Just in case you're not familiar with this cast of characters:
Blossom2 is 14 and works hard and pitches in. We all rely on her.
Blossom3 is 12 and hates working at her desk.
Blossom4 is 8 and thinks school is annoying when you could be bouncing on the couch and cartwheeling in the living room.
The Rugged Mountain Man is my husband and the father of our four beautiful daughters.
Dominique ~ That's me. I'm the glue of this family, the domestic engineer extraordinaire! At least that's what I aim for.
7:06 am ~ Oops! I must've fallen back to sleep! Blossom4 woke me up saying she had a belly ache last night and combined with my own bouts of indigestion, I didn't sleep well. When the Rugged Mountain Man left at 6:30 am, I grabbed my tablet and started my Bible reading in bed, which led to falling back to sleep. Sometimes it happens this way.\
I rise, start the water for tea, and wake the girls. This morning is slow. We're getting our feet back under us after a big push before their Fine Arts performance this past weekend. For months, everything has been leading up to the big day. They settle in their favorite couch spots with blankets and read or listen to the Bible and write in journals. My chair, tea, and journal are waiting for me!
7:40 am ~ I convince them that it really is breakfast time. Open breakfast is how we roll now. Smoothies, cereal, and Johnny cake are their choices this morning. When we're basically done eating, we talk about what we read in the Word and pray before they clean up breakfast and troop downstairs to suit up for outside chores. They're pretty happy because it's 35 degrees outside, so no one needs to heat 5 gallons of water for the animals. It's a comparatively easy winter chore day!
8:10 am ~ While the Blossoms are choring on our micro farm, I wipe down the kitchen counters and head back to get my shower. It's nice that the girls are old enough to be trusted to chore outside while I ready myself for the day. Jeans! Graphic Tee! Cardigan! Claw hair clip! Two minute makeup! There are either people at my house or I'm going somewhere every day now, so I save time and always get dressed right away in the morning. Otherwise, I forget and end up in a panic when I'm not ready later on.
8:46 am ~ I hear Blossom1 tickling the ivories in the basement music studio, which means chores have been completed. Although they're supposed to be upstairs doing inside chores, it is nice to hear music in random moments throughout the day. I peek out the upstairs window and notice that the three younger girls are "swing-jumping!" That's their word for swinging high, doing a flip, and landing with a good gymnastics type "stick." While I'm slightly irritated that they aren't hustling in, I'm torn because getting fresh air and vitamin D are more difficult in February. I give them a few minutes to soak it all in before waving them in from the back door.
They head inside to unload and load the dishwasher, do the dishes, vacuum, tidy the bathroom, and tidy the basement. Blossom1 also gets ready for the day. Her job ~ teaching piano out of our basement music studio ~ starts at noon, so she does the whole jeans, hair, and makeup routine in the morning as well. The other three settle on ponytails and comfy pants for their day.
9:31 am ~ They're finally in the school room and working on math. Doing math first is a requirement at our house when everyone is fresh in the morning. Blossom1 does all college work now, so she independently manages her work load and assignments based on their due dates. The rest of them choose what to work on after math and move from subject to subject until they get stuck. Today, Blossom3 is stuck on stem and leaf plots. Though I think they're annoying, I help her understand before I move on to answer Blossom4's question.
I throw in some wash, fold clothes, clean stains out of the carpet, and talk to my sister on the phone while no one needs me. I get hamburg out for supper too. It's so much easier when I think about supper around breakfast time.
11:18 am ~ Blossom3 gets the bright idea to have pancakes for lunch...now. Since Blossom1 needs to eat early today, I say yes. Blossom2 mixes up a batch of fluffy pancakes while Blossom3 works on a batch of homemade syrup. Blossom4 reminds everyone how hungry she is and how much she really doesn't want to do her math today. She does manage to help set the table. Blossom1 is wrapping up a few things before lunch and teaching piano. We enjoy our pancakes and clean up the kitchen (again.)
11:48 am ~ Blossom1 heads downstairs to teach. The other three dart outside for some fresh air. It's so warm out that I told them they could have 20 minutes before they get back to school work. I get my sourdough started for tomorrow.
12:26 pm ~ We settle back into the school room. I read Blossom3 and Blossom4 their history lesson all about knights and the Middle Ages. Then, they work on writing articles for their Middle Ages newspaper. I read and comment on Blossom2's composition for a Bible Quiz/Discipleship requirement and I give her the green light to submit it to her Bible Quiz coach.
