A day in the life.

I get a lot of "How do you do it?!" whenever I tell people that I homeschool...well, I don't really ever know how to answer that on any given day. 

I go into a day with a set plan, but with twins, you really just have to be open and willing to go with the flow...and some days that flow is easier than others. 

But for the most part, a typical day of homeschooling with infant twins goes something like this.

Wake-up, ice cold diet coke and a few minutes of blessed silence (and maybe a shower if I'm lucky, but usually no shower) before my kids all awake. OR I sleep in while Hubby gets ready for work, and I wake up in the midst of mayhem. Either way, diet coke IS involved.

Kids all wake up and it's diaper changes then breakfast time for all. This can take anywhere from an hour to an 1.5 hours when you count in clean-up.

Then Nora takes a 30-45 minute cat nap and then wakes up. This is like clock-work for her Every. Day.

Right now we're beginning our mornings by reading out of our new book. This is a great book for kids. It's an adaption of Pilgrims Progress. It's a sweet little story about a mouse traveling to the Evergreen Wood. I explain the symbolisms to Isabella as we read. 

Babies play while Isabella and I set the timer and do a 15 minute clean-up of the house, these are very productive, WAY more productive than any other cleaning regimen I have tried. I usually put in a load of laundry and assign Isabella a few little age appropriate chores. I always involve her with this because I think it's important for kids to take a roll in caring for the home. 

Plus it allows me to dole off the tasks I don't want to do. Just kidding. Kinda...

Time to clean up the table for school! I left a mess during my crafting time last night. I have Bella sort my little pieces into empty baby food containers. I knew I saved those things for a reason!

Beckett needs to nurse and lets me know he is READY for his morning nap, unfortunately, my twins do not nap at the same time, I have pretty much tried every trick in the book. 

So I get him asleep. Then...

...Nora lets me know that she has a surprise for me.

It's a doo-doo explosion.

The brown smear you see by her arm is totally poop. It was everywhere.

Time to hit the books! Isabella and I begin doing language arts

 

 

 Meanwhile...Nora rolls all around the room.

By now they're both hungry. So It's play time for those two while I make some lunch. 

Now Nora lets me know (quite loudly) that SHE is indeed, now ready for her "big nap" She is very easy to get to sleep...

 

But now guess who's awake? 

 

 

 Isabella and I do our math lesson, and I leave her at the table to begin her work sheets so that I can stuff the diapers and put a load of dirties in.

This here's my wet bag. It's full of dirty diapers. Unzip it and take a whiff, I dare you. 

 

I fill one of these puppies up about every two days. Then I just dump the whole kit-n-kaboodle into the washer and they come out looking like...

...this!

This here's my pile of clean diapers. They smell lovely and fresh.

There's always a pile of clean un-stuffed diapers somewhere in my house. I wonder what it feels like to have it all together and have organized cloth diapers? 

I'll let you know what that feels like if it ever happens. 

Hubby and I text back and forth sporadically...he's patient. And loving. And I love him. He sends me texts like,

 I love you, how is your morning?

And I text back stuff like,

HEY look at this picture of poop on Nora's back, it kinda looks like Elvis! Oh yeah I love you too. 

Or, 

I have spit up crusted on my shirt collar. Coming home for lunch?

  Isn't technology grand?

Time for another one of these.

And then I decide that it's time to dip into my chocolate reserves...only, some little scallywag got into my chocolate and there's only two pieces left. 

So I do what every loving mother would do...I hide from my kids and I eat them myself.

I like how the bag says "Easy to eat!" As if I've ever been in the middle of stuffing my gob and thought to myself,

you know I'm really having a hard time eating this entire bag of chocolate...

 

I also would like to point out that I always keep a perfect manicure. My nails are never chipped.

Sike!

 

So there you have it, throw in some meltdowns, maybe another poop or two, a few arguments with my 6-year-old and if I'm feeling feisty, a shower! 

