My morning started with our littlest person climbing into bed with me. I don't know what time it was, but early, because it was still dark. I'll call her Pepper, because she adds a real spice to our lives :) I didn't sleep much after that, but finally dragged myself out of bed at 7.30. I'm trying to get up earlier in the morning, but it's a battle - especially when I do something dumb like stay up late watching a movie like I did last night.
ANYway, I turned on the oven to warm up breakfast (rice pudding, sweetened with dates and a little rapadura), rounded up the chickens which had escaped their pen (regular morning occurrence), let out the guinea pigs, then spent 45 minutes in prayer and meditation before Pepper woke up again and came to me for snuggles. The next hour was taken up with serving and eating breakfast and reading bible, interspersed with putting on a load of laundry (someone I won't name had wet the bed), discussing plans for Marigold (the oldest) to play hymns at church in two weeks, helping Poppy (our flamboyant yet fragile second-born) with Fur Elise on the piano, and helping everyone choose their chores from the job list for the day (when I'm organised, I write out a list of jobs for the day on a small whiteboard and each of the oldest three chooses three or four jobs - depending how big the jobs are).
By 10.30, after supervising Maths for Cinnamon (4th daughter) and Poppy, while advising Ivy (our tenacious and determined middle child) on how to prepare "twice-baked potatoes" and ensuring that Pepper finished her breakfast, I felt sleepy enough to go back to bed (but didn't!). I'd also given Cinnamon her pocket money for the month, and went through how much a tithe is and how to divide up the remainder between spending and saving. Oh, and put some of Ivy's money in her savings account at her request.
After that I brought in a load of laundry and hung out the new load, trying to make the process a mini workout by squatting to take each item out of the laundry basket. In the middle of hanging out the laundry, I heard the squawking of chickens, so went to collect the first eggs for the day. Meanwhile the girls were taking turns with piano and violin practice and Marigold and Poppy were taking turns using "their" laptop for their daily touch typing practice (copying out the book of Deuteronomy bit by bit). They also wrote out their scripture copywork. Thankfully today Cinnamon's was up to scratch - I've had to get her to rewrite it quite a few other days because she has been so sloppy.
Sometime after that Marigold asked me what my expectations were for cleaning the shower and bath, so I walked her through that, then helped Ivy with her maths since it was a new concept today - multiplying fractions. In between all this, there were a few trips outside with the buckets from the kitchen and laundry sink (I collect the water we use for rinsing dishes and washing hands to water pot plants). I gave Cinnamon her jobs, including putting away her laundry. Meanwhile I checked the peach tree for ripe peaches and brought in some water for drinking from the rainwater tank, on the way discovering a tomato that had been eaten by a blackbird. Somewhere in there Marigold completed her "chicken welfare" course on Coursera (much to our relief - an inordinate amount of course time was devoted to ways and means of killing chickens - not quite what we were expecting).
In the midst of the morning, there were several discipline issues I had to deal with with Pepper. Lunchtime snuck up on us and it was time to feed Pepper. After lunch Poppy read to Pepper in preparation for her nap, while I hunted for a protractor... after Marigold told me she couldn't work out how to measure angles with the compass I'd given her (when she first asked for a protractor, I gave her a compass, and being the kind of child she is, she struggled for a good ten or fifteen minutes trying to work out how on earth she could measure an angle with it before almost losing it).
Meanwhile, Poppy was scrambling to finish her "list" for the day, since she's been waiting all week for a chance to watch a movie with her sisters, and Pepper's nap time is my preferred time for this. We like to keep Pepper's screen time to an absolute minimum. Poppy handed me her notebook so I could read her "history writing" - she wrote a few lines about Diet Eman, author of the book "Things We Couldn't Say", which I have been sporadically reading aloud for several months. (I don't have the stomach to read it aloud often, since it is a biographical account, including time that Diet spent in concentration camps for her work in the Dutch resistance during WW2).
By 3.00 while the girls watched Fiddler On The Roof, I was writing this while eating far too many macaroons (made by Marigold several days ago - they were a bit of a flop, but still thoroughly edible). I just collected the fourth egg of the day... I took a break from writing to bring in dry laundry, make the bed that had been wet, collect and "can" some more peaches and prepare dinner (slow cooked marinated meat and salad with tomatoes fresh from the garden)...
By 4.00 Pepper had woken up and wanted some Mummy play time before she joined her sisters to watch the last of Fiddler on the Roof. I checked out a documentary on living on $1 a day to put on for the girls some time in the future, then had some discussion with Marigold and Poppy about Jews and Russia, prompted by Fiddler on the Roof.
I read a letter from the camp director at Marigold and Poppy's church summer camp - I really appreciate that he writes a letter to the parents each year summarizing the topics discussed in their Christian Living classes.
After dinner the Raamonster rang from his work four hours away and we chatted about the day and plans for the weekend and holidays later in the hear, after he had chatted to Marigold and Ivy (Poppy, Cinnamon and Pepper had each had their turns earlier in the week). I had some play time with Pepper, and now here I am, finishing this off and just about ready to go to bed. I'm amazed at how much of a blur the day behind me already is! This is a mostly true account, but maybe not completely accurate in timing. I haven't written about every detail of the day - that would be too boring even for me, but I think it gives a reasonably honest snapshot. Maybe I'll write another in a year, just to keep track of how my life changes. Maybe...
