of juice, and a 9x13 pan of detritus that it took me a full day to bring myself to throw away.  I could have made vinegar!  I could have made pectin!  I could have made jelly!  In the end, all I've made is a bad case of heart burn and some soon-to-be compost.  Sheesh.  I'm grateful there were no broken jars, and everything sealed!  I used a mix of apples- I know one crate was golden delicious (with a few red pears scattered in.)  The second box had a right old variety- I know I saw golden delicious and granny smith.  There were tiny little pink apples that tasted like cider, too.  Pink Lady?  There were some that could have been galas or fujis.  Mixed together, they made a delicious juice!  (I'll be posting the how-to over at DIY Mama for anyone who's interested in the nitty gritty.)  The apples were a gift from a short-on-time and long-on-apples friend.  I still have another box in the garage of (delicious) apples from my mom's tree, but they'll hold for a while.  Mom still has 3 or 4 more trees that need harvesting as they ripen, it's a good thing Ernie has discovered her love of apple sauce!

I have become Wonder Boys favorite chew toy.

I'm allowing it, as long as he doesn't have teeth.  He's nearly 8 months old, and poor little bugger doesn't have teeth yet!  I could swear that he's been teething for about 4 months now- loves to gnaw on things, and sometimes he is just SO miserable.

(Not today's outfit, but fancy nonetheless!)

I wonder if part of my anxiousness today is because we skipped out, and went to a birthday party?  Little Ming Wai turned 5 today- as soon as piano lessons were over, we gathered up everything we needed, dressed the girls in their Princess Finest, and went visiting.  We ended up staying till 5:30...no naps....cupcakes....candy necklaces....and all the while, I keep trying to forget that the dishes are still on the counter, and there's no milk in the fridge, and the sun is shining so shouldn't I be harvesting all those green tomatoes before they rot on the vine like last year?  (It will be done by next Friday.  Count on it.)

But, the kids had fun.  The dishes were still there when we got home.  Wonder Boy and I did the grocery shopping after the girls went to bed.  True, nothing but math got done today for school (Ernie does that on her own, on the mornings I teach) but we can get that done tomorrow.  I even managed a decent dinner- a curry, with yellow paste I'd stashed in the freezer after making too much, chicken, fresh basil, sweet potatoes, green tomatoes, all the ripe tomatillos I could find (3 or 4), some peanut butter, and a can of evaporated milk.  The evaporated milk plus the sweet potatoes and peanut butter made a fabulously silky sauce that rivaled others I've made with cream or coconut milk.  Yum.  This paragraph would not be complete without a shout out to my husband who ate dinner.  Quietly, yes.  But he ate it.  There are three things that man does not like to eat: Mustard, peanut butter, and sweet potatoes.  Lucky him I didn't find a way to include mustard in that curry!

August 5th

3:30 Wonder Boy gets up to eat

3:45 Wonder Boy goes back to sleep.

4:00 I hear a thump, and wait for the creak of the door.  I meet Mimi in the hall.  "There's a spider in my room."  No there's not.  "I peed in my diaper."  (I check) No, you didn't.  Get back in bed, Mimi.  I tuck her in, and go back to bed.

4:20 I hear the creak again and meet her in the hall.  "Can I sleep in your bed?"  ....Fine.  I forgot that sleeping with Mimi is like sleeping with melted cheese.  She plasters herself over whatever surface is available to her- my face, my arm, my back...and she hogs the pillow.

7:00 Cartoon time for the girls!  Wonder Boy is up, and I feed him again.

7:30 The girls install themselves at the table and start chanting for breakfast.  Umm...well, we're out of bread....you won't eat my smoothies anymore....I make instant oatmeal for both of the girls.  Mimi declares she hates apples, can she have sugar and syrup in her apple cinnamon oatmeal?  (No.)  Ernie says she loves it...but wants to eat it later.  Much, much later.  I load the dishwasher, put hot water and yeast in a bowl for our bread, and start slicing a peach and apple for my breakfast.  I only use half the apple, and give the other half to the girls.

8:00 Shower time!  Ernie starts her math work, and  I bring Wonder Boy in to chill on the rug in my room, and I come out to find Mimi entertaining him with two bike "U-Locks" and a popped bike tube.  Sister Fail!  However, once again I am wearing mascara, AND eye liner, and a pretty shirt.  Plus a braid in my hair.  Despite the sweat pants (they're velour, is that fancier?)  I'm feeling slightly put together.  I really need new pants, I only have exercise pants and a pair of jeans.  However, I despise clothes shopping.  Pants shopping was hard enough before my third pregnancy, and all the weight I'm still packing around...but knowing that my belly button is currently hanging out around my knees is just depressing, and it looks ridiculous in most clothes.

8:30 Get started on the rest of Ernie's school work, but end up just working on some pages we left out the other day.

