What I didn't get (because I didn't think of it until the shower), was us getting up. Usually we wake up between 5:30 and 6:30am, depending on Jacob & Emily. Often I can convince Jacob to get in bed with me & lie quietly for a while, or Rick scurries them downstairs to the TV, but once they wake up Jane, it's all over.
Rick leaves at 6:30am, the kids & I eat breakfast at 7, have scriptures & do our scripture memorization. Rebekah leaves for school at 7:25am.
After Rebekah leaves, I get the 3 other kids dressed (they eat breakfast in their pj's, because they spill!) Brush their teeth, hair, etc. Then I leave them in Emily's room to play while I take a quick shower & get dressed. Lately I've been putting Jane in the exersaucer for this, because I'm nervous she'll crawl into a hot radiator, or down the stairs. This day she was on the floor with Emily "babysitting" - this is the main reason I need to shower before Emily leaves each day - childcare!
Then I make the beds, and gather any clothes from the floor and drop them into the laundry baskets. Emily "makes" her own bed, but I usually give her a little help. Then, in return she helps me make mine, because she's a sweetie.
Emily's bus comes at 8:33am. We all put on coats & shoes & head 2 doors up to the bus stop. It's been 3 months since school started, and still each day Jacob asks "Me's come?" Poor dude, he really wants to get on that fun looking bus & go with his best friend to school.
Back inside we separate a load of towels (Tuesday is towel & sheet washing day.) The best way for me to move these is actually to kick them down the stairs, and through the house. I'm generally holding velcro-baby, and it's the only system I've been able to work out. Jacob likes to help - he thinks kicking them down the stairs is a great idea.
Then I empty the previous nights dishes, and load the breakfast one's. Again, Jacob thinks this is SUPER fun. I don't know how long the door to the dishwasher is going to last with him climbing on it. I try every morning to have everyone dressed & ready (& off to school), the beds made & the dishes done by 9am - when Jane needs to take her morning nap. The dishes are the thing I'm slackest about. Rick does the dishes in the night when he gets home, and often there's a sink full waiting for him. The key for me is to get the dishwasher emptied early - then I can add through the day as we use them. Then if the kitchen looks clean, & the beds are made, I feel like the house is clean all day - even if it isn't really.
On Tuesdays Irene comes to clean for us. Irene was added to our family in my late pregnancy with Jane, and let me just say I hope she's with us a LONG time. She comes on Tuesdays & cleans the bathrooms, floors and kitchen. Having her is a blessing, and lets me spend more time with the kids. We go to singing time on Tuesday mornings, and I try and do most of our "errands" then too - so we're out of the house & out of her way.
During Jane's morning nap, I read Jacob 2 books, and then got some packages ready to send, so on our way out we stopped by the shipping center. Then we went to pick up Kate (who's Mom just had a new baby), and take her with us to singing time.
Singing time was at Erins house. Jacob loves to sing "Little Red Caboose" with her. It's a new song to me (but I got it on iTunes for him) and I need to get better at learning the words. Jane mostly like to eat any instruments, but she's getting better at learning to shake things that make sound. Then they played with balloons - always a hit.
Then we took Kate home, and started to head back to our house. Jane has never been a fan of the car, and by the time we hit noon, neither of them are happy to be in there. I just keep taking a lot of deep breaths!
Emily had a 1/2 day this day, so she was home for lunch ("Trader Joes" honey whole wheat pretzels, cheese, ham & baby carrots.) I don't know why my kids won't eat sandwiches! Water to drink. We mostly only drink water, but especially on Tuesdays when Irene has just cleaned the floors (did I mention the kids spill.)
Then J&J took naps. During their naps I try to get things done & clean my perpetually messy office, or grab a nap with them. This day I booked Nutcracker tickets online, and started to sort through the "urgent" paper pile.
Then the sprinkler guy came to blow out & turn off the system. It took the rest of nap time. That paper pile will have to keep on waiting.
It was parent-teacher conferences, so I watched Sara & Ashely's kids while they had their conferences, so Ashley could watch mine when I went. Most people here don't have family around, so good networking is a survival skill. We do a LOT of babysitting trades. Can you believe Rebekah and I had completely cleared the backyard of leaves 3 days before this? That oak tree is BIG.
