Ali threw down the challenge, and I have a hard time resisting opportunity to document a day in our lives. It seemed an especially good idea as I have been noticing a couple of things lately that make me want to step back and see all of the good and wonderful things happening right now.
So the day started quite early....
Yep - that's in the AM people! Graham "couldn't sleep" so he crawled in bed with me about this time. Of course I spent the next couple hours on the tiniest slice on the edge of my king size bed because that's just how it goes when a child crawls into your bed!
A bit before 6AM Ellie started yelling for me, saying that she was done sleeping. For some reason I had a hard time dragging myself out of bed this morning. I'm usually a pretty good morning person! Could have been the rain...sometime during the night it started raining and it was still pouring down when we got up. So back to Ellie....she's up early every morning, and it's pretty much the same routine....
Some time on the couch petting, talking to, and watching a little tv with Sammie...
And then off to the kitchen to tell me how hungry she is and that she wants a CUTIE :)
There is always a lot of drama involved with this one - we're working on using a quiet voice and nice words....she can be a bit demanding :)
Graham is not really a morning person and he often sleeps for another hour or more after Ellie gets up. I try to let him wake up on his own, 'cause he's a little crabbier when I have to wake him up.
He's working on being a little more independent getting ready in the morning. He's quite capable of getting himself dressed and ready to go, but he much prefers to have help. Sometimes he eats at home and sometimes he waits until he gets to Sabrina's....just kind of depends on when he wakes up and how cranky he is. Can't wait until we have to up and ready for school early every day :) (please note the sarcasm there!)
On this particular morning everything went pretty well. It's always a bit of a circus getting everyone into coats and boots and then out the door and into the car. This morning Ellie was having fun splashing in the puddles while I put some valentines in the mailbox....
I usually try to get us out of the house no later than 8, but my goal is usually to have the kids at Sabrina's house by 8. Luckily everyone is quite flexible and goes with the flow. So here we are all buckled in and ready to head to daycare and work....
Drop off is easy 'cause the kids love going to daycare! I get hugs and kisses, but hardly ever tears or whining - very happy about that :) On school days for G (this was not one of them) Sabrina usually takes him to school, and then I pick him up and take him back to daycare over my lunch. I love that I'm able to be at his school pretty much every day that he goes there.
I worked at the district office this morning - most of my days are spent catching up on piles of files that accummulate on my desk or working with kids in the schools. I'm at the middle school on Mondays and Friday afternoon, I'm at the elementary school on some Tuesday afternoons and all day on Thrusdays, and then I'm downtown or running here or there for meetings on the other days.
This afternoon's meeting was at the elementary school, but before heading there I had to make a special stop for my wonderful friend Leila....it was her birthday and she really needed and deserved a special lunch treat :)
Subway sandwiches and dessert from Sweet Life...but the best part was getting to have lunch with Leila. I feel very lucky to have so many good friends in my life and even luckier that I get to see them for lunch once in awhile to catch up on our crazy, busy lives.
So after my afternoon meeting, I did a little more work (scheduling more meetings!) and then headed over to Sabrina's. Graham was still at tennis (he has tennis lessons at ESTC thanks to Pa-Paw every Monday and Wednesday). Pa-Paw, Grandma Chery, and Wil were all there watching Graham's lesson. Once in a blue moon I get to pop in on a lesson, but they are from 3:00 - 4:00 so I'm usually in meetings at that time.
Wil brought G back to Sabrina's and I got everyone packed up in the car to head home for dinner.
The kids usually want to play with their Leap games or watch a show right away when we get home...unless it's nice enough to be outside. But it was still raining tonight, so G played with his Leap Pad and Ellie ran around the house doing a bunch of different things. She sometimes wants a snack while she's waiting for me to get dinner on the table...that girl loves to eat :)
Tonight she had some crackers and cheese while I got fish sticks and Shells and Cheese ready to eat....
There always seems to be some sort of crazy at the table. Graham doesn't like to sit still or on his bottom at the table, Ellie wants to be fed or is pushing her plate around...tonight they were just realllly slow in getting their dinner eaten. But there's no dessert until you've eaten what I think is "enough". They sat there for quite awhile, but they got a little dessert when it was all over....
Kenny is a HUGE help with getting dinner on the table and cleaning up after. Even Graham notices that I get help with this. Yesterday on the way home from daycare he asked why Kenny helps with dinner. I explained that it's important that we all help each other to get things like that done and I kid you not, he said, "before, you used to have to do all of that stuff by yourself". I love that he notices that Kenny is helping....here's hoping that he's learning that he can (and should!) be helping too :)
After dinner the dogs take their place next to Ellie's chair where food falls from the sky when I get her out of her booster seat....
I was trying to do laundry tonight, but my washer died before the rinse and spin cycle :( I called my favorite appliance repairman and set up a time for him to come check it out tomorrow....guess laundry will be a weekend project (pray for a quick and cheap fix!) The kids played some more but no more screen time after dinner since we had plenty before. Graham chose to read a book and then work on this superhero puzzle...with a little help (he told me I was a great helper!) he was able to get it all put together...he was soooo proud!
Graham wanted to watch an episode of "How it's Made" so he did that while I got Ellie ready for bed and read stories...these were her choices....
Once I got her tucked in (with her sippy cup of Propel) I watched the end of How It's Made with G and then got him ready for bed and read stories. These were his choices....
Both kids are pretty easy to get to bed these days and they fell asleep quickly. I stayed up to watch Whitney and Are You There Chelsey, and then I remember starting to watch Modern Family, but I have no idea how it ended and woke up on the couch a bit later.
My "day in the life" project ended with one last shot of the clock before closing my eyes :)
Life is good - documenting a day in our lives is a great way to remember that!
