A Day in Our Life

By far, my most favorite posts to read by other bloggers are posts that look at their typical daily schedules. I just love to see how others live their lives, schedule their time, and what their priorities are. Since it has been over a year since my last day in the life post it is definitely time for an update.

We now have an 18 month old (almost but it's official tomorrow) and a 3 1/2 year old. I think I have been waiting until I had a "normal" schedule to do another post but that day never has really come. I'm learning that with 2 active littles there may never be a consistent normal. We continue to ebb and flow and change to meet our children's needs constantly. Nonetheless, I want a screenshot of this period of my life, so let's get to it:

Night: I have to start with this because how our night goes seems to directly impact what our day looks like. Riley has hit an 18 month sleep regression, is teething, and is still getting over a cold so there's not much sleep happening here with him. He's up every 1-3 hours at night lately. Payton was sleeping all night with no issues but since Monte had his appendix removed she started getting up once each night. His surgery definitely scared her.

So, not much sleep at night is happening but both children seem to be playing catch up by sleeping in each morning. I can't complain about that! There's always coffee to help me fake it 'til I make it as well.

6AM: Monte's alarms start going off for him to go to work. Since I've had a night of almost no sleep, I fall back asleep.

8:30AM: Payton wakes up and comes to get me up. We sit and rock in the living room and she tells me about her dreams and plans for the day. She sometimes sits with me until brother gets up or we will play quietly with toys (cars, pretend restaurant, and babies are her favorite at this time). Sometimes she will convince me to let her watch a show and "rest."

9AM: Riley wakes up. He has been getting up about this time for about a week but before that he was getting up at about 6:30AM. I think he's up so much as night he just can't help but sleep a bit longer. He wakes up happy and wanting to see "sissy."

I get breakfast going and feed the kids. Most breakfasts are super easy like pancakes (from my freezer batch), oatmeal, cereal, and/or toast. Each meal is typically loaded with fruit and both kids almost always have a banana with this meal. Some days both kids help me make meals and other days they don't. Today they sit together and wait patiently.

As you can probably see, both kids are definitely still getting over a cold. Payton looks a bit under the weather.

9:30AM: We finish up eating and the kids decide to color while I get started on chores. Today, I gave them a newspaper ad because Payton wanted to make a grocery list.

I then feed the chickens and our outside cats (Riley joins me but Payton waits at the door for us to return), start a load of laundry, and then start on picking up the kitchen. This is what I have to start the day with:

Beautiful kitchen right? Okay, we don't like it either. It's original to the house and we plan to remodel it but are still figuring out exactly what we want to do. Until then, it stays as it is.

It would probably be in my best interest to clean the kitchen before I go to bed but that just doesn't happen. I would rather relax with my husband. Instead, I give myself about 15 minutes to dedicate to cleaning in the morning.

This is as good as it gets but, for us, it's good enough for us. I'm trying to worry less about the cleaning and focus on just enjoying the time I've been gifted on what matters.

10AM: By now, I've got most of my morning chores done and I will play with the children. I let them lead the way in what we do. Payton is really enjoying having pretend weddings and birthdays, dancing, practicing gymnastics, driving trucks around, and playing library right now. Riley will follow suit with whatever she wants. He also almost always has a ball (or 5) that he's throwing around the house by this time.

I love their bonding, but seriously, they can be a little dangerous.

11AM: Despite sleeping in, Riley is already asking for a nap (yes, he asks for a nap, something his sister would NEVER do). I like to hold him off as long as possible so I convince the kids to make lunch. We typically have leftovers. Today we just make a loaded chef salad. We work on counting with Payton as we eat lunch.

11:30AM-12PM: Somewhere during this time Riley finishes eating and requests his nap again. I clean him, change his diaper, and get him ready to take a nap. He hugs and kisses Payton and we go to lay him down. I rock him for a few minutes before laying him down in his crib. Payton finishes her meal and listens to children's nursery rhymes during this time.

Once Riley is asleep, this becomes a great time to spend quality time with Payton. Lately, I will pull down toys and games she has that Riley isn't old enough for yet like Candyland, toys with little pieces, and painting. Today, we walk to get the mail together and then she asks me to rock her before she starts quiet time. This cold we've all had is definitely slowing us down.

12:30PM: Payton starts quiet time. She must lay down but is allowed to look at books and has a few quiet toys with her.

During this time, I do whatever is needed. If I haven't gotten much sleep the night before I will also lay down. Today, I fold a load of laundry and catch up on some shows I have recorded.

1:30PM: Payton gets up and requests we play cars. I play cars with her until her brother wakes from his nap.

