A typical day in the McGuirk household

So, I am seeing a pattern in my posts... I only post when something happens in our family. Makes sense, right... why post everyday routine days?

Well, today is Thursday. Let me describe to you a typical day:

6:45 am mom awake, dog outside

7:00am start waking up big kids (usually takes 30 minutes!)

7:30am downstairs for breakfast, make lunches, finish homework, study spelling words, etc.

8:00am brush teeth, pack backpacks

8:20am Dad and big kids head off to school, Mom cleans up breakfast round #1

8:30am "babies" (that's their nickname) wake, eat breakfast (round #2)

9:00am watch Dora the Explorer, Mom starts a load of laundry (daily at least one load, if not more)

9:30am baths and Mom shower, get dressed.

11:00am switch laundry, play time - outside time - Mom's computer time

11:30am start lunch

12:00pm babies eat lunch, get Tyler ready for preschool (Mon thru Thurs)

12:20 pm load up and take Tyler to preschool

12:30pm either run a couple errands or head home for Taryn's nap

1:00pm Taryn naps, Mom cleans up dishes, switches laundry, check's email, enjoys "no kid" time

3:00pm Taryn usually naps till 2:30 or 3:00

3:15pm Taryn and Mom load up and head to Tyler's school to pick him up

3:45pm Pick up big kids from school, head home

4:00pm Snacks for all kids, homework, cartoons, outside time, Mom thinking about dinner (or rather about NOT cooking dinner) :)

5:00pm Start dinner or make plans for what to do for dinner, kids continue to play outside or downstairs or with the neighborhood kids

6:00pm Dinner - sometimes with all of us, sometimes just Mom and kids, sometimes just Dad and kids - depends on the evening (mom @ workout or dad @ meeting)

7:00pm Not really sure where this hour goes... one minute it is 7pm, the next it is 8pm... How that happens, not sure

8:00pm baths, showers, etc for everyone (some days babies take two baths), PJ's, feed chameleon, snacks, cartoons, reading for school, brush teeth

9:00 babies go to bed in Mom and Dad's bed

9:30 lights out for all kids, Mom and Dad catch up on computer time, laundry folding, dishes, mail, sometimes we even get a chance to talk just the two of us! Imagine that! :)

Somewhere between 10pm and midnight Mom and Dad move babies to their beds upstairs, and get to sleep... some days it is right at 10pm; some days... Mom is up alone, enjoying the quiet house, preparing for the next day...

AND SO WE WAKE UP AND DO IT AGAIN!

So, when in there are we supposed to "slow down and smell the roses?" What roses are we to smell? The multiple poopy diapers that I change throughout the day? Not sure who said that... obviously they did not have kids!

Sometimes we fit in dance time... we put mom's iPod on the speakers and turn it up really loud and dance... we tickle, we laugh, we take pictures, we chase each other, we have pillow fights, we build forts with blankets, we get all the toys out and don't pick them out until the end of the day... sometimes we break the routine and mom skips a shower, or even better... mom doesn't do laundry that day! Hah! (Only for the next day the piles are bigger...) I guess those are the roses to smell... the times that we don't do the routine, expected things when we are supposed to; those are the times that make having kids truely enjoyable. I only wish there were more of them. Thank goodness someone invented VACATIONS. Those are all "smell the roses" kinds of days...

This was, of course, a typical week day... the weekends are a different story. Somehow when the big kids are home and daddy too; well, the days are just not the same.

Every mom reading this can relate. And those of you who fit in an 8 hour day in an office... well... the routine is even tighter for you.

So, as we celebrate today being the last day of Winter... as the saying goes... "TAKE TIME TO SMELL THE ROSES".

Have a great day.