9:00 Aunt LoLo comes to drop off Ming Wai for the day.  Hooray!  I send her with all my baking sheets and pretty platters for this weekends' wedding reception.  She intends to spend most of the day making potato salad, sliders, and enough cookies for 200 ice cream sandwiches.  Better her than me!  I'll gladly do the shopping and menu math to help out though- she's promised to pay me in ice cream.  Which, given my renewed efforts to lose weight...isn't ideal.  But OH, her cherry chocolate chip ice cream is yummy!

9:30  Oh yes.  The bread.  My yeast is WELL PROOFED now, and I grind wheat to make the dough.

10:00 Dough is rising, and Wonder Boy is hungry again.  I start to feed him.

10:02 Mimi unleashes a geyser...thankfully in the kitchen.  I order her to NOT MOVE, and for once she listens instead of running around.  Mostly because every step she takes lands her on her bottom (caution: floor slippery when wet.)  I put Wonder Boy on the floor and go to mop up the flood and dispose of her wet clothes.

10:15 Girls all run outside to pick raspberries.  I pick up Wonder Boy to finish his interrupted meal- he falls asleep, and goes into his crib.

10:30 Girls are back inside now, and playing with marbles and dolls and jars in their bedroom.  I punch down the bread dough for a second rise.  This is going to be a funky batch of bread...

11:00 Wonder Boy is up!  I start water boiling to make noodles for lunch.

11:30 Lunch!  Top Ramen for the kids (with more sliced apple) and another green smoothie for me, with a handful of raw almonds.  Yum!!  The kids insist on sampling my smoothie, but I'm on to them: each gets 2 tablespoons in a cup, so that when they start dancing around and singing about how disgusting it is...I don't have to throw away too much.

12:00 Feed Wonder Boy, and put him down for a nap

12:15 Call an end to lunch time, and put the girls in their room for a nap.  Ming Wai collects a pillow, a stuffed animal, and a book (??? she can't read??) and heads downstairs to watch a movie for her quiet time.  I throw the bread in the oven, switch a load of towels, make the bed, and drop some mail in the slot.

12:45 Wonder Boy is up.  Le sigh.  I promised a good friend a meal tonight, and I am stressing over it (even after she made me promise not to.)  It's not the cooking, but I want it to be GOOD.  And, there are three adults at the house whom I've never met: what do they like?  I'm leaning towards a big pot of brown rice, with lots of toppings: garlicky braised kale, ginger chicken with shitake mushrooms, chives, cucumbers, and a green salad on the side (my garden needs trimming...trimmings=green salad.)  Ginger is an amazing de-gasser, and we all know how much gas needs to come out of the system after a surgery!!  (Or even after a birth for that matter.)  I'll make a batch of jum jills too, for those late night snacks.  And send a fresh loaf of bread.  But what's for dessert??

12:50 Clean up!  Wonder Boy is well and truly awake, and in need of a diaper, shirt, pants, and bedding change.  Way to go, champ!  (Ew.  Poo!)

1:15 Another feeding for Wonder Boy....

1:30 Feeding was a bad idea!!  He's now spit it all over his outfit and mine.  Aw man....I liked that outfit!  Oh well.  Leggings and a jersey dress now, since my jeans are in the wash.

2:00 Ming Wai's movie is over- she comes upstairs to draw a picture.  It includes every single stamp marker, and every scented marker.  The smellier, the more beautiful!  Ming Wai is totally a smell girl.

2:30 Ernie is up from her nap.  The girls are hungry, and I'm feeding Wonder Boy.  I tell them to get out the animal crackers.

2:35 Our friends arrive!  Little Miss C, Little Mr. M, and their mom.

2:40 Wonder Boy is asleep, I put him in his crib and go check on the status of the animal cracker snack.  Every child is kitted out with a bowl of almonds, a bowl of animal crackers, and a mug and saucer.  There is a creamer of milk, and a creamer of Nesquick.  Dream Big!  I'm petty, though, and warn the girls I expect them to drink the milk they've poured for themselves.  (I've thrown away multiple meals in the last few days, and am might tired of it!)

3:30 Start brown rice for my friend.  I've settled on black bean patties, brown rice, braised kale, and a loaf of bread.  My visiting friend holds Wonder Boy, and we harvest kale, chop onions, and get everything ready.  Between now and 5:30 when I leave the house, Mimi will poop her pants, Ming Wai will run sobbing into the house trying to "hold it" while she goes to the farthest bathroom because that's the one she wants, Little Mr. M will repeatedly remove his shoes and his mother will request he put them back ON while he's outside, and life just continues.

5:30 Hit the road!  I have hot rice, braised kale, fresh bread, korean cinnamon tea, and bean patties.