WHOA! Lets not get too hasty here...ok, probably not a shower, but maybe a tooth-brushing?

 

Hubby gets home, somehow dinner gets cooked, and congratulations! You have survived another day. Please enjoy this moment of elevator music before you start the bedtime routine.

 

I love this life. Passes by like a minute. Soak it up, take pictures, document it...it shocks me how fast my weeks fly by these days. These little mongers have me wrapped around their fingers, and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

 

Except maybe less poop.

Sent hubby off to work this morning without a flake in the air...but by mid morning an inch had already collected on the roads as he came shuffling through the front door. Yay! A snow day :)

Feeling very grateful for his schedule, even though I know he is stressing about make-up work and panicked e-mails from students. 

The selfish me is greedily excited that he's here and not there.

I carried on as usual, homeschooling Isabella, tending to the needs of the twins, hubby was afforded a front row seat to the day in the life of homeschooling, with Nora right in the middle of things :) We nearly always have a baby on the table with us.

Homeschooling an eager six-year-old, while flakes are violently swirling through the air outside, and two babies who need you, does not do much for attention spans ;-)

 Then both babies pooped up their backs and ruined their outfits and needed naps, so we took an extended break, ate lunch,then thankfully David stepped in and finished lessons with Isabella.

It's awfully convenient being married to a math professor :)

 

 

 Notice a baby in the middle? And a quite happy little chap I might add.

 

 

 

Isabella played outside with the neighborhood children until dusk, then came barreling in, rosy cheeked and chilled.

There's nothing more cozy than a warm house and rosy cheeked child just coming in from the snow. 

 

 

 

David gave us all a lesson in making snow cream, I was a little skeezed out. I ate a bite or two, but worried about snow collecting all of the pollution in the air. I might be a little paranoid.

 

 

 

After all of the littles were in bed asleep, I was finally able to snuggle up next to my man and watch the state of the union address. After about 20 minutes, one of the twins woke up, and then we were three.

but What a lovely, ordinary day. My most favorite kind. 

 

 

They're calling for snow all night, Isabella's pediatrician already called and cancelled her appointment for tomorrow, and David's work has already called off classes, I'm gearing up for potato soup and a crock pot full of hot cocoa. 

 

I am thankful for days at home with my favorite people. 

I'm also thankful for ruffled baby bottoms.

Sugar and spice

Yep, that's a pink sparkly bow in his hair, he had just been given a princess makeover. Yep, that's a pink fluffy bed, he had just finished tickling a little six year old until she begged for mercy. Yep, that's wee baby Nora asleep in his arms, he had been holding her because she was fussy.

Halfway through a tea party, or was it hotel service? I heard snoring...when I peeked in Isabella was quietly reading books to herself, and these two were down for the count. 

I couldn't resist taking a picture for bribery  posterity ;-)

I feel like I get lost in my days, caught up in my to-do lists and find myself brushing important stuff to the side. 

I know I'm not the only mom who does this, it's a common plight of motherhood, we are so busy doing all of the things that makes life comfortable and and easier for our family that we forget to enjoy...our family. 

As I sit here tonight, at nearly midnight, I have 2 out of 3 kids asleep. This is pretty huge right now in this current phase of our household. It is, as it turns out, a miracle when all of your children sleep  

at the same time. 

 But I digress...Ahem! Focus, man, focus. As I sit here tonight, I'm chastising myself for the moments I missed this week because I was too busy running around like a chicken with its head cut off. (And it's only Monday) True, I have twins with RSV, one freshly healed but still within the 2 week period, and one right in the feverish throngs...but here I am, Miss Chatisey Chastiser Chasttisenstien.

 

 My son is wide awake playing with the tag on his exersaucer and grunting. Always grunting. So I've really got nothing but time, here. 

 A few of my favorite moments from this weekend:

 1. 

I was vindicated about something that has plagued me for a couple of years now. 

