I want to thank my good friend and cousin for getting the ball rolling on this one. I know that I cannot compete with Gina for exciting, but I sure will give it an honest try.
My typical Monday through Saturday begins at 7:00am. Let's pause here for Gina's jealous groan.
*still paused*
I wake to the smiling faces of my dear children who seem to think I am responsible for every food item they ingest. I don't like to mock their flawed thinking so early in the morning so I trudge to the kitchen and prepare breakfast. Sometimes I make cinnamon rolls the night before and bake them in the morning. Aunt Sandra made them for me one fine morning several years ago and she inspired me to try it myself.
After breakfast the kids get dressed and I get my coffee, or rather, my cream and sugar with a splash of coffee. Eric is generally gone to his office by then, but if he has no appointments scheduled he is at home in bed. This means that I set my coffee mug down and go tell him to get up. He asks his Mom for five more minutes (she lives in Wisconsin. I don't know why he asks her and I wonder why he thinks she can hear him). Fifteen minutes or so later I return to wake him and he rushes to get ready, plays with the kids for a good bit and heads out the door.
With Eric gone, I take a quick shower, start the first of 3-5 loads of laundry, feed the dog, unclog the toilet (or sink, or tub, or whatever the kids have clogged up that day), wash the dishes, vacuum, sometimes shampoo the carpet (like a good Kirby wife and dog owner), make the beds, and straighten the kitchen up.
Then it is lunch time. I desperately search the kitchen , get struck by culinary genius, and prepare something that I had no idea I could out of my kitchen. After lunch is cleared away the kids go to their room for quiet time and Mommy stares at a wall for an hour. Then the kids come out of their rooms and it is game back on.
About 3-4 times a week I pull out my kickin' sweet stroller and the kids and I walk to the store, because that's how I roll. We also walk to the park, to the book store and to a really neat thrift shop near by.
Several times a week I have good girlfriends who stop by to look at me. I am pretty old school (read: cheap) in a lot of ways and I think this makes me kind of like a historic museum exhibit. "See, children. This is how Mommies used to make loaves of bread in the old days."
Of course, all of this excitement is peppered heavily with simply hanging out with the kids, reading books, listening to the songs they write and watching the shows they enjoy.
I cap my day off with a meal they refuse to eat and a bath they refuse to keep from spilling onto the floor. We end our evening with a twist on an old favorite. I read them a chapter of a book (currently reading Pippi Longstocking) and then I go to their individual rooms where they tell me a story. Mackenzie's stories usually involve fairies and Ian's stories usually involve race cars, or trains, or trash trucks, or basically anything that he would love to drive someday.
I put them to bed at eight precisely, not because I am structured, but because I am that ready to have the precious angels out of my hair.
After they are in bed, I have a few hours to finish up my housework and splash on some make-up before Eric gets home. And when Eric gets home, we put on hoe down music and dance a jig. Unless it is Tuesday.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Roll Call
Okay, so we have done a "where's waldo" type roll call. Amy and I discussed it, and I think she hasn't gotten to making this post because she wants me to do it, but this week's roll call is......
"What is Waldo up to?" Pretty much, what is a typical day like in your family?
I'll start....
At the awful hour of 5:00 a.m. my alarm starts reminding me that I must get up. Kind as it may be, I still give it a good whack and roll over hoping to catch at least 8 more minutes of sleep. This continues until about 5:30. I get up get my self ready for the day and then proceed to wake grumpy-pants up. Contrary to your thinking that is not Damon. It's Courtney. She is not a morning person. She likes to wake up...not be told to wake up. We do our morning routine of me begging her to go potty so she can get dressed and go to school. I tempt her with what she wants for breakfast, seeing her teachers, and then I just plop her rear on the toilet seat kicking and screaming (her, not me). 30 minutes or so later we are headed out the door and somehow we managed to get breakfast to fit into the whole mess.
I teach all day and Courtney goes to daycare a.k.a school. I am blessed that the school where I teach also has a daycare attached (gotta love the private schools!) so she is very close by. After 8 long hours of teaching I usually drag myself over to her classroom pick her up and we head back home. Unless of course it is a Tuesday or Wednesday. On Tuesdays Courtney has a gymnastics class, so we usually run around until that starts (once I am home, I don't want to leave!) On Wednesdays we have been known to do the same for church....but since it starts so much later, I sometimes come home. We have so many other activities scattered here and there, but not on a regular basis. The larger my belly gets, the more I want to just get home and chill.
