A Day Under the Big Top

You asked for it....here it is!  A day in the life of the Circus....

...before I begin, though, a few words of explanation (because I've always got a few words, amiright?).   First off....we have been doing "life skills week" this week, after getting back from Florida.  Partly because Mommy needed a little bit of a buffer for getting us back into a routine after so much traveling, and partly because there's just so much that has to happen in the tundra as winter fades away and spring/summer come into being.   Lots of yard clean up and prep for plantings, a chicken coop that needs to be built, and clothes that need to be packed away and new ones brought out.  Lots of little tasks that need to happen - and lots of little kids who need to learn how to make it happen!   (Future daughters and sons-in-law, you can thank me later).   That's been our to-do list this week, and it has taken priority over our bookwork.  We will start back up on Monday, so my weekday will look a little different then - with one exception:  Fridays are almost always our "bonus" day, where we leave a little extra room in the schedule for fun and catch up on tasks.   I figured this would be as close to normal as I was going to get...so without further delay, here's a typical Friday at the Circus.....

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7:01 am:   Mr T is up.  I know this because I'm woken up by large crashes on the ceiling above me (his room is directly above mine, and he throws everything down from his top bunk onto the floor before climbing down himself).   I hear him climb out of bed and head down the stairs, and notice through blurry eyes that he's turning on every light he passes along the way.  I jump out of bed as quickly and as quietly as I can (because once again, both girls have migrated into our bedroom at night), to head him off before he raids the kitchen, and get him into the bathroom to get ready for the day.   This morning, he's extra cuddly, so I end up bringing him back into bed with me for a little bit of resting before the day officially starts.

7:50 am:  I hear the rest of the house start to wake up and the big kids making their way downstairs.   The littles and I stumble out of the master bedroom.

8:12 am:  We pass out frozen Greek yogurts in a tube to the three littlest ones, to hold them over until breakfast can be made.

8:30am:  The smoothie machine is going in full force, as I whip up smoothie requests for breakfast

9:00 am:   I sit down with a bowl of cereal for my own breakfast

9:15 am:  The computer is finally fired up, so I scroll through FB and sort through emails that I've gotten overnight.

Hamilton sing-a-long

9:30am:  Smoothie cups are making their way back into the kitchen, empty, so I start running water in the sink to wash dishes.  I load the dishwasher (that the big boys had unloaded while I was hand washing what needed to be handwashed).   The big kids take the little ones down to visit the chicks.  Start the dishwasher.  Notice it is leaking again, and stick a baking pan underneath to catch any water.  Send Mike a text letting him know that the dishwasher is leaking again, so we can hopefully both remember to fix it in the near future.

10:00am:  I head down to the basement to visit the chickens myself, and help the little ones to wash their hands as we leave the basement room.  I notice a Hamilton sing-a-long happening in the basement family room and take a picture (haha)

Laundry.  It never ends.

10:15 am:  I stop at the laundry room on my way back out of the basement, fold a load of laundry, and move the clothes that were washing overnight into the dryer and start the drying cycle.

10:30am: I start trying to get myself ready:  contacts in, teeth brushed, workout clothes on.  I'm going to try and sneak in my workout before lunch time, to give us the afternoon to play.

10:34am:  I break up a fight between the preschoolers, and say yes to letting them watch Coco while I'm on the treadmill.  The big kids get the movie going for the little ones.

10:59am:  I finally get on the treadmill.

11:16 am:  I get a call from Mike and decide to let it go to voicemail, since I'm in the middle of my workout.

11:39 am:  I climb off of the treadmill and call Mike back.   The girls have meandered their way into the bedroom, so I simultaneously redirect them and get a game going for them to distract them.   I answer the questions that Mike's received from the country we are interested in adopting from, and help him compose a response.

11:50 am:  I'm done talking with Mike and get out my weights to start my arm workout.

11:53 am:  Miss E saunters back into the room, and I realize that I need to change a poopy diaper.

11:54 am:  I start changing a poopy diaper

11:56 am:  I throw the diaper out, and get back to my arm workout, with Miss E at my side, seeing as she wants to "doooo iiitttt toooo"

12:15 pm:  Sneak downstairs after sending Miss E into the other room to play with the bigger kiddos, and take a super quick shower.

12:30pm:  I'm back up in the kitchen, making lunch.  I get the kids situated with their lunches, and go back into the kitchen to make my own

1:00pm:  time to eat lunch at the kitchen counter, while checking FB and emails again, and responding to a few.  Briefly check the news.

1:30pm:  start clean up, with the kids helping to put the table back together and directing them to clean up the house, so we can get ready to go to the park.  

2:00pm:  start trying to get the kids to go to the bathroom and get their shoes and socks on, while changing Miss E's diaper and getting her shoes on.   Try to pack a diaper bag with anything we might need, because at this point in life, it's much more overwhelming to think about having to run to the store while out for something I may have forgotten than to pack an overfull diaper bag.   Herd cats as I try to get the kids to help get the dogs in their crates, sweaters gathered (because: tundra), and everyone loaded into the car.

2:20 pm:  Finally pull out of the driveway

2:30pm:  drive through the coffee place because at this point, I really need some caffeine.

2:45pm: arrive at the park and cheer about the awesome parking spot I found.

3:30pm:  decide to go ahead and leave the park after only 45 minutes of playing, because it was WAY hotter than I anticipated, and everyone's hot and thirsty (whoops)

3:45 pm: Stop to get frozen yogurt at a place nearby, because I felt guilty for leaving the park earlier than planned.   Let the kids play board games and referee a game of Memory with the three littles.  Manage to only drink a Diet Coke while there, and not munch on anyone's frozen yogurt or candy. (go me!)

