A Day in the Life

So I was talking to Peter and we were talking about user interface design (I know it's boring and I just lost most of you but keep going it gets better) and I showed him Blogger. He didn't know I had a Blogger account. He didn't know I post to it semi-regularly (meaning a couple times a year). So I read him some of the posts. He thought it was nice to get acquainted with what our family has been up to!

But anyway. He thought it would be fun if I did a day in the life post. I told him the best day would be Thursdays, but they're over now. I don't mean that there aren't any Thursdays, I just mean that with school out I don't have my day from *&!! anymore. He said to do it anyway. So for anyone who cares, here's a day in the (former hopefully to never be reapeated again yea right!) life:

5:45  Alarm goes off. Text Sara "wakie wakie!"

5:50  Sara texts back "my bed is too warm! I don't want to get up!"

5:51  I text back "get up anyway"
(funny note: one day at the end of the school year I was so tired I texted the kids phone instead of Sara's phone. Fortunately I woke up at 5:55 and realized she hadn't texted back so I called her to wake her up. Even funnier: when I went back later and saw what I wrote, the first text was incomprehensible and the second "I meant" text was even worse. So it lets you know my mental state at the time. But moving on.)

5:52  Remember to set my alarm for 6:45. Fall back asleep before my head hits my pillow.

6:45  Wake up. Go potty. Get a drink. Make sure I'm dressed decent. Wake up kids. Wake them up again. Make sure their feet are actually on the floor and their heads aren't actually on their pillow. When all 8 feet are on the floor, go upstairs.

7:05  Make breakfast. This is a newfound bonus now that Angel moved out. I used to just go upstairs, get in the car, drive him to school, and be home just before the kids left. Now I make (made) breakfast. For a great smoothie recipe check out my other blog.

7:15-7:35  Make sure kids have eaten breakfast. Make sure they're dressed appropriately. Make sure their hair is brushed. Chase Megan down with a brush and if necessary dry shampoo. Make sure the kids have lunches. Realize at 7:30 that Jeffrey still hasn't appeared and throw together a lunch for him. At 7:35 realize the driver is missing. Go to my bathroom door, bang on it, and tell Peter to hurry and get out of the shower. Load all the kids, backpacks, lunches, permission slips, homework, and half eaten breakfasts into the van. Shoo the driver out the door.

7:45 Eat my smoothie and whatever is left over of the hard boiled eggs and fruit.

8:00  Pay bills, check e-mail, attempt to figure out how to keep accounts from bouncing, respond to correspondence, watch a TV show or listen to YouTube music videos while I work, work on freelance projects, etc.

or, what was more likely to happen:

8:00  Crash in bed and take a nap. Remember to set my alarm first.

9:45  Wake up (if I was sleeping), get in shower, get dressed.

10:35  Leave. Drive to American Fork to pick up Kindergartners. Dodge pot holes, watch for lines to have disappeared and reappeared a few feet over because of the construction project, get on the freeway with a 25 foot onramp, and watch out for crazy frustrated drivers who are more lost than I am.

10:50  Pick up two 5 year olds who have the same argument every day: where to sit. There are only three seats in the Honda. Really?

10:55 Pull over and wait for two 5 year-olds to say "check" when their seat belts are buckled (they made it up not me).

11:00 Get back on freeway and fight UDOT's idiocy and attempts at killing off the general Utah County population through bad road design and construction messes. (We actually had to have our wheel alignment fixed--I think it was all the potholes we fell into while we were trying to dodge other pot holes. Some were big enough to swallow a small car. Fortunately I have a large vehicle so I didn't get swallowed completely.)

11:15 Drop one five-year-old off at home. Watch to make sure he got in.

11:20  Get home. Get baby out of bed. Change her, dress her (if I could find any clean laundry) and give her her morning milk and breakfast.

11:35 Hurry and try to get some office work done.

12:00  This was the time I was supposed to make lunch for everyone, including myself. I even have a Blackberry reminder that faithfully goes off each day to remind me. Never worked. Fortunately the kids know how to spread nutella or peanut butter on a slice of bread or peel a hard boiled egg.

12:45 Realize Stephanie has pre-school and that's why my Blackberry kept buzzing at me. Make sure she's dressed. Princess costume? Sure! (Her teacher doesn't mind fortunately). Shoes on? Dressup heels? Ok. At least they're shoes, right? Yes you can keep your crown on. Fine with me. Have you eaten? No? Ok, eat this white bread and nutella sandwich while I drive you.

1:00 Leave the house with Stephanie and Mandy. Drive to Miss Merlene's fabulous preschool.

1:05 It's a miracle. We're only five minutes late. Sometimes we're up to 15 minutes late! Mandy takes Stephanie in while I check my Blackberry for texts from Sara (random throughout the day), check my e-mail, or look at the lastest Facebook or Reuters feed.

1:10 Leave and go home and attempt to get some work done.

2:20  Realize it's almost time to go pick up kids. Wonder where the last hour went. Can't find it. Oh well. Throw some shoes on. Try to get to the car before Lisa sees me. Too late. Lisa sees me, takes me to my purse, shows me where it is, walks to the door to the garage and waits for me to open it so she can bolt through before I can stop her. Realize it's her only fun in the day and strap her into her carseat.