5:45 Drop the girls with their Grandpa for the evening, and discover the hot cinnamon tea is on its side, and the lid has come undone.  Sadness!  I lost half the drink :(  (1 quart water simmered with 4 cinnamon sticks, 5 coins of ginger, and a 1/4 cup sugar.)  Dad lends me towels to sop up the mess, and a big plastic box to complete my journey.

6:00 Drop dinner off, and coo over an amazingly perfect little girl.  Born 7 lb. 11 ounces, I have NEVER had a child that small.  She's perfect, and lucky to be alive.  (Triple wrapped cord at the time of the C section, and she had to be resuscitated.  Poor thing!)

6:15 Pick up Wonder Daddy!  It's date night!!  We go get my bi-annual "phone upgrade," eat enormous take out burritos in the car while I nurse Wonder Boy, and hit a Krispy Kreme drive-thru on the way back to pick up the girls.  I order a chocolate dipped cone...that sucker is at least 6 inches above the sugar cone.  Luckily Wonder Daddy doesn't mind when I repeatedly shove it in his direction and basically force feed him half cups of ice cream at a time.  Thanks, Wonder Daddy!

9:15 We are home, we've read scriptures, girls are ready for bed, and it's lights out!  Now, Wonder Daddy rounds up his tools to re-string his guitar, I'm typing with Wonder Boy on my lap and rocking him to sleep, and life is looking pretty good.

I'm just going to call today the Day of Body Fluids, OK?  

August 4th

3:30 Feed Wonder Boy

3:45 Back to bed

3:46 Why do I hear music?

3:47 Checking the girls' room for music.

3:48 Find out my husband installed a new alarm on his phone.  It's playing music.  I shake him awake, and shove the phone in his face: "It's playing music."  He acknowledges the fact of the music, hits snooze and rolls over.  At some point, I fall asleep again...hooray!

6:00 Up again to feed Wonder Boy, and Ernie wanders out to see if she can get up yet.  "No, it's not 7:00.  Go read your books."  "But MOOOM!  It's going to take to long to get to 7:00!"  Can't argue with that logic, can I?  She still has to go read, though.

6:30 Wonder Boy back to bed

7:00 Ernie leads Mimi into my room, announcing "She's Poopy!"  Joy and rapture!  Change her diaper, and get breakfast started (big pot of oatmeal.  What we need around here is fiber!)

7:45 Breakfast is over, I go outside to water the greenhouse and garden.

8:00 I have time to get dressed...and I'm even wearing mascara.  Life is looking good today.

8:30 Wonder Boy is up.  Start shunting the girls towards finishing their chores so we can leave and see their cousins!

10:00 Finally roll into their cousins' driveway.

12:30 All the kids are down for naps except Wonder Boy, I blow a kiss good bye and dash out to run errands.

3:00 I'm back!  Wonder Boy missed me, but had a great nap in his aunt's Ergo carrier.  From what I hear, those things are part hammock, part magic.  I have a trunk full of groceries for a wedding reception my sister is catering this weekend, I have a book from the library.  I worked in the temple, and I mailed my packages.  The twin studies we help out with is collecting DNA samples....but we're going to finally find out if we're identical or not!  We're pretty stoked about that.  (Can I just reflect here on what I might get done if I didn't always have children in tow?  But if I didn't have children, there wouldn't BE so much work.  Wow.  Tough cycle!)

4:45 Start moving kids towards car.  One runs off to find shoes, one runs off to finds toys.  Oh, now one is running off to use the bathroom.  The other is collecting hugs and kisses from everybody.  OK, now bathroom girl is demanding marshmallows for the amazing feat she just performed....Wonder Boy is just chilling in his car seat, watching the circus.

5:05 FINALLY roll out!

5:45 Oh dear.  Lots of traffic, and a late start.  We are 15 minutes later for Wonder Daddy's first real bike race, a criterium at a park in the city.  The kids see a play set, and I see cyclists trickling by, so I let them go play while I watch the cyclists for Wonder Daddy.  The girls have been SO excited for this!

(Here's Mimi, practicing her cheer this morning for when he reaches the finish line)



7:10  I give up, and the kids need dinner.  We never saw Daddy, except for one glimpse of his back.  I know the race consists of a loop done over and over, but I never saw him come back.  We head to the car.  I wish I could have found my phone this morning before we left.... is he still racing?  Are the loops insanely long?  I ask a cyclist when the 5:30 race will be over, and it ended at 6:00.



7:30 Pull into the driveway.   Just before him.  He left the park at 6 on his bike, rode to where he parked his car about 10 miles away, and drove home.
Didn't he see us at the park?
Why didn't I go to the upper loop?
What's an upper loop, you told me to be at the play set, and all the cyclists were going by!
Those guys were warming up, the race was on another road.

In the end I feel stupid, and he's relieved we're not in a ditch somewhere (I have 4 phone messages waiting for me when I find my phone, under a chair.)  I make the kids sandwiches for dinner, and everyone gets ready for bed.  Oh yeah, and feed the poor baby.  He hasn't eaten since 3!  He's getting older, he went five hours without much fuss, but most of that was either in a car seat or Bjorn.