2PM: Riley wakes up. Both kids are always asking for snack at this time. They eat snack and then ask to bake something. We get started on brownies.

This is basically another free period where I try to do whatever the kids want to do. If we could get outside, we would but our winters are too cold to go out for long periods of time. We change up the rooms of the house we are in and find plenty of things to do in each area.

3:30PM: Monte normally comes home and the kids are ecstatic to see daddy and show him the surprise they made him. From here, our day will go by very quickly and become quite a blur. I don't know how that always happens, but it does.

We sit down and have a small brownie each. Since there is another adult around, I typically try to sneak off and take a shower at this time. I know, it's very late in the day, but that's just how it goes. The kids always have lots to show and tell their daddy so they spend a good chunk of time talking with him and wrestling around with him.

4:45PM: This hasn't changed in any day of our life posts I have ever done. Dinner is started. Since having Payton, she demands to eat at 5:30 (actually 5 most days but we push that out as far as we can). As I'm about to start spaghetti, my mother calls and offers to buy pizza for us tonight. I don't want this to sound like this is normal as this, in fact, may be the first time I can think of that my mother has done this. In any case, we jump on the offer and celebrate not having to cook tonight.

5PM: We load the kids up and head to town to pick up the pizza my mom has graciously offered to get for us. We come back home and eat. I take a quick video of the kids thanking my mother for the meal.


We would have loved to have her there as well but she lives a little over 3 hours away from us. This was quite a treat for us.

After eating, we clean up and then spend some time with the kids. Again, we are doing whatever the kids choose to do. Isn't that how it is with most parents? Please, tell me it is.

6:45PM: We start a bath for the kids. Payton refuses to take a bath tonight, which has been normal lately. We make her take one every other day so tonight she gets out of it. She sits on the ledge of the tub and reads stories to her brother while he bathes. It's very sweet to watch.

7:30PM: Kids are put to bed. This has been the same since their birth. Riley has recently had a hard time with going to sleep so what used to be 10 minutes to get him to bed is now more like 45 minutes. I'm hoping this is a quick stage and he will be back to the regular swing of things soon.

8PM: By this time both kids are typically asleep. Monte and I watch some tv, get on our phones, and discuss the day. With Riley getting up between 10 & 11PM, I head to bed by 9 so I can get a little bit of sleep before the craziness of the night starts.

This is somewhat of a typical week for us. We continue to go to our local library one morning each week for story time. Payton is also in gymnastics one afternoon each week. I also take the kids to visit an adopted grandparent in the nursing home once a week. I continue to try to keep our lives as quiet and slow as possible so my kids can grow and play as they need to.

I'm sure our daily schedule will continue to grow and change as the children continue to grow. I'm excited to see what is to come!

What does your typical day look like?

This post has been linked up with Modest monday link up, Nourishing Joy link up, What Joy is Mine link up, Epic Mommy's link up, Our simple homestead link up, teaching what is good link up, this toddler life link up, creative kids link up, and the Chicken's chick link up.

2016: Our Year in Review

As I am figuring out how to put videos together, I thought I would try my hand at putting together a video of our 2016. This was a lot of WORK. I thought it would be easier, but I'm telling you I had many hours of footage to sort through. I think my new year resolution this year should be to not record EVERYTHING. I wish I were kidding. I seriously don't know why I think I needed that much footage.

Anyways, we kicked off 2016 with a (almost) 6 month old baby and a 2 1/2 year old. We ended the year with an (almost) 18 month old toddler and a 3 1/2 year old preschooler. This was a great time for a video that goes through a year as you can see so many changes in both our children.



Here are some of the highlights (both the good and the bad) of our year:

1) We had a snowstorm at the first of the year. We were unable to leave our house (and thus work for the hubby was cancelled) for 2 days. We had the fireplace going, watched lots of tv, ate snow ice cream, made snow angels, danced 'til we dropped, and sled outside on repeat.

2) Our "farm" grew exploded. As our kitten that wandered into our lives grew up, she had her first litter of babies. Payton and I got to watch the birth of the kittens while Riley took his morning nap (and the hubby worked). This was a beautiful gift for our household, especially since she wandered out of our lives about 3 months afterwards. We have no idea what happened to her but at the end of the year, we are left with 3 of her 5 babies. Although we haven't asked for outdoor cats at our house, since moving to the country, we have had so many make their way into our little homestead. We are thankful for each one and the time we are given with them.

