The Schedule

Lately, I have realized no matter what age your kids are, life will pretty much always be crazy in one way or the other. Here is the schedule I have to keep during the week. Ben is gone a lot right now in preparation for a big week of exams in January, so I'm running the household on my own for much of the week.

7 am: The alarm goes off. Get the girls up, Gordon bounds out of bed. I wish the girls were that excited to get up everyday. They (especially Ev) need a lot of cajoling to get out of bed.
7:25: head out the door to the bus stop. Or realize there is no way we are making the bus and I have 15 additional minutes to get out the door and in the car with 3 kids in tow. This has become the norm the last few weeks.
8:05: Get back to the house, and I have a little less than an hour to either exercise, shower, dress, read scriptures, haul laundry down to the laundry building, water the garden, etc. Usually only one or two of these things happen.
9:10 - Angelina arrives with her mom. We chat for a few minutes, and then her mom takes off for school.
9:45 - Angelina and Gordon need a second round of breakfast. I now have about an hour and a half  to run errands. The usual stops include the bank, Costco, another grocery store, and maybe the piano store for music.
11:35 - Jilly arrives at the bus stop where I have to meet the bus or else they drive away with her.
12:15 Lunch time for all the kids.
12:45 - Angelina goes down for her nap. Now's when I usually take time to do computer stuff, read scriptures, and get a break from kids.
2:10 - Evelyn gets home, I feed her and the other kids a snack, work on homework, and we pick up the house if it's a piano lesson afternoon (3 days a week).
3:00 (about) - Angelina wakes up from her nap. She has to be fed, changed, and then entertained until we head outside to play at the playground. Thankfully she finds my kids entertaining. This is when piano lessons start some days.
5:00 - we head outside most days (except where piano runs late) about this time. The kids are ready to explode with energy and get out the door.
5:20 - Angelina's dad arrives to pick her up. The kids play and run around some more.
5:45 - We head inside. Time to play the, "what's for dinner tonight?" game. I go through phases where I'm really good at using my crock pot to have dinner ready as soon as we get in, but lately that hasn't been happening. Time for kids to finish any homework they didn't do earlier, wash up, put on pajamas, and pick out outfits for the next day.
7:00 - Dinner is about wrapped up, and the kids are finishing running around, "helping" pick up the floor and their room, and finishing getting ready for bed.
8:00 - We get the kids to bed in by this time most days. Gordon should go to bed earlier, but he's decided he no longer can fall asleep by himself because he's scared. He sleeps with Evelyn, and I'm considering selling his toddler bed and getting a twin-sized loft so he can transition to a bigger bed and maybe stay there at night.

Now's when I decompress for the day, talk to Ben (he's coming home after the kids go to bed these days), check and respond to emails, etc. I should be in bed by 10 pm, but it's usually more like 11 pm.

Life is pushing me more than ever these days, but I am fortunate to have opportunities to add to our income during these lean grad school years.