2:25 Fight traffic, UDOT's constant lane changes, pot holes, missing aslphalt, and oh yea, the Utah drivers while driving back again to American Fork. It's only 11 miles, but it feels much longer by the end of the school year.

2:39  I'm serious about the 2:39. I always got there about 2:39. Some days the school would be on the ball and I could just pull in and pick up kids. But other days you have to drive a half mile down the road and join the line, slowly inching your way towards the school while confusing the heck out of all of the other non-carpool drivers.

2:45 Count to seven as children enter vehicle. Make sure they're the right kids. Realize there are only six. Try to determine which kid is missing (Hyrum, Jordan, Emma, Chris, Megan, Jeffrey....Jeffrey? Where's Jeffrey? Megan, can you go get Jeffrey? Oh, there he is. Julia...Ok, let's go). Tell kids to shut doors. Teacher sees dilema and shuts doors. Take off with kids screaming "Wait! We're not buckled!" Drive slow while they buckle.

2:50 Back on freeway, you know the drill.

3:05 Drop off four. Drive three home. See Gabe is at his house he's rehabbing. Stop there to check on progress. Kids get bored and walk the block home.

3:20 Alarm goes off to get Stephanie. Hopefully I remember (a few times I didn't!) for the next 5 minutes while I say good bye, get back in the car, and go grab Stephanie from preschool. Usually a kid would go with me, because they love picking up Stephanie. They used to all go to that preschool so it's fun for them to be the "big kid".

3:40 Get home. Try to deal with kids' permission slips, schedules, scouts, activity days, trips to Target to pick up a tri fold board, homework, projects, "Mom can you print this",...you know I'm not actually sure what happens between 3:45 and 5 pm. It's kind of a blur.

5:00 Reminder goes off saying to start dinner. Question the Blackberry as to it's sanity and it's correctness of time (I have a theory that it eats time. I lose an hour at a time. It's all the Blackberry's fault). Try to figure out what to make while cleaning the kitchen. (I cannot cook in a dirty kitchen, so I have to clean it before I start. Peter thinks it's wierd but that's the way it is.)

Sometime between 5:30-6:30 Actually start dinner.

7:00 Put dinner out on the table in the dining room. Get out plates and forks. Wonder where all the kids are and why the house is so quiet. Go in search of kids. Find them in my office. Jeffrey on one computer with maybe Julia watching and Megan on the other. Text Sara and tell her "dinner". She texts back "what is it". I text back "food". She texts back "what kind of food". I text back "good food just get up here". She comes up. Find Peter. Probably in office working. Hunt down Lisa and Stephanie. Probably playing somewhere. Herd everyone into dining room. Find out the food is cold. (By the end of the school year I got smart and just started eating so I got a hot dinner at least. The other kids got wise too, so dinner starts when you get there and the prayer is when Peter gets there).

7:30  Crash in office. Watch TV on Hulu with kids, or try to work while watching TV on Hulu with kids (not that effective). Favorite shows I probably shouldn't have gotten my kids hooked on: Psych, Chuck, Castle, White Collar, Celebrity Apprentice, and occassionally the Office.

8:30  Tell kids to go to the living room for scriptures and prayer. Kids disappear (well, after telling them about ten times). Head to living room and on the way try to drag Peter out of his office. Get to living room and realize no one is there. Try to round up kids and Peter and put them all in the same place. Doesn't work. Find one kid. Send them to get one more. Kid comes back with one more. Put first kid in living room and block door so they can't leave. Send new kid to get one more. In the mean time, put kids as I can get them into the living room and block the door so they can't leave. Can't find Peter. Call Peter on cell phone so I don't leave the living room door. If I do, they all leave and I have to start all over again.

9:00 Finally have everyone in living room. Attempt to read from the Bible. Can't start because everyone is talking. Aparently they only get chatty when it's time for bed. Talk to kids about random topics for random amount of time until finally we get them under control. Read a few verses from the Bible. Attempt to explain it (sometimes we don't even get it!). Peter asks someone to say the prayer. They all say "No". Peter asks me to pray. I do. Eventually. After we get them all quieted down again. Tell kids to go to bed.

9:30  Work on getting babies to bed.

9:45 Find kids in kitchen eating. (Jeffrey's pretty good at Ramen!) Tell them again to go to bed.

10:00 Make it back to my room. Finish up with work, watch a show, read a book...finally, quiet time! That is if you ignore the banging on the door, the "Mom I need a [fill in the blank]" or "Mom [fill in the blank] hurt me!" or "I have an owie" from the kids streaming through the door like my room is Grand Central Station. Find a teenager on my sofa in my sitting room. Talk about whatever it is they need to talk about.

11:30 Realize it's late and really put foot down about kids going to bed. Shoo them out. Realize I have a husband. Sit down to chat about day for a few minutes.

1:00 Realize that a few minutes takes a lot longer than you think. Get ready for bed. Say prayers. Fall asleep praying or get lost and keep repeating yourself.

1:30 Set alarm for the next day, and thank God for pillows and a soft bed. Fall asleep before head hits pillow. Goodnight.