Anne's Day in the Life

This post is insanely long.  It is fun for me and for the kids to read through it and remember our days, but it may just be too much for anyone else to enjoy!

No offense if you give up. :)

4:50 am  I wake to Lola climbing into bed between Sir Walter Scott and me.  She's wiggly.  I tell her to settle down and try to do the same myself, but it isn't any good.

5:06 am  I give up.

5:15 am  I have a mug of herbal tea in my hand, fresh socks on my feet, my favorite robe around my shoulders, and a bowl of breakfast chocolate at my side.  I settle in front of the computer to start chronicling the day.

5:20 am  I open my scriptures.  I'm studying the Old Testament this year.  Its been a long, long time since I've read it through from beginning to end, so it feels oddly new even as it is as familiar as my own face.  Today I read Numbers 21-25.

5:33 am  Pixie and Super Star burst out of the basement, grab a snack, inform me that Rose Red won't get up (so now I at least know she came home last night), and run out the door to seminary.  I look up from my studies long enough to acknowledge them and wish them a good morning.  As I turn back to my musings about Balaam, I breathe out a grateful sigh in acknowledgment of the blessing it is for Pixie to have a drivers license.

6:00 am  I close my scripture and prayer journals.  I spend the next little while indulging in reading some homeschool blogs and clearing out my email.

7:05 am  I've finished printing our Morning Meeting scripture and song for March as well as copies of our notebooking pages for Academy.  I press print on the first unit of a geography worktext I got as a freebie download some months ago that is the answer to Little Princess's request for filling her independent school activity list.

Kids are waking, and the next hour is a flurry of personal hygiene and chores for the whole family.

Brother likes taking out the compost.

The toddlers follow me around chanting, "We want a snack.  We want a snack.  We want a snack."
Then they cry when I tell them that breakfast will be soon.

Watching Mommy make scrambled eggs.  They'd been whining just a moment earlier, but I said, "Don't smile!"  So they smiled.

The seminary teens come home, and some of the older littles pull out their independent school as they wait for breakfast.

7:50 am The family gathers for breakfast and Morning Meeting.  We recite our scripture and Article of Faith, read about Jacob returning with his family to face Esau, do some church history quiz questions, and start re-memorizing the 5th paragraph of The Family Proclamation.  After family announcements, we dismiss to get breakfast cleared up and start our school day.

9:00 am  I've put together one batch of apple-pear chutney and I've helped toddlers put on jackets for outdoor play.  Little Princess has hung close for help with vocabulary words.  Pixie, Belle, and Nature Angel have been dancing in preparation for this weekends homeschool talent show.  Super Star knocked out some French study.

Little Princess brings me the geography work I though would last the rest of the week--completed!  She likes it.

Sir Walter Scott spends the morning paying bills.  (He's my hero)

It's time to start Symposium.  All 4 teens are invited to this group study, but Rose Red abstains, so it is 3 teens and me each day.  I set the girls to work writing an essay in Spanish practicing llamarse, tener, and ser--modeled on a fill-in-the-blank essay they completed yesterday.  While they work I knock out another quart of chutney and answer questions about how to structure sentences in Spanish.

10:30 am  The girls have finished their essays; I've read and corrected them; and we've knocked out 2 history lessons and a review session.  At the same time, the toddlers have come in and out of the house, I've helped Little Princess with math, I've helped several kids with toileting, and I've settled several arguments between frustrated kids.

I dismiss the teens to their independent work; Pixie and Rose Red actually leave for their jobs for the day--Pixie with a backpack of schoolwork should her day be slow.  I finish 2 more quarts of chutney while Nature Angel gets out the sewing machine to work on a ruffled skirt for her doll.

Super Star and Belle let me know they are taking Theo (Belle's dog) on a walk.

11:00 am  Time to call the elementary crew indoors for a snack (first lunch) and Academy.

11:30 am  We finally sit down to the table--it took that long to get all of the outdoor toys put away and get the kids corralled, pottied, and washed up.  As the kids eat, we begin memorizing the preamble to the Constitution and talk a bit about the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of the government.  We continue our regular reading and memorization work.  Then we head out to the living room to use the big TV to look at pictures of fossils and try our hands at drawing some.  We find fossils often when we walk, so this is a familiar concept.

12:30 pm  We're done with Academy, and the kids are released to play outside again.  I take the kids a couple at a time for one-on-one school which sounds funny, but as one kid does independent work, I can read with another, and we can switch off more efficiently than if I actually only have one child at a time in the room.

1:55 pm  One-on-one time is done.  The day is practically balmy, so the kids are now barefoot and playing make-believe in the trees and across the yard.  Sir Walter Scott and I get very frustrated with the library website as we try to find our due-today books.

Apparently the library is having internet issues.

Super Star comes upstairs after 2 full hours of personal grooming to ask if we like her hair.  We tell her it is nice, but it would be nicer if she were doing her schoolwork!

I make lunch (second lunch).

Actually I don't.

