The Schedule

5:30 am - Matthew and I are up. Between the two of us there is exercising, scripture reading, showering, and lunch packing going on.

6:30 am - Matthew leaves for work.

Kids are up sometime between 6 and 7 o'clock.

Before Hyurm leaves for school, the kids bathe, eat breakfast, do some small chores, and do their daily reading. There is usually plenty of time for some level of playing as well. There is no screen time before school, and this is the part of the day I spend most directly engaging with the children.

8:30 am - Hyrum walks to the bus stop for school.

What we do for the next two hours depends on the day. Sometimes we go grocery shopping or other errands, sometimes we walk at the park. On Monday's I get laundry started and blog. Abraham and Mercy are good at occupying themselves and the morning usually goes by all too quickly.

10:55 am - Drive Abraham to preschool. We are able to park in the drop off lane since it's the middle of the day. We walk him to his class, sign him in, and are usually back home by 11:20.

Every day so far Mercy has eaten a package of fruit snacks then declared herself sleepy and put herself down for a nap. I then soak up the silence, eating lunch in peace and then getting my own work done in an efficient, uninterrupted manner. 

1:30 pm - Leave to pick up Abraham. Retrieving him is much more complicated than dropping him off. We park on the street about 1.5 blocks away from the school entrance about 20 minutes before school gets out. At 1:45 school children clear the play ground and Mercy gets to swing for ten minutes. When the bell rings we walk back through the school yard to pick up Abraham and sign him out. We then, along with the throngs of parents and students, make our way back to the car, which I have strategically parked facing the correct direction on a less busy street. I'm usually able to make it out to the main road without having to fight very much traffic. The whole process took me an hour the first day, but I've managed to shave off some time and can get us back home in closer to 45 minutes.

For the most part, this mid afternoon period is spent finishing up chores or doing meal prep while Abraham and Mercy have a snack and play happily together in someones room. I'm so grateful they like each other as much as they usually do.

4:00 pm - Hyrum gets home. Experience has proven the hour between when Hyrum gets home and when Matthew gets home to be the most difficult one of the day. We try to get all homework and chores done in the morning before everyone has gotten tired and grumpy so that their hour of screen time can be spent when they are most likely to fight and drive Mom crazy. 

5:00 pm - Matthew gets home. I usually have dinner ready and we eat as soon as Dad has changed his clothes.

Matthew tries to spend as much time as he can with the kids during the hour and a half between dinner and bed time. They like to jump on the trampoline or wrestle, and sometimes the boys will play a board game or some Minecraft on the computer.

7:00 pm - Song, scriptures, and family prayer, followed by getting everyone ready for bed.

7:30 pm - Kids in bed.

Matthew and I try to spend this time together, either working on projects or playing a game. Sometimes we watch a show.

9:30 pm - Parents in bed.