Saturday, March 31, 2007

What's this Waldo up to?

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.

No comments: