For the life of me, I do not know how to keep these day in the life posts an appropriate length. Since I only do them about twice a year (see all previous day in the life posts here), the sentimental side of my desperately wants to capture every tiny detail of our days and put it in a time capsule. It perhaps feels like for a moment I’m able to pause time.

Additionally, there are details I know I could leave out. Castor oil in the belly button? Really? Must I mention that? But yes, I must, because all of this makes up who I am right now and what the inside workings of our home looks, so raise an eyebrow if you must, but here’s what life (well, at least yesterday) looks like right now with an 11 year old, a 9 year old, and a 39 year old me.

A lot happens before I even snapped my first photo. Yesterday I was up at 5:45. I let Finley out of her crate, hit go on the coffee, and made David breakfast while I sipped some beef bone broth (a new thing I’m trying because I love self experimentation). I gave him a kiss as he headed out the door around 6:10 and sat down to talk to God for a few minutes. I’ll be honest in that I don’t always feel like I know what I’m doing when I pray, but spending a few minutes starting the day with gratitude and a conversation with God feels good. If you have a devotional you love, please share it with me!

Then I opened my computer, worked on some upcoming blog posts, responded to some emails and DMs, and combed through my plan for the day. At 7:15, Finley was ready for her morning walk, so I changed and we headed out. We have a loop that takes us 1.3 miles and it’s a great way to start the day- morning sun for that circadian rhythm! I listened to my book summary of the day on Headway and it’s an inspiring 15 minutes (The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy).

Back home, I fed the dog and spent my remaining 15 minutes before the kids’ alarms went off getting ready for the day. This is new in my routine so we shall see if it sticks. I don’t go a lot of places in a day, but I’ve found putting myself together a bit provides a mental shift of being ready to take on the day.

The kids’ alarms go off at 8:00 and when they come down the stairs I’m making breakfast. Have you ever heard that super simple parenting advice to just smile at your kids? Well, it’s something that has stuck with me and one of my hopes is that they always remember mom lighting up at the sight of them in the mornings.

I made us breakfast- egg and cheese wrap with blueberries for them, egg on leftover backed potato with microgreens and blueberries for me. I also tried a new adaptogen blend I just bought that’s supposed to help energize my mind. Not sure if it’s that or the coffee that does the trick, but I was feeling good!

I’m super pleased that our new structure is working well. The kids are expected to be dressed and ready to go at 9:00, which starts the math block of our day. I owe you a more detailed report on Nicole the Math Lady, but in short- I’m LOVING her. Maybe it’s the age of my kids now or her engaging way of teaching math, but many mornings math is taking a solid 45-60 minutes and we’ve had no complaints. Mind = blown.

Math is relatively hands off for me so while I bounce around to help as needed, I also clean the kitchen and get parts of dinner going. Yesterday I threw a chicken in the crockpot to slow cook for several hours to shred and add to the soup I was making for dinner.

When 10:00 hit, we put math away and got into writing. Hailey is mostly self-directed with her writing and grammar, but I’m all hands on with Kaitlyn for the next 1.5 hours. It’s fun though! This is her first year doing a dedicated writing program and being my theatrical girl, we jazz things up. For example, we were learning about the IEW -ly adverb dress up yesterday and had her act according to the given adverb. Anytime a kid is giggling and having fun in a lesson, it’s a good thing.

At 11:00 we switch to reading. Kaitlyn and I switch off paragraphs aloud, then Hailey and I have our book club discussion. We just finished Because of Winn-Dixie (we both read separately then met to discuss). She wrote a short book report on it and we watched the trailer for the movie that we plan to watch sometime this week.

We finished things up with US Geography, which took us off on a rabbit trail learning about the Trail of Tears. Heavy stuff right before lunch, but we also learned about which Native American tribes were known to be in our area (the Catawba Indians) which they thought was cool. For lunch I had leftovers and the kids had chicken and cheese quesadillas with fruit.

At 12:45 our piano teacher arrived. The kids trade off for 30 minute lessons. While they practice, I pulled all the meat off the chicken, picked up the kitchen, posted and responded on IG, etc.

A summer storm blew in after that, so between that and the oppressive heat of late, we stayed inside. I read a chapter of our new read aloud- Hunger Games. Hailey experimented with making slime. Kaitlyn built structures with marshmallows and toothpicks (mostly so she could eat marshmallows, I have no doubt). And they watched some craft videos and slime videos on their computers.

When David got home, we changed and worked out. When the rain cleared we took Finley on a hot and humid walk, a time we use to talk through all the current life things. When I got back home I started making dinner- coconut curry soup (with ramen instead of zoodles and add chicken). I found some hamburger buns in the freezer and made easy garlic bread to go with it.

We had an early dinner, around 5:15. I love family dinners right now. Somehow David makes math fun, and always has a new challenge problem for the kids. They both get engaged in it so while I cleaned the kitchen I listened to them talk through different methods to solving simple algebraic equations. The kids are also super into riddles right now, and Nicole the Math Lady shares jokes and riddles with each lesson, so they spend a chunk of time retelling them to us and laughing their heads off.

Kaitlyn’s new TKD practice time is later now, so we leave after dinner. While she trains I posted my dinner videos to IG and responded to DMs. Once we got home, I beelined in to the shower. David was finishing stuff up on the computer, the kids got in pajamas, and these evenings before we are fully back to ALL the fall activities are such a chill time around the house. I put castor oil in my belly button (and remind the girls that they should never get a belly button ring) as an excuse to lay down and just chill and the kids flutter around me telling me about the latest slime recipe they are trying or K practicing her theater audition song.

Why am I putting castor oil in my belly button? David wonders this, too, and I don’t really know. The real answer is because a bunch of Tiktok wellness experts (and this Wellness Mama podcast) said to do it for digestion and hormones support and I’m all about trying out low bar of entry wellness trends. Plus, like I mentioned, it means I get to just lay there on the couch, so… win.

Around 7:45 we turned on an episode of Full House and watched that together before sending the kids up to bed. They’ve been heading to bed around 8:15 lately, but even at 11 and 9 it’s still a slow process. They’re experts at dragging their feet, giving extra good night kisses, forgetting their waters, coming up with riddles they forgot to tell us, etc, etc.

David and I turn on an episode of House of the Dragon (we just started it so I don’t have any real feedback yet) around 8:30, then head to bed by 9:45 for the night.

There is nothing special about our day but at the same time, it’s the best thing in the world to me. By the time I go to bed at night, I’m completely spent, but happy to be so. My days feel fulfilling and purposeful.

Am I bone tired at the end of some days? Yes. Am I unable to hold intelligible conversations after 7:00 PM? Also, yes. Do I sometimes wish I had more time to be social with friends? Yup. But sometimes it’s nice to sit back and realize I’m living the life I always dreamed of and just take a minute to soak in this season.