Making My Home a Haven: A peek into our day today
I had all these visions of the pictures I was going to share along with this post, but alas, my camera battery died and the replacement I thought I had turned out to be no good. Oh well!
It's been a rather productive day around here, despite interruptions (they're the stuff life is made up of, aren't they?!). My morning began with the usual early-morning routine: nurse Kaitlynn, read my Bible, start some laundry, make Jesse's lunch, head out for a morning run, take my vitamins, and put Kaitlynn back to bed.
After Jesse was out the door, I settled down to check my email, moderate blog comments, and post a few quick posts over on MoneySavingMom.com. Then the girls were up and it was time to start our normal mid-morning routine: breakfast, my shower, girls' baths, fix hair (Kathrynne's been asking for "two braids" every day, so the fixing hair part is taking a bit more time since I'm still learning how to do that hairstyle on her!), clean up the kitchen.
[We had numerous interruptions in the morning so we didn't get in our usual Bible Time during breakfast; we'll add that in to our afternoon school time.]
The girls helped pick up their toys while I picked up the main floor, switched the laundry, cleaned the bathroom, picked up our bedroom, emptied the dirty water from the carpet cleaner (don't ask me how long I'd procrastinated on that task--ick!), and took the sheets off our bed.
Kaitlynn went back down for a nap and Kathrynne painted at the kitchen table and then rode her bike around and around the kitchen table (yes, I know! Isn't that against some cardinal rule of mothering? Oh well! Now you know the truth...) while I finished straightening the house and folded a load of laundry.
Kaitlynn usually only sleeps for an hour or so during her morning nap, but she ended up sleeping through lunch so we skipped our usual after-lunch school time and had our afternoon quiet time earlier than usual.
As soon as Kaitlynn wakes up, we'll have our Bible Time and afternoon school time and then head out for our weekly grocery shopping trip. We're planning to stop at the library, too, since we've read and re-read all of the books we checked out last week.
The girls and I normally have a really great time doing the grocery shopping--they are both at easy stages and I bring snacks along to make the shopping trip extra fun. And the library is one of their ultimate favorite places to go so they always eagerly look forward to our weekly trip there!
I put some chicken and vegetables in marinade last night before I went to bed so we'll be grilling out for dinner and eating on our deck (we recently were given one of those handy-dandy Off! PowerPad Lamps and we're hoping it works like it says it does so we don't have to ward off misquitos!). As a special treat, I'm buying ingredients at the store for s'mores. The girls have never made these before so we're going to finagle a way to roast the marshmallows over our grill.
Should be a fun family memory! And isn't making special memories with your family so integral to a home that is a haven for your family?
It's been a rather productive day around here, despite interruptions (they're the stuff life is made up of, aren't they?!). My morning began with the usual early-morning routine: nurse Kaitlynn, read my Bible, start some laundry, make Jesse's lunch, head out for a morning run, take my vitamins, and put Kaitlynn back to bed.
After Jesse was out the door, I settled down to check my email, moderate blog comments, and post a few quick posts over on MoneySavingMom.com. Then the girls were up and it was time to start our normal mid-morning routine: breakfast, my shower, girls' baths, fix hair (Kathrynne's been asking for "two braids" every day, so the fixing hair part is taking a bit more time since I'm still learning how to do that hairstyle on her!), clean up the kitchen.
[We had numerous interruptions in the morning so we didn't get in our usual Bible Time during breakfast; we'll add that in to our afternoon school time.]
The girls helped pick up their toys while I picked up the main floor, switched the laundry, cleaned the bathroom, picked up our bedroom, emptied the dirty water from the carpet cleaner (don't ask me how long I'd procrastinated on that task--ick!), and took the sheets off our bed.
Kaitlynn went back down for a nap and Kathrynne painted at the kitchen table and then rode her bike around and around the kitchen table (yes, I know! Isn't that against some cardinal rule of mothering? Oh well! Now you know the truth...) while I finished straightening the house and folded a load of laundry.
Kaitlynn usually only sleeps for an hour or so during her morning nap, but she ended up sleeping through lunch so we skipped our usual after-lunch school time and had our afternoon quiet time earlier than usual.
As soon as Kaitlynn wakes up, we'll have our Bible Time and afternoon school time and then head out for our weekly grocery shopping trip. We're planning to stop at the library, too, since we've read and re-read all of the books we checked out last week.
