All in a Day

Monday

The morning creeps into my consciousness, unwelcome. I hear Russ getting ready for work, but I have no desire to get up. My bed is warm and soft. I hate getting out of bed in the mornings.

Eventually, Leif calls from his crib. I go to greet him, and he tells me that he wants French fries from Burgerville. Tough luck, kid. I convince him to snuggle with me in bed a few minutes before he demands Cheerios, juice, and a show. It's all part of the routine, and this kid likes routines.

I turn up the heat, check my email, make my bed, read two entries from A Year With C.S. Lewis, and get my clothes ready. Luke and Levi are up. I hop in the shower.

Cinnamon-raisin bagels, green smoothie, and vitamins for breakfast. Levi empties the dishwasher while we listen to our hymns CD.

The boys get dressed. I finish my make-up and wipe down the bathroom.

I make a pot of tea. Levi does copy work while I work on handwriting with Luke. Leif gets into mischief. Levi draws a pumpkin and grape cluster from the Draw, Write, Now book. Luke and I draw a snake. I decide to get out my camera to document our day.

We head to the living room, and Levi listens to geography songs while looking at the workbook map. Levi then writes flashcards for his Latin vocabulary while Luke and Leif collaborate on a project.
Aha! That's what Leif was doing earlier: dumping the bag of rubber bands on the floor. Nice.
Now he decides to play with the pencil sharpener on the very messy table in the school room.
I become the human jungle gym. Luke on my lap, Leif's arms around my neck. Gack!

Luke is still intent upon his project....

...a check-the-box grocery list. It has kept him occupied for some time now. He keeps asking what I want. I tell him 'creme brulee'. He attempts to add that to the list, right under 'Luke'. He tells me to make sure I remember 'Luke' at the store. (Did I mention this boy likes lists--especially grocery lists?)

The boys all decide they are starving to death. I tell Levi to work on his Bible reading while I head to the kitchen. (Swim goggles are an important accessory, apparently.)

My mom (Bambi, to the boys) stops by while I'm making lunch. She offers to take Leif home for the afternoon. I don't argue. Not for one second.

The boys play outside while I clean up from lunch. Luke brings me flowers.

Levi finds nature treasures (pictured also in Luke's hands).

I finish folding a batch of laundry...

...then head outside to walk up and down the driveway a few times, relishing the sunshine. The clouds are fluffy white on a vivid blue backdrop.

I take three million pictures.

I convince the boys to bring up the garbage cans.

Detours must be made. It's been raining here a lot.

Speaking of rain, those clouds are starting to look awfully dark.

I feel a drop. And another. And a few more. Time to head back in.

The boys think they are hungry again, so we have dried apricots and cranberries with our math.

We're back to the couch to read our history chapter. Luke finds a picture book.

Levi goes back to the kitchen to color his map for history.

Luke apparently decides playing is more interesting than sitting on mom's lap.

Luke heads outside while Levi practices his piano. Luke excitedly finds the moon in the sky and reminds me that we need to fill in our Lunar Observation Chart. We grab our clipboards and pencils and head outside.

The blue sky has returned.

We drive down the road to Bambi and Poppy's house to pick up Leif.

The boys all play outside for a little while, until Leif smacks into a barbed wire fence. Sigh. We get him cleaned up and head home.

Leif is still a little out of sorts, so he watches Little Einsteins while his brothers are out at their 'dam' getting all muddy. They come in and take a bath, flooding the bathroom floor with water. I have them get their jammies on.

I plant some wheat grass in pots on the front porch. Can't wait to have some fresh green for the house!

I make gnocchi with sausage and spinach. (Yum! One of my favorites!) Russ is home on time. We sit down for dinner. Luke doesn't want to eat his dinner, so I pile fresh spinach leaves on his plate. He devours them and I make him eat a little sausage, too. Levi begs for ice cream. It is his lucky day. (And he ate dinner without complaining.)

Russ puts on a science movie and watches it with the boys while I clean up the kitchen and put away laundry. Leif must have had a rough day. He starts falling asleep, so Russ gets him ready for bed. He falls sound asleep in Russ's arms just a minute later.

Luke begs for popcorn. I make kettle corn for the first time in my new stove-top popper. Luke is with me every step of the way.

The boys continue their movie (sans Leif, who gets put in his crib) with their snack. I sit down to the computer to edit today's photos.

Luke gets bored with the movie, so we snuggle on my bed and he reads to me. The movie finishes. Teeth are brushed. Levi grabs a book and settles down next to Russ in the front room. Russ starts working on his computer(s), and I lie down with Luke in his bed. Bad idea. I don't want to get up again.

I get myself up and head back to the computer to finish today's blog entry. Levi finally heads to bed to listen to a story CD while he falls asleep. Russ wants to sort out a complicated paperwork issue. We get as far as we can, both cranky. I finish up my blog post and head to bed to read for a couple minutes. Ahhhhhh!

And, tomorrow, we start all over again. Life is grand.