8:00 My friend is here!  We're walking buddies, but have fallen off the wagon lately.  We go out for a good LONG walk and talk, with Wonder Boy in the Bjorn.

9:45 Home.  Deposit Wonder Boy in bed, and find some dinner for myself.  Does anyone else eat their oatmeal raw?  1/2 cup oats, some dried fruits and nuts, a little sugar, and some skim milk.  Is this meusli?  It's very, very good!  (Filling, cheap, and fast too.  Not bad!)  

August 3rd

Going strong!

12:15 Wonder Boy up for a feeding and diaper change

1:15 Wonder Boy back to sleep

4:45 Wonder Boy is hungry again...

5:00 Wonder Boy back in his crib

6:30 Mimi climbs in bed with me, installs her curly head on my pillow, and attempts to put her hand on my face.  Thumb suckers have nasty smelling hands.  Just saying.

7:00 Cartoon time for the girls!

8:45  Umm....am I seriously just now getting up?  Yes, I am.  Wonder Boy eats another breakfast.  The girls have toast and milk.

9:00 The Berninger calls...she's coming to visit!

9:15 The Berninger is here.  I'm lucky she's not shocked by the sight of pajamas and messy hair, because that's what I've got going on this morning.  Bring it.  I'm also lucky she doesn't mind chatting with the kids for 10 minutes so I can get a shower...because, really, we all know it's the kids she came to see!  (Oh, did I mention I put Mimi is big girl underwear yesterday?  I'm in trouble: there's only one pink pair in the pack.  I'm in big trouble.)

10:30  The Berninger has left the building, and we start school.  I pull out a bowl of pretzels for a morning snack, Ernie gets dressed, and the math workbooks commence.

11:00 Groupon for a baseball game!  Wonder Daddy was going to take the girls this month, and this will save us a ton.  Hooray!

11:30 Wonder Boy is asleep, and Ernie and I have gotten through most of what we need to do together on her school work.  She works on her pages while I make lunch.  Ernie has a ham and cheese sandwich, and Mimi just has bread and cheese.

12:00 Wonder Boy is up, girls are down for naps.  Boy and I head to the basement to watch the nutrition series, eat a cookie (yum,) and have MORE FEEDINGS (and more lap napping.)  Because I'm pretty sure he's too small.  *snort*

2:00 Ernie is up, and my first two afternoon lessons are here.  I haven't seen them since the beginning of June, and THEY'VE BEEN PRACTICING!  Hallelujah.  One of them went ahead and started the NEXT lesson since he finished everything I assigned, and the other learned two new songs from his "extra" book.  Sweet.

3:00 A small break between lessons.  Feed Wonder Boy again, and get Ernie started on the school work she didn't finish this morning.  Mimi wants to play on my phone, and I say no, and I'm pretty sure I'm a disappointment to her right now.  Wonder Boy falls asleep in my lap, and I put him in the crib.  What are the chances that today he learns to sleep in a crib during the day?  Instead of dropping off wherever I have him laying?  There's always a little fussing before he drops off, which doesn't go over well during piano lessons.

3:30  Last piano lesson of the day is here (my 4:00 and 4:30 cancelled for VBS.)  I teach Ernie to "Never Eat Shredded Wheat" and label her picture with the compass points.

4:00 Piano is finished for the week!  Send a last minute text to all our 12 and 13-year-old girls at church, reminding them that we DO have an activity tonight, and they DO need to bring their scriptures and Personal Progress books (an achievement program for the girls, with activities and studies to do and pass off.)  Call and check in with our convalescing Young Women's president (and her days-old baby).

4:30 Start dishwasher, dole out marshmallows to Mimi after she uses the toilet again (yay!  dry underwear!) and send Ernie across the street to see if their friend can come over and play.  She's 8...I don't know how long this friendship will last, but Ernie is smitten with having a playmate so close.  And the playmate is smitten with our garden.  Win-win, right?  Wonder Boy wakes up, and he is MAD.  I'm grateful for the hour he spent in his crib!  The friend isn't home.

5:00 Get a pot of water started for (whole wheat) spaghetti, and I'll braise some kale and onions, and cook an eggplant with black bean garlic sauce.  Ernie is on the phone with her Nana...and tells her I'm not making dinner (Hey!  It's on the stove!)  and I'm just sitting at the computer (HEY!  I'm nursing Wonder Boy!)

6:00 Dinner is over, for me at least. Mimi is heart broken that I required her to taste the egg plant, and Ernie couldn't possibly eat her kale and eggplant unless I put it in her mouth.  Yes, it was good she said.  But still...I had to put it in her mouth.  Darn straight it was good!  I over ate, it was delicious.  Wonder Boy was tired of chilling on the floor, can't say I blame him.  I always eat too fast when I have babies- I want to get as much eaten as I can before the baby needs to be held again!

