A Week in the Life Day 5

Today started with everyone sleeping in a little past 7:30. Jade ended up in our bed around midnight. Blogging like this for this week is indicating that Jade is horrible sleeper. No wonder I stay so tired.

Jeff called at some point this morning to see if we could leave for vacation earlier tomorrow rather than tomorrow night. That sent my wheels to turning since I had to run it by Jenna’s friend who will be going with us, pack a little faster, etc. No big deal. Jeff has a job to do near our vacay spot, so he has worked it where he can do it tomorrow instead of during vacay. I called a friend from that area to find something that I could do with the girls while Jeff worked. A few hours later, and it is all worked out.

I had a gazillion errands to run today. We will be on vacay during the beginning of the month normal bill pay/ errand time, so I did it all early today. Here was my run down:

-dress all 3 girls and load them in the car

- go to pharmacy to get Jeff’s thyroid  meds and some swim ear

- go by daycare and pay for month of July

- go by dentist and pay bill

- run to wal mart to get earrings- all 3 girls needed earrings! and cranberry juice for Jade. (I think she is fine, but she is “going” a lot, so I wanted to treat in case.)

- stop by vision center to let Jenna do a screening with her glasses. Last summer the eye doctor told me that she should be fine to go 2 years between eye visits, but lately she has started REQUIRING her glasses for watching TV, etc. It used to be just for school purposes. This indicated that maybe her eyes had regressed. I don’t mind taking her to get new glasses, but I don’t want to spend the money if she has the same prescription- she has 4 perfectly good pair of glasses, as is. She did ok with her test. She measured about a 20/25 with the glasses. We may wait til the fall to get them checked and adjusted since she was ok, but not perfect. I surely don’t want to wait til next summer.

- Get gas

- stop by post office to get 1 stamp. (later realized I needed 2!)

- Stop by my classroom to get a form to complete to get my FSA reimbursement for daycare. We have a love/hate relationship with the FSA. It saves us money, but it is a pain because the company that our school uses STINKS!

BY this point it was clearly lunch time. The girls seemed to be starving! I fixed them some lunch, and they ate. Jade tried her cranberry juice/ water drink. She was not real happy about it.

After lunch, I demanded that all 3 girls take a nap. Jade and Bryn were tired, and Jenna was cranky. They were quite content to do this- They knew they needed it.

I cleaned the kitchen and ate some banana bread. I did a quick blog partial post.

After that I packed some more, fed the cat, prepared cat food for when we are gone, and had the girls read some. (Jade was still napping.) I put away laundry, and made a quick list of things that Jeff needed to get from the shed for the trip. Going on vacation can be so overwhelming. I feel like I have to pack so much when I take the kids. when it’s just me, I take a small bag.

After some play time, Jeff got home. He started his end of the packing while I ran over to the barn to take some pics of Pop’s car for insurance purposes. I ran home and emailed them to the ins company. While I was taking pics, I somewhat supervised Daddy-Mac hooking up his lawn mover battery to charge.

Jeff is doing a quick workout, and then we will head over to Grandmama and Papa’s for dinner. Bryn will be staying with them for a few days, so we will drop her off. She has been so fun to have over. After dinner, we will visit, drive home, bathe everyone, and put everyone to bed.

 

Hopefully, Jade will sleep well. Tomorrow morning we will leave for vacation. I HOPE to have Internet service at the condo so I can post from the beach. Most units have WiFi, so chances are good.

A Week in the Life- Day 4

This morning started a little late. All of us slept in. When the girls got up around 7:30 or 8, they started playing so well together. I took that as my cue to stay in my room and watch Today. Around 9:30, I moved to the LR and had coffee. It was nice to have a slow morning with basically nothing to do. Fortunately for me, Jenna and Bryn think it is fun to dress Jade, so they handle that chore for me.

 

Morning rocked along, and I prepared to fix lunch. Other than a few phone calls, I basically did nothing this morning. I am not really sure what I did because I didn’t just sit and watch TV. I fed the girls a lunch of hmmmm, I forgot. Oh yea, pizza and fruit.

After lunch Jade went down for nap. She went easily today. She took a few books to bed and “read” herself to sleep. During nap, Bryn voluntarily cleaned Jenna’s room. (Yep, you read that right.) Jenna then volunteered to clean the playroom.

Basically, I am still doing nothing at this point. I am kicking myself for not doing some reading during this time. I always say I don’t have time to read much, but now that I am chronicling my days, I see I have more time on some days, at least.

After nap, Dawn and Walker came over and swam for a couple of hours with us. I always enjoy an afternoon at the pool, however, you are guaranteed to tired, cranky, hungry kids when you are finished. I am usually tired after swimming, and don’t really want to deal with the cranky, hungry part of the kids. Oh well, they ate a snack and rested a bit. Soon they were playing happily again.

Jeff came home a little early today and he spent a few hours taking care of the yard. You know, mowing, edging, trimming, etc. It was so hot. I tried to send him lots of water.

