A Day in the Life: Winter 2023 Edition
6:30 a.m. My alarm goes off and I get up and quickly change into my running clothes. Bart also gets up and starts getting ready. He’s a bit slower than I am, so I make the bed and turn on the living room lamp while I wait for him. Once he comes out, we head out the door. We do a brief walk to warm up and then he starts the pace clock and we run just over 1.5 miles (he’s helping me finally learn to be a decent runner this year) and finish up with a little walk home to cool down.
7:15 a.m. When we get home, I head to the bathroom to get showered and ready for the day while Bart heads down to our home gym to do some weight-lifting. While I do my hair and makeup, I send my sister a little Marco Polo and then go into the kitchen where the girls are up and getting ready for school. I make Star some scrambled eggs and do Star’s hair while she eats. Star and Ani unload the dishwasher and I help put some of the things away and reload the dishwasher with the breakfast dishes. Bart comes out of the shower and takes the two middle girls to school. I do Tally’s hair and make my own breakfast and then eat it while she and I play a quick round of Gnomin’ A Round.
9:00 a.m. Someone comes by the house so we can sign some paperwork for a business project and Tally and Ella both join us at the table (Tally REALLY wants to sign something). Once that’s done, Tally and I go over to a neighbor’s house for a little post-Valentine’s Day party with some other kindergarten and preschool friends. I stay for about 20 minutes and then head out to my dentist’s appointment (Ella will walk over and pick up Tally in time for her Savvy Reading class while I’m gone).
10:00 a.m. The dentist is running a little slow so I answer a bunch of questions about Savvy on Instagram and then when the hygienist is ready for me, I watch an episode of Dream House Makeover on the ceiling mounted television while she cleans my teeth. No cavities! Bart texts to see what time I’ll be home and I tell him not in time to take Ella to school, so she takes the electric scooter since Bart is in the middle of a meeting he’s running and can’t bow out of.
11:10 a.m. When I get home, Tally has just finished up Savvy and is listening to Boxcar Children in the kitchen and eating an early lunch. I sit down at my desk to get some work done until it’s time to take Tally to school. As we’re getting things together, she realizes she’s left her coat at our neighbor’s house and just then my neighbor texts to say she has the coat. We swing by her house and grab the coat and then I take Tally to school. We’re a bit early so we listen to a few minutes of In Grandma’s Attic while we wait and then she goes in.
12:30 p.m. When I get home, I warm up my leftover burger from our Valentine’s lunch date yesterday and sit down at my desk and start working on my Hero Cosmetics post. Bart is in the kitchen making his own lunch and I pop in and out a few times to talk with him. I finish up the most recent Ella Enjoyed post and send that off to Analese to edit and schedule it, then do some research for some upcoming book lists. While I work, I paint my nails (today’s color is Yogurt Parfait from Olive & June), letting it dry for 10 or so minutes between coats while I type.
2:15 p.m. It’s time for Everyday Reading Book Club, so I review this week’s section of Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal, make a few notes about what I want to talk about and then share on my Instagram Stories.
3:00 p.m. I wrap up a few minutes earlier than I planned so I quickly shoot off an email to Kelsey on my team about this week’s #janssensreadalikes Instagram post (she does all the design on them) and then film this week’s book giveaway for later today. I hop in the car and head out to get the girls from school, sending my mom a little Marco Polo while I drive. I drop off the little boy in our carpool group and then the girls and I head home.
3:30 p.m. Everyone puts away their school stuff and I make hot chocolate for Tally and a peanut butter banana chocolate smoothie for Star, Ella and me. I pull out a new puzzle and we start working on it while we listen to In Grandma’s Attic and Star does her math homework. Star reminds me that she wanted a scrambled egg for snack to go with her smoothie so I whip that up. Bart comes up to the kitchen and we chat for a few minutes.
4:30 p.m. It’s time for Star to do her Savvy Math class and she asks that we don’t listen without her so I turn on Betsy-Tacy instead for Tally and me to listen to (I haven’t read it in YEARS!) while we keep working on the puzzle. As soon as Star finishes Savvy, it’s time for her piano lesson, so I run her over to that and then come back and start working on dinner while I listen to my audiobook. Bart and the other girls are working on a reel in the living room and I help out for a moment before it’s time to go get Star from her piano lesson. I bring her home and Bart and the girls set the table while I film a quick reel to go with tomorrow morning’s blog post. I send off some texts about Primary (the children’s organization for our church that I’m the president of) and then it’s time for dinner.
6:05 p.m. Everyone comes into dinner and we have family scripture study during dinner since Bart is heading out for a city meeting and Ella has a volleyball game at the church. Once everyone is done with their dinner, I quickly do the dishes and then the girls go downstairs to get ready for bed. Ella gets picked up for volleyball and Ani comes up and helps me finish the puzzle while I have a little post-dinner snack of apples and peanut butter. Once the puzzle is done, I film some sponsored stories for Raycon earbuds.
7:30 p.m. I clean up my office (it was WAY overdue!), answer DMs on Instagram, do a few accounting things, set out my workout clothes for tomorrow morning and think about how I should water my plants (but I don’t. . . ).
8:15 p.m. Ella gets home and everyone helps straighten up the main living areas and then they sort through all their Valentine’s candy in the living room while I read aloud a few chapters from Glitch to them. Everyone brushes their teeth, we clean up the playroom, I tuck everyone in and then come back to my office to work on this post.
9:15 p.m. Bart gets home and unloads the dishwasher while he chats with Ella in the kitchen and I spend 20 more minutes catching up on this post.
9:45 p.m. I brush my teeth and wash my face, and Bart and Ella and I snuggle up in our bed to start watching Little Dorrit (which Bart and I watched and LOVED more than a dozen years ago but haven’t re-watched since).
10:20 p.m. We send Ella off to bed, turn off our lights and go to sleep. That gym class is coming early tomorrow morning!
Live these posts! How old is Ella and why does her school start so late?
She’s 12 and she does part-time homeschool so she only goes to public school for part of the day.
My favorite part is when you whip up the scrambled egg for Star. 🙂 Very Laura Petrie of you! 😉
Your day sounds very thoughtful and balanced. I’m sure there are lots of ups and downs and crunch times like for all of us, but that you’ve created some amazing habits and routines that allow you and your family to prioritize what matters most to you.
What is a little marco polo? Like a whatsapp? Also it’s crazy that you are at the stage where you can leave the kids in the house to go for a run, mine are 6 and 3 and it feels like that time is still a very long way away.
It’s a video chat app where you can send asynchronous videos!
And it does feel FOREVER until your kids don’t need an adult home at every minute.