I try and keep the Wonder Boy entertained with this video, but he's not buying it.

6:45 Wonder Daddy gets home, and I rush out the door for Young Women's.

7:00 No one is at the building, so Wonder Boy and I spread a blanket on the grass and wait to see if any girls come.  One does...so we pass off some of her requirements, and play a two-person game of Apples to Apples.  It's rather boring, but I'm glad to have the chance to chat with her- I haven't before.

8:45 She asks to  use my phone...poor thing!  She was probably bored stiff, and I thought we were waiting for her mom.  I gave her a ride home.

9:15 SMOOTHIE TIME!  I've been trying to get to my sister's smoothie shop since last week, and I'm finally here.  Thumbs up for smoothie shops that stay open till 10.  She fixes me up with a coconut water-mango cooler, with a "probiotic boost."  Wonder Boy and I chill out in the shop for awhile.

9:45  I'm home, and feed Wonder Boy one last time.  I deposit him in his crib, and go clear up the dinner dishes and put away the leftovers.

10:30 Kitchen is clean, Wonder Daddy's lunch is packed away for tomorrow, and the day is over!  

August 2nd

Tuesday!  There was some serious juju going on last night: all three kids slept ALL NIGHT LONG.  9:30-7:00! I feel alive!

7:00-8:00 Made a smoothie for breakfast: 2 cups kale, 1 cup yogurt, 1 frozen peach, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 cup frozen cherries, 2 cups ice, and water.  Mimi and I loved it, but it nearly made Ernie cry.  Fed Wonder Boy, practiced piano a bit, and got dressed.



8:00-10:00 School time!  Taught Ernie's lessons, made jum jills, and started a batch of wheat bread.  Mimi was excited about that- she told me this morning she doesn't like white bread.  Umm...OK!  Got the kids' laundry started too, Wonder Boy is wearing his last clean shirt, and dirtied his last pair of pants this morning.  Oops :)  Ernie did her chores- fed and papered the worms, emptied the kitchen scrap bucket, and swept up the crumbs under the table.



10:00-11:00  Got the bread shaped and in the oven, folded 4 loads of laundry (while the girls played a computer game) and put them away, and fed the girls a snack (half a banana each, and some jum jills.)  Fed Wonder Boy again, and got the girls started on cleaning their play room.

11:00-12:00  Helped the girls clean their playroom, and fed them lunch.  Bread with peanut butter and ice water.

12:00  All the kids are down for naps...the good juju continues!  Let's hope at least the two littles sleep well, they need it.  I putter around on Pinterest and e-mail, and wonder "If I go outside and transplant basil, how long till Wonder Boy wakes up?  And will he wake up the girls before I can save him?"  It's a tricky thing, which is why I rarely get much done during nap time.  More shame to me.

12:30  Never mind.  Mimi is awake and LOUD.  Pretending something.  Maybe her shoe is a bear, and it's going to eat the cup?  "No no!" squeaks the cup!  I have no idea what she's talking about, but that's as good a guess as any.  At least the baby is asleep!  I remember that I'm teaching the lesson to our girls at church on Sunday, I'd best prepare that lesson, eh?  Lesson 29, "A Change of Heart."  Hmm.

12:45 ....and Wonder Boy is up.  Well, that was fun!  I badly want a cookie.  He and I went downstairs to begin watching a DVD course on nutrition my dad lent me.  Super interesting!  I get more laundry folded for the kids, and feed him.



2:00 The girls join Wonder Boy and I downstairs.  (No, Mimi didn't stay in her room that whole time, but YES I kept sending her back!)  The girls dress up, dance, listen to cassette tapes of Disney songs, and play picnic.  Wonder Boy chills and eats and naps in my lap while I read a book.  The girls eat more jum jills for a snack in the afternoon, and I see Mimi fetching otter pops from the freezer.





4:30 Time to make dinner!  I throw everything I can find into a blender to make gazpacho, slice up a melon, and slice some thick pieces of bread for the girls....who I KNOW will not appreciate my soup.  Wonder Daddy won't be joining us for dinner tonight, but I know he won't find it funny either.  A man needs something to chew!  There's bread, eggs, and chicken in the fridge for him.

6:15 I've eaten my dinner (YUM!) and the girls are still eating theirs....they're on round three of bread.  Mimi has yet to last 3 minutes without crying during this meal.  As we say, "She's epically two."  They end up having four slices of bread each.  Yikes.  Carbo fiends.  At least it's whole grains...I ground the wheat this morning!  (Ernie enjoyed the melon quite a bit, but didn't think the soup was very good.  It ended up pretty garlicky.)

6:30-7:30 The girls play, sing songs, and bash away on our musical instruments (drum and piano mostly, while singing from a Coldplay book.)  Wonder Boy and I cuddle.