1:30 pm ~I'm friends with one of the moms of my daughter's piano student, so my mom friend pops upstairs to visit. We have a little catching up to do since she hasn't been feeling well lately. I sip tea and chat, with periodic reminders to the little girls to "get busy" on their independent work when they start to get a bit too distracted. I didn't know if I was going to get to visit today. Blossom4 hit a few bumps in her schoolwork a few minutes before I answered the door, but we ironed it out so that she could continue to work independently.
2:30 pm ~ Blossom1 had a cancellation or two today, so she takes her sisters downstairs one by one for their own piano lessons a little earlier than normal. On her other breaks between lessons, she practices her own musical pursuits.
3:37 pm ~ I make a phone call or two. I check my sourdough. It's rising by the woodstove downstairs. In between, I help Blossom3 with a writing assignment she is working on. I write some thoughts and prompts on our giant white board and let her hash out the rough draft by herself.
5:11 pm ~ Daddy's home!! I greet him and try my best not to dump problems and logistics all over him. My mind is problem solving all day, but so is his. Neither of us wants to greet each other with more problems to solve or logistics to plan. That can be hard when there are six people in this busy family. There's always something that needs to be solved! We settle into the living room for a few minutes of conversation before he goes off to change and I set supper-making into high gear. It's burgers and fries tonight. I call out, "Anyone who doesn't have a job to do currently, should come to the kitchen and help with supper!" Supper prep sure goes fast this way and I'm astonished at how quickly we pat burgers, prep French fries, lay out all the burger toppings, and get the table set. Many (trained) hands make work light!
5:37 pm ~ We all sit down to supper. The masses are happy because I tried a new spice on the French fries and it's tasty! The conversation varies from flare jeans to the Freedom convoy to Winter Jam to doping to Physics lab grades. We never know where we'll end up. There is usually laughter, but sometimes we end up tackling bad manners or sass. We try to keep it pleasant and full of camaraderie though! The girls man-handle the supper clean up next.
6:10 pm ~ I do some much-needed cleaning in the school room before sitting down to score school work. I consult with each child about what went wrong and make sure they understand what needs to be done differently next time. They correct their work and I record grades. In addition to the work completed today, I also record all the little girls' schoolwork they did over the weekend ~ the big Fine Arts dress rehearsal, performance, and debriefing/feedback meeting, and the hunting/hiking and nature work we did on Monday. Blossom1 and Blossom2 record all their own schoolwork. I double check that it is thorough and either call back or insert whatever info is needed. Everything is now set for tomorrow's school day, including the latest writing assignments that I write on the white boards. I take some time to tell them about my expectations for these assignments.
7:46 pm ~ I pop into the kitchen for a glass of water before I start blogging. I call some girls back to wipe down the stove and counters. By now, Blossom1 and Blossom2 are studying Bible Quiz and reading and Blossom3 and Blossom4 are doing gymnastics in the living room and eventually move on to creating with modeling clay in the kitchen. As I said, we're getting our feet back under us after such a big push lately. The Rugged Mountain Man is in the kitchen prepping goose breast to make into goose pastrami. Sounds intriguing to me!
8:26 pm ~ I head out to check the kombucha that's working on my counter lately. I guess I'm crunchy and maybe getting crunchier. We'll see if kombucha is something I like and will keep doing. For now, I just thought it sounded interesting. I type a little more on my blog post and then, settle onto the couch to wind down with everyone. It's been SO busy lately. Of course, I pop up like a toaster sixteen times to do those million little things that moms do all day.
One of the girls jumps in the shower. Modelling clay is still being played with in the kitchen. They've moved onto the taking pictures and doing claymation. Some are still reading. They've been avoiding recreational reading for the last several weeks, since virtually all our free time has been taken up with practice, preparation, and details. Blossom4 sets up Daddy's coffee so it's ready to go for him in the morning. Other than that, we're all just basically hanging out in the living room now. Not all our evenings are quiet and slow but we needed this to reorient.
I do a little brain dumping for tomorrow, adding a few things to my to-do list.
9:10 pm ~ The Blossoms head back to bed. I tuck the little Blossoms in and say good night to the big Blossoms. I pop up again to fetch an extra blanket for Blossom4. Sit down, pop up, sit down, pop up, sit down. Tidy this. Put away that. Read a little. It's the mom life.
9:55 pm ~ After doing the Rugged Mountain Man's next day prep, we crawl into bed and I alternately chat with my husband and read to wind down. I am so tired, I always spend this time evaluating how I'm handling motherhood and homeschooling and the house and such. He tells me it's time to clock out and rest my mind. We'll give it a fresh effort tomorrow.
Thanks for checking in on our Day in the Life!
Check out other Day in the Life posts here.
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