A Day in the Life: Summer 2024
Summer is in full swing over here and after the wild ride of June (girls camp, family reunion, youth conference, Grancie camps!) it feels good to settle into a more regular summer routine.
Here’s what a weekday at our house looked like this month!

5:25 a.m. Bart’s alarm goes off for pickleball. I am SO glad I don’t have to get up and I go back to sleep within seconds.
6:30 a.m. My alarm goes off and I still wish I didn’t have to get up. I put on my workout clothes (I set them out last night), brush my teeth, and get my wallet, keys, phone, and earbuds. I put in the first load of laundry and check that the girls have gotten out of bed for swim team (none of them have. . . . Ani went back to sleep after her alarm went off and the little girls have their alarm turned so low they didn’t hear it). While they get their swim stuff together, I strip our bed. We drive to swim team, I drop them off and then go for a 3 mile run while I listen to my audiobook (this is the one I’m listening to at the moment). I get back to the pool before swim team is over and sit down until they’re finished and then we head out together.
8:10 a.m. When we get home, the girls hop right in the shower. I switch the laundry and put our bedding in, then take a shower and do my hair and makeup while I listen to my scripture study. Tally is ready for Savvy, so I get her set up, finish getting ready, and then Bart comes home with Ani who finishes swim team later than the other two girls. The groceries just got delivered so they bring those all in and I clear out the fridge and put everything away while Bart does the dishes. Ani and Star decide they want to organize the pantry cupboards, so they take everything out and then put it back in neatly.
8:55 a.m. Tally finishes up Savvy and comes in for some breakfast and Ella comes in for breakfast too. Bart and I spend 10 minutes looking at Amazon to decide on new drinking glasses since we’re down to 4 and also some new mugs so we can clear out the massive number of mismatched ones that take up too much space and are hard to clean. Usually I make myself this for breakfast, but I’m not feeling super hungry this morning, so I just cut up an apple with some peanut butter and take it into my office to start work for the morning. The girls go to their rooms to get things straightened up for the day, I put in the next load of laundry, and Star does her piano practice. I usually try to film my reels in advance but I never got around to doing my Monday one on Friday so I sit down to film it and then post it (you can see it here!).
10:00 a.m. Tally comes in to my office to sharpen a pencil and asks how long it’s been since I emptied the pencil sharpener (a long time). She empties it out and then I ask her to grab the handheld vacuum to suck up all the bits left in the pencil sharpener. I start sucking up the bits falling out of the top and it just keeps coming – it’s like confetti! Pencil sharpener nice and clean and reassembled! I work on this post. I share the top ten sellers for June (you can see those here, if you’re curious!) to InstaStories and then switch the laundry again.
11:00 a.m. I do all my June accounting for Everyday Reading and pay the bills, and then Ella is ready for a ride to the mall to spend a few hours with some friends (wow, does this make me feel old). We chat on the way over and I listen to my audiobook on the way back and when I get home, we all have some lunch (Bart and I both eat leftovers, Tally has oatmeal, Ani makes herself a tuna melt, and Star scrambles some eggs with leftover pulled pork). I was planning to take the girls to the trampoline park but they decide they’d rather play with cousins and I send a few texts to arrange that. I brush my teeth and put my aligners back in and then switch the laundry and sit back down at my desk.
1:00 p.m. I update this post and then work on this family reunion post while my girls put away their clean laundry and then it’s time to take my kids over to play with their cousins. I drive them over and then come straight home, finish the reunion post and then make the reel to go along with it. Jessica calls me and we FaceTime for about 10 minutes talking about work stuff.
2:50 p.m. I head back to the mall to grab Ella and then bring her back home. I put my last load of laundry in the dryer and then make this copy cat Frosted Lemonade (my CSE code is JANSSEN). Ella and I both can’t stop talking about how good it is. I sit back down at my desk and prep my reel for tonight while Bart and Ella pack up her face painting things so Bart can take her to an event she’s face painting at.
4:00 p.m. I can tell that I’m losing work steam. I clear my inbox, plan what I’ll do tomorrow, and then answer the Friday questions for this upcoming week. Just as I finish, my girls come back home from swimming with their cousins and they hop in the shower. I go out to get the mail and sit on the front steps to sort through everything, including a notice that my drivers license expires soon. Whee.
5:15 p.m. I start working on dinner (I’m making these burritos) while listening to my audiobook. Since I’m already in the kitchen, I put some quinoa on to cook for my daily breakfast bowl and also chop and roast a sweet potato (also for my breakfast bowl). Ani comes in and sets the table for dinner. While everything is cooking, I go fold my laundry. When that’s done, I come back to the kitchen, assemble the burritos, wash some grapes and clean up as much as I can.
6:10 p.m. We all sit down for dinner. As people are wrapping up, we do scripture reading. Once we’re done, the little girls unload the dishwasher, Ani takes out the recycling, I put away the food, and Bart does the dishes. While they finish up, I remake our bed and then post my evening reel and some InstaStories.
7:15 p.m. We load everyone up in the car and head to the farmers market to scope it out and see Ella. The girls play on the playground while Bart and I stroll through the booths. After about 40 minutes, it starts raining, so we help Ella take down her booth, load up the car (we should have brought the truck but didn’t even think about it, so it’s a bit of a tight squeeze to get the 6 foot table into the minivan). On the way home, we stop at the library and I pick up my holds and renew my library card which is about to expire.
8:50 p.m. We get home and everyone gets in their pjs and brushes their teeth and Ella heats up some leftover burritos since she wasn’t here for dinner. We head out to the back deck and I read aloud a couple of chapters. Bart and I tuck everyone in and then I get in bed and write in my journal and read a few pages of my book until Bart is ready for bed and then we watch about 20 minutes of Leverage until 10:35. Lights out, alarm on and ready for tomorrow!
Hey Janseen,
I really enjoy these type of blog posts. I have a suggestion for a book list if you are interested.
Books that are hidden gems you stumbled upon without any prior knowledge of them or have been recommended to you.