j & m ranch

I know all five people who read this blog have been waiting breathlessly to find out what a typical day is like at our house.  Well, hold your breath no more–here it is!

My day starts at about 2 am when I hear one of our children not sleeping.  It isn’t always necessarily our youngest, who, at 8 months, you would expect to be calling out for a middle of the night snack.  No, it’s a nightly surprise to see who else would like some really early morning attention.  Sometimes, I don’t hear the culprit–I just subconsciously feel eyes on me and it startles me out of my half-doze (that’s about as good as it gets when I’m pregnant).

Those silent eyes.  They are scary.  But cute.

So, that’s the beginning of my day.  I then whisper to my husband, “Someone wants you,” and I go back to sleep for a few hours.

My husband is a saint, by the way.

I wake up to the sound of the Blendtec.  It sounds kind of like a chainsaw.   My babies aren’t even phased by it, though.  They hear it so much in the womb that I think it becomes one of their comfort sounds.  My husband is making green smoothies.  He really likes doing that.  He even has a system, but he has a system for everything.  I don’t, which is why he makes green smoothies in the morning.  Plus, his actually have a substantial amount of greens in them, while I tend to go more fruity.

Something that is also funny that happens a lot is when the lid doesn’t get all the way closed on the blender.  Green everywhere! It can be funny to me, because I am in the shower and emotionally removed from the situation.

We read scriptures while sucking down the deliciousness of kale, chard, and various fruits.  Then, some of the children go muck and feed the horses (they also ride sometimes. They think I don’t know, but I do).  The others get dressed and (hopefully) brush their hair and teeth and everyone happily does their family work for the morning.

After that, we begin our “school day.”  So far, my day is far from epic, but watch out…it get’s exciting here.

We actually do quite a few hours of sit down school at the kitchen table.  Math, Vocabulary and Writing.  I will spare you the gory details of the “typical” math lessons.  Let’s just say there is sometimes drama.  Even high drama.  But, it gets done.

After that’s all done, we have lunch, which I usually forget about until I can’t forget about it anymore, and then I wonder what I will fix.  Of course, I have a menu but it’s just a suggestion, because I almost never stick to it.

After lunch, it’s time for “quiet” time, which typically means that the older children lower the decibel level by at least half as ordered by the queen on pain of death if they wake up the little ones who are taking a nap.  Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t.  The queen’s threats often are not taken very seriously.

The older children read during this time, and I attempt to write or do service, like designing blogs for people I love, Family Indexing, accidentally taking a nap.  (See the cute Pinterest button I designed for a sidebar widget?  You can use it, if you want to. Just right click and save.)

Then, it’s “free time.”  I try to walk on the treadmill for 20 minutes, or I do some muscle strengthening exercises for about 30 minutes.  Or sometimes, I don’t.

This is the part where I am just “here.”  Available.  To break up contention (I know–shocking, isn’t it?  That we could possibly have contention in our home!!!  It’s like a plot twist!).  To listen to someone’s hurt feelings.  To hear about the many valid reasons we should buy the latest incarnation of the Risk board game for only $50!  To hug, to read stories, to rock the baby….To remind my nine year old again NOT to throw snowballs at the windows.

As you can see, free time is also educational.  Free time is also a very busy time for me.

As we come to the close of our day, it’s time for more family work.  We clean and cook dinner, which also comes as a surprise to me almost daily.

“What? Oh, yes, dinner….I guess that happens everyday, huh?  Why is it that I can’t remember that?  Hmmm….what can I think up really quick that will be good?”

Unlike my husband, I have the opposite of a system…I just kind of make it up as I go along.

Typically.

There are a few days here and there where I actually can show some common sense and I’ve-Got-It-Together-ness, but that is definitely not typical.  My children help me with dinner out of a sense of self-preservation. But, at least they love helping to cook!  It’s sink or swim.  Either they help, or it’s more green smoothies, or green salad.  I’m not very creative in the kitchen.

 

After dinner, we take baths, showers, play pretend, talk, or just do nothing.  You know, like Christopher Robin said:

Well, when grown-ups ask, “What are you going to do?” and you say, “Nothing,” and then you go and do it.

 

Time for Bed.  For almost everyone.

 

So, we get everyone in bed, and then we my husband and I try to have a conversation where we are both fully awake.  Typically, that doesn’t really happen, but we try.

And, we go to bed to the beautiful sound of the neighbor’s rooster crowing us a lullaby.

It really isn’t all that amazing, is it?  But, then again, maybe it is.

Of course, I didn’t take pictures of people throwing fits (or objects), and I didn’t subject you to an mp3 of an argument about which is better–the ocean or space–that ended up in histrionics (I am not even exaggerating here).

And I didn’t show you pictures of what the living room looks like during the day, or what the schoolroom/library looks like when I am afraid–sometimes even terrified–to go downstairs.

This is a sanitized version, because I didn’t want to have to rate my website PG-13 for tense situations and plot elements.

In the end, though, it’s a great work we’re doing here.  We don’t go out much, and we don’t have gadgets and lots of stuff.  The amount of sheer effort it takes to keep our family free from the pornographic culture on a daily basis is actually an accomplishment, even though some days it doesn’t feel like it. One of the greatest mothers who ever lived said:

“We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love.” –Mother Teresa

That’s how I like to look at our seemingly endless days of sameness–we are just doing small things with great love.  And, in the end, it’s great.

Thanks again, for the inspiration, Chocolate!

Tagged as: insights from motherhood, wordfull wednesday

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