A Week in my Life

Saturday- Saturday morning I am the first person up. I decide to indulge myself and have a cup of coffee with some baked oatmeal while I watch an episode from a dvd Erik and I are going through(Don't tell him I watched it without him, though!) Soon after I finish the episode, I hear Jack(my three year old) calling for me. It never ceases to amaze me that he knows which parent is up, even though he can't see who it is. As soon as he's up he makes a special request to go to "our woods", and then proceeds to count to fifty. I am always amazed by how much this child seems to absorb. Pretty soon, Erik, Anna(who's 2), and Lily(who's almost 9 months) are awake and fed. Since it's Saturday, we head out to our local state park to go on some trails-that was the woods Jack was referring to earlier. Ever since summer has ended we usually go out there once a week, and have so much fun! When we come home the kids and I take naps. The rest of our Saturday is fairly lazy, and we put the kids to bed at 7:30, which has become our Saturday night tradition since they seem to need the extra rest for church the next morning.

Sunday- Sunday morning I wake up at 6:30. I have to get up by then if I want to take a shower and eat breakfast before church. Sunday mornings are tough. Erik plays in the praise band so he has to be at church by 8:20, but since we have three little ones that need to be ready, he usually gets them dressed, while I get dressed and do my make up. All five of us usually head up to church together since taking the three of them by myself can be tricky, and I feed them breakfast once we arrive. By 9 everyone is in their Sunday school class, and I feel as if I've run a marathon. I told one of my friends that I usually can't concentrate on Sunday school until it's almost over, because my mind is running all over the place! After Sunday school I pick up Jack and Anna from their class, and we head into the service(I also peek in at Lily, but I have to be careful she doesn't see me!) I'm still on the fence with how I feel about small children being made to sit through an hour long service(I'm all for older children doing that though!) but for us the kids seem to do better being in church with us than being left in the nursery all morning. The kids dance during praise and worship time, which always melts me, and Anna gets so excited seeing her daddy up on stage. When Church is over, we go out to lunch with my in laws. Since Erik and I don't enjoy being tortured we rarely go out to eat with the kids after church, but my sis in law is in town so we make an exception. As per usual the kids are exhausted from a long morning, and we are reminded yet again why we don't eat out very often! After naps on Sunday afternoon, we decide to take a walk, and then we heat up left overs for dinner. Last Sunday night was a bit unusual because I got together with one of my closest friends. We are so close, but don't get to see each other much because we are both in busy seasons and have small children.

Monday- On week days Erik has to leave the house at 5:30 in the morning, so he's always the first one awake(unless I'm up with a little person!) Monday morning I'm able to sleep until 6:30, and then I start the last week in my Bible study, Daniel: Lives of Integrity, Words of Prophecy. Mondays are suppose to be my errand and grocery shopping day, but for whatever reason I'm in project mode. I decide that I need to clean out the kids closet and go through their toys before we go anywhere. Let me tell you, it's not a wise idea to pull out all of your childrens toys while they are awake. And it's an even worse idea to tell your children not to touch the toys! Finally around eleven we decide to head out the grocery store. Shopping with three children three and under is always an adventure. We get stared at, people make comments to me about having my hands full, and inevitably at least one child gets cranky. Thankfully we make it out of the store alive and just a little frazzled. Erik got out of school early today, and gets to eat lunch while Jack tells him all about our day(Anna and Lily  were already in bed at this point.) For dinner we have turkey meatballs and broccoli with olive oil(yum!) The kids love the meatballs, so dinner is very pleasant tonight!

Tuesday- On Tuesdays it's my goal to get the whole house dusted and mopped. I can tell you I accomplished about 1/4 of that goal, but it's good to have goals! Tuesday was very nice. It was our only day at home this week, so we were able to stick to our schedule and make a pumpkin pie together. I also did several loads of laundry, but as usual I didn't get them put away until Wednesday. We enjoyed some beef enchiladas for dinner, and after the kids went to bed Erik and I watched some of the shows we have on dvd.

Wednesday- I had to go to the doctor for an hour, so my mother in law comes over to watch the kids. When I got home, a friend of mine called to see if we wanted to meet at the park. I agreed and was happy to get outside and enjoy the lovely fall day. When it was time to go home, one of my kids threw a little tantrum, but it was nipped in the bud pretty quick. Once home, we enjoyed a quiet afternoon. While the kids slept I put away clothes and straightened up the house. I also enjoyed a little bit of down time. At the last minute we decided to order a pizza for dinner, and while we waited for it we watched these videos.

Thursday- Thursday mornings I'm always torn between dread and excitement. Thursday mornings is when the ladies bible study I belong to meets. I always look forward to the fellowship, but I always have a sense of dread in me because there have been several times I've had to leave early because of a baby that doesn't like her mommy to leave or because of two toddlers who can get a little bored being stuck in the same room all morning. I know I need to get over this and realize that everyone with little kids has days these problems, but sometimes I can feel like I'm the worst mom! I'm able to make it most of the way through the study without anything major happening, that is until the very end. Why yes that is my three year old on the floor throwing a fit! Lovely. On that note I gather the kids and and try to get them out of the church as quickly as possible. By the time lunch is ready everything is fine, but everyone is need of a break! During nap time I make a chicken pot pie and brownies to take to a family from church who just had a baby. For dinner we have some cheese potato soup and rolls. Tonight Erik has praise band practice, so I spend the evening blog hopping and making a pumpkin dip for my mops meeting in the morning.

Friday- Friday morning I get the kids and myself ready to leave the house before nine. This isn't an easy task! Today, however, my sweet mother in law has offered to take the children so I can go MOPs alone. I am very thankful for this offer, especially after a day like Thursday! After a delightful morning of fellowship with other mothers, I pick up the children and we go home to get some lunch. Today my parents are coming down for a visit, and I am very much looking forward to the break! Once Erik gets home, my parents offer to send us out on a date so they can baby sit. We don't hesitate taking them up on their offer! We have a wonderful evening eating dinner and buying Anna some winter clothes(I think she's grown six inches in the last week!).

If you would like to see what other people's weeks have looked like, be sure to check out this blog!