7:30-8:00 Girls get ready for bed, Daddy is home and he mows the lawn, we read scriptures, and Wonder Boy and I cuddle.

8:00 Daddy tucks the girls into bed

8:30 Daddy finishes tucking the girls into bed, since they are NOW done putting away the laundry and magazines and toys they spread all over their room during the afternoon.  I feed Wonder Boy.

9:00 Wonder Boy goes to bed.  I stay up for a little bit, watching more of the nutrition course, finishing my book, folding ANOTHER load of laundry, and tidying the kitchen a bit.

10:00 Day is done!  Looking back, I can see why I don't get anything done: I hold the baby all day long!  Can't say that I mind, but there must be a way to get more done during the day.  I should put him in a backpack or baby carrier.  It's time to plant my fall garden.  We got through the laundry today...tomorrow, the garden chores!  

August 1st

There's a "day in the life" meme going around right now...and it lasts a full week!  Wouldn't it be fun to see what everyone is up to?

My twin and I are part of the "twin registry" at our alma mater- we help out with research studies, and it's kind of fascinating to think what can be learned from studying twins in relation to diseases!  At least, it's fascinating to me.  Part of the last study asked about daily habits, and I discovered that I work 15 hour days, but umm....well, the vast majority of my day is sitting down.  Obviously, since I'm sitting here right now.  Still, rather horrifying.

Onward!

This morning started early- Wonder Boy had a hard time sleeping last night, and so did Mimi.  Between the two of them I was up about every hour after 1, and finally gave up around 6:30.  Oh, and had rip-roaring nightmares about Ernie driving off in my car, and I couldn't manage to chase after her in any other car for one reason or another, even though she was only going slowly on the shoulder of the road.  She said she had to get something at WalMart.  Ehhh?  (Oh, and Dad, you were in my other nightmare- you were taking pistachios from a tree and saying "Oh, he won't mind!  We're doing him a FAVOR!"  Then "he" came out and was pretty furious.  But in the end, you were right- he didn't mind.)

We taught two piano lessons this morning, did Ernie's school work, and had snacks and lunch.  The girls cleaned up their room before naps.

During "nap time" Mimi spent most of the time shaking a tambourine and bellowing out a song.  Ernie read.  But, when "nap time" was over, Mimi was asleep, Wonder Boy was napping in my chair, and Ernie came out to play.  I spent nap time playing with Wonder Boy, listening to Spotify (you've tried it?  You love it too?) and looking for garden ideas on Pinterest.  (And I'm SURE you've signed up for that, too?)  Oh, and waiting for my doctor's office to write me back- I want the go-ahead to take some cold medicine, something I haven't done since before Ernie was born I think.  No particular reason why not, I just generally prefer to not be on medication.  Tylenol and ibuprofen are around for when I get a bad pain somewhere.  I'm hoping there's something safe to take to try and get rid of a mystery sore throat!

By 3:30, everyone was up, and we met our cousins at the neighborhood beach for the afternoon, and got home by 6:00 for baths and dinner.  I warmed up leftover terriyaki salmon, and threw some quinoa in the rice cooker, and some cut broccoli in the steamer basket.  Mimi and Ernie LOOOVE quinoa.  Mims had 3 scoops, which I was happy to oblige her in.  Our little vegetarian doesn't get much protein in her, and quinoa is a pretty good source.

By 8:00, we'd eaten dinner and had our "Family Home Evening."  Mimi chose the song (Rain is Falling) and Ernie read us a story from her scripture reader about Joseph Smith.  Daddy read the kids a bed time story, and lights out!  Kind of.  Wonder Baby was still splashing in the bath, and by 9:00 Mimi was still popping out to ask if I'd tuck her back in.  Kid just won't sleep!  I got caught up on piano studio billing and started mapping out next year's schedule.

I spent the rest of the night cleaning up the kitchen, dawdling on the computer, and trying to wrap my head around a death I learned of in the morning, via Facebook.  I've decided Facebook is a rotten way to find out something like that.  I also found out about a birth, and two more friends who are "expecting."  Facebook just kind of splashes life around indiscriminately, doesn't it?

I love my family

I am SO GRATEFUL to live near family.  Seriously.  I wish we still lived close to all the other family members who have moved away (pssshh...who needs education?  Or a job?  Everyone should stay here!)

My niece and Ernie are in a day camp this week, and LOVING IT.  I was nervous when I found out most of the other kids were about 5 years older, but those two girls are sticking together and keeping up, and having a blast doing it!  It's a pretty low-key "camp" put on by the teenage children of a family friend.  Super cute, and every day has a theme.  Today I went to pick up the girls, and watched the big kids guide our tinies around a kickball field.  Way too sweet!

