A day in the life

This post was inspired by Amanda, who documented her day yesterday. Like her, I'm always curious how other moms spend their days. And like her, I often get to the end of a day and wonder, Where did the time go?'

Yesterday was a pretty typical Monday for us. We don't always have lunch with Matt, and we don't always go to the gym. Sometimes we spice things up with trip to the grocery store or the library, and when we get May weather in January, as we did recently, we've been known to throw all our plans out the window and spend two hours at the park. In the evenings, I'm much more likely to read than to spray paint a chandelier.

I'd love to hear about a day in your life too -- leave me a comment if you blog about it!

Early morning, 6:45ish. Claire wakes up, calling for Matt. Score. I stay in bed until Evan wakes up about 30 minutes later. He and I join Claire and Matt downstairs. Bagels and coffee for breakfast. Matt takes a shower and I clean up from breakfast.

8:30ish: Matt goes to work. I get the kids dressed. I put on music and pile up couch cushions and throw pillows on the living room floor and the kids have a dance/jumping party while I knock out some laundry. We all go upstairs while I take a shower. Claire washes her hands at the sink the entire time. Evan rifles through the cabinets and tries to throw anything he finds into the shower the entire time. I get dressed. Matt stops by to pick up light fixtures and take them to the new house for installation. The kids play in the garage while he and I load his car.

10ish: The kids and I go back upstairs. They entertain themselves with a jar of buttons, a spinning desk chair, a flashlight, a fire truck and a calculator while I put up Evan's clean laundry, stuff inserts into a stack of clean cloth diapers, make our bed, sweep our bedroom and, because they're so happily occupied, even dust -- a rare occurence for the upstairs.

Late morning: Everyone's antsy. We all eat some string cheese. It's cold and a little wet outside. The kids don't care, so I bundle them up and let them loose in the back yard. I reply to a few emails and vacuum the downstairs rugs. The kids come back in. I call Matt to see if he wants to meet us for lunch. He does.

Noonish: The kids and I get to Chick-fil-A a few minutes early so they can play. Another mom and I referee a bunch of older kids that don't belong to us. Matt arrives and we eat.

1ish: Matt's back at work and the kids and I are back home. They play outside for a few minutes while I unload and then reload the dishwasher.

1:15ish: I put Evan down for a nap. I paint Claire's toenails and fingernails with three slightly different shades of hot pink, all topped with sparkly clear polish. We read two books while it dries and then she goes down for a nap too.

1:45ish: I sit down at the computer and send a flurry of emails. I edit one story. An email comes in saying my March Madness story has been moved to the cover and asking if I can double its length by Friday. I confirm that I can do this and start working on it.

3:15ish: Claire wakes up, and a few minutes later so does Evan. We sit on the kitchen floor and have graham crackers and juice. Then we pack up and go to the gym early so we can play on the greenway trail for a little while before our gym appointment.

4:30: I drop the kids off in the gym nursery and run on the greenway.

5:30: I pick the kids up and we stop by Mom and Dad's house to get the ham Granny saved us from Sunday lunch. When we get home, Matt's home. We all hang out for a while, then the kids eat leftover mac and cheese and Matt's should-be-famous chicken salad for dinner. If we hadn't had leftovers, this is the point at which I would have started thinking about what to cook for dinner. Meal planning is a major weakness of mine.

7ish: I put Evan to bed. Matt puts Claire to bed about 30 minutes later, then he and I eat dinner -- also chicken salad sandwiches. We clean up the kitchen and the dining room. Again.

8ish: I decide it's high time I spray painted one of the antique chandeliers for the new house. I open windows and spread out sheets and cardboard in the breakfast nook. I do three coats of green, joining Matt on the couch to work on March Madness between coats.

10ish: I realize I never took a shower after running, so I do that. Then I go back downstairs to hang out with Matt.

11ish: Bedtime.