summer 2011

summer 2011

Paul and I, all 16 kids and Ashley, Benjamin's wife...Christmas 2012

Paul and I, all 16 kids and Ashley, Benjamin's wife...Christmas 2012
family

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

in which the stay-at-home mom actually stays home...

All the live-long day, I stayed home. Since I live such an exciting life, I shall be unselfish and share the details.

1. I walked. It was chilly and I loved it.

2. I swept the floor.

3. I put some beef, half a sweet onion all sliced up, three pounds of carrots, and about four pounds of cubed potatoes on top...in the crock pot with seasoning and pepper.

4. I washed dishes and cleaned counters and did three loads of laundry, which I hung outside in the sunshine to dry.

5. I cleaned out two junk drawers. Markers and crayons and pencils are now in three quart-sized storage baggies. I found hair clips, barrettes, and Barbie shoes. I threw away expired coupons and broken crayons. It feels amazing to open those drawers now, and yes, when the kids got off the bus I showed them the nice neatness.

6. I cleaned out two cupboards. I am not saying they are totally organized, but much much better.

7. After dinner, it was time for Activity Club! 12 kids went tonight. Getting them out the door with appropriate clothes for the different activities, like playing legos, going to a playground, a scavenger hunt, making fairy houses....and sending them with snacks to share....it was pretty quiet when they left. Paul worked from home today, and was still working.

8. So, I worked out. Not a huge long work-out, just three sets of twenty push-ups, some crunches and leg lifts and lifting the ten pound weights. 18 minutes. Then a shower. A long leisurely shower. For years and years, this scenario would have been unheard of, and you can be certain that I enjoyed it immensely. Except for the bad part...I used some conditioner that must have gone bad, which I have never heard of before. It smelled terrible, and I had already put it in my hair. I had to wash my hair all over again, and rinse it forever, then re-condition it. I hated wasting so much hot water, but it smelled awful. I smell good now though:)

9. My sister called me, so I sat out on the deck as it got dark, and talked to her.

10. I almost forgot, my sister-in-law came a-visitin' today. We sat out on the deck, me in the sun, her in the shade, and caught up. She was away on vacation for a week, so we had some talking to do.

And so my day went. It was a good day. Camille told me a story that she says she is going to write some day. She said it was about a lady who was a dance teacher who loved to dance, so she danced all day long. She stayed up too late dancing, then the next day she was too tired to dance.... Oh Camille, you are so much like your mother....

There is a medium sized clothes monster on the couch. It gets started when the kids take a load of laundry out of the dryer and leave it there. I hang up the Important Stuff, then stuff gets left there. There are the unimportant things from like 3 or 4 loads there now.

The little girls have been playing House in the living room. They don't want to put it away yet because they are going to play again tomorrow. So there is a dolly on one couch and one on the floor and a basket on a chair with a stuffed chicken in it. Clifford The Big Red Dog is in a basket on the coffee table, and there are five Barbies and a Ken doll on one of the end tables.

Aaron just got home from work and is very happy to see such a good dinner...there is some left, thankfully.

And, that is my exciting day.











4 comments:

Anonymous said...

ah how exciting our lives are ;))
Still nice reading though, sounds like pretty much the perfect stay at home day!

Tereza said...

Your exciting day makes me smile...

Anonymous said...

what about homeschooling? You never mentioned that.

16 blessings'mom said...

Homeschooling! Yah, I did that too! I wrote Jon's plan up the night before, and he is sort of on auto-pilot. He has six vocabulary/spelling words a day. He has to look things up and write about them, he is learning long division and how to figure out sales tax without a calculator. He is a quick learner, but has messy writing, so we are working on that. He is learning things in unconventional ways too: Samuel took him out to shoot their airsoft guns, and talked to him about the Native Americans from this area. Sam is like a walking encyclopedia, and Jon asked a million questions. Mirielle wants to help Jon make a map of the U.S., showing what tribes lived where, and some facts about each tribe....

Kathryn painted a picture yesterday, in addition to doing her other work. She sometimes works in her room, but she is very dedicated to this, and wants to make sure she is actually learning, so she doesn't take shortcuts.