It left me feeling powerful, like if I had been a cartoon, I would have been standing on a tall building, perfect eyebrows and busty, with my hair flowing and my toned (but not muscular) arms on my hips whilst gazing into the horizon.

Are you ready?

 I woke my husband up with my snoring. 

Yep, you heard me. ALL these (2) years he has startled me awake with his snortling and chortling...it's a huge problem.

So waking up the other morning, to have him announce with only a mild hint of annoyance "You were snoring a lot last night. Really cutting 'em. It woke me up"

MY, HOW THE TABLES HAVE TURNED!!

 It kinda felt like this...

2.

Isabella sang in her little church choir yesterday morning. It's always a joy. They are innocence incarnate, up there singing their little hearts out and whew! Gets me every time. 

They put a tall boy right in front of her, though. 

All I could see was her giant Christmas bow bobbing voraciously on top of that precious little head of hers. But watching that big ole bow was enough. 

It was enough.

It won't be long now until she fights the good fight and those hairbows are put asunder.

3.

I overheard my husband singing a very out of tune version of You Are My Sunshine to our sick little baby, because it's what I sing to them every night. He sang her to sleep.

I'm sorry, but until you've heard your man sing a lullaby to your baby...you just don't know true love.

My heart feels like this:

The end.

 

room and gloom

 

Dear Diary,

Last night we had a cozy night in, we had plans to venture out and do some Christmas shopping, but with one sick twin acting a little sicker, we decided 'twas best to stay put.

I opted to whip up some White Trash (Also known to most as Muddy Buddies) because they're Hubby's and Bella's fave. We munched on it all night...

I hate the word munch. 

...we nibbled on it all night,

Ugh! Nibble *gag* that's even worse.

We stuffed our gobs with it all night, and I read to Isabella out of our overdue library book, Little House On The Prairie, until she pretended to fall asleep on the couch. So, David carried her to bed by her feet.

Later as I was putting laundry away, trying to tidy up after my small fries were in bed...I attempted to sneak into Isabella's room to put away the three pairs of shoes that were scattered in the living room and I was greeted at the door by THIS:

 

My knee-jerk reaction was annoyance. Just three weeks ago I spent 2 1/2hours cleaning this room and throwing away junk...I turned my back for five minutes and WHAM it looked just like this...but tonight it was a whole new level of scary.

Fire codes are surely being broken somewhere. There's clearly a path carved out from her door to her bed, reminiscent of an episode of Hoarders Buried Alive!

 Tell me, does anyone else's kid's room look like this? Don't lie, nobody likes a fibber!

 I sat and thought about all of the things this room has been today.

At one point it was a spaceship

a school

a house

"a fancy free hotel with service"

a kitchen

a restaurant

Santa's sleigh

That's a lot of costume changes for one room to undergo. I guess I should be grateful it doesn't look worse...and that I have a child who likes to use imaginative play.

But as soon as she's not looking...I'm going in welding my toy rotation bag!

 

The trappings

Ahh Christmas! 

It's really sneaking up on me this year. I'm not sure if going from 1 kid to 3 in one fell swoop is a factor (just a minor detail, right?), or if it's the late Thanksgiving...but this holiday season has literally flown by.

(Right now all three of my angels are happy and content to let me quick, fast! Roll out a blog post)

It's so easy for me to get distracted by the gift giving, the elf hiding, the merry making, the party hosting and all that jazz, that I forget all about the important stuff...

The important stuff like, sitting with Isabella and making messes together.

My childhood Christmas memories involve making ornaments at the kitchen table with my mom and sisters, shaking my presents, circling items in the American Girl catalog (then it was Pleasant Company) listening to classic Christmas music in the home with candles lit, and baking!

Oh, the baking we did.

My mom always involved us in the holiday baking in some way, shape, or form, I DON'T know how she did it and kept her sanity intact...actually, I do. She never worried about messes, she just let us help, help, help to our heart's content. I never realized until now what a great quality that was she possessed. Her ability to realize nothing else mattered, just letting us be involved, and it worked, because those memories are ingrained in my head like my favorite old Christmas song. 

