A Week in the Life 2014: Monday

This week I'm participating in Ali Edwards Week in the Life documentation project. I've done this for many years and find it a valuable way to look in depth into the routines and moments of ordinary life in a very detailed way.  You can watch her video and learn more about this project here. 

6:45am - Brent gets up at his normal time and on the monitor I hear persistent knocking noises.  I ponder why B doesn't let his brother out of his room, but go rescue E.  I discover that the big kids are still asleep.  The awesome part is I convinced E it was too early to do anything but snuggle with me on the couch and it was the best.  I've woken up with my babies 100s of times, but  I doubt I'll be sought out just for couch snuggling as much anymore.  Eventually Brent woke up M&E as there are often tears if he leaves without getting M her breakfast.  Admittedly, I was behind on my morning routine before E and I left the couch. 

My camera says this was at 8:18, but that has to be wrong as B is still here and he diligently leaves at 8:16am... hmmmm now I'm wondering about all the time stamps.   In any case, while I make three lunches E hung out with B who was playing video games, ready for school, and wearing his sweat pants for red ribbon week. Also, E is obsessed with the Marios you see around him this week.

 8:39 - After B left, I helped M get fancy for her school pictures.  She requested the ballerina bun from her costume on Saturday with tights so the shoes don't hurt and her ouchies are covered. I thought it was a little surprising that she noticed/thought about the bruises on her legs.

 E ready to go and playing.  I love this smile.

I love the contrast in their chosen picture day outfits.  (Marios did stay home). 

Ready for school selfie!

Then I came home and worked for five hours and took only this picture of our window Halloween decorations....

All three of these are from the pick-up process.  I see these all the time, but I never take photos of them.  This is probably the last week in the life with two kids at MDO and I want to try and capture some of that every day moment.

2:35ish - It is busy season at my job and that means more work than usual and working outside of normal hours.  I had a call with the big bosses this afternoon after my normal work hours.  I set the kids up with a special muffin snack tray and started the LEGO movie.  They were happy and I felt slightly guilty, but not too bad.  At the end of the movie, M came to tell me it was the dancing part and I came out and managed to slip dancing while on mute with my bosses... right.  Then, E knocked on the door and said "Mama, I have to tell you something.  Everything is cool when you're part of a team."  Walks away.  Perfect quote.  Call ends just after 4. 

 B arrived around 4:20 and the only photo is a blur as he runs back out the door to a friend's house.  The little kids work on dress up and LEGO building.

 The closet is intense and very different from years past as there are very many dolls and girly costumes.

 I started dinner around 5 - grilled cheese sandwiches and home made tomato soup.  While the soup simmered, the littles and I walked down the block to retrieve B.  love holding hands :)

 7pm - after dinner M was playing outside and I joined her for awhile.  We gathered a few more tomatoes from our persistent plants.  Then, M and I ran around and played in the cul de sac, and nearby.  It was a fun little walk.

 Meanwhile, Brent started bath time and associated tickling.

 7:55 - Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Rings -- that is happening.

 E played with his "guys" near the wall.  His guys are two small LEGO mini-figs.  At least one of which we needed a lot of help keeping his sword in his hands.

Then, off to bed on time (8pm)!  No pictures?

After the kids went to sleep, I did 30 min of yoga (I let B choose the exercise du jour).  Then I went back to the office, logged my food in the ap, talked to Brent about random things, scrapbooked, read, played online and he played video games.  Our normal evening.  Bedtime for us was around 11 after checking on the kids peacefully sleeping.


 Crafting note: No, I have no idea how some/all of this gets in the album.  This week I'm just documenting.  Next week, I will follow Ali's process to get it in the book and likely make photo collages and rework the drafting.  I also filled out the daily sheet with many of these details and could use that (see below image).