A Day in The Phipps Family - 2008

People probably wonder what we do all day, especially since my husband is in Korea. We have seven more months until he comes home and we move. In 2009 our schedule and days will be different because Daddy will be much more included, obviously. For now though, I have found that having a good, flexible and expected schedule in everything, makes for a faster, more productive day. I am into a good groove now, since I moved in, in April, and got everything organized, including the whole entire basement (which I wanted to do in the summer while it was hot). Now that everything that was in that semi-truck trailer (a better word, is "thrown" into the semi-trailer), is in a real home and organized (which I spent all summer doing, literally), it feels great, just to be normal! :)

I am normally a very organized person, anyway. I would get everything done that needed done in the day, and sometimes more. I get a thrill in crossing off stuff on my to-do list. I cannot usually be idle. I will lay on the couch for ten minutes and it is HARD for me to do it. Certain days of the month force me to be on the couch most of the day, and I guess that is nature's and God's way of slowing me down. My friend Linda says I am "a machine", and my friend Lori says I am "so organized". My mom says I am "too organized"! I feel those things are true, but it would do me good to probably slow down a bit, so I try to schedule down-times for myself, during Abbie and Sheldon's nap.

However, even though I am organized, I have never had a time schedule. I was forced to do this though, after I began watching my nephew 3-5 days a week. He and Sheldon are only 9 months apart (Sheldon being the older), so it was a chore to try to get everyone fed and get their naps and play times to coincide. I had to have a schedule out of shear need and MY sanity! It has been a great experience, so I thought I would share what our schedule is, and how it works.

I get up at 6:00 am, now. On some mornings when I know I do not have much to do that day I will sleep in until 6:30 (which is my comfortable rising time, anyway....6:00 is pushing it a little). And sometimes, when I am totally exhausted I do not get up until the kids get up. Sheldon or Abbie climb in my bed for cuddle time, which is a special treat for me and them. Zane loves to sleep so he is sometimes not up until 8:00, but usually 7:30.

But, for the most part, I am up at 6:00. Between 6 and 7:30, I have a set list of things I do. It doesn't matter how much time is devoted to each thing, as long as they are done between that time. I get up and go feed my horse. I sometimes ride her down our easement driveway, to the road, and back to the barn. I jog after that (I am working up slowly to getting to the road without feeling like I am going to die). Right now, I am as far as Lori's driveway, which is two thirds to the road! :) In the house, I start a small pot of coffee, take a quick bath, dress, and read my Bible, and pray while I drink my coffee. On the days that I get up later, I skip riding my horse, jogging and the bath, which are not all that important to me, because I can do them later. For instance, the kids and I ride Hope after school sometimes, and I take a bath at night instead of in the morning. The jogging is not really that important. I am just doing it to build up my cardio, and I can do it if I want to, during naptime.

By 7:30 the kids are up. I help them dress, and they attempt to make their beds. I help them to see where the bed is not made correctly every morning, in hopes that eventually, they can do it perfectly. Abbie is very efficient in making her bed, though! She is a horrible wiggle worm in the night and sometimes the bed is beyond her ability to fix but I make her try. Zane can do it, but I have to help him get it perfectly smooth and nice looking. Sheldon throws away his diaper and that is really the only chore he does in the morning. Mostly he runs around like a maniac in the morning. I make his bed for him.

Between 7:30 and 10:00 am we eat breakfast, do household chores, and morning devotion. While I make breakfast, Zane and Abbie unload the dishwasher. They take turns on who gets to stand on the counter. The other one hands up the dishes, to the one on the counter. Zane feeds the cat and Abbie feeds the dog. We eat and then start chore time, which is a good hour or hour and a half (sometimes more). On cereal/oatmeal mornings we do more chores, than on a morning where we eat Waffles or a bigger breakfast. We only need about 15-20 min to do our morning devotion, which we do after chores. If we do it before chores, it breaks up the routine too much. If we do chores right after breakfast, we have a good break between chores and schooltime to sit together on the couch and do devotions. Ashton usually comes at either 7:30 or 9:30, so we work him into the schedule. He has a 2nd breakfast with us, and then plays while we clean.

