A Day in the Life- Our 9 to 5.

We have a pretty basic routine around here. Things can get mundane at times, but, this is life.
Today, I kept my camera close and took pictures of our day.
I know I have said it a million times before, but these are the kinds of images that I love seeing and capturing, because this is real life. No poses, or Photoshop edits here!
The pics I'm in, are from a timer on the camera.

Our morning starts anywhere from 7am to 7:45am, depending on how long Selah sleeps in the morning. Matt leaves for work around that time, and Selah usually wakes up when he leaves.
This is what I see first when I wake up...a picture of an orphan I pray for in Nigeria. Her name is Dashuma. I hope one day, I can meet her.

 Like I said above, Selah is the first one up. She asks for breakfast, I take her in the kitchen, make it, then go back to my bed for a few minutes of quiet time to myself before the older girls wake up around 8.

 Next one asking for breakfast is Audie. Sometimes she makes breakfast herself, sometimes not.

 After breakfast the girls get dressed while I hop in the shower. I usually find Corinne reading on the couch when I get out, and we start school  by 8:30 or 9:00 am. Tuesdays and Thursdays, the girls have Live Lessons over the computer, starting at 9 am, so those days require a tad of an earlier start than the others. 

Selah asks to do school too. This morning I gave her a piece of paper to color on. She ended up ripping it up and those ripped up pieces of paper ended up on the floor. Nothing new here.

So I can spend a little more time with Audie, uninterrupted, I write out Corinne's lesson plans a little more strategic to what works for us. Her lessons are listed on her task list on the computer, but it helps (both of us) to have a visual list that she can cross things off of.

 Audie has been in a trend of doing her school work on the top step of the stairs going to the basement.
Why not?

On any given day, there can be a number of shoes on the floor. Today, there were 4 pairs on the kitchen floor. Nothing new here, either.

 When school is done, the pick- up process starts. The shoes, the pieces of paper Selah tossed on the floor, the sippy cups....
I load the dishwasher from the breakfast and/or lunch dishes, sweep the kitchen floor...

 Selah helps

Daily, the girls play pretty well together. They play Barbie's or Playmobil, or Polly Pocket dolls.

Rounding up everyone for lunch, I called for Selah and I couldn't find her. She had taken herself to the bathroom.
Which requires taking off all of your clothes?

 I love that she finds herself independent to take herself to the bathroom...however, I need to know when she is going. Twice, there has been copious amounts of toilet paper in the pot....she clearly needs assistance in the area of wiping her bum.

This is a typical Audie set-up... Almost daily, she plays "office"- pulling together keyboards and toy-computers, and phones. She sits at the "desk", and "answers the phone", "prints out receipts", and "takes notes."

Twice or more, Selah will be a crank pot and throw a fit.

While Selah naps, the girls watch TV or a movie. I use this time for my time. I need it. I quilt, sew, prepare things for dinner that night, or things relaxing. This hour of the day can be priceless.

In the last hour or two before Matt gets home, we play outside, play Barbies, sit on the porch, or read books. This can be the longest hour of the day...:) But it is a great sound when we hear the garage door start to open, and Matt's car pull in.

I prepare dinner, and one or both of the girls set the table.

We sit down to eat- and that's our 9 to 5 :)

At Breakfast

Audie left a note in our fruit bowl....

"Something tasty to eat"

And Selah eating her breakfast bowl of cereal

And her beloved "boose box". (Juice box)

Lately

We have finished school for the year, and summer has begun. I have to say, it feels pretty good to not have a "schedule". Days have been lazy, and it has been great.We have been playing outside a lot, and talking about a summer vacation. I love summertime!

Our fam and some friends went out for dinner on my birthday. It was a great evening. Here's Matt and I that night outside of the restaurant.

A mommy robin built a nest in the wreath on our porch. At first I wasn't thrilled about it...but actually it has been kind of fun watching the little birds grow. The first two birds actually hatched on my birthday! Here they are just a couple of days old...

 and now the 4 of them barely fit in the nest! I'm sure they will be flying away soon.

Corinne is a kid with a personality. Organization is one of them. The other day she put together a "to-do" list and hung it on her wall. Super cute.

The girls play with Playmobil toys almost daily. Audie has found it a convenient excuse to not pick it up because "we are going to play with it later today". Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesnt. :)
I had Playmobil toys growing up. I loved them. They are so cute, and the toys have great detail. Though the sets are a wee bit pricey, they are great!

Corinne is really good about practicing her piano songs. I usually don't even have to tell her to do it. She has done great with piano! I hope it is something she will want to stick with.

Last week a pretty nasty storm rolled in. The hail left us with needing a new roof, new guttering, and a new window that broke out. Leaves blew like crazy...after the storm there were leaves plastered to the fronts and sides of all the houses on our block (and neighborhood). It did have it's beauty...

Selah has kept us on our toes...she is fully in her two-year old stage. Throwing fits, hitting her sisters, and giving her angry eyebrow scowl is much of what she does these days. And as a result, time out and swats are her gift in return. A disobedient child definitely humbles you and your need for wisdom in child rearing! Still, Selah is sweet and loving and so much fun.
Story: When the girls take baths, we squirt the soap from the bottle into their hands. It always forms some type of shape, and the girls like to see what the squirt turned out like and name the shape. For instance, a moon, or the letter "C", etc. The other night, Matt squirted some soap into Selah's hand and she asked, "What is it?" Matt told her it looked like Goofy (you know, from Mickey Mouse?) and Selah said, "Gorsh!" in the best impression of Goofy she could do. It was great. I love my kids.

A Jeep Hurricane, cousin picture, and drinking from the drain

We went to my sister's house this morning to play. My nephew Cameron has a powerwheels Jeep that the girls' have been dying to ride in. After a few rides around with Cameron as the driver...

...Audie took her turn for a spin or two.

 -followed by a group grandkid picture for Grandma on Mothers Day.
Audie, Selah, Corinne, Kylie, and Cameron

And what happens when you leave a 3 year old to get her own water?

She creates her own way of doing it!
(Previous to this picture, she stuck her straw into those little tiny squares that drain the water that spills.)