How do you fit it all in?
Evenings are much more complicated than mornings for us. There’s a lot more that can throw a night off than there is happening in the mornings. After school time until bedtime is one of the huge reasons we started having our calendaring meeting every Sunday. With so much going on we weren’t fitting in dinner time together and our bedtimes were ALL over the place!
When do you figure all of this out?
During our Sunday calendaring time is when we discuss who will need to start dinner and at what time in order for us to be able to sit down as a family and eat together. We determine who will be home in time for bedtime and what nights our usual bedtime won’t work for us. It’s pretty important for everyone to get to bed as early as possible because we all get up SO early every day!
(scroll through photos to see my evening schedule)
The schedule for the 2nd half of our day:
3:50pm-Pick up the kids/hugs/snacks/chat
4:15pm-Homework
5:15pm-kids make their lunches/get backpacks ready for tomorrow/shoes, socks, jackets with backpacks*
5:30pm-Start dinner (one of the kids helps**)/kids do their chores***
6:30pm-Sit down to dinner together
7:15pm–dishes with Miriam***
7:30pm-play a game
7:50pm– quick straightening of the house
8:00pm-pjs/brush teeth
8:15pm-DEAR time
8:40pm-questions and read current book
9:00pm-lights out/spend time with each of the kids chatting/snuggling before they fall asleep
9:30pm-Mike and I do leftover clean up/pick up
9:45pm-Mike and I get to chat for a little while (or spend 15 minutes together)
10:30pm-Lights out/bedtime
How I made my mornings less crazy
**A few years ago my mom was visiting and we were talking about how crazy our mornings and that we just kept being late to school…every day! She suggested that I let the kids do more than they were doing. I’ve always been very aware of making sure my kids had lots of opportunities to be dependent but her idea opened my mind to things that I was still doing for my kids that they could do themselves.
Making lunches every morning was making me lose track of time before school. I knew I needed to change how much I did in the hour or so of getting everyone out the door. So..the kids now make their own lunches! (more details in an upcoming blog post on this topic)
Making dinner preparation more fun and meaningful
**While we still lived in Utah the kids loved to help with everything. At that time I realized that I really wanted them to learn cooking skills so I decided what better time than during dinner preparations? Each night one of the kids gets to help us in the kitchen (I’ll share in a blog post how to create this in your own home).
Spending time making dinner is an awesome chance to chat and be with one of our kids…just us…working together in the kitchen. It’s fun seeing them take responsibility for what we are creating for the dinner table for the rest of the family.
Dinner time is an awesome connecting point that gives us a chance to really see how awesome our familyness is…another opportunity to be bowled over with the magic of my life.
What about the chores?
***Chores have had their cycles in our home. Each of the kids has a chore that they need to do each night of the week (with more in depth responsibilities on Fridays after school). When chores happen our house stays amazingly fresh for weeks at a time.
Doing chores together reminds me that I get to strengthen a relationship in the process of working together. I love the time that I get to spend with Miriam cleaning up the kitchen.
What do you do about unexpected stuff that comes up?
Life doesn’t always run by this schedule. Some weeks it feels like we just run along super smoothly and then other weeks feel hectic and we wonder what happened because it will feel like we don’t have any kind of routine.
The thing I love about having a routine is that it gives us connecting points in our day that we can count on…even when our life is hectic those connecting points have become a natural part of who we are as a family. I keep talking about them but they are what give me a guaranteed chance of seeing how amazing my familyness is!
At the end of the day
On occasional nights we get to play a game together or hang out and watch an episode of our favorite show, Psych (hilarious) or Highlander (yes, the 90s, Duncan MacCloud, immortal tv show).
My favorite connecting point of the day has to be bedtime, though. I love asking the kids questions and then reading a novel, that we all can’t wait to see what happens next in, each night.
The most important part
It can get completely chaotic around our house with people laughing, having heated discussions, chasing the dog and getting her barking and sliding all over the floor, leaving doors open, running in and outside playing, projects going on every surface, and all kinds of other craziness.
The most important part always comes back to: the purpose of everything is to strengthen relationships.
Do you have questions about my schedule?
The way I create my day? How it all comes together? Anything? How this routine came into being? Please, just ask away or send me an email and I’ll answer them for you!
Davina loves photographing families living their everyday lives, especially when it involves spilled milk and hanging laundry. Find out how to set up your own Day in the Life session by contacting her here.
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By day, I photograph families. By night, I build forts the size of elephants with my family. I live in a yellow house. I believe real life is the best getaway ever.
2 Comments
I love so many things about this! I love Corey and Alisa and had flashbacks of when we were so lucky to visit them. Way to capture ‘them’…how Alisa cooks and loves on her kids and enjoys the moments – each one. Loved how you captured family prayer (with Spencer running away and the girlies so reverent), and the dinner prep, and Alisa working the errands with the stroller for THREE kiddos.
I am hoping to get more info on your classes and possibly be able to take on in the future.
Beautiful work.
Thanks for the blog and tips and for showing so much joy in mothering.
-meg
Thank you, Megan! Corey and Alisa are irresistible, aren’t they? There are so many awesome moments that happen everyday and are gone and missed only when they’ve passed. I love helping people to see how beautiful their everyday stuff is! Currently (today only) there s a big sale on my courses. I hope I’ll see you in one of them the next go-round! There are so many awesome things about your everyday! I can tell just by the way you connected with seeing Alisa and Corey’s life. I hope I’ll see you here again! 🙂 Thank you for taking the time to write this note, Megan!