We have chores we have to do everyday. Some we have to do weekly, and some are monthly or bi-monthly. The kids help with most of these. I want my kids to learn to enjoy chores, so that when they are older, they will be efficient. When they are littler they think it is fun, so this is the perfect time to teach them. Right after breakfast I load the dishwasher, and after every other meal. At night I start the dishwasher before bed. As far as daily chores go, we have to do one load of laundry everyday. I put a load in right before breakfast. Later I put it in the dryer. Zane puts the dry clothes in a basket and brings them up from the basement. We all, except Sheldon, fold together on the couch. The kids do towels, underwear, and find sock mates. Abbie knows how to fold t-shirts and small pants already. Zane just likes the towels and underwear, so I let him do those, mostly. I have to sweep everyday, but I can sometimes do it every other day. Sheldon's chore is to follow me around with dust pan, as our floor is very big. I throw the dirt away and give the dustpan back to him. We do a weekly chore every morning, as well. Once the snow comes, Monday will be the day we bring firewood up from under the deck (we have a daylight basement with double doors out to the wood pile which is under the deck), and stack it in the house for the week. We have a large area for stacking near our wood stove. We do Art on Mondays, so besides wood, we do not have a weekly chore assigned to Monday. We have to have extra time for Art and clean-up. Tuesday we sweep and Mop the floor and make/edit the grocery list and menu plan, for the next two weeks. The kids get to play upstairs on Tuesdays, while I mop, if they have helped with the daily chores. Wednesday I vacuum the upstairs and balance the checkbooks. I also sometimes do any bill organizing this day. On the 1st and 15th of the month, I do the Family Budget and major bill-paying, and re-lay the budget to James, via instant message....that way we do not spend much of our phone time talking about the budget. I just leave him a long, detailed message on instant messaging that he can read the next time he logs on. On Thursday we dust and wash our three sliding glass doors (inside and out). The kids do the majority of these chores, as these are there favorites. We use lots of Murphy's Oil soap and Windex! :) Abbie loves to dust. I just fill the mop bucket with warm water and MO soap and she has a little cloth that she dips in and rings out and cleans everything with. She even washes the legs of my computer chair which get dusty. She is a wonderful helper! Zane usually has more patience for window washing but he sometimes switches with Abbie, and dusts. He uses a stool to wash the higher parts of the sliding glass doors, and I help him by doing what he misses. I also do any mending or ironing (that is not church-clothes-related) that needs done on Thursdays. On Fridays, we clean the bathroom and even Sheldon gets in on this and cleans the toilet or something else. I also organize school-papers and do the lesson plan for the next week on Fridays. By the way, I don't do the checkbooks, budgeting and lesson plans during the morning chore time...they are just organizational chores that I have to do SOME TIME on that day of the week. I reserve them for a time that is free and quiet for me, so I can think! :) Our home is completely clutter-free, and is at most times ready for company to drop by, which is SO nice! :) I love it!

On Saturdays we do a couple monthly chores or bimonthly chores....whichever need done. They include Vacuuming the Suburban and using Armorall on the interior, sweeping the basement and wiping down the washer and dryer, washing and changing everyone's sheets, cleaning the inside of the fridge and freezer before the 1st and 15th Grocery Shopping, organizing the Tupperware Cabinet and under the kitchen sink, wash/steam the upstairs carpets, organizing and cleaning the bathroom cabinets, and every Saturday we iron clothes for church, trim everyone's fingernails and pack the diaper bag, and set out the kids clothes for church. If you have ever had to get 3 kids ready for church, by yourself, you understand why I do it on Saturday. I would never make it to 9:45 Sunday School if I didn't do this.

So, that is our chore schedule. For family devotions we read 1/3 of a chapter of Proverbs everyday, sing hymns or praise songs, pray and sometimes recite memory verses. We also talk about the day and things we need to stay focused on....(getting along, being kind, obeying, doing school work diligently, or anything that is becoming a problem). Sheldon MUST sit still during Bible reading. This is his training time for sitting still and listening to the Bible...a book with no pictures. He must also fold his hands and close his eyes during prayer. We started family devotions when Zane was 2 years old, to teach him to sit still and it has helped tremendously for all of our kids, with sitting still through church (our church does not have children's church).

At 9:45 or so, I lay on the couch for 10-15 min and relax while the kids play in the play room. Ashton is usually asleep by 9:00 am, so the kids must play quietly. At 10:00 am, I call Zane down for school. We work diligently on Bible, Math or Phonics, Handwriting and Science or History, for an hour. During this time I do preschool with Abbie, and sometimes Sheldon. If Sheldon wants to continue playing in the playroom, he can. When Abbie is done doing school, she goes up to the playroom again, and continues playing with Sheldon.

At 11:00, the kids have an hour to watch a movie or play outside. I lay down with Sheldon on my bed and we have a quiet time. Occasionally, he falls asleep and I rest for 15 min or so. Ashton is usually still napping at this point. Around 11:45, I start lunch, Ashton usually wakes up, and we are done eating and cleaning the kitchen by 12:15.

From 12:15 til 1:00pm, Zane finishes his schoolwork, while the kids run around, and Abbie watches/plays with Ashton, or I spend time playing with just her, if Zane doesn't need my help. At 1:00 Abbie and Sheldon nap, I have computer time, Ashton plays downstairs with toys, and Zane has a free time. He plays quietly upstairs, and when I am done on the computer (when I do the checkbooks, budget, etc) he likes to play his computer games.

So, from 1:00 to 3:00, Abbie and Sheldon nap....Abbie naps longer than Sheldon and sometimes he is up by 2:00.

Ashton naps again at 3:00, until his mom comes to get him. After 3:30, our day is unscheduled. If I need to run errands I do it after 3:30, so we do not disrupt the school schedule, and I take Ashton to town so Sarah doesn't have to drive to my house. We get home from errands at about 5:00, usually.

If we do not run errands, the kids have a riding lesson on Hope, we work outside, or play on the trampoline. The kids bathe while I make dinner. We have dinner, I clean up the kitchen while the kids clean up the playroom. I also pick-up the downstairs while they are upstairs. I read aloud to the kids, and have them in bed by 8:15. I take a bath, write on my blog, or read, and am usually in bed by 9:00pm.

That is a day in our life! :) God Bless!