a day in the life...

Right now, I lead a pretty interesting life. It's a different one, for sure--definitely a much different one than I would have ever predicted for myself! So I thought maybe some of you were wondering what my days consist of (I've gotten plenty of questions about this!). I thought I would carry my camera around with me during my day, and show you! So here it is...a day in the life of a 29-year-old-mother-of-four-college-student. :)

So right now we live on the third floor! Which has its advantages and disadvantages (like carrying up my groceries!) But here is an advantage, for sure--and my camera doesn't do it justice. Every morning I am able to see the beautiful sunrise! I love looking out the window in the mornings:) Usually our early-riser (Halle)is up, too, looking at the sunrise with me. I love it!

The way they do it here at NTBI, all the students except for the moms have their first class at 8:00. Then the 9:00 hour is chapel (which I need to go to about 2 or 3 days per week). Then we have a 10:00 class and an 11:00 class. So, Nathan leaves for class at about 7:55, and I have to get myself and our kids ready to go by 8:55...which is sometimes quite a chore! Nathan always makes breakfast, though, which is a huge help! So Nathan leaves for class and...

I finish up feeding the kiddos breakfast...

...I try to get myself ready to go (usually Layla joins me on the bathroom counter)...


...Halle and Layla are usually acting psycho...

...which usually results in "blanket time", which is a total lifesaver for me! It keeps me sane:)

I get the kids ready to go (It is so nice that Kaine can do this step all by himself!)

And then we are out the door. Usually Nathan runs back up to our apartment after his 8:00 class is over, to help me carry our kids to child care.

So we drop our kiddos off. The childcare is split into 4 age groups, and we have a kid in each one!! We drop Layla off to "Mini's"...

...Halle is dropped off to "Toddlers"...

...Kaine is in the "Preschool" class...

...and of course, Daisy is in "Babies."

Phew! The stressful part of the morning is over:)

Next we have chapel. Chapel is different every day...sometimes it is in the auditorium and we have a speaker or worship, but on Tuesdays this is what we have:

Married Ladies Chapel! Definitely one of my favorites! A different "married lady" hosts it each week, and we have some food and coffee, and a great topic. The past two weeks our topic was "Respect and Submission." Good stuff! Very good for me to hear:)

Then we go to our 10 and 11:00 classes. Here we are, waiting to start. I wonder what all these single college kids think of us, 29 years old with FOUR kids!! I think it is so fun being in classes and living next to all the "singles", and I don't really even feel much older than them! I'm guessing we seem really old to them, though:) Anyway, here are a couple pictures of our class, and we are really really enjoying getting to know everyone! What a solid group of students!

Between classes we almost always pass at least one of our kids in the hallway. Here is Layla with her class.

So then, classes are done and it is time to pick up the kiddos!! Layla is definitely the most excited to see us:)

Daisy is usually still sleeping when Nathan leaves for class in the morning, so he is always so glad to see his little Daisy:)

So we go back up to our apartment, eat lunch...

Then our kids usually like to look out the window...

...here is the view. Kind of hard to see because of the screen, but we can look out at the playground and volleyball net. There are always people for our kids to watch:)

Then all the girls take naps and we enjoy some time with Kaine. A major part of our afternoon that I failed to include a picture of is...HOMEWORK! We have lots of it, so we usually do that some in the afternoons.

Halle wakes up from her nap first, and she and Kaine have been really into coloring lately.

Time for me to make supper, and Halle likes to help me:)

After supper, we sometimes go down to that playground that our kids were looking out the window at, or sometimes we like to go on walks with our favorite people...Aaron, Jill, Ivy and Israel! There is a park really close by the school that we have been going to. We went there with the McCormick's a couple nights ago.

Time for the kids to start getting ready for bed...They love to distract Daisy when I try to feed her:) They can make Daisy smile so much!

It is VERY difficult for these kids to wind down! They are usually so hyper at bedtime!

That is the end of the pictures, but after this, we put the kiddos to bed and then it is quiet! I love the evenings after the kids are in bed (I love being with them, but it is finally a time that I can sit down and relax!) Nathan and I love to talk after they are in bed, and sometimes we have homework to finish. There is a ping pong room down the hall from our apartment so sometimes Nathan talks me into playing ping pong, too:)

So that is my day! I will be impressed if you stuck with me--I know it probably isn't too terribly exciting for most people to see:) But I thought some people would possibly interested in it (like my grandparents!)

Good night!