Baby Birds, Ice Cream Sundaes, and Flarp

So, I'm going to try a new thing this year. Once a week, I'll post a detailed account of a day in our life. I don't know if I can keep this up the entire year, but I'm sure gonna try. I'm inspired to do so after reading the book Homeschooling: A Patchwork of Days. And, I LOVE to read about other people who write in detail about days in their lives as well. So, here's what we did May 3rd.


8:00-9:00  Steve woke me up at 8:00 a.m. I couldn't believe I slept so late. Steve and the kids have been up for a little while already. With the birthday party this weekend, we've all been more tired these past two days.  I get come cereal for myself, give Jared his medicine, and pour cereal for the kids.  Alexa is in  the kitchen playing games on PBSkids.org.  After eating, I look up directions to a home we're going to later, see what books are due at the library and check the weather. Jared had been playing with his Batman figures on the floor near me.

9:00-10:00   Alexa brings me a new magazine, Highlights Five, that she and Jared received for a birthday present. Both kids climb in my lap and I read them the whole magazine. They want to do an experiment that was in the magazine, but we'll have to do it later.   We have a few errantds to do before going to an ice cream sundae party.  I dress, do hair and make-up, then dress the kids and do their hair.  Then I collect all library books that have to go back that day.

10:00-11:00    We eat a quick lunch of hamburgers, carrots and grapes. Then I quickly pack up a bag, and we head to the library.  Jared picks out a new DVD, we return late DVDs, pay fines and check out new books on hold.

11:00-12:00   Next, we drive to Walgreens and pick up small marshmallows for our ice cream party.  On the drive to Matthew's house, Alexa reads aloud one of the new picture books I checked out at the library.  We pull up to the house and run to the backyard.  I'm a part of a Mom's group through Meet-up.com.  Almost a year ago, I met a mom and her son when Jared took a basketball class at the YMCA.  The kids play on the swingset for awhile.. A bird had built a nest right on the ledge on the top of the set near the top of the slide.  There is actually two baby birds inside.  It looks like they have just been born a day or so ago; they have hardly any down and their eyes are closed. Their little beaks are wide open looking for food.

Matthew's mom said the mother was still around, and we keep the kids from touching the birds. It's really awesome to be so close to birds so tiny.  Soon the kids are distracted by making ice cream sundaes with marshmallows, chocolate fudge, sprinkles, M&Ms, and whipped cream. Then the kids jump down and play with balls, the play lawnmower, and large trucks.  In between playing with the kids, I get a chance to talk with some of the other moms.

1:00-2:00    We say good-bye to our friends and drive to the LaGrange Library.  I try to get the kids to eat a few handfuls of goldfish crackers before heading inside.  Them we go to the basement and meet new homeschooking freinds.  There is a great mix of kids here, ranging from babies to age 16.  Today is math day, so they have all sorts of math games set out like Quirkle, Set, Chess, Sequence, Math Bingo, and also for younger kids Duplos, paper and crayons.  Jared and Alexa play with Duplos while I talk with the organizer of the group.  Then, Alexa draws a picture and cuts it out while Jared has a major temper tantrum on the floor. He had found a metal spiral sharp thing on the ground and wanted to put it in his mouth while continuing to lay on the floor. Since that wasn't going to happen, and he couldn't be convinced to sit in my lap and play with it, he screamed his head off for a while.  Thankfully, another mother brought over some Dominos, and I convinced him it would be fun to line them up.  He is getting much better at being calmed down within a shorter time frame.  After lining up the Dominos, he and Alexa play with pattern blocks for while, and I get some time to talk with other moms.

2:00-3:00   We clean up our mess,  go upstairs, search through the online card cataloge, find a Batman book and read it.  Alexa finds a large stack of chapter books, and sits down to read them. I look at puzzles, the fish tank and other books with Jared.  Then we go to the bathroom, check out Jared's book and head for the car.  

3:00-4:00    We drive from the library to Walgreens to pick of Jared's medicine and milk.  When I get out of the car, I find out Jared has fallen asleep.  Poor guy. These past three days have been very busy.  I carry him while Alexa walks beside me. After checking out, I drive home, walk in the house, and place Jared on the couch, still sleeping. Alexa watches a half hour of Justice League, while I check and write e-mails, read a few blog posts and write down what we've done so far today.

