It's time for another entry into A day in the life of the Daniels! We're about to add another member to the family and that will definitely mean a change in routine and what our day to day life looks like. I like to do one of these blog posts before we add another baby to the family because I want to remember what daily life was like before I had 4 kids. Just a couple of months after Flynn arrives it will be hard to remember life without him. I know this because it's happened to me 3 times already! ;)
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| Just waking up and watching a show together. |
At 6:30am, when Sam is getting ready for work, my alarm starts going off, but it's rare that I'm up and out of bed before 7am. On a good day I'm dressed and at my desk to work at 7:10 or so. Jane and Atlas have a clock that turns green when it's a good time for them to wake up. I have it set at 8am. They are allowed to wake up and come out of their room before then, but they have to entertain themselves without screens before 8am. Jane is usually up between 7:30 and 7:45. She usually just hangs out on the couch or goes outside to play with Cambria if it's a nice morning. Atlas sleeps past 8am most mornings, but he's up before 9am for sure. Alexandria can be a real toss up. Of course she can't understand a green light clock yet. So I go get her whenever she stands up in her crib. Sometimes it's at 7:30 other times she sleeps until almost 10am! Most common wake up time for her is around 9am. They are great sleepers! They only wake up if they need help going potty, finding a stuffed animal, are scared from a dream or need help getting their covers back on their bed. (It sounds like a lot, but really Jane is the only one who wakes me up and it's only to go potty.) At 8am I put a show on for whoever is up and keep working. I normally work until 9am. If Xan is still sleeping late I might work until 10am if I need to, but that would be a long day. I try to get all my work done before breakfast so we can have the rest of the day to do activities and school.
We usually have late breakfasts since I try to get all my work done first. I try to have everyone dressed and eating breakfast by 9:30am, but a lot of the time it's 10am. I'm really trying to get work done sooner to move everything earlier though! It's just so hard to get up any earlier being pregnant. One thing I try to fit in every day as long as it's not too rainy or super cold is a walk around the neighborhood. The kids normally ask to go! They really enjoy it. Ever since we got Atlas's big wheel he wants to ride it almost every time! Jane mixes it up a lot. She sometimes rides the other big wheel, her big bike, rides in the double stroller with Xan, walks Cambria for me or pushes Xan in an umbrella stroller. She's just someone who has to keep things fresh by not doing the same exact thing every day. It was so cool when I wasn't pushing a stroller for the first time in 5 years on a walk. It still doesn't happen a whole lot because Jane doesn't always want to push Xan for me, but it's sure is fun when she chooses that option. It sure is nice that they have been choosing not to ride in the stroller a lot lately since we'll have to add Flynn in the stroller very soon!
In late August of 2019 we started Kindergarten! I feel like an official home school mom now. Picking out curriculum, trying to decide how much to push a lesson or learning a skill that day or letting it go, struggling to juggle the younger kiddos and help Jane WANT to do school. We definitely have weeks where we don't even do a real lesson the whole week and just fit in some reading practice and sight word flash cards. But I really feel like that is ok! Especially for Kindergarten. We are just doing reading, writing and math. We are loving IEW and Math U See. Jane's favorite part of school is cutting work. In the picture above it was her first time to write her name just right! One day we spent our school time writing letters to friends and family. She loved it. At this point she can write her name and most letters and knows each letter sound. She has trouble writing letters and numbers backwards right now, but I'm trying to let it go for now and let it work itself out. My mom said that's what she did with me and it worked just fine. She knows about 40-50 sight words and can sound out words with a little help, but she hates sounding out words, that is our biggest struggle. She can count very well and is starting addition. Overall I'm very happy with her progress through our first few months! Atlas is doing some very light preschool and only when he wants to. He's not quite ready for anything structured. I didn't start preschool with Jane until she was 4. We have our good days and we have our bad days, but for the most part school is going really well! It is amazing to watch her learn!!
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| The most popular place in the backyard |
On a day when we stay home the whole day our afternoons are pretty relaxed and if it's a nice day the kids will spend a good amount of time in the backyard. About a month or two ago I finally got comfortable with Alexandria being outside with the big kids while I stay inside and watch from the window. It still makes me a little nervous. I will try to find something Xan wants to do inside while Jane and Atlas play outside because I'm really comfortable with just the two of them in the backyard together. Xan can still get curious with dog poop from time to time so yeah... I have to keep a pretty close eye on her still. Also, if Jane isn't careful she can bounce Xan too high on the trampoline. I kind of have to gauge if Jane is feeling like an attentive sister or just wanting to have fun on her own. The trampoline is the number one attraction in the backyard, but the playset comes in as a pretty close second. I adore our backyard. I love that it's big enough to have a trampoline and a playset and still have a big part of the yard to run around in and play games. If it's not a good day to spend time outside we'll have some kinetic sand playtime. They all love to play with it! I can get about 30 minutes of undisturbed time with kinetic sand. Atlas will last an hour or more!! The girls move on faster. We usually fit in a movie in the afternoon as well. That way Xan can grab her 30 minute nap. Yep, that's all I get. But she is such a happy, content baby/toddler I can't complain. While the movie is on I take a moment to relax for a bit, finish up any work leftover from the morning or get a couple things done around the house. We might have some school to finish up real quick in the afternoon that I will use Xan's nap for. Alexandria has to be right in the middle of Jane's school work all the time! So I will save the hard work that takes the most focus for her nap if we need to.
