The Uneventful, yet Eventful Day

Today was a catch-up day–catch up on work, catch up on chores, catch up on reading (blogs and mail included).    So, as I tuned in to a bit of the A Woman Inspired conference (amazing, as usual), breakfast was simple enough–pancakes and turkey bacon.    Then I began to catch up on cleaning and straightening up the kitchen.    

The older I get, the more I find myself cleaning like my mom, who would begin one activity only to flow into another, then another, then another.    She would turn one chore into a day where 18 jobs would be completed.     In summary, here’s my own trek through kitchen-related chores:   I cleaned the stove and all the countertops.   Cleaning the countertops meant putting away the crate-sized box of fresh fruits and vegetables into the fridge.    Putting away the fruit meant cutting the cantaloupe that made the kids swoon, then performing a mini-refrigerator cleaning project.   I once heard that as a money-saving tip, you should base your menu planning on what already exists in your refrigerator.    It looks as if I need to make a stuffed cabbage and/or vegetable soup soon.

 

I folded several loads of clothes and picked up the family room.   Then there was school–had to fit that in somewhere (smile)!   Our youngest has been studying the ancient Greeks, and we focused in on the Olympics this week.   As a purposeful digression, a couple of days ago, I put on a pair of pants and sped off to work.   Thank God I placed in my pocket a couple of safety pins–my pants were too big!    I couldn’t think of where the inches went, but thinking about my day with my high schooler, middle schooler, and elelmentary schooler, I know where I lost the weight!    Seriously, I have had to come to a painful reality that I heard years ago–you can’t focus on every child, every year.   At least, I can’t.    My last two years have been consumed with fixing some areas I broke as I prepare my oldest for increasingly independent study (with a goal of college).   This has come at the expense of the younger two.   Our son is fairly well self-managed, but the youngest will sometimes have a day of little or no school when life gets too busy in other areas.    Of course, she’s not leaving us tomorrow, and she still is learning and growing, but I sometimes feel bad when I think about all the fun that the two older children got to have at that age–cooking, field trips, networking with other homeschool groups, etc.   It was a different season in my life as a homeschooling mom, and with two smaller children and her in my arms, the school days were a whole lot more carefree.   Fast forward 6-7 years with much more on all of our proverbial plates, plus a high schooler who’ll never be accused of not stopping to smell the roses, and we simply don’t have time to do those things.    So yesterday, I thought it’d be nice to do something with a younger one in mind.   Hence, we birthed our first annual Olympic races.

I learned quickly that our girls have picked up my lack of spontaneity.    The oldest resisted doing too much more than taking pictures, and the youngest got upset when she didn’t win a race.   I spent my time somewhere between trying to encourage everyone to join in and just have fun and surrendering to the girls’ needs to moan and groan.   Funny how they carried on so outside, but then rushed to tell Dad all the details of their time outside as if they’d been belles of the ball.   I’m convinced that spending so much time with Mom allows kids to know exactly what buttons to push.   Anyway, though they didn’t voice it until later that afternoon, they had a blast.   Here are some highlights:

 

 

homeschool; olympics; games; fun; races

Game face for the straw race 

 

homeschool; olympics; games; fun; races

ready to take that egg all the way!

 

 

homeschool; olympics; games; fun; races

in the hunt for a medal

 

 

homeschool; olympics; games; fun; races

 teamwork on getting the balloon across the yard

 

 

homeschool; olympics; games; fun; races

in the end, we’re all winners

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4 thoughts on “The Uneventful, yet Eventful Day

  1. I had to laugh when you described yourself doing the chores. That is how I always do it. It is always following one rabbit trail after another here.

    LOVE the Olympics ideas! Looks like so much fun.

    I occasionally make my big kids go along to do something just for the little ones. The worst was when I made the boys go to a Fancy Nancy party….they hid in the corner of the library and pretended they weren't really there, LOL!

    Tracy

  2. Well, it sounds like a very successful day! I know what you mean about them acting like they hate every second of something, then telling Dad what a great time they had! LOL. Glad to know mine aren't the only ones! : )

    I am also with you on the different season of life. I, too, feel bad sometimes that I can't/don't do the same things with the younger ones that I did with the older ones. But, they are still happy and well adjusted, so I try not to get bogged down in it. They have their own things. Last fall was a season for me of most all of my focus needing to be on one child, and feeling like I was neglecting the others. This is their catch up time now! I'm so glad the God does not put the expectations on me that I do myself sometimes and that others do sometimes!! I'm glad you are giving yourself the freedom and grace to know it's a temporary and acceptable thing, too.

    Thank you for checking on me. We are doing well. I did finally update. I think the chaos of the summer and fall got me out of the habit of blogging. Plus, for so long, there were so many crisis going on~some that I couldn't discuss~that I felt like there was nothing positive I had to share. I keep hoping I'm going to get back into a weekly habit here!

    Enjoy your week!
    Letitia

  3. My new name for you… Mrs. Productivity!! I grew exhausted just reading your chore list. LOL I'm more of a "clean along the way" girl. I'm overwhelmed by huge clean days.

I'd love to hear your two cents!!