4:00-5:00  After 45 minutes sleeping, Jared wakes up. He wants to watch another episode of Justice League, so I give in and say yes. At 4:30 I turn off the DVD, and Jared has a mini-tantrum.  While he's screaming a census worker comes to the door and asks if I've filled out my census info yet. He asks if it's a good time to ask me some questions. Um, no. Can I think of a good time for him to come back? Um, no. He says he'll have to come back in three days if I don't make an appointment. Ok. You do that. Jared asks for a bowl of ice cream.  While he's eating, I strip the beds of the sheets and carry the towels out of the bathroom. I had started sorting the laundry while the kids were watching their DVD, so I go back to doing that. Alexa finds the Brain Quest, so she reads me some questions and answers while I sort. Jared pushes his Star Wars Legos around the kitchen floor while he makes up song after song. 

5:00-6:00   Jared goes upstairs to play drums. I put in a load of laundry, hang up clean towels in the bathroom and put clean sheets and pillowcases on all the beds. While I'm doing that, Jared comes downstairs, and both kids strip down naked: Alexa with shorts on her head and wearing princess high heels, and Jared with his new soldier mask and sword.  They make up song after song - from songs about Jesus loving them to Storm Troopers. They try to jump on the bed while I'm putting on the sheets, and finally I yell at them to leave the room. I decide we'll have to eat hot dogs, mac and cheese, and asparagus tonight. I usually know what we're going to eat for dinner the night before and have something defrosted, but this weekend has left me a little disoriented. Jared calls me in the bedroom to see the bird's nest he's made out of the pillows and blankets. Both kids ask me to tell them a story. We lay on the bed together, and I make up a story about a robin who's lost in a rainstorm and is worried about her eggs, but how a kind crow sits on them for her until she makes it home again. Then they tell me a story. Unfortuantely, it ends up with them kicking each other and me banning everyone from the nest. I turn on the water to boil for the meal, and Steve calls to say he's on his way home.

6:00-7:00  Alexa asks to play the new game Granny Apples she received for her birthday. I drop the hot dogs and mac and cheese in the water, and sit down to read the instructions with her. It's pretty complicated, and after 15 minutes, we both decide to put the game away for awhile. Jared has been playing with this Star Wars Legos. I call Steve back and talk to him while I work on dinner. I hand the kids some Flarp to play with. It's pretty much the same things as what they called slime about 20 years ago. They are still naked and proceed to smear it all over their bodies.

Then they run off to the back of the house. After hanging up with Steve and cutting up the hot dogs, I go check on the kids. Not good. Now they've found my lipstick and have smeared that all over their chests, too. Steve walks in so I take time to throw in another load of clothes in the washer. When I come upstairs, all is quiet. I think they ran upstairs. After calling the kids for awhile, I realize they've run outside in the backyard. Naked. Covered in flarp and shooting each other with squirt guns. Steve and I get them inside, scrap off most of the flarp, and put clothes on them. I put the clothes in the dryer, while Steve serves up the food. The kids eat quickly, and then run outside to ride their bikes. Steve and I have about five minutes to talk.

7:00-8:00  The kids play outside on bikes and the swing set while I wash up the dinner dishes and clear the table.  Steve moves the cars in the garage, brings the garbage and recycling to the street and waters the grass. I lure the kids inside with watching a little bit of Little Mermaid II.  After changing them into P.J.s, I finish up the kitchen.  Steve comes in and irons a shirt for work tomorrow, and then he brushes the kid's teeth and puts them in bed.  We both sing and pray with them, and then rush off to catch the beginning of our show.

8:00-9:00    Every Monday night Steve and I watch the show 24.  I think it's in its 8th or 9th season, and we've watched it from the beginning.  We usally take much more time with the kids at night, but our VCR broke last week, and we have no way to record the show.  So we try to watch as the kids jump on their beds, run back and forth between our room and theirs, and argue.  Finally, we put big stack sof books on our bed and they both sit up to read.  This lasts until Alexa falls asleep, and then Jared wanders out to the living room  We try to keep him in our bedroom until the end of the show.

9:00-10:00  I start to type up this log of what we did today.  While I'm doing this, Jared pulls out the abacus and starts to count the beads.  I'm really surprised to hear him count out to twenty correctly.  I didn't know he could do that.  After twenty he asks, "What's next?" as he pushes the next bead forward. I tell him the numbers all the way to one hundred.  After that, Steve takes him outside for a little while to look at the sky, and check for fireflies.  Steve says he's tired and gets ready for bed.  As I write this, Jared talks about wanting more presents, and then goes on and on about a story he's made up about Gotham City, and Batman and the Joker.  Steve lays down around 9:45, and Jared follows him into the bed.  I hear them talking together, and Steve's making up a new Batman story for him.  I go throw another load in the washing machine, put another in the dryer, and then I fold the first load I had thrown in.  I usually have all the laundry done, folded and put away the same day, but today we were out of the house a lot longer than we usually are. Jared drifts out to the living room, and we talk for awhile. Finally, around 10:15, he lets me carry him into our bed. I get ready for bed and crash at about 10:45.