 Our house was seldom ever perfect and tidy...but we were such happy, creative kids.

So today when Isabella woke up for school, and I drug out the books and materials, ready to slog through the morning in a decaffeinated stupor...one little thing she said made it very obviously clear to me, that she needed some time with just me, to sit, make a mess and just...be. 

Back went the books and materials. Out came the cookie icing, paint, glue, glitter, paintbrushes and other craft sundries...on came the Bing Crosby. 

The twins napped at the same time. It's a Christmas miracle!

And we mess made. We merry maked. We laughed. We spilled lots of glue. And Isabella lost a tooth in her sandwich.

I feel like *today* this was all far more important and necessary than telling time, learning verbs and spelling words.

This girl decorates a mean gingerbread cookie!

Proud.

Pretending like she doesn't see the giant black eye of my lens in her face ;-)

I had to make one too!

Someone woke up to wallow in sweet potatoes! If only it was socially acceptable for me to enjoy my food like this.

I found these two cuddled up in Bella's bed watching a Christmas movie together. Oh my heart!

What's a guy gotta do around here to get a bite of a cookie?!

Love these messy masterpieces.

Mess, glorious mess! It's still there. At nearly 4:00 pm. What?

Christmas angel, needs a halo, yes? And painted pine cones. She lost interest before the pom poms got glued on, guess that means I can glue them on any way I want ;-)

One month

One month.

One busy, eventful month.

That's how long it's been since my last post. Every day is eventful when you have twins. But this past month has been a doozy!

 Since my last post, my dynamic duo has turned 5 months old. Wow! Five months! That's almost half a year. How did this happen?!
 We have undergone several doctors visits and invasive tests for Beckett, traveled to Nashville to take him to Vanderbilt for a cat scan and possible surgery, only to receive the blessed news that his condition (strangling, choking, persistent vomiting) would improve with time and proper medication.

Talk about stress! And RELIEF!

Also this month, I have entered the world of homeschooling! Yes, HOMESCHOOLING!

I'm thrilled beyond measure to be able to homeschool my 1st grader. 

If someone had told me 6 years ago, that one day I would be home with 3 children, driving a mini-van, homeschooling and LOVING all of it...I would have laughed in their face. 

I was just so sure I was destined for bigger things than that.

Oh, but now I'm seeing so clearly, that there is nothing bigger I could possibly be doing.

Being home with my babies, homeschooling my oldest...these are the biggest blessings in my life. I am so grateful for my hard working husband. He is really a solid rock for this family, supportive and patient even when things get hairy...which they are a lot of the time. Hairy, that is. 

Since beginning this homeschool gig, I'm perpetually exhausted. Mentally. It is a HUGE commitment. I'm constantly worrying that I'm not challenging her enough, that I could be doing something better...I hemmed and hawed over curriculum, choosing what I felt was the best possible fit for my imaginative little girl. I painstakingly fill out my lesson plan every night, and so far we have conquered everything each day, but more than just cramming information into her little brain, I want to foster her imagination, nurture her spirit, teach her important life skills, allow her to figure out what it is that makes her...her. 

Pulling her out of public school in the middle of the year was a tough decision, and one that I did not take lightly...I did this knowing that although my husband had given me his blessing, he did not approve of the timing, which made it 100 times harder, but it was right. It was time.  

The transition has been tough, but smooth. My house? Messy. My kitchen table? Cluttered. ALWAYS cluttered. Our schedule? Crammed. Isabella? Happy as a clam. Has not even asked once to go back to public school, she loves it! 

Hallelujah.

Library day, and Isabella pretending to be a newspaper reporter. :)
I apologize for the small size of these pictures..they're from my iphone, somehow toting around my bulky Nikon just isn't conducive to my diaper bag...