Before I know it 5pm is rolling around and it's time for me to start thinking about preparing dinner. I try to text Sam sometime earlier in the day, at least before he starts his drive home at 5pm, to see what he would like for dinner. Somehow it always seems to get to 5pm so fast that it takes me until then to realize I still haven't decided what to cook. I feel like dinner gets harder as the kids get older and have more opinions. ;) I am all about a dinner that everyone likes and I won't hear any whining about eating it. There are only a few of those unfortunately. Spaghetti and Meatballs, Chili/hot dogs, Ravioli, homemade chicken tenders, pig in a blanket and white Mac & Cheese, Grilled Cheese and Tomato soup are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head. Of course there are frozen options that everyone will normally eat like corn dogs, chicken nuggets or pizza. But I try to do those on nights where I when I'm tapped out energy wise, physically, mentally or emotionally! On the toughest days we get fast food or order pizza. We try to stick to one, maybe two eating out meals a week. Anyway, during dinner prep the kids normally watch some Nick Jr. or if I'm creative enough to figure out something they can all do together and not fight then we can forgo the TV that night. Like more kinetic sand or playing in forts. Jane and Atlas will help me cook from time to time, but I don't have enough patience to let them help me every night. ;) If I'm on time dinner is either already ready when Sam walks in or about 10 minutes from being done.
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| The way they watch Peppa Pig |
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| Reading a robot sticker book. Probably the best value I've ever gotten out of a book. |
As long as we get started on books before 9pm I'll let Jane and Atlas each pick out two books to read. If it's later I'll allow one short book each. Then I turn the lights out, sing a couple of songs and ask them what they want to pray about. We'll say a prayer together and give kisses goodnight. They are sooooo amazing about staying in their beds and going straight to sleep. Atlas took a lot of training to get him there, but he's awesome now. The only time he gives me trouble is if he randomly took a nap in the car earlier that day. Jane always wants to sleep at night, she'll even choose to skip books to get right in bed some nights.
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| My nighttime buddy |
Finally, sometime between 9-9:30pm everyone is quietly in bed. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids and enjoy my days with them, but every mom knows how important alone time is! I really love my alone time too. Some nights Sam and I will watch a movie or one of our shows together. Most nights we do our own thing, we still chat through the evening though. I usually end up doing what I'm doing right now, blogging, but some nights it takes too much brain power to blog or there is laundry to fold. So I'll just watch one of my favorite shows, This Is Us, The Good Place, Superstore, World of Dance, The Goldbergs, America's Got Talent or Dancing with the Stars. Most of the things I will do at night will pertain to the kids though. I like to go through and organize pictures or work on a baby book. Sometimes I need to get some school ready for Jane. At this time of year, I get to wrap Christmas presents! <3 At 11:30-12 I finally call it a day and go to bed and get ready to start it all over again! I always try to go to bed earlier, but it never seems to happen. ;) My alone time keeps me sane!
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| Just a cute matching raincoat sister picture for ya. ;) |
I like to go through our weekly activities with these posts too. It helps me remember what our days were filled with when we didn't spend the day at home. Really, we go places so often that Jane and Atlas wake up asking where we are going that day. They get disappointed when I say nowhere. ;) I usually have to tell them about where we are going tomorrow and the rest of the week and then they are ok with a home day.
Gymnastics has been a part of our weekly routine for 2 years now! Jane just had her 2nd Rowland Ballard anniversary last month. We have switched what day we go so many times! Ever since Jane started Kinderstars I've struggled to find a time that worked well since they are all later times. Somehow we always make it work though! Jane loves it so much, I have to make it work. I love watching her grow in her skills. When Xan turned 1 my mom started taking Atlas and Xan back to her house instead of coming to watch with us. It's just so much easier than trying to entertain them there. I can do it in a pinch though! I'm very grateful my mom is willing to help us out!
.Heart Park Day has been our most consistent weekly activity for over 3 years now. It's definitely everyone's favorite. I get my mom time and the kids get their park and friend time! It's a win for everyone. I took over coordinating park day about 2 years ago now. I love it! It's grown so much. It went from about 5 families that came every week to about 15 families! On a large week we'll have around 20 families! We have such a great group of kids and moms. I couldn't ask for a better home school event for us to be a part of.
I usually try to use our weekends to recharge from the busy week. We try to fit in some quality time with dad on the weekends of course. They had a blast throwing water balloons at him in this picture. Other favorite activities with dad are playing baseball, basketball and video games too. Some weekends are filled with special activities.