This also means that Aunt LoLo and I are joining forces so the toddlers can nap.  Even if Ernie isn't getting her naps, Mimi WILL!  (And yeah- super glad that E still takes a "rest" every afternoon.  If she doesn't just read for an hour and a half, she'll sleep for a good couple hours.  She needs it!)



In other news. Wonder Boy is mobile.  Yes sir, he grabs his chubby little feet, rolls up like a potato bug, and flops onto his side...straightens out...and keeps doing that until he's done a complete 360 degree turn.  I don't think he realizes that he's moving....but that little potato bug trick is becoming an obsession of his, and he has no idea why or how he got on his side.  Where did the ceiling go??  For a fellow that can have long conversations with the ceiling fan, this can be confusing.  (Also, this outfit has lost it's poo mojo.  Tomorrow will mark the 1 week anniversary of his last dirty diaper, and I am NOT happy.  But he's more not happy than me.)



Also, Aunt LoLo has found a new way to transport babies.  It looks very...protective.  He's like a turtle!

One other amazing benefit of living close to family...especially intrepid sisters....is the ability to sneak out for an hour BY MY SELF.  Normally, I don't leave my babies for about a year.  But this was something special- I visited our temple.  (Oh yeah, and I cut my hair.  Myself.  It was easy, I just grabbed chunks of hair and worked around my head, cutting them the same length as the chunks next to them.  Maybe next time I'll try and get more sleep before I attempt this??)



This post is kind of rambling, I know....and it perfectly matches my mental state, haha!  I've spent most mornings this week running damage control on things I forgot to do or say the day before.  Whoops.  

These Nights

I snapped some pictures the other night, so I could remember what these years look like.

Every night we have the same bedtime routine: pajamas, brush teeth, and gather to read a few verses of scriptures.  (Some nights it's a VERY few verses!)  After this we say prayers, the girls give Wonder Daddy and I five kisses each (cheek, cheek, chin, forehead, nose!), and give Wonder Boy a little snuggle before galloping to their room to "hide" before Daddy comes in to sing a song to Ernie and read a book to Mimi.  It's not hard to find them, because they always hide behind Ernie's bed and start yelling "Why aren't you coming to find me?!" if we stay behind and chat for more than a minute.




This copy of the Book of Mormon is what we're studying and reading from right now- it was a wedding gift from my husband's side of the family, and has BEAUTIFUL artwork included!  The kids love seeing the pictures.  Ernie has her own dog-eared paperback copy of the Book of Mormon that she reads from (and proudly carries to Sunday School every week.)  Mimi has an illustrated boardbook with stories from the Book of Mormon that she looks through while we read, and she insists on "reading" us a story every night.  Mostly her stories consist of telling us how angry the men are- a lot of the pictures are of very serious men discussing very serious things, apparently.  They're all slightly scowling.



Wonder Boy is pretty happy on a blanket, as long as there's plenty of action going on around him!  By the time prayers come around, he's normally pretty squirrelly and ready for his next snack.  I think he's hitting another growth spurt!



If there's extra time, Ernie loves to color.  LOOOOOVES to color.  She and Mimi both have "art kits" with crayons, colored pencils, and markers- I think they love how official it feels to open their kits and carefully select what to use on their picture.



Mimi is such a goof.  Such an incorrigible GOOF of  a monster!



After the girls are safely tucked into bed, and after Wonder Boy falls asleep, I'm trying to be good about getting out for a walk around the neighborhood.  Glad it's light at night now, because I don't get out the door until after 9 most nights.  I'm actually going to talk more about this later, but I really REALLY enjoy the quiet alone time!  (I managed to do my entire walk without slowing down tonight!  I'm a speed walker when I'm alone, I actually walk faster than I can jog, so I was kind of pleased with that!)  

A Day at Home

Just a quiet day at home.  A little "journaling" to remember these days!

Baby fell asleep at 10 last night, and I went to bed at 11.

Baby woke up at 3, and went back to sleep at 4:30.

Husband's alarm went off at 4:30
Husband's alarm went off at 4:40.
Husband's alarm went off at 4:50
Husband's alarm went off at 5:00.

Mimi got out of bed at 5:00, wanting new pajamas.  No.  I tucked her back into bed.

Husband's alarm went off at 5:10.
Husband's alarm went off at 5:20.  I think he must have had a REALLY late night last night, working!
Husband got in shower.

Both girls were up at 6:00.  Husband turned on cartoons for them before he left for work.

Mimi came in at 6:30.  "Can we watch another cartoon?"  Yes.

Mimi came in at 7:00.  "Can we watch another cartoon?"  Yes.

7:30, I got out of bed, and made breakfast for everyone.  (Leftover waffles, yum!)

8:00, first piano lesson of the day

8:30 Ernie's piano lesson. We learned about quarter notes today!  I love her piano series, not least because it actually instilled a sense of rhythm in her, in about 3 months time.  Impressive!

9:00, I took my shower.