4:15pm:  walk back to the car with the rascals, stopping to take a funny picture with a statue downtown first.

4:30pm:  get home.  Send the big boys up to the lego playroom (yes, we have a room just for our legos.  It keeps them out of little hands, more than anything else) for some big kid alone time, while I play with the little ones outside.  Fill up the water table because it's so much hotter than I expected, and let the little ones go at it.

5:30 pm: clean up the yard/driveway and head inside to start making dinner.  Say yes to an episode of Dinosaur Train while I make dinner.  Get the tv going for the little ones, after taking everyone to the bathroom/changing diapers.

5:51pm:  make myself a smoothie so I don't eat everything in sight while cooking dinner.  Start preheating the oven and pulling out dinner ingredients.

5:53 pm:   Sit down to help Mr J order prints of his paintings that he's sold to various people and make sure they're shipped to the right places.

5:55pm:  notice that Miss E has gotten very quiet and go looking for her

5:56 pm:  find her in the schoolroom, drawing all over herself with a marker that Mr J has left on his desk.  Look closer and realize that it's not just ANY marker....it's a black Sharpie.  Sigh.

after the two baths...

6:00pm: help Mr J get a bath started and start googling how to get sharpie off of skin, and asking friends on Facebook for recommendations.   Discover that dandruff shampoo will apparently remove sharpie ink, and I have some of that in one of the showers, so I send Mr J upstairs to give Miss E a bath and see if it works.

6:07 pm:  finally get back to dinner prep and chopping up the ingredients for the falafel.  The oven's been warm enough for quite awhile now,  and dinner will be late once again (sigh).

6:33 pm:  get dinner in the oven, and start prepping veggies and fruit to eat on the side.  Wash the dishes that are currently in the sink.  Try to talk down the guilt that I feel about the tv now being on for almost an hour.   Calm down the toddler who doesn't want to be in the bath anymore, but who really wants dinner.  

7:02pm:  plate up a finished dinner and sit down to eat.  Bargain with the toddler and preschoolers that they can have a sip of my soda if they actually eat their dinners that they're now being asked to eat while overtired and starving.  (which is an odd thing to have to do, but for some reason, little ones just WON'T EAT when they're hungry.  You have to get them at just the exact right time of being slightly hungry but not starving).

7:30pm:  head back into the kitchen to clean up.   Get the littles sent back upstairs for bath number 2, as Miss R has gotten ranch dressing in her hair at dinner, and Miss E still has sharpie stripes.    Mr T has never met a bath he didn't like, so he jumps in, too.

7:47pm:  Take over the bath time from the big brothers, and start washing the littles.   Get Mr T and Miss R out of the bath and dried off, leaving just Miss E in the tub.  Give her one more scrubbing with dandruff soap, then pull her out and get her dried off.   Get the three littles dressed for bed.

8:08pm:  meet up with all of the Circus clowns for bedtime prayers

8:20 pm:  head back upstairs with the little ones, while giving the big kids a few instructions, namely take the trash out so the dogs don't get into it.

8:25pm: tuck Mr T and Miss R into bed, and sit down to rock with Miss E in the rocking chair.  Turn on the rosary podcast that always puts them to sleep, and start the bedtime routine.

8:45pm:  notice that everyone's asleep after the rosary finishes, but it's so calm and quiet, I decide to sit up there in the rocking chair a little while longer and read my book (on my nook app on my phone).   At 9pm, I text the older boys (who are downstairs in the family room) that it's time to come up for bed.

9:03 pm:  the big kids sound like a herd of elephants coming up the stairs, and awake up Miss E, so I hiss at them to be quiet and get ready for bed (and into bed), and start the rosary app and cuddling routine again with Miss E.

9:29pm:  manage to make it out of the littles' bedroom again, with all three of them sleeping, and head into the big kids' room to tuck them in for bed.  Have a ten minute discussion about plans for tomorrow, Mr G's new allergy eye drops that are apparently awesome, and what they want to do for lunch and dinner tomorrow (?? haha).

9:40pm:  head downstairs.  Discover that the dogs have gotten into the trash that the big kids never actually took out, so I call them out of bed to come down and clean up the mess in the kitchen (and sweep and mop because part of that mess involve used coffee grounds).   They grumble, but do that and also actually take out the trash for me.  They head back up to bed.

10pm:  I sit down to write out this blog post, while texting with Mike (who's at work) about our day.    Yell at the big kids a few times to stop talking and actually get to sleep.

10:30pm:  Get a bedtime snack and keep typing.   

10:46 pm:  Finish up, hit publish, and then go get ready for bed.  Gymnastics is bright and early tomorrow!

10:55pm:  Remember that I want to see what happens next in my book, and sit down to just "read a few pages."  Realize that it's now 11:30pm and I really need to get to bed.

11:30pm:  put the dogs out and then down in their crates for the night.  Check on the chicks.  Get ready for bed.  Get the coffee ready for the morning.

12:00am:  conk out.

*****

Okay, okay, I know the last bit of that hasn't actually happened yet, but it's the same thing that happens EVERY NIGHT, so I'm pretty sure it's what my night will look like tonight, too!   Call it taking a little creative liberty in my blog post.  ;)

Goodnight, y'all!  Gotta do it again tomorrow!