My Day in Pictures! (Bonus Recipe Included!)

What I did on Groundhog day.

By Christine.

7:00 A.M. I get up and get my breakfast, and snuggle with Nat on the couch while I eat. She likes to get up at 6 and have an hour of quiet TV watching before school.

7:25 Nat's out the door to walk to the bus stop
7:30 Wake up Jess.....
and Josh. He's so quick, he was half dressed before I grabbed the camera.

7:40 I start cleaning up a little while the kids get dressed, and Josh appears just in time to take out the trash.
Missy wakes up
7:50 I check on dinner. I'm making Italian Dip sandwiches. Last night I stuck the roast in the crock pot, dumped in 2 packets of Lipton Onion Soup and 2 packets of Good Seasons Italian Dressing mix, and put in enough water to cover the roast. It cooked on high overnight, and now it's ready to be pulled apart. Then I'll turn it to low and let it simmer till we're ready to eat.
Missy helps make her cereal

8:00 Josh gets his coat and backpack and changes his hearing aid batteries.
Jess is dressed, and ready to get her snow stuff on. She likes wearing snow pants to school so she can play in the snow at recess.
8:05 Whoa, almost time to go!
8:10 Kids are ready to have prayer and head to the bus stop.
Bye!
8:15 Mandie's still not awake, so I decide to shower earlier than usual. I check on Jason when I go in my room, he's finally asleep. He couldn't sleep all night, poor guy! Brandy the dog has no sympathy right now, she loves him too much.
Feed the dog
8:40 Out of the shower. I'm dressed, but my hair can wait till later.
8:45 Read scriptures. Trying to get in the habit of doing in the morning because at night I only do it maybe half of the time. 9:00 I come out, and Mandie's up!
Missy's playing on the computer
Manda helps me refill the fruit snack box. I just let them have 3 fruit snacks at a time. If they have a whole packet, the box is gone in a day or two! Helpful missy throws away the wrappers
Around 9:30 I start on the dishes. It's been a couple days, so there are a lot. (all dirty dishes are not pictured here)

While clearing the counter I notice the note Jason wrote for me to remind me that I told him I'd make him boiled eggs. (And that I'd call that guy, did that yesterday.)

So I put those on real quick, and as happens EVERY TIME I use the back burner, I turn on the wrong one.
9:40 I open the dishwasher and discover that whoever unloaded it forgot the silverware! Somebody's in big trouble!
Ah ha! Nat's the culprit.
I grab Manda her breakfast
Then suggest Manda and Missy get dressed. Manda goes in her room, but gets distracted.
Missy gets dressed, but I spot her backwards pants!
(P.S. I'm still doing the dishes)

A few minutes later Manda remembers she's supposed to be getting dressed, and since she's under the impression that that means we're going somewhere, she opens the door after starting to take of her jammies and calls, "don't go yet, mom!"

10:00 Missy has decided to do some extra school worksheets

Manda comes out needing help with her shirt.

(P.S. I'm still doing the dishes)

Shirt is good, but the pants are backwards! By this time she's a little worn out, so I help her turn them around.
Missy goes back to the computer, and discovers she can spell her FULL name!
10:30 The girls ask to go outside, and I give in. I regret it while trying to find all their snow stuff.
10:45 I finally finish the dishes! And the kitchen's mostly clean.
I go out to check on the girls and Manda's having glove issues. I take both of her gloves and head inside to get dry ones. She tries to follow me and promptly falls over, catching herself with her bare hands.
She's not a happy camper.
She's ready to stay in, so I help her get her snow stuff off and set her up in the living room with her favorite show, Dora, and her Dora STUFF.
11:00 I head to the study to start on my classes. Medical Terminology today! One of my favorite classes.
After about 5 minutes, Manda's calling me. "I need my telescope!"
She's lucky I know where it is. AND that I'm so nice to get it for her.
As I head back to the study I notice that Missy came in.
Back to studying. Manda comes in after a few minutes with a hurt lip.
Playing "name that word part!" When I'm ready for a break I go online and check the business bank account, my email, and facebook.
The girls have some oranges and bananas for a snack
11:15 Still studying, and I get a call from Jacob at our store with some info for me.
11:30 I check on Jason, he's still trying to sleep. The girls are in the bathroom. Manda's keeping Missy company while she's on the potty.
12:10 I look at the clock and realize it's almost time for Missy to go to school. I make her a quick sandwich, then go brush my hair.
Then I make manda's sandwich and grab them some milk
And get Jason a quick breakfast/lunch.
12:22, almost time to go!
I fix Missy's hair and clean her glasses
12:30, time to go!
Bye Miss!
After we get home Manda wants some Daddy time. Her favorite thing is eating oranges with him. She'll go in and climb on the bed and cry, "let's eat onzez wif eatsuddo!" (let's eat oranges with each other) It's so cute!
I grab my lunch and hang out with them in the bedroom. We eat and watch "The Office."
When I'm done I try to take Manda to bed, but on the way she notices her sandwich from lunch that she never finished. I go back to the bedroom to finish our show while she eats, and somebody else wants to sit on my lap.