3) We added chickens (thus exploding #2 above). I was very hesitant but the kids have loved having chickens. There has been so much excitement between raising these sweet animals to collecting eggs. Payton loves sharing her eggs with friends as they leave from visiting our house. We had quite the learning curve with building our own coop and chicken runs. What's next for us? I don't know but I have a feeling this won't be the end of animals. Only time will tell.

4) Riley grew. Through this year he started crawling, walking, and talking. He communicates so well with us. The stage of watching your child transition from baby to full-blown toddler is bittersweet, mind-blowing, and overwhelming. The tears fall just thinking about it.

5) Payton Ruth explored and learned and then learned some more. This girl has hit many cognitive and verbal milestones it's unbelievable. My favorite moment from this year was when Payton told me she was playing "carnastics." This was a combination of her cars learning gymnastics. She could very well be a teacher some day as she loves to teach her toys and brother everything she knows. We watched her learn to catch a chicken, ride a bike, say her full name, swim, and count to 10 (for the most part).

6) We danced. Not a day has gone by that this house hasn't danced like nobody's watching. Since my camera seems to always be on record, you can about guarantee it's likely that someone will be watching. I do hope my children never lose the ability to let loose and dance.

7) We put 1,000 miles on our side road. As you can see in the video, we have a private side road as part of our property with a circle loop to our garage. This road will forever be my most favorite part of our country home. We are out there almost every day of the year walking, running, playing, singing, dancing, and living life. I could possibly live in this house forever because of my attachment to this road.

8. Garden fail. We normally have a big garden but this year it just didn't happen. We got busy. We didn't make it a priority. By the time we did go to start a garden it was too late in the year. We planted only tomatoes (normally those go over well) and didn't have a good harvest with those. Our apple trees and cherry tree also didn't produce as well as they have in the past. On the other hand, our pear tree did the best its done since we moved here.

9. Our acreage lost most of its shade/border trees. The trees we had were full grown and beautiful. They gave us so much privacy. Unfortunately, they got sick (I can't recall what exactly happened) and they had to be taken down. Our views changed greatly. We are now very exposed. We will be planting new tree lines in the spring but those will be baby trees. It will be many, many years before we have privacy again.

10. Our first and second trip to the ER. It took 7 years of marriage and one 3 year old before we went to the emergency room for the first time. This trip was for a severe cut our daughter got on her leg when outside helping her dad. It wasn't as bad as we thought as no stitches were needed, but it was better to be safe than sorry. The glue they used worked great and she was left with no scarring. Right before the end of the year, we made our 2nd trip to the ER with Monte. He ended up having to have his appendix removed and stayed overnight at the hospital.

2016 was a year full of so many ups and downs. I am a bit sad to see it go, but I am looking forward to what this next year will bring. I am still contemplating resolutions.

What was your favorite part of 2016? I would love to read your reviews of 2016. Will you be making resolutions for 2017?

Appendectomy and an extended holiday

We finished 2016 with a bit of a scare at our house. What we thought was some phantom pain my husband was experiencing ended up being an emergency appendectomy procedure. Of course, this was all part of a late evening ER trip, several tests ran, surgery immediately following, and a hospital stay. Although routine, surgery has a way of making you realize how quickly your life can change. One minute, I'm watching my children dance to Mickey Mouse's hot dog song and the next my husband is telling me his pain is so unbearable he has to go to the ER now (we had a doctor appointment scheduled for the next morning). Life shouldn't be taken for granted.

There will always be challenges for our household when it comes to not living close to family (a little over 3 hours of driving gets us to our first relative). The hubby had to go to the ER on his own while I did bedtime routine frantically. When I got the kids to bed, I was lucky to get a good friend to come over so I could join Monte at the hospital. I was there while they prepped for surgery and then I rushed back home to relieve my friend. My mom had packed in 5 minutes of hearing the news so after she arrived late that night after making the 3.5 hours trip. I flew back to the hospital to see Monte post-surgery. I was very thankful for a nurse that texted me updates during the time I was away from the hospital. It was hard to not be there for the whole process and for Monte to spend some time without his support system but when balancing kids that's sometimes how it goes.

The next morning Monte was released to go home and heal. He is limited in what he can do and he can't return to work until after his appointment on Friday. We are enjoying having him around at the house for another week and feel like our holiday has been extended. We are trying to keep things as quiet as possible around here while Monte heals and works towards getting back on his feet.

Happy New Year! I hope your holiday wasn't as wild as ours was or that if it was wild it was wild in other ways than ours was! 😉

Christmas Recap

Christmas came and went too quickly! I decided to really savor this year's holiday by creating a little video. It's funny how what you think is a disappointment (we had to cancel our plans to visit family due to our whole house being sick) turns into being the most beautiful gift. We were given a treasured holiday that was spent just the 4 of us.

