I wake up around 6am.  My kids are up and ready to be “Mothered” so to speak.  Breakfasts, a sack lunch and a pony tail need to be made all within 10 minutes of each other.  By 7:30, 8-year-old and sweet husband are out the door ready to start their day of work and school.  I, on the other hand, am just getting started it…especialy with a 4-year-old and a 5-month-old to occupy the next seven or so hours until it turns to three kids when my 8-year-old returns home from school later in the day.

There are kids to get dressed for a park playdate, a grocery store shopping trip, an elderly couple in our ward to visit, and back home for lunch and nap time.  Not to mention all the housework to do in between.  And that all needs to happen before noon.  By the time both hands on the clock hit the 12, both kiddies are taking naps, and I’m working on putting together a dinner for the crock pot, an e-mail to a dear friend who lives far away, a phone call to my Mom to see how her doctor’s visit went, and numerous mental sticky notes to get to when I come up for air.

The kids wake up at 2 pm and by 2:30, we’re out the door to pick up our 8-year-old from school and off to take her to one of her many after school activities.  There usually is one every other day.  By the time we walk through our door back home it’s around 5 pm and the house is smelling heavenly from whatever it is I somewhat put together in the crock pot.  Homework is done at the kitchen table.  Piano practicing is done at the….well, the piano of course.  Toys are picked up and put away.  The table is set for dinner and hopefully by the time we have everything ready before we say a blessing on the food, Daddy has come home from work.

After dinner is over, kids are getting jammies on in their rooms and my husband and I get a millisecond to exhale and tell each other about our days.  If one of us doesn’t have to be at the church for our various church callings/activities, we both enjoy our house coming alive with the sounds of Disney channel, or a fun family movie, or kids playing make believe “I’m a Movie star” with various household objects like brooms, dog leashes, and dish towels.  (Don’t ask….what they pretend these objects to be baffles even my brain….and I gave birth to these kids!:))

By 8pm, all their little teeth are brushed and we are kneeling in the girls room for family prayer.  With heads bowed and arms folded we thank Heavenly Father for our blessings and ask for things that we need….and depending on the individual saying the prayer, those needs vary….greatly.  Our 8-year-old often prays that she’ll do well in school the next day.  Our 4-year-old asks that she has good dreams and that her baby brother will stop crying.  (He doesn’t’ cry as often as she thinks he does…but for a four-year-old, any noise that is not pleasing to them can be taken as negative.  Bless her heart.)  I usually ask that we stay safe and that we’ll be protected in our upcoming day’s activities.

The girls get in their beds after we all give hugs and kisses, then we put our baby to bed and…..party!  Not!  My husband and I are just too exhausted for that….like we’re a couple of old folks, I tell ya.  By 9 pm, my eye lids are extremely heavy and I climb into bed, thankful I got around to washing the pillow cases and sheets that day.  My husband soon follows, and soon we are in la-la land.  That is except on the days when one of the girls comes in and tells us they aren’t feeling well and throw up all over their feet.  Those nights are fun….

But it is what it is.  And I wouldn’t trade a minute of my life for anything else.