1:00 Manda's done and I put her to bed. I lay by her for a few minutes.
We play with her Dora dolls
And read a book

Once she's down I go out and do some filing.

Crap! My electric bill is going up a LOT this year.
This is all the junk from my purse that either needs to be filed, or "filed." This is the pile of kids files that I decide to banish from the filing cabinet. They don't fit anymore. I'm pondering a new plan for them. Maybe expandable files.
2:00 I reluctantly take out my math stuff. I have a quiz today.
I get to the study and decide I need a facebook break first.
2:10 I start trying to go over my notes
Then I give in and do the practice quiz in the book. I can never remember how to do the stuff unless I do actual problems. The math I'm taking this year is Statistics. So far I'm actually liking it! 2:50 I take a cereal/TV break. Brandy keeps me company.
3:00 Nat's home!
She winds down with the computer
3:20 I finish my math and pack up my backpack so it's all ready for class tonight.
Then it's back to Medical Terminology. Josh gets home a little before the girls, having had some trouble on the bus coming home. He was falsely accused of making annoying noises and got yelled at by the bus driver. I give him hugs, sympathy, and a lecture about not getting into trouble on the bus in the first place so the bus driver doesn't assume it's you every time.
He watches me play "Medical Millionaire" for a while, and asks if I really get a million dollars if I win.

4:00 The girls are home. I declare it to be time for "After School Power Hour."
The kids have a quick snack
Missy reads to me
I help Jess with her homework

And Brandy looks on.

Nat and Josh practice piano (Nat wanted to share the hymn she's working on so here's a video)

The kids are all supposed to do their homework, reading, chores, practicing, etc. Between 4 and 5. Sometimes they kinda do it.

4:30 I start getting dinner ready.

I put monterey jack cheese on big rolls, and toast them in the oven. (the recipe calles for pepper jack, which is good but too spicy for my kids)

Then I microwave some veggies, assemble the sandwiches, and dinner is ready! For once I have time to eat at a leisurely pace before my class.
The kids eat at the counter, and I eat with Jason in our room.
5:40 I leave for class
5:48 Circling campus in search of a good parking spot. And not minding because I left nice and early and I'm listening to "Sense and Sensibility" as I drive.
5:52 Found one!
There's my building
My class is from 6:00-7:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Today's test was a cinch thanks to my earlier studying. Go me!

7:20 (a little early since I finished the test so fast!) It's dark when I head back to the car.

7:30 Back home to my kiddies!
Now it's time for the "Bedtime power hour" in which they're supposed to get their jammies on, brush teeth, wash hands, go potty, clean their rooms, say their prayers, and go to bed. Again, sometimes they do pretty good. They get tokens on their charts to earn prizes when they finish their power hours in time.

I asked Nat to try to have them all get their jammies on while I was gone, but only Manda did. Hey, better than nothing. I bring her in to brush her teeth and put her in bed. And lay by her again.

7:50 Josh is doing pretty good, and I excuse him from cleaning his room because I want to get bedtime over with. This happens a lot.
8:00 I notice that Jessica's nails REALLY need to be clipped. I can't find my clippers. I search my whole bedroom and bathroom. I try using the toenail clippers. I finally give up and tell her nevermind. Then I walk into the living room and there they are.
8:10 Missy's climing in bed

8:15 Josh is in bed, and Natalie and Jess are in the shower. (I did get Jessie's nails clipped)

8:30 Yay! It's finally time to snuggle up with my hubby, some cream cheese mints that Nat made, fancy cream soda, and LOST!

10:00 I actually get to bed on time!

The End!

Now everybody else should do this too!

Final note: I learned something about blogger today! It works better with internet explorer. I've been converted to firefox recently, and for everything else I like it better. BUT, in firefox, I can't move pictures around in my posts! Explorer I can. I don't know if it's the same for everyone, but I thought you other bloggers might appreciate that tidbit.