Routine

If you have read my blog before, you may have realized that I am a bit of a scheduled person. Shocker, I know. I was an organized child, an organized teen, and now I am proud to say, an organized adult. Sometimes I wish that were not the case, but I can't stress over things I can't control. And I can't help the fact that I thrive on routine and schedule. That is just the way my brain works. My daughter Madison is quite the opposite. I often wish I could be more like her. Nothing bothers her and nothing rushes her...we say she lives in Madison World and runs on Madison Time! What a boring place the world would be if we were all alike. I think each person should embrace whatever works to create peace in his or her own mind and heart. For me, that is routine.

Through the years, my routine and schedule have changed many times based on how many children I had at home and how many ( or few! ) activities we had. Now I have a daily and weekly routine that works quite well for our whole family. And isn't that the goal of us mothers? : )

Lucky for me, I am an earlier riser. I get up and get showered and dressed before the rest of the house. I do get the girls up shortly after and then I head downstairs to start breakfast and say hello to my friend the Keurig Coffee Maker. Once everyone is fed and dressed and happy, they are off to school. Currently, Steve and Flynn take the kids to school. They actually make two trips each morning, because the girls need to be at school earlier than Rhett. As soon as they are on their way, I am up the stairs to start my day. You can read more about this here.

In addition to making beds, I also have certain things I try to do each day during this block of time. I give my self two hours every morning to accomplish these daily tasks. This works well because Flynn likes this morning time to snuggle on the couch and watch Nick Jr. Once she gets home from "school" with Steve, she makes herself comfy with her blankie and a cup of milk. She will play by herself and keep herself busy doing her "work", just like me. She actually does enjoy some jobs, like dusting. For real... she loves to dust!

My current schedule looks like this:

• Monday       vacuum upstairs, quick clean bathrooms, dust bedrooms, empty garbage
• Tuesday       vacuum downstairs, quick clean kitchen and powder room, start soup in the crockpot 
• Wednesday  dust downstairs, go over bills and mail on my desk
• Thursday      make weekly menu and activity chart for next week, make a grocery list
• Friday          grocery shop

You may notice I don't have laundry listed. That is because I do laundry every day. With six of us and all of the school, work and play clothes, I find it necessary to do a few loads each day. Fortunately, I love doing laundry. That is a topic for a whole different post! Once all the morning tasks are done, Flynn and I are free to enjoy our day. We take our walk first and then play a bit. She isn't a big lunch eater, but I try to get her to eat some soup or waffles before her nap. Little Bear is on at noon( is he the best or what? ) and then we go up for her nap. She has been falling asleep fairly quickly, so I usually have an hour to rest and relax. I do this every day. I need this time to recharge for the second half of the day! Here is where the "afternoon coffee" part of my blog title comes in! I sit down and have a cup of coffee at around 1:30 every day. It is just a quick chance for me to take care of me. I think it is very important for the one who cares for others to make sure to care for herself as well.

Around 2:00, we leave to pick up the kids. This part of the day varies greatly based on Madison's work and all the activity schedules. Once we are home, snacks and homework come next. I am usually getting dinner ready, so the kids do homework at the kitchen table. I try very hard to have dinner at 6:00 every night. I have tried other times, but this just works for us. I like to have us all sit down together as much as possible. And we do. On the nights Steve and Rhett have soccer practice, or Madison has work, we still eat at the regular time and I make up plates for them. That way, I can still serve a good meal and have the kitchen all cleaned up and organized at a decent time.

 After dinner we spend some time outside, as long as the weather cooperates. Then it's baths and jammies. As the days grow shorter and the darkness comes sooner, you may find me in my jammies at 5:00! Ahhh thinking of that just makes me smile. : )  Most nights we do watch some television together as a family. Then Steve puts Flynn to bed . This is a special time for them every night. The older kids and I actually go to bed at the same time. I try to be in bed by 10:00 most nights. It depends on which one of our regular shows is on. Priorities, right?  And that is my current routine. That is how we spend our days here in our country home. Thanks for hanging in there! Hope it didn't put YOU to sleep! : )

Flynn doing her work while I was cleaning. And yes, those are Halloween jammies. I just couldn't wait!