For example, gymnastic meets!! They are the cutest! Jane adores them. I really enjoy going to watch her. She has improved soooo much from last year. Her first meet this year she got the best skill ribbon she could get on all her routines. So proud! Meet season is about 6 months long and there is a meet each month. It doesn't take up too much time. We're not there all day. It lasts about 2 hours then I like to take Jane out to eat after. Cici's is our favorite post meet spot.
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| Little friends!! |
Atlas and Jane get sooo excited when we have a birthday party to go to on a weekend. They love to celebrate with their little friends. <3 I'd say it ends up almost once a month or so we have a birthday party to go to, unless it's April... then there's one almost every weekend! Haha! We love parties though so it's all good!
Other than Gymnastics and Park day the only thing we definitely do each week is go to Marmee's and Pappaw's twice a week as long as we're all healthy and there isn't another event that prevents us. (like one of us being out of town) The kids always get so excited when they find out it's a Marmee and Pappaw day! I love it too. They feed us and play with the kids and I get a tiny break from entertaining all three of them. I also really enjoy getting to visit with my parents. It is such a blessing to live just 5 minutes away from them. <3
We recently added a little home school Co-op that meets every other week to our schedule. It's kind of like story time with a little extra structure and school focus. The kids seem to really enjoy it. It's so much more fun to do songs with a group instead of just with mom. ;) The mom's in the group rotate leading story and craft. I wasn't sure if I could handle something else in our schedule, but this has turned out perfect. It's just a 10 minute drive and on a week that I'm not leading all I do is show up. (since it's every other week and we have six moms, there's a big break between leading each time) We're on holiday break right now, so the next time we hold co-op, I'll have Flynn with me!
Even though we only have a few things that are for sure on our weekly agenda, the rest of our week ends up filling up with activities fast! I love to fit in a playdate with friends once a week if our schedule allows. The pictures above are a couple of our favorite friends to visit, but we have to drive a little farther to see them. We've got a girl crew and a boy crew to hang out with. ;) It may be almost an hour drive to visit my sisterhoodie girls and the McNair boys but it's sooo worth it. The kids and the mom's love each other. Thankfully we have a few close local friends to hang out with too. Whisper, Paige and Liam are some of Jane and Atlas's best friends. <3 And their little brothers, Jaxon and Parker are becoming Xan's little friends too!
About once a month we have an event to attend with our Heart home school group. These pictures are from a fire station tour! It was so awesome. They got to tour the station, try on the uniform, get in the fire truck and spray the fire hose! Last month we had story time at the pumpkin patch, this month we have a Thanksgiving picnic and next month we have a Kindergarten Christmas Party. We love our home school group so much! I used to lead a couple of indoor playground dates once a month at The Woodlands Church and Humble First Baptist. But I realized that the Woodlands Church is just a little too much for my pregnant self, so I've suspended that one for a bit and the Humble playground stopped holding their public play days. :( I tried a new indoor playground in Kingwood and I think it will be a nice substitute, but I'll wait until Flynn is here to make it a recurring event since it's the holidays and he should be here next month!
Going to the Library is definitely a regular occurrence for us. It just depends how busy we are if we go once a week or every other week. We stopped doing story time this year though. Jane was getting too old for the toddler time one and Atlas and Xan don't sit still enough for the preschool one. But we all still love the library! We usually have a stack of 30 Library books at home. I also love their movie and kids show selection. We like to take advantage of the music CDs and audio books too. Jane, Atlas and Xan all love the kids activity area with toys and blocks. They play for a bit while I look for good books to take home. On the way out the kids always want to stop and take a picture with the statues or on the garden bench. Seriously, if you live in the area and don't take advantage of the Kingwood Library, you're missing out!
One of the biggest changes to our weekly schedule in the last year or so was our grocery store trips. When Alexandria was born my mother in law gifted us a Shipt subscription. I started using it for groceries when Xan was a little bitty baby. After a few months I realized the items had a pretty steep up charge. Like 10% on each item! Then there is the subscription fee and I read that the Shipt employees do rely on good tips to make the job worth it. It was just too expensive for me. I went back to grocery shopping in the store for a while. HEB offered free curbside over the holidays last year, so I decided to try that out. There is a 3% shopping fee on the order, but I can handle that! Plus I don't have to worry about tipping when I do a curbside pickup. They hooked me. Even though there is about a $5 fee per pick up when there's not a promotion going on it's worth it for me and still cheaper than Shipt. Cambria normally gets to come with us when we pick up our groceries and the kids enjoy playing in the front yard while I put the groceries inside and get as many put away as I can while keeping an eye on them. I can't remember the last time I did a big grocery store trip with all of them. We will go to the little Walmart when we need a couple items between curbside pick up trips, but that's about all I can handle with all of them now. Also, we've been much healthier this year than the year before and I wonder if it has anything to do with not going to the grocery store... I guess we'll never really know.
That concludes A day in the life of the Daniels: Volume 3. I mostly do this post for myself to look back on. If you've made it this far, thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into our daily life. I love how it reminds me how special every day is even if there are hard moments. God is so good to us. I hope I never forget what a privilege it is to live the life that I have been given. <3
James 1:16-18
Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