I made dinner of tacos and carrot sticks. Quick and easy!

I am feeling kinda puny, so my night will be quiet. I think I will try to read some. It is a good feeling to have gotten the house cleaning, laundry, and packing done early in the week. I think I have some free time again tomorrow. As a mother is there really ever free time?

 

I am going to go clean the kitchen, bathe Jade, have Jenna and Bryn bathe, bathe myself, and then get everyone ready for bed. Maybe a quiet time and some yoga, too.

Just added: We are headed out on a Polaris ride and to take pics of Pop’s Ford Falcon for his insurance policy. Oh, and about tomorrow- I remembered we would be gone during the first of the month, so I have to run a TON of errands tomorrow- WITH 3 KIDS IN 100 DEGREE WEATHER! This outta be fun.

Week in the Life- Day 3

Today started sometime before 6am. All I know is Jade pitter pattered into our bed. Jeff left for work around 6:30, and immediately Jenna was up. She told me that she and Bryn would watch TV in her room for a while. Jade slept in our bed for a little while longer. By 7:30 all of us were up. The girls were playing so well, that I just got my coffee and laid very low. I didn’t want to disturb them.
They ate breakfast thanks to Jenna. Again, I was laying low during this time. You know- leave well enough alone.
Soon after, they started playing with toys. I had to get a picture mid morning. I mean it was like a band of gypsies had moved in. Look at this!

Seriously, Jade is on a leash! And just what is all that STUFF in those carts?!
My house WAS clean before they trashed it!

After a couple of hours, I heard some bickering, so I interrupted and had them get dressed for some pictures. They enjoyed getting dressed up in matching outfits. We took a quick Polaris ride and took pics. It was too hot and bright, but we got some good pics anyway.
We headed home and the girls cleaned up, and we then we had lunch.
I cleaned up the kitchen and the girls played some more. I finished up Jenna’s laundry. It was now time for Jade’s nap. she willingly laid down, but it took a long time for her to go to sleep. This is not good news, folks. She MUST still nap. MUST! During her nap/rest, I packed for vacation. It is much easier to pack now than before when Jade was a baby, but it still takes a LOT to get us away for a few days.
I actually ended up with some quiet time to myself this afternoon. Jenna and Bryn were playing and Jade was sleeping. I played on the computer a bit, and rested a bit.
Jade got up around 2:30 and had wet the bed. So, the saga of washing sheets/ comforters continues! During Jade’s nap I had a phone call consultation with a speech therapist. Looks like all is well, and we just need to keep monitoring her. .
Later in the afternoon, we got an invitation to go swimming at Stephanie’s. Tyler and CarolineB were swimming, so I took the girls up there. It was hot as blue blazes, but the kids loved it.
I came home in time to cook a crazy dinner of “clean out the freezer/ fridge”. At 4:45ish Jeff came home. He helped me serve dinner. HE vacuumed the floor while I got ready for Bible Study.
At 6:10 I left for Bible study. I picked up my friend, Lynsol on the way. I enjoyed Bible study as usual. I got home around 8:45. A friend is stopping by to borrow a book. I will then put the girls to bed, do some yoga or a TRX workout, and go to bed myself.

WILD Around Here

We have Bryn with us for a few days, and she is so fun. She is the perfect buffer between Jenna and Jade. She is old enough to play with Jenna, yet young enough to play with Jade. I wanted to take some cute pics of the girls together. I really wanted them to be taken outside, but it was SO bright. Poor jade’s blue eyes do NOT do well in bright sun. Maybe it will be overcast later, and we can try again. I just love their matching zebra attire.

 

I am enjoying having these sweet girls today. I will do my “Day in the Life” post later tonight.

A Week in the Life- day 2

Monday:

My day started at 4am. I woke up and could not go back to sleep. Ugh! I hate when that happens. I like to fall asleep to the TV, but I didn’t want to wake Jeff, so I didn’t turn on the BR TV.

5am- I give up and go watch TV on couch in LR

5:45- Pitter Patter- Here comes Jade. She lays on top of me and we go back to sleep

6:15- Jeff wakes us up and takes Jade to our bed. Jade cries bc Jeff has to go to work. Jeff takes our comforter with him. I washed it last week and left it outside to dry. It was ALMOST dry and Jeff put it in dryer. (it’s TOO big for our dryer) The Bounce bar melted on my comforter. Now he needs to take it to the Big washer in town to try to get it clean. I haven’t fussed, yet. I hope it comes out.

6:30- I go back to sleep. jade watches TV and eats Pop Tart in LR

7:00ish- Jade comes back to bed and sleeps til 8 do too

8- Jeff calls. I can’t really remember all he said. Something about get the power bill and text him the amount so he can do the vacation budget.

8-9 Watch the Today show in bed/ dress jade’s doll/ play a bit with Jade

9ish- Get up and start day. (I know you are thinking- WHAT A LIFE! Keep reading- I may have slacked in the morning, but I make up for lost time- FAST!)