9:30 started a batch of bread, and did some work on Rae's Spring Sewing Week.  Last day to enter your spring tops!  Roughly half of all the tops entered in the competition have come in the last 3 days.



10:00, baby woke up for the morning.  He ate, and I got the girls going on some workbooks.



10:30, did a little something with my hair.  Mimi says I have LoLo hair now!  Yes Mims, it looks very short :)



11:00, bread went in the oven.  Baby is playing on his mat.



11:30, lunch!  Is hot, fresh wheat bread with butter and brown sugar healthy?   Hmm.

12:00, baby eats again, falls back asleep.

12:15, put baby down in his crib, collect the girls from the front room for their naps- they're currently "cows" and mooing very loudly.

12:30 Turned off the girls' light, after reading them each a story.  Hope they sleep, they OUGHT to be tired!  Worked on figuring out billing snafus in the piano studio for last month, and getting all the receipts sent out.  OK, WHEN exactly are all these makeup lessons going to be scheduled?  And they need to happen before the recital?  Yikes.  I think I might need to hire a sitter for an afternoon and just pump everyone through!

1:30 Ernie is DONE with reading, and has come out to tell me she loves me (three times), beg for a piece of candy (alright), and work on her workbook some more.  I'm still sorting through piano studio messes, and e-mail back and forth with Aunt LoLo about recital details.  One family is owed FIVE makeup lessons from throughout the year!  One family hasn't paid!  One family paid double for their books!  TWO families aren't even on my e-mail distribution list, mysteriously enough.  I'm waiting for the next photo moderator to come online and enter more of the last minute entries for Rae's contest, so I can send them out in batches of 10 to the judges.  (I've kind of been up since 3...I'm thinking I should have taken a nap, and worried about studio business later tonight...but I have a presidency meeting for the Young Women's organization tonight, and hope to go to sleep when I get home, assuming Baby will fall asleep in the car on the way back!)  Oh, and Ernie still thinks my hair looks cool.

1:35 Baby is starting to make war whoop noises. I think he's awake!

2:30 Everyone is up, two diapers have been changed, baby's eaten again, and I'm making strawberry-spinach smoothies for snack.  The girls insist they're chocolate, because of the color...but they drink it all!  Hooray for leafy greens!  Smoothie was frozen strawberries, frozen spinach, orange-flavored Metamucil, brown sugar, and water.

3:00 Girls are playing music in the front room on ALL the percussion instruments, baby is chilling on his mat again, I'm paying bills and getting things ready to put in the mailbox.  I'll send Ernie across the street to put everything in the box, she LOOVES doing that chore.  I will watch from the window.

3:15, nurse the baby, put him down for another nap.

3:30, start first afternoon piano lesson, and the girls come tearing into the room.  "Mom!  We want a snack!"  What about that smoothie I just made?  Not a snack?  Alright, send them out the door with a bowl of corn chips, and a promise they will PLAY OUTSIDE IN THE SUNSHINE.  Sunshine is hard to come by around here, OK?

4:00 start second lesson, girls turn on their cartoons, and I hear a gasp from Mimi.  She comes to me with hand extended "Mommy!  I stuck my hand in my pants!"  Fist full of poo.  Wow.  That's a first!  Student is totally not fazed, he keeps playing his song while I head off to disinfect my child.

4:30 start third and final afternoon lesson.  Beyond baby waking up, pretty uneventful!  I put him in the swing next to the girls, so Elizabeth can push him.

5:00 nurse the baby again.

5:30, throw some rice in the cooker and pull all the bok choi I can find out of the fridge.  Realize my kids are never in a million years going to eat that choi, and dig around for sliced cucumbers.  I realize their lives are one big carbo load.  

6:00 Daddy gets home.  Serve steamed rice, leftover ratatouille, sliced cucumbers, and stir-fried bok choi with oyster sauce.  Five veggies on the table, and my kids eat white rice with yoshi sauce.  Ernie had a few slices of cucumber, and a "no thank you" bite of choi.  (She had her "no thank you" ratatouille last night.) I'm going to have to be happy with the fact that Mimi did not throw a fit about the vegetables I placed in her bowl- for now, merely allowing them to stay in the bowl IS her best effort I think.  

6:30 Throw the girls in the bath!  Experimental head dunking of Elizabeth resulted in water inhalation.  I need to go Google what the repercussions of that are.  I feed the baby one more time.  SO glad Daddy is home, the girls actually get their hair washed tonight!  He even does the de-tangler and hair brush routine...wow!

7:30, girls are out of the bath and mostly dressed.  We read scriptures in their room.

8:00 leave for a presidency meeting

10:00 leave presidency meeting

10:15 Pick up my husband's bike from a friend's house.

10:30 HOME.  Put the sleeping baby in his room, download a few pictures, and I'm going to bed :)

Do you ever just make a list of everything you do in a day, to see what happened?