I get caught up in figuring out how Pixie's dance schedule is going to work for the new session.  Then the kids invite me to a live production of Cinderella in the front yard.  Little Princess presents me with a ticket and everything.

Then the production falls apart because a couple of kids get bored, and the disappointed enthusiasts have to revamp their plans.

Little Princess takes back the ticket.

Sir Walter Scott and I discuss various money, planning, and home issues that need our attention.

2:40 pm  I make second lunch--for real this time.

Then I get a new ticket.

3:05 pm  It's showtime!  I leave lunch simmering on the stove and Sir Walter Scott, Super Star, Belle, and I all enjoy the show.

Once upon a time there was a girl named Cinderella.

Her mother died, and her father remarried a woman with two daughters.

They were cruel to Cinderella.

One day a message arrived from the prince.  It was an invitation to a ball!

The stepmother and stepsisters took the invitation and went to the ball leaving Cinderella at home crying.  But Cinderella's fairy godmother appeared and worked much magic.

Soon Cinderella was dressed beautifully and on her way to the ball in a magic coach.

Cinderella danced with the prince.

Oh no!  Cinderella forgot to watch the time!  When the clock struck midnight, she ran from the ball.

The prince ran after her, but all that was left was her glass slipper.  He vowed to find his princess love.

The prince tried the slipper on every maiden in the kingdom.

The stepsisters were very disappointed when the slipper wouldn't fit, and then they were angry when Cinderella escaped from her room.

The slipper fit!  The prince and Cinderella kissed and were married and lived happily ever after!

After the show we eat.

Then Sir Walter Scott makes our weekly library run while I take the elementary 8 up to the field across the street to play.

It's too windy.

But we stay.

Storm moving in.  We're supposed to wake to rain in the morning.

Ladybug and Brother run across to a marshy area and run back a  little while later. "We tried to pick the cattails, but when we did, they exploded everywhere!" they yell happily.

4:30 pm  Sir Walter Scott has returned home, and he can take my place as field monitor.  I return to the house to do dishes and laundry--the sound of children laughing with their Daddy following me down the hill to the house.

5:02 pm  The toddlers are back because they "have to go potty!"  I help them, and set them up with playdough at the kitchen table.

5:09 pm  Everyone else is back from the field.  The wind is too strong.  They wash up and join the toddlers at playdough.

I work on making dinner.

Super Star and Belle enter and leave the kitchen as they put together the "story bags" they need for tonight's church youth activity.  "Mom, where's the tape?"  "Mom, can I take these costumes?"  "Mom, can I take a wooden spoon?"

Sir Walter Scott bathes the youngest 6.   (He's my hero)  They rotate in and out of playdough play, returning to the table in their jammies--slightly damp and smelling fresh.

The angels proclaim the Savior's birth to a single shepherd and his loving sheep . . . according to Mister Man.

Rose Red and Pixie get home from work.  Pixie brings a frozen yogurt for Little Princess; it's a reward for something Little Princess did to help Pixie this past weekend.

6:15 pm  Most of us sit down to the table to eat baked pork chops, salad w/honey mustard dressing, green beans, and red sauerkraut.  The teens are preparing for the evening's activities, and nothing we do can get them to join us at the table.

Teens . . . I love them . . . I'm not always sure what to do with them.

6:40 pm  Dinner was hurried because of evening church activities, so the table is already mostly cleared, and everyone age 8 and up is rushing to the van while I'm supervising the teeth-brushing and bedtime pottying of everyone who is staying home.  Sir Walter Scott leaves with his crew, and I start reading bedtime stories and tucking kids in.

7:35 pm  The young ones are in bed, and I'm exhausted.  Rose Red suddenly appears.  It is the first time I've seen her in 24 hours.  She's staring at her phone, but she's hovering, so I engage her in conversation.  She smiles one wry smile and starts talking . . .

It's hard to listen.

She's not doing well.

But I love her, and I know that listening matters . . . and I offer advice/counsel where I feel it won't push her away . . . all of the time with a prayer in my heart.

8:40 pm  The garage door opens, and the church activity half of the family are home.  Rose Red melts away to her room, and Pixie finds me to talk and tell me all about the activity.  I remember that I still need to set the oats out to soak overnight for breakfast in the morning, and we realize we have a conflict with needs for the teen car.  We discuss various solutions, but Sir Walter Scott joins us and solves the problem (he's my hero).  Belle and Pixie raid the fridge for leftover pork chops.

9:10 pm  I can't stay on my feet one more moment.  Sir Walter Scott sends me off to bed with a kiss and heads upstairs to tuck in Little Princess and Nature Angel.  (Have I mentioned that he's my hero?)

I'm pretty sure I fall asleep the minute my head hits the pillow.

11:59 pm  I wake suddenly to Nature Angel standing over me.  She's crying and says she feels nauseous.  I get up, and she bolts for the nearest toilet.  I administer what help I can and tuck her in on the couch in the living room, so she's closer to me should she need me again.

This time the day is really over.

It was a good day.