Have two cups coffee and some homemade banana nut bread

log on to read blogs and find that the Internet is out. After trying the normal reset steps, I fear that lightening struck the receiver. Finally, a unplug/ replug does the trick.

9:50 Jenna gets up.

I clean my bathroom

Strip my sheets- start laundry

get myself dressed

wash my hair

sweep bath floor

mop bath floor

clean my wedding ring- I have to take it to jeweler today and want to clean it before they clean it for me. I'm ashamed at how nasty it gets.

dry my hair- I have had this hair cut for 3 months and today is the first time I made time to actually dry it all the way and see how it looks actually styled.

dust house

move sheets to dryer

start my one load of clothes to wash

Have Jenna strip her bed

Have Jenna clean her room

Jenna cleans her bath- When Jenna cleans, I have to supervise- I was busy doing my chores, too.

While Jenna is cleaning her room, Jade learns to climb into Jenna’s loft- adding a whole new safety  lesson to the mix

Realize we are low on laundry detergent

bust out the food processor- start water boiling- make laundry detergent

Realize dry ingredients are lumpy- put in food processor- dump too much borax- goes all over floor

while I'm vacuuming borax from floor, ingredients get too powdery and are billowing from top of food processor

finish detergent

load dishwasher

sweep kitchen for 4th time today

fix lunch for kids- Jenna helps- turkey sandwiches, fresh fruit, raw veggies

discover Jade will eat raw broccoli

Jade/ Jenna eat

sweep kitchen again

Jade/ Jenna dance

clean up lunch mess

wash coffee pot

set coffee for tomorrow

take vitamins

paint toenails

clean up food table from Jenna/ Jade lunch

Have Jen clean her bath floor

12:30 nap time- send Jade to potty- she misses the toilet wets floor

clean floor again

do quick vacuum of LR

move delicates from wash and hang to dry

Jade gets up- she says “I'm scared of my camera.” By camera, she means the baby monitor that has been in her room since the day she was born. BOLOGNA!

Put Jade back to bed

move rest of clothes to dryer

start Jenna’s sheets and quilt in washer

discover Jade has knocked my laptop to floor- knocked battery out- fix that

sweep kitchen again

Jen volunteers to clean up playroom

I sit down to start this blog post

1pm: Jade gets up again- Does not want to nap- this NEVER happens. take her back to bed, start movie for her- never do that, either.

I head upstairs to sew button covers on more of Jenna’s jeans. She is allergic to nickel, so I have to sew covers on her denim pants. I THINK this was the last set.

Check on Jade- still not asleep

Return pants to Jenna and have her hang them up

put on make up

1;30- check on Jade again-still not asleep- turn movie off

make shopping list- I just shopped Saturday, but I forgot a few things.

make a schedule for the afternoon- lots to do

1:32 “Mommy, I waked up!” Grr…somebody better get this kid. She is TOO cranky without a nap. What is her deal?!

1:37 (Jade still crying) Washer beeps- go to remove clothes from dryer- realize I never turned it on.

go get phone to call jeweler- get sucked in to reading Facebook, instead.

call jeweler

remake my bed

go get screaming jade- rock her- eyes are closed before we ever make it to rocking chair

Make my lunch- sugar snaps, watermelon, peach, jalapeno cheddar bread

go  through mail

text Jeff with power bill amount

Jenna brings me a Christmas wish- a COACH bag- excuse me- you are 9! go away! I didn’t really say that- I just nodded my head

2:05- Jade calls me- Go to bed, child

2:20- check laundry, start dishwasher, put away hand washed dishes, check on Jade- still up

sweep kitchen floor- SERIOUSLY! We must have dirty ceilings! Where does this dirt come from?

write a blog post- Well, I THOUGHT about blogging. I was sure I took pics at the pool yesterday- guess not!

fold clothes

move Jenna's sheets to dryer

wash Jenna's comforter

bust up an argument between Jenna and Miss No Nap. Jenna was trying to be sweet and paint Jade’s toes, but she was SO whiny. I don’t blame Jen for stopping

Rock Jade because she is so cranky

went to move the laundry- forgot to turn on dryer again. Come on, Jan!

dress Jade for trip to Madison

have kids pickup house/ toys before we leave

4:00 leave for Madison

take ring to jewelry store- leave ring to have diamond replaced and other stones checked- leave feeling naked without ring (Take Jade to restroom)

head to Wal Mart to pick up a few things (take Jade to restroom again)

Meet Robyn in parking lot to pick up Bryn. She will be visiting us for a couple of days.

call Jenna’s friend’s mom about beach trip

Get home- Jeff has warmed up leftovers from last night, Jade is cranky- no nap, comforter is clean!

girls eat

switch last loads of laundry

It is now 7pm and I am going to post this. From now until bedtime my plans are:

bathe Jade

Make sure Jenna and Bryn bathe

take my own shower

pick up house

sweep again

make Jenna’s bed

Get everyone in bed and prayers said

have a little quiet time for me

watch a little TV as I fall asleep. I hope to be asleep by 11.