I guess today is as good as any to give one a peek into the day of a stay at home mom of four. My beloved will soon be home from his tour in Iraq, so this is a unique look at my day!Normally, my alarm is set to go off at 6am, and this morning, it was, but I must have turned the volume down because I didn't hear it go off. Praise the Lord, He allowed me to wake up at 7am which still allowed me a little over a half hour to get my two oldest girls, ages 8 and 6 ready for school. The girls woke up quickly and I ironed their PE uniforms that they were to wear for Friday. My dryer broke a few days ago...(it must be on strike with the leaky garbage disposal and the ever running toilet since they all have been giving me attitude within the same week)...so, the uniforms were still a bit damp around the waist band where I had hung them to dry. I tried to at least heat it up to where the girls wouldn't notice....they did.
Lunches were packed, breakfast eaten, hair was done, backpacks organized , and finally, I woke up the youngest two to load them in the car for the 10 minute trip to school. After dropping off the girls and getting home...I started my morning clean up and making beds getting dressed, and then, I realized it was Friday and if I wanted to get the laundry over to the laundromat, I had better get going. Googled some laundromats, made some phone calls and then I got Lily and Ayden ready, took a look at the 3...yes THREE baskets of laundry that needed to go, and chickened out. I decided to buy a clothes line since the weather has been so mild and seeming to beg for some laundry to dry.
We loaded up, the 3 of us, after some breakfast and a snack. The kids have been in desperate need of Fall clothes and I prayed as I pulled into Kohls that I would be a good steward. I actually was, by the grace of God and with the help of the 50% off sales rampant throughout. I spent under $30 for 4 shirts, one for each child and a pair of socks. Next, we headed over to the library to return an overdue video and some books that Brianna finished well before the due date. Ayden and Lily wanted to go in, but I needed to head over to check the thrift store for some pants. We would have to do the library another day. The thrift store was just down the road, conveniently, and I found pants for each child and a shirt for Ayden. Each item was priced at around $2.99 which wasn't too bad. I prefer the .25cent finds at garage sales, though ;) In the midst of it...I got a message from my husband. I guess there was no reception in the store lol, it just figured and my poor husband had waited for who knows how long in line for the phone to call me. I would have been upset if he wasn't scheduled to come home so soon, but since he was, I felt badly for him, and not so much for me.
The kids and I were starting to get hungry and so I got some fries for them and a soda for me to tide us over until we could get home. We had one last stop to make before it was time to pick up the girls. Ayden fell asleep on the way to Walmart where I was intending on getting the clothes line. I also had some items I needed to return and of course the line was about 10 deep. Poor Ayden was so thirsty and so I smiled as Lily hoisted him up to the fountain just a few feet from the line in customer service. I left Walmart without the clothesline I so desperately needed and used every minute of the 10 remaining to get over to the school in time to pick up the girls.
3:05 I pull up to the sweet smiling faces of Brianna and Anjolie. The kids all talked excitedly about their new and used clothes. A new shirt and pair of pants for each of them, in some cases 2 new pants...it was like Christmas :)
As we drove home I thought about how long it would take to make my pizza dough because we had been invited to a friends house for 5pm. It usually takes me about an hour and a half to make pizza, so I knew I would be pushing it. The kids poured out of the car and into the house where I told them to quickly get their bags put away and lay down until it was time to leave so that I could make pizza. That wasn't happening....so they decided to watch the Elmo deployment video for the thousandth time while I begged the dough to not give me any problems.
4:45pm I realize that I'm not going to make it to my friends' house by 5pm but after the phone call it turns out that 5:15-30ish would be just as good since her baby was napping. By 5:05ish we all raced out of the house. Me with my piping hot pizza on my baking stone...yep, stuck it right in the front seat along with my friend's dish that I needed to return and we were off for an evening of play and fellowship. And now, it's almost 9pm and here I sit, the day is done, kids are each in their OWN beds...not mine, tonight, and I am just thanking the Lord that I have no where to be tomorrow! God is so good, all the time.