The girls and I normally have a really great time doing the grocery shopping--they are both at easy stages and I bring snacks along to make the shopping trip extra fun. And the library is one of their ultimate favorite places to go so they always eagerly look forward to our weekly trip there!
I put some chicken and vegetables in marinade last night before I went to bed so we'll be grilling out for dinner and eating on our deck (we recently were given one of those handy-dandy Off! PowerPad Lamps and we're hoping it works like it says it does so we don't have to ward off misquitos!). As a special treat, I'm buying ingredients at the store for s'mores. The girls have never made these before so we're going to finagle a way to roast the marshmallows over our grill.
Should be a fun family memory! And isn't making special memories with your family so integral to a home that is a haven for your family?
Labels: Making Your Home a Haven
posted by Crystal Paine at 1:41 PM
14 Comments:
We've successfully done s'mores over the grill using kebab skewers. Even sticks from the yard will work fine--even better if they're wet or green so they won't burn.
Sounds like a great day. I'm curious about changing the bed...do you do that every day? From past posts, it appears you do, and I'm curious how you came to change sheets every day instead of weekly.
I have a fun, less messy s'more recipe:
Melt chocolate in a double boiler(can use any form of meltable chocolate)
Spread on half of a graham cracker, spread marshmallow fluff on the other half. Put two pieces together and refrigerate until chocolate is set, bet still messy enough to be fun!(you could refrigerate until chocolate is set, and then this makes a great treat for traveling)
Amanda
Don't feel bad about the bike in the kitchen. This winter my two little boys rode their Christmas bikes in the house on many occasions. After all, it was a long time between Christmas and warm weather!
Riding around and around on the kitchen table? Yep! Sounds like our house. I can often be heard telling my kids to go jump on their bed or mine and work off some extra energy on a rainy day. I have received gasps from several mothers when they hear this, so that must be against a "cardinal rule" too! :)
But I say: What else can beds possibly be for? Just sleeping?! Surely not!
Coming from a family of nine, I would say you definitely have the temperment to have a lot of kids. Sometimes I'm amazed I survived my childhood, but I did--and had a lot of fun too--and my mom never got an ulcer worrying herself sick over every "dangerous" things we did.
My kids ride their trikes in the house too. They are too young to be out by themselves in the street, and we have a fairly open floor plan. :)
I'm amazed that you get so much done. I feel like I'm forever trying to get things done, but with the 2 year old and the 6 month old, all I really get done is diapers, potty training, and nursing. It just amazes me.
S'mores and grills: I saw a cooking show recently where the woman made little s'more "packets" with tin foil -- just sandwiched the chocolate and marshmallows between crackers, and wrapped it up tightly in foil, and then set it in a closed grill for a few minutes.
I am always encouraged to learn that other moms allow kids to do things like...pedal endlessly around the kitchen table! My own kids love to: play in the sandbox (hours), create very noisy parades, and jump on the beds (daddy actually encouraged this as a game when they were small...lovely). We also allow our kids to be grimy, mismatched, and to consume too many popsicles...when we are trying to finish an outdoor project! :) Many rules violated here, but I think these are also the treasures of a happy childhood. I suppose my message is this: it delights me to know that other children are enjoying "simple" childhoods...I sometimes "mis-assume" that other moms are planning learning activities and the like ALL DAY LONG. God Bless your sweet girl and her pedaling!
What a great looking day! We love the library, too.
I can't wait to hear how the girls liked s'mores! :)
oh what fun memories, several of my girls wear 2 braids, I love that look! and I fondly remember more than one of my children at very young age, sitting in the front of the shopping buggy playing with a bottle of shampoo pretending to wash their hair, but never opening the bottle, more than one child did this exact same thing but it was never taught, isn't that funny? oh dear sister, cherish these years!
blessings, Penny Raine
http://www.pennyraine.com/blog
I just realized I thought that Kathrynne rode her trike around ON TOP OF the kitchen table. I thought that seemed like a fairly small area, but I thought "hey, whatever floats your boat" you know...
Now you know what kind of childhood I REALLY had! :)
Phebe
Alicia: I only change the sheets on Mondays (normally!) and since Monday is usually the day I share a little peek into our life here, that's why you see it so often. :)
Phebe: That's hilarious! I think I might draw the line at riding the trike on the table. :)
I think the rule of the house should be bike riding allowed!
We rented a house once where you could ride around the kitchen into the living room and back inot the kitchen,Our daughter would order a snadwich on the first round and pick it up on the next round.
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