Soap Operas and Bon-Bons

Incase you ever wondered what I did all day as a stay at home mom, here's a "Day in My Life."  It's a little old, I wrote it in May but didn't publish it.  It was a Thursday, so it was a light day because the big girls were at school for 3 hours in the morning, leaving me with just the baby.  The house is (and was) on the market, so I spent more time than I'd like cleaning things and less time than I'd like hanging out with the kids playing games and doing crafts, but it was a pretty typical day--and a pretty good one.

Let's begin...

7:00 Good morning!
I change and attempt to feed the baby who is much too excited about a new day to really eat. As I wrestle Baby Squirmington, Ed changes and toilets the big girls.

7:10-7:30

Adelaide plays in a sunbeam while I tidy up the bedrooms, start some laundry and pick out 2 school appropriate outfits each for Matilda and Evelyn to choose between.

The big girls eat breakfast and watch cartoons downstairs with Ed. He makes himself coffee and cinnamon toast for the girls.

7:30-7:35
I say “good morning!” to the big girls, let dogs out, notice Evelyn has removed her own wet diaper and have another potty training pep-talk with her, which she steadfastly ignores.

7:35-7:45

Adelaide is ready to really eat now.

Evelyn wants to mess with Adelaide while she nurses. Since Evelyn is distracted by 

bothering the baby, I seize the moment to pull of her broken dangling fingernail. I know it 

didn’t hurt, but she is very angry with me none-the-less and shrieks and runs off to pout.

7:45-8:05

Now that Evelyn is gone, Adelaide really gets to eat. Once the feeding is done, the fingernail 

assault is forgotten. Time to get the girls ready for preschool. 

Always best to start with Evelyn--she may be more picky about her clothes, but she’s also 

less likely to cry and scream about getting dressed and having her hair brushed.

Wipe hands and faces, get the girls dressed, brush hair and have the girls put their nighties 

in the hamper. Send them downstairs to get their shoes and then put the unchosen outfits 

away.  If I open the closet to put the rejected outfit away while Evelyn is still in the room, 

she’ll see ALL her dresses and surely decide what she’s wearing is no longer good enough.

8:05-8:15 play My Little Pony with the big girls before they go to preschool

8:15 Ed takes the big girls to school

8:15-8:50 
Tidy up downstairs and outside.

Wash dishes.


Feed dogs.


Take breaks to talk to baby and replenish her Cheerios.

8:50-9:25
Change the baby and put out toys for her to play withStart mixing up a loaf of buttermilk honey sandwich bread 
while dancing and singing to 80s music
clean the counters, table, sink, stove and microwave while 
the mixer kneads the bread. 


Put bread dough in bowl in oven to rise.


Clean yogurt off inside and outside of back door.

Now, the fun really starts!

9:50-10:30 
Search for putty knife to free bar of soap from bottom of the bathtub. Fail to find it, use a 

pancake flipper instead.

Unstop the toilet.

Tidy up the bathroom.
Start another load of laundry.
Shower.

10:30
Knead and shape bread... oops, let it rise about 15 minutes too long... it should be fine.
Wash mixer bowl and bowl dough rose in.

10:35-11:05
Put bread dough aside for second rise
Pay bills
Inventory fridge and pantry to update shopping list

11:05-11:34 

Bread is baking, baby is sleeping, kids aren’t home from school yet, time for me!

11:35-11:55 
Kids are home from school.
Watch them devour a snack of aged cheddar with daddy.
Clean up snack, put bread out to cool, wash loaf pan.

11:55-12:05
Another load of laundry
Retrieve and change baby.

12:05-12:15 Feed baby

12:15-12:25 make lunch for big girls

PB&J, carrot sticks, rasins and strawb

12:25-12:45
Wash coffee cups Ed brought home.
Feed girls lunch.
“Appreciate” Evelyn’s fusion cuisine approach to lunch as she shows me how she jammed all her food into a little bowl.