They also had a game of soccer. Emily has really improved in soccer - must be the excellent coaching (Rick is her coach!) Soccer has ended for the year & will resume in April, but it's always welcome in the backyard (we even bought some portable goals for back there.)
While we were in the backyard, Rebekah arrived home from school and had her piano lesson. She is really starting to do well. I'm sure it's that we bumped up her practice to an hour a day. I guess "practice makes perfect" really is true!
Then she had her math tutoring session. Here she is with her tutor, Ms. VanT. Rebekah thinks she's cool, and she is super nice. She always says Hi to the other kids, and asks Emily something about herself. Of course, the way to win me over instantly is to be great to my kids, so I love her too. Rebekah is starting to do well in math again, and we are hoping that she will soon catch up on the things she missed out on in the honors class last year, and we won't need the tutor anymore. 
Just before that ended I left to take Emily & Jacob to Ashelys & head to Emily's school for parent teacher conference. I had called Rick earlier that day to ask if there was anything he wanted me to ask / say. He said "No, they'll just say she's wonderful." And she did. Emily is doing well in school, she is smart, cheerful, friendly, gets along with everyone, talkative, but appropriate & knows when to be quiet and listen. WE believe she's a delightful child, but it's always nice to have it reinforced by someone else - especially someone who is supposed to be a child development expert, like a teacher.
I had taken Jane with me (she goes everywhere with me), and she was starting to have about enough of the car. My cell phone is a good distraction at times like this.
Ashley was kind enough to say she'd keep the kids a little longer so I could make 2 stops before coming home. The 1st was the post office, which is always easier the fewer kids you are bringing with you. Thanks Ashley!
Then back to pick up the kids from Ashely's. I was begging Jacob to be quiet & not wake up Jane, who had finally fallen asleep. I even talked to him and practiced whispering before I put him in the car, and bribed him with my phone - but he'd woken Jane up before we pulled out of the driveway.
The thing that usually ends up being ignored, is dinner. I hate that! This day I had planned on making pumpkin soup (one of our favorites), but ran out of time. I keep some canned soup - we all love the progress Lentil - on hand for days that "get away from me." So we had that with the salad & yummy sourdough bread instead.
After dinner, it's into the bath for the 3 littlies. If Rebekah doesn't have too much homework, she helps me bathe them - but mostly these days she's swamped with homework. She did hang onto Jane so I could take this picture. (Aren't we such a pale family?) Some of my friends don't bathe their kids everyday, and I think this would cut down on stress and make the evenings easier - I'm sure it's part of my OCD tendencies, but I just can't stand the thought of those sweaty little bodies getting into their beds (I change Emily's sheets twice a week, and Jacob's 3 times a week.) I just like thinking they are starting the day fresh the following morning, so they get at least 1 bath each day!
Then it's time to brush teeth. This is usually a battle with Jacob, but he's getting better.
Then stories. If it's late, Jacob & Emy get one to share. If there's enough time, they each can choose one. This day they had time for one each, so Emily chose this and we read it after Jacob was in bed.
Rebekah showers while I'm wrestling the little kids into pj's, etc. Then she gets her homework done, and heads of to bed herself. Her "bedtime" is 9:30pm, but it depends on the homework, often it's 11pm or later.
I think I have mentioned before that Jane has excellent "Mommy radar", so I keep her wherever I am. I can't believe that she can sleep like a log with me working on stuff, and the TV going, etc - but in her nice quiet crib, wakes up after 20 minutes. We're working on staying in the crib longer - but most nights I just need to get stuff done, and resort to whatever works.
After the kids are in bed, I finish whatever needs to be done. Most days this means LAUNDRY. I try to get all the laundry done on Monday & Tuesday, but it usually spills into Wednesday. Thursdays after swimming lessons, I do one more load of towels. Rebekah washes her own stuff on Saturdays. I'm amazed at how much laundry 2 adults & 4 kids can generate. It typically takes me 5 hours to fold our weeks laundry.
So, I DVR "Oprah" & some of my other favorites to make all that folding a little more bearable.
Rick gets home from work sometime around this, and does whatever dishes are left then goes to the gym, then he comes home to shower & goes to bed. When all the laundry is done, I check my e-mail, maybe blog a little and go to bed too.
