A few times a year I like to capture A Day in the Life. Mostly so I can look back someday and cry big crocodile tears over how little my babies were and how precious our time was, but also because sometimes inspiration strikes when we peek into someone else’s day. Personally, I like to read how others do things and many times when I do, I make a small edit somewhere that makes a load of difference.
I don’t need to tell anyone the year 2020 is one for the history books. As weird as the past nine months have been, I have savored this time because I’m pretty sure the entire world will never shut down again (at least I hope not). A Day in 2020 looks mighty different than a day in 2019. It’s a journey, nonetheless, and one I’m happy to be on.
A Day in the Life…
5:00 a.m. Alarm goes off. I get dressed and complete a Motivated workout in our bedroom.
5:20 a.m. Read devotion on the couch and pray. New Morning Mercies is my current read.
5:35 a.m. Mix up gluten free blueberry muffins. It’s a Tuesday rhythm since Kevin has Zoom Bible study each Tuesday and I am on breakfast duty.
5:50 a.m. Go for a walk. It’s my new self care.
6:10 a.m. Take a shower and get ready for the day.
6:25 a.m. Put muffins in the oven, sit down to write and read.
7:00 a.m. Get kids up for the day. Cuddle with Luke on the couch. Luke is slow to rise and I savor the cuddles with him. The ten minutes snuggled up with my firstborn is a treasure to me.
7:10 a.m. Breakfast. The kids aren’t super hungry this morning, so they each eat 2 muffins and I throw some sausage in the skillet for Lily and Jude. With some protein in their bellies, I know they will make it to lunch.
7:20 a.m. Get Jack up and feed him a breakfast of milk, banana, and Cheerios.
7:50 a.m. The kids watch Real City Heroes for 15 minutes because Jude earned a potty reward.
7:55 a.m. I mix up and make some zucchini muffins for our neighbors who so graciously gave us loads of zucchini this summer.
8:15 a.m. Luke begins his independent seat work. Lily and Jude get out the Quiet Box. Jack toddles around the house.
8:40 a.m. I play with Jack for a few minutes while Luke finishes up his independent seat work.
8:55 a.m. Sit down to complete seat work with Luke.
9:10 a.m. Sit down to complete seat work with Lily.
9:35 a.m. Put Jack down for his morning nap.
9:40 a.m. Meet in the school room with Luke, Lily and Jude. We read our devotion and pray. Luke and Lily recite their poems. We talk about the day and I read a few Eric Carle books.
10:25 a.m. Independent reading time for 20 minutes. I do reading lessons with Luke and Lily.
10:50 a.m. Make lunches to eat in the car. Peanut butter and jelly, pretzels, raspberries, carrots.
11:00 a.m. Get Jack up from his morning nap and head to Council Bluffs.
11:30 a.m. Drop off donations to Goodwill.
11:45 a.m. Drop off a meal to a friend. The three bigs have meltdowns in the car over someone kicking the back of a seat. They lose their tablets for the ride home.
12:30 p.m. Pick up grocery order at Wal-Mart.
12:35 p.m. Pick up Starbucks and head for home.
1:00 p.m. Luke and Lily drop off muffins to neighbors. It is the cutest.
1:10 p.m. Everyone helps put away groceries. Luke and Lily get screen time while Jude and Jack play.
1:35 p.m. Luke and Lily go to ‘help’ Grandma with the bees. They are all beekeepers.
2:00 p.m. Read Ten Thank You Letters to Jude and put him down for nap.
2:10 p.m. Put Jack down for an afternoon nap.
2:15 p.m. Prep roast and put in the oven for dinner. Do some blog work.
2:20 p.m. Luke comes in with two bumblebee stings. He isn’t too traumatized, so we put some ointment on and he is good to go.
3:00 p.m. Walk Luke back out to Grandma to work with the bees.
3:15 p.m. Pick cherry tomatoes.
3:45 p.m. Kids come back in from the bees and head to their rooms for Quiet Time.
4:00 p.m. Sit down to write and read.
4:15 p.m. Quiet time is over and the kids get up.
4:30 p.m. The kids turn on music as everyone gets up. It’s a lethargic dance party as everyone tries to wake up.
5:10 p.m. The roast comes out of the oven and dinner is ready.
5:30 p.m. We eat dinner together. Luke gets sick from the bumblebee sting.
5:45 p.m. Clean up dinner as Kevin leaves for a fantasy football draft with friends.
6:00 p.m. Kids get pajamas on and discuss a movie choice since Dad is gone and Luke isn’t feeling the best.
6:10 p.m. After much contemplation, we all agree on Tangled.
6:15 p.m. The three bigs start the movie while Jack and I tidy up the house and play.
7:00 p.m. Jack gets a bottle and I put him down for the night.
7:15 p.m. Kids eat bananas and Luke gets sick again.
7:20 p.m. We all finish the movie together.
7:45 p.m. I make a sick bed on the floor in Luke’s room and put him to bed.
7:50 p.m. Read stories, the Bible, and pray with Lily and Jude. Say goodnight.
8:05 p.m. Do office work for our farm. Lily and Jude come downstairs looking for a part of Jude’s truck.
8:40 p.m. Finish up the office work and leave a Marco Polo for a friend.
8:55 p.m. Check social media feeds. Read, then look at the rest of the week in my planner.
9:15 p.m. Start a new show on Netflix.
9:17 p.m. Luke wakes up crying. I move him into our room.
9:30 p.m. Kevin gets home and helps with Luke.
10:00 p.m. I call our pediatrician to ask about Luke as I google bumblebee stings.
10:45 p.m. Get a call back from our pediatrician’s nurse while Luke and Kevin are asleep in bed. Check to make sure Luke is okay.
Sometime before midnight: Fall asleep.
To be transparent, this wasn’t a typical day and to be totally transparent, our typical day changes often. Usually we don’t have a sick kid and usually I don’t make two batches of muffins and usually Kevin isn’t gone at night and usually I am asleep by 10. However, it was the day I randomly decided to record and here it is.
I know it’s always interesting to see what someone else’s day looks like. Tell me: do you ever record A Day in the Life?