When I look back through our blog books, some of my very favorite posts are "day in the life." I looked back at my blog to confirm, and I think the last "day in the life" post I published was in May of 2020..oh, how life has changed!!! Without further ado, here is a peek into our day on Thursday, December 12th of 2024. I did a lackluster job of photos, but you'll get the idea! ;)
6:00 Derek's alarm goes off. On Monday/Wednesday/Friday, Derek usually wakes up at 5am to run on the treadmill before work. But since today is a Thursday, we sleep in a bit later.
6:05 My alarm goes off, but Derek is still in the bathroom so I hit the snooze button. One of my least favorite parts about our house is how teeny tiny our master bathroom is. With the exception of my year living in a dorm at UGA with a bathroom to share with my entire floor, this is the smallest bathroom I/we have ever had. It is barely big enough for one adult, let alone two, ha!
6:13 Derek is out of the bathroom, so I begrudgingly get up to shower. After my shower, I quickly write a Christmas card for Hadley's band teacher since today is his last day before Christmas as he is traveling to Japan to visit his daughter. Hadley is making her breakfast/packing lunch/getting ready for her day. Shelby is already awake, too. She usually wakes up around 6 every day and reads her bible & devotional in bed.
6:30 Derek leaves for work.
7:25 I take Hadley to volleyball practice before school. She has practice everyday from 7:40-9:10, and then school begins at 9:30. When I get back from dropping her off, I quickly put on some makeup & sit down to breakfast with Shelby. We usually leave around 8:10ish for jazz band {which rehearses Tues-Fri each week}, but Shelby has an orthodontist appointment this morning instead.
8:20 Shelby & I head out for the orthodontist. Before we left, I set out breakfast for Brady and a note for him of what to do before he could turn on some Bluey. ;) This particular orthodontist appointment would be a long one (about two hours!), so I let Brady choose if he wanted to come with us or stay home. He chose to stay home so he could sleep in. I didn't blame him one bit--we had a super busy week & the kids didn't get to bed until 10pm almost every night! (Monday was Hadley's beginning band concert, Tuesday was Shelby's jazz band concert, and Wednesday we had a volleyball game and Honor Band audition for Hadley along with youth group for Shelby...I'm tired just thinking about it all!)
8:40 Orthodontist appointment for Shelby to get her braces off! Here is her "before" picture. It was still so dark out, so I took another photo once we got settled in the orthodontist's office. ;)
And here's a quick look back at the original "before" pictures--the day Shelby got her braces. It's crazy to see the transformation!
10:50 I drop Shelby off at school. She made it just in time for the second half of second period. Here's her brand new smile!!
11:00 I get home to Brady having finished all of his work (ate breakfast, put dishes away, brushed teeth, bed made, and his independent school assignments complete!) and curled up on the couch with Bluey. He was so cute and was using the back of his to-do list to tally his episodes of Bluey to make sure he didn't watch too many. I quickly got taco soup going in the crockpot & started some laundry.
12:30 Brady and I had lunch & then did some homeschool together.
{While I was reading aloud to Brady, he was doing a little "I Spy" activity book.}
3:00 All our homeschool was finished, and Brady asked to do Nitrotype on the computer. It was at this point that I should have remembered to prep afternoon snacks for the kids or meal planned for the upcoming week....but I didn't. I turned on the fireplace & relaxed for a few minutes. It had been a long week!
3:30 We left to get in line to pick up the girls from school. Brady & I both usually bring a book with us to read while we wait for them.
4:08 The girls are in the car & Hadley is pumped to share her good news with us--she was selected as the first chair clarinet player in our district's Honor Band!
Then we rush home to drop off Hadley & Brady. Shelby gathers up her things for piano, and I rush around gathering snacks for the kids--this is when I was kicking myself for not doing this prep work earlier instead of sitting by the fire. ;)
4:30 Shelby and I leave for her piano lesson, and Hadley and Brady stay home. Derek usually gets home around 5:00, but on this evening he is planning to swing by the commissary after work. He typically goes to the commissary on Fridays after work, but he was leaving to go out of town on Friday...so commissary on a Thursday it is!
5:00 Shelby's piano lesson begins & I call my mom to catch up.
5:45 Shelby's lesson is over & we head to Target for a quick drive-up order. Derek is home & unloading groceries.
6:25 Home for dinner! We have taco soup with tortilla chips and catch up on each other's day. Then the kids & I headed downstairs for Advent while Derek cleaned up the kitchen & packed for his trip. We have continued with our tradition of unwrapping one Christmas picture book each night of Advent along with reading a chapter of Luke. Grandma & Granddad also gifted each of the kids an Advent activity, so they enjoy doing that while we read.
7:45ish maybe?? After Advent, all three kids started their evening routine of showers, brushing teeth, and getting jammies on. At some point, Derek checked the mail & Brady's new recorder had arrived, which was a big hit!
{please note Brady is still in his PJ's from the previous night as he is still pre-shower in these photos...on most homeschool days, he stays in PJ's if at all possible until his shower & then puts on a fresh pair of PJ's}
9:30 The last kid is tucked in--this is the earliest we've gotten the kids in bed all week, and this feels like a huge win! Derek quickly jumps in the shower before his long travel journey begins.
10:30 Derek leaves for the airport. His flight to Seattle would take off shortly after midnight, then he would have a layover there for a few hours before his next flight to Tokyo. Then he would have to stay the night in Tokyo in a capsule hotel room before his next flight to Misawa. So he left our house on a Thursday night & arrived at his final destination on Sunday...absolutely crazy!
{a quick photo on his way out the door to make up for all the photo opportunities I missed throughout the day, ha!}
I always go to bed waaay too late when Derek is gone. Once he left for the airport, I had some ice cream & watched the end of a Christmas movie I had started recently. Then I unloaded the dishwasher, wrote a thank you card for Hadley's volleyball coach as the next day was the final practice of the season, and wasted way too much time on my phone. Once I knew Derek's flight was taking off on time, I plugged my phone in to charge & got in bed to make a to-do list for the next day & read for a bit.
12:45am Lights out!