PB&Jcarrotsticksraisinsandstrawberries

12:45-1:00
Another load of laundry
Vacuum upstairs

1:00-1:15 attempt to put the kids down for nap. 
Kids are terrible.

1:15-1:30
Sweep the stairs
Vacuum downstairs to drown out cries.

1:35-1:45Notice dogs have tracked in bits of mulch on pretty much every floor I’ve just vacuumed and Evelyn is still yelling. Change and feed baby.

1:45-1:55
Give up on traditional nap and convince (plead with) girls to play quietly together in their rooms.
Start another load of laundry. Think of how much I love my dear husband as I methodically empty tissues, coins, paper and assorted other bits of junk from his trouser pockets. 
Fold and put away laundry. 

Shake shreded paper towel out of clean clothes. 
Re-evaluate laundry methods.

1:55 Sit down on couch to watch Bones on Netflix and drink a bottle of water.

1:56 Evelyn is yelling again. Listen to see if it’s just complaining or something that needs my attention. Decide to ignore her.

1:57 Still yelling. Wonder if I spent too much time cleaning and not enough time playing with the girls before nap and maybe that’s causing the nap trouble? Remind myself that as long as the house is on the market, I just have to keep it clean. 
Feel guilty anyway.

1:58 baby is crying now too.

1:59-2:25 feed baby while she dozes in my lap.

2:25-2:27 Evelyn hurtles over her gate and comes downstairs to wake up the baby. 
Put Matilda and Evelyn in my room to watch a movie in bed hoping they will sleep a little before quiet time is over.

2:28 sit down to finally have a sip of water.

2:29 Evelyn demands a drink of her own.

2:30-2:35 Deliver chocolate milk to the children who never sleep.
Realize I haven’t eaten all day.
Make a sandwich.
Finish Bones.
Resolve to finish sandwich!

2:36 Evelyn is downstairs. Again. At least she’s playing with the baby and I got to eat my sandwich. I give up on nap.

2:45-3:45 Play indoors--My Little Pony, Barbie, dress up, color, puzzles, Memory game and snack

3:45-4:00 Everybody Clean up!
Do another load of laundry with my “helpers.”

Tidy up bedrooms from messes made during nap failure. 

4:00-4:05 sunscreen, sandals, round up toys to play outside.

4:10-4:20 Yes, five minutes after we got outside, baby decides she wants to eat. Go inside to feed baby and watch big kids play in the (fenced) yard through the window. 
Wonder whether or not my napless children would behave in a family restaurant tonight... likely not. 
Still don’t want to make dinner.
Plan to play outside as long as we can where Evelyn can run and scream and get her tired little tantrums out without as much trouble.

She's eating a rock.  And she is very happy and quiet while doing it.

The girls love to try to feed Laddie lawn clippings.
Here, they are evaluating the best flowers to try to make him eat.

Evelyn is making a 3 course "meal" for Laddie

5:00 beer.

Well, Little E, how is that?

This is how Evelyn "asks" Daddy to push her

5:10 baby wants to eat... again! Daddy is home!


















5:25-5:50 Big girls play upstairs while I make dinner.

5:50-6:20 I feed the kids diner.
Evelyn gives Adelaide the crust of her PB&J sandwich. 
We all freak out.
She’s fine.

6:20-6:45 Ed puts the big kids in the shower

6:45-7:00 (about 30 mintues early due to not napping) 
Big girls get pjs
Fold and put away laundry. Dry last load of the day.
Put Adelaide in the shower for a good rinse.

7:10-7:50
Ed puts the big girls to bed, I feed Adelaide and put her down.

7:50-8:05
Clean up dinner

8:05
Kids are all sleeping. 
Read, surf the internet, watch TV, look at clandar and to do list to see what is up tomorrow. 
9:45 Go to bed. Will wake up 3-5 times overnight to feed baby. (Happy to report that baby has since moved to her own room and is waking less often than she was at the time this was chronicled)

Grandpa Mike's May Visit

While Daddy was in Arkansas selling palate trays at the WalMart show in May, Grandpa Mike came to visit.  We played with toys, went to the park, visited the zoo and played in the yard.  Matilda and Evelyn really enjoy having Grandpa read them stories at bedtime and showing off for him.  It's always great to have him come and visit!

Last Day of School

Here are a few pictures to remind you what the girls looked like at the beginning of this school year.  Matilda was 38 months old and Evelyn was 23 months old.

September, 2011

September, 2011

September, 2011

Just LOOK at what a difference 9 months makes!  Here is Evelyn, always on the move, on her last day of preschool, May, 2012:

And Matilda.  She still "fits" in the dress, but it's in the "must wear shorts underneath" category now, she's all legs and imagination!

Their school celebrated the last day by having all the kids and parents meet at Wheeler park.  This is Matilda and her "best friend," Annabella, playing in the truck.  Matilda has bloomed, socially, at her first school.  She's gone from a baby who cried every day when I left for the first 6 weeks to the big girl who took the tiniest, youngest girl in the class under her wing, and made "best friends."  She will miss Miss Stephanie and her other teachers in the fall when she moves on to her new school, but we are so happy with the great start she got at KPW!

Miss Heather brought ice pops for the kids.  I don't think Evelyn ended up having one--she was much too busy climbing and running and sliding and playing with HER best friends--Brock and Henry.  She has loved school as well and settled in without a hitch, thanks partly to Matilda being there.  It will be interesting to see her on her own at KPW next year.

Princess Night with the Kane County Cougars

Father's Day weekend, the Kane County Cougars hosted "Princess Night" as a Daddy-Daughter event at the ball park.  We ordered fancy new princess dresses for the girls, dressed them up, and took them out for their first baseball game!

Before we left, the girls talked me into putting on my "princess dress" too.  It was good fun, but way too fancy and hot to wear to the ball park, so I changed back before we left.

When we arrived, there was a princess parade.  The girls were all invited to walk around the ball park with their parents and show off their finery. Matilda dressed as Jasmine and Evelyn wore a Rapunzel wedding gown.  She was a little unsure about the ball players, but Matilda was REALLY excited--especially when she saw the emcee was dressed as Prince Charming.  She continues to ask me if she can marry the "king" from the baseball game.

They were really surprised to see one if their friends from school, Anika, at the game.  They were given sparkly crowns, tried their hand at shelling peanuts and had plenty of water and skittles.  Our seats were right in the sun, but the park wasn't full so we moved over to the 3rd base side for some shade.  The girls got a little restless, especially since they don't understand baseball, so we left in the 8th.  Maybe next time we'll be able to stay for the post-game fireworks!  I can't remember who we played or who was winning when we left, but I do remember how delighted Matilda and Evelyn were to be showing off their gowns and attending this special event.  Matilda is even more excited about going to a football game with Daddy this fall and they both keep asking to go back to the baseball park.  It might be a while before we do it again, but I think the glitter in our car will be there forever to remind us of that night!

Door County June 2012

In June, we took Adelaide and the big girls up to Wisconsin for her first Door County visit!  We all had a great time, relaxing, enjoying the views, and escaping the heat.  The girls played hard all day, every day.  The big girls took a long hike through the woods and spent hours playing on the beach.  And, of course the swing set, and loved spending time with Grandma and Grandpa.  Mommy and Daddy enjoyed the opportunity to go out on some fun dates and we'll be going back up for a longer visit in August!

 Matilda is so tall that she's just STANDING there, not afraid at all!

Adelaide's first swim

Evelyn and Matilda "helping" to make pancakes

Oh, Grandma, we so appreciate the lovely rooms
and comfy beds you've made up for us upstairs,
but we think maybe we'll just crash on the dog bed, instead.  Ok?