We try our best to eat at home, but cooking for 1 1/2 is really hard, so my child is a lover of most fast foods! She is especially fond of Taco Bell and Pizza Hut (at least she is loyal to the company....maybe it's because I drank so much Pepsi while I was pregnant with her). If we drive by a TB she will say, "Oh mama, look it's a bell....I need a soft taco without any lettuce and a sprite." Sure you do kiddo. Maybe when daddy comes back home we will eat at home more often.
We have a pretty strict bedtime of 8:00...oh wait that was a complete lie. The ideal bedtime in our house is 8:00. Lately it's been more like 9:00, but who's counting. If we weren't on daylight savings time it would be 8:00. We call daddy before we go to bed most nights, if he's available. That usually turns into her talking for 5 minutes and I talk for an hour, so unlimited long-distance (which ironically covers Guam) is our life line. Then we are off to bed so that we can start another day in the Blankinship Bungalow!
So now that I have wasted Courtney's nap time and my floors aren't mopped anymore than they were when I started this....what's life like in your house???
"What is Waldo up to?" Pretty much, what is a typical day like in your family?
I'll start....
At the awful hour of 5:00 a.m. my alarm starts reminding me that I must get up. Kind as it may be, I still give it a good whack and roll over hoping to catch at least 8 more minutes of sleep. This continues until about 5:30. I get up get my self ready for the day and then proceed to wake grumpy-pants up. Contrary to your thinking that is not Damon. It's Courtney. She is not a morning person. She likes to wake up...not be told to wake up. We do our morning routine of me begging her to go potty so she can get dressed and go to school. I tempt her with what she wants for breakfast, seeing her teachers, and then I just plop her rear on the toilet seat kicking and screaming (her, not me). 30 minutes or so later we are headed out the door and somehow we managed to get breakfast to fit into the whole mess.
I teach all day and Courtney goes to daycare a.k.a school. I am blessed that the school where I teach also has a daycare attached (gotta love the private schools!) so she is very close by. After 8 long hours of teaching I usually drag myself over to her classroom pick her up and we head back home. Unless of course it is a Tuesday or Wednesday. On Tuesdays Courtney has a gymnastics class, so we usually run around until that starts (once I am home, I don't want to leave!) On Wednesdays we have been known to do the same for church....but since it starts so much later, I sometimes come home. We have so many other activities scattered here and there, but not on a regular basis. The larger my belly gets, the more I want to just get home and chill.
We try our best to eat at home, but cooking for 1 1/2 is really hard, so my child is a lover of most fast foods! She is especially fond of Taco Bell and Pizza Hut (at least she is loyal to the company....maybe it's because I drank so much Pepsi while I was pregnant with her). If we drive by a TB she will say, "Oh mama, look it's a bell....I need a soft taco without any lettuce and a sprite." Sure you do kiddo. Maybe when daddy comes back home we will eat at home more often.
We have a pretty strict bedtime of 8:00...oh wait that was a complete lie. The ideal bedtime in our house is 8:00. Lately it's been more like 9:00, but who's counting. If we weren't on daylight savings time it would be 8:00. We call daddy before we go to bed most nights, if he's available. That usually turns into her talking for 5 minutes and I talk for an hour, so unlimited long-distance (which ironically covers Guam) is our life line. Then we are off to bed so that we can start another day in the Blankinship Bungalow!
So now that I have wasted Courtney's nap time and my floors aren't mopped anymore than they were when I started this....what's life like in your house???
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Roll Call...Pets...a week late, but I brought my excuse with me!
Okay, so I have been a little busy lately. Actually the truth be known I have been breaking speed records (especially for pregnant ladies)and I have finally started to slow down. I am actually getting to post because I am sitting at my computer trying to fix my brand new memory card. One use and it thinks it's done.....not for what I paid for it!!!
