What We Do

This post is for a friend who asked about our activities during the day. I'll give it a shot but I will say that it changes frequently. There are people much better organized with their time than I am with our time. This is an area I really struggle with. Everyday I think at least one of these questions: Am I doing enough, am I doing too much, am I lazy, am I spending enough time with the children, am I spending too much time with them, do the children have too much free time or not enough, am i teaching them what they need to know, are they playing outside enough, are we home too much, are we not home enough, should I cook healthier meals, should I clean the house more, am I being patient, am I living and speaking the gospel to my children, etc. Ok, you get the picture. Eventually, it boils over and every few months I have a talk with Rick about it all.
I desire to be a good steward of what the Lord has given us and I desire to work heartily for the Lord and not for man. (Col 3:23) However, I fail and just hope that when I do, the kids see the grace of God to forgive and sustain.

Here's our basic shell. The kids all go to bed at 7:00. (Kate through Sims) Kate (7) is allowed to read in our bed for an hour if she wants to do so which she normally does. Claire will be allowed to do so at some point this year. She still needs the sleep right now. They all wake up between 6:30 and 7:00am. Morning nap time for Sims (13 months) is from 8-9:30. He will probably drop that nap in the next few months. Afternoon nap time for Jack(2.5) and Sims (13 months) is between 12:30 and 1 depending on what we have to do that afternoon. They normally sleep between 2 and 2.5 hours. Kate, Claire and Henry have to rest quietly for 1.5 hours at the same time. This gives me time to get stuff done or nap if I'm tired while pregnant or have a newborn.

We eat lunch between 11 and 11:30 and dinner around 5:30. Yes we are early birds when it comes to eating. Rick and I will be all ready when "retirement" comes around. :)

The girls are in ballet during the year on Tuesday afternoons (late) and Henry will have soccer this year on Tuesdays at 6. The girls will also take piano from my mother at some point during the week. We do not have any other scheduled activities. During the summer, we just play! :) We go places (zoo, etc), go to my parent's house, go swimming (with Rick-can't take everyone by myself yet), go to the gym, play outside, play inside, read. They do watch TV. We only have 1 TV, 1 Ipod, and 1 computer (for the kids and me) so we learn to share those things. I don't want everyone going off by themselves to watch TV or play on the computer so it all stays in the den. We don't watch a lot of TV only because there is really nothing good on to watch. It's basically Playhouse Disney, Nick Jr or something on Netflix.

I like when school is in session because it does give more structure to our day. This is why I lean more towards year-round schooling with frequent breaks. The majority of school works gets done in the morning before rest time because the kids are still young. I know this will spill over into the afternoon once they are older. So during the school year it's, school in morning, rest time, play time (ballet, play with friends etc) dinner, play with Rick, family worship and then bed.

That's basically it. Normal, probably boring, but good.