2016 was a beautiful year for our family and we feel very blessed. As we wrap up this year, I am contemplating my goals for 2017 and reflecting on the last 365 days. We will be ringing the new year in with family (pending we are not sick, fingers crossed).

Happy Monday!

Christmas Eve

Our holiday plans were a little derailed this year when our entire household came down with colds. I can't remember when the last time was that all four of us were sick at the same time. Typically, either my hubby and I get sick or the kids get sick. We have been blessed to have it work out that way so many times.

Despite the congestion and exhaustion, we have managed to push through and make Christmas as festive as possible for the kids. Riley has added an additional nap each day and Payton has actually been taking a nap daily (doesn't do this when healthy) so we've been sure to rest when we can.

I kicked off this morning with impromptu snowman pancakes. Payton loved them. I love that it doesn't take much to impress a 3 year old.

Riley was loving the whipped topping. Runny nose and all.

I snapped a picture of Payton napping because I was so surprised she fell asleep today. It's just so out of the normal for her, but does tell me that she needs to be taking it easy while she is still sick.

We made prime rib for Christmas Eve dinner and I also had the kids help make a Christmas punch. Somehow, holiday punch seems to be a requirement now for our special meals. Payton loved it so much she requested we make some for Santa (and one for his reindeer to share).

Now, we just wait for Santa to come.

The kids are all tucked in their beds and we are all anxiously waiting for the morning to come. Merry Christmas! 

'Tis the Season

The holiday season is always so much fun and so, so busy. The pictures I am sharing today should have been shared through several posts but time got ahead of me. Story of my life.

Since having children I have really found a new sense of joy during the holidays as I watch this time through my children's eyes. They bring so much fun, love, and joy to everything we do. Life is just so much more full when you are watching a child experience the world. Here are some things we were up to during December:

For starters, we saw Santa.

Payton was very excited to see Santa and couldn't wait to tell him all about the Dora night light she had been eye balling. Riley, despite our attempts to prepare him before the visit, was not feeling the love for Santa. In his defense, I could have timed our trip better. He was in desperate need of a nap!

As a role model, I am constantly trying to be a more giving human being. The holidays are a great time to practice this goal. We "adopted" a child from one of our local organizations and bought them a gift. Payton helped pick the child, selected the gift herself, and both kids helped wrap and deliver the present. They were so proud!

I didn't think Payton would do well actually dropping off the present since that can be a hard concept for a 3 year old to understand. She handled the situation well though and had no issues. We love this tradition and can't wait until we do this again.

In November, I started to take the children to volunteer at a local assisted living center. We were assigned to a resident and have been visiting her weekly. My kids have loved these visits and I love watching them bond with another human being.

A local group decided to deliver cards and flowers to residents of the nursing home to help them feel loved and cared for. Payton handmade several cards to be delivered to residents and a few cards for our close friends and family members. We also helped the group deliver the cards and flowers and it was so fun to watch Payton with the residents.

Grandma came to visit one weekend and brought several crafts for Payton. She made tree ornaments and snowmen ornaments. We have given a few out to friends as we see them and saved a few for family members to receive when we see them next. 

Each year I try to plan for a baking day. This can be challenging to do as I really need a whole day and it always seems someone is ill. We happened to have a good, healthy day last weekend so we baked until we had no more clean dishes in the house. 

The kids had a blast cooking and creating. We are in the process of making up goodie trays and we will deliver our homemade treats to several people in the community, close friends, and family members. This is just an extra way for us to say thank you for being involved in our lives.

Christmas is now less than a week away. I hope you are all enjoying this holiday season! Merry Christmas.

December Birthday Parties

For the last 3 years, I haven't gone on a trip farther than 1 hour away on my own with my children (or child as it was for a period of that time). No joke! My kids are not good travelers and even going to the next town over (30 miles) shopping can make for a rough time for our kids. As they get older, they are getting much better. 

A few weekends ago, I finally braved the roads and made a 3 hour trip with both my kids solo for a weekend trip to my hometown. For the most part, the trip went as well as it possibly could. They slept horribly at my mom's house (another reason I have avoided making trips on my own) but they had a blast visiting my family. 

During this trip, we had 2 birthday parties to attend, one for my niece and the other for my mom. 

We love the Minnie Mouse and Under the Sea themes. Payton had some trouble with not being able to open the gifts at the party. It's hard for a 3 year old to understand. She loved the cake though!

It was a quick trip but definitely a big deal at our house. I'm not sure if I will take on another trip on my own anytime soon but now I know that I can actually do it!