Anyhow....pets. Ask mom and she will tell you I am a big animal lover. I have had pets around most of my life. About 8 years ago (gosh that's a long time!!) we acquired Jodi and Sugar, two miniature long-haired dachsunds. Damon's aunt was a breeder and told us that one day we could have one of her dogs as a wedding gift. She had a massive heart attack and passed away and so the time for our "gift" came earlier than expected. We had just been to her farm only 2 weeks prior and had seen a new litter of 3 weinie dogs (which look like cocker spaniels when they are born....could you imagine giving birth to that nose!). We thought nothing of it. As the dogs were being disperced Damon mentioned the "gift" and we were told to find a dog. We decided we wanted a cocker spaniel-like dog and started looking. I came across this one lonely pup, who looked very much like a cocker spaniel. He was fuzzy and snuggly and almost matched the coloring of my hair. Apparently he was the lone survivor of his litter. I fell in love. I was snuggling with him on the couch to take a nap and up pops this beautiful red and black weinie dog. She snuggled with me and we all took a little nap. Turns out that beauty was the mama of the cute little pup I was in love with. He was only 4 weeks old and not weened, so as Damon's uncle put it "ya gotta take the mama too!" So much for any cocker-like puppies. I called my parents and begged them to take their precious grand-dogs in until we could keep them (the univ. apartments forbid pets). Mom's a sucker and said yes. We were initially going to name them Cinnamon and Sugar (hince the girly name for our boy dog). Turns out that Jodi has a few tattoos (she had a few too many to drink I guess...that or it was her wild streak) and one revealed her name, Jodi, given to her by Damon's aunt. She was one of the house dogs that kept getting into the pens when she wasn't supposed to. Even in her old age she is still sneaky.
My parents can tell you all sorts of funny stories from when they lived with them (about 3 years). Like the time Jodi brought them a dead squirrel. Or how they would eat the rotten tomatoes mom threw into the yard and suddenly mom had many, many tomato plants all over the yard.
Over all they are good dogs and Damon and my first babies. They really have taken a hit on the totem pole as the kiddos have come along. But I will admit to the world that I still love them.....at least for now!
Anyhow....pets. Ask mom and she will tell you I am a big animal lover. I have had pets around most of my life. About 8 years ago (gosh that's a long time!!) we acquired Jodi and Sugar, two miniature long-haired dachsunds. Damon's aunt was a breeder and told us that one day we could have one of her dogs as a wedding gift. She had a massive heart attack and passed away and so the time for our "gift" came earlier than expected. We had just been to her farm only 2 weeks prior and had seen a new litter of 3 weinie dogs (which look like cocker spaniels when they are born....could you imagine giving birth to that nose!). We thought nothing of it. As the dogs were being disperced Damon mentioned the "gift" and we were told to find a dog. We decided we wanted a cocker spaniel-like dog and started looking. I came across this one lonely pup, who looked very much like a cocker spaniel. He was fuzzy and snuggly and almost matched the coloring of my hair. Apparently he was the lone survivor of his litter. I fell in love. I was snuggling with him on the couch to take a nap and up pops this beautiful red and black weinie dog. She snuggled with me and we all took a little nap. Turns out that beauty was the mama of the cute little pup I was in love with. He was only 4 weeks old and not weened, so as Damon's uncle put it "ya gotta take the mama too!" So much for any cocker-like puppies. I called my parents and begged them to take their precious grand-dogs in until we could keep them (the univ. apartments forbid pets). Mom's a sucker and said yes. We were initially going to name them Cinnamon and Sugar (hince the girly name for our boy dog). Turns out that Jodi has a few tattoos (she had a few too many to drink I guess...that or it was her wild streak) and one revealed her name, Jodi, given to her by Damon's aunt. She was one of the house dogs that kept getting into the pens when she wasn't supposed to. Even in her old age she is still sneaky.
My parents can tell you all sorts of funny stories from when they lived with them (about 3 years). Like the time Jodi brought them a dead squirrel. Or how they would eat the rotten tomatoes mom threw into the yard and suddenly mom had many, many tomato plants all over the yard.
Over all they are good dogs and Damon and my first babies. They really have taken a hit on the totem pole as the kiddos have come along. But I will admit to the world that I still love them.....at least for now!
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