A Day in the Life of a Holladay

Last Monday I thought it would be fun to diary our day. If you're curious what a typical day is like in the Holladay household, read on. If you don't care, skip this post.

7:00am. I hear the kids walking around and talking upstairs, but because I'd awakened a lot in the night because of a thunderstorm, I lay in bed and doze. I hear Nathan getting ready for work and an Easter Bunny Thomas got from nursery yesterday playing loudly. At 7:40 I get up and say my prayer. At 7:45 I go out to the living room where we have family prayer and say good-bye to Nathan, who is doing a geriatrics rotation and goes to work at 8 or 8:30. (Nice!) The kids and I eat breakfast until 8:15. Afterward the 3 older kids clear the table, wash it off, or sweep the floor according to their chore for the day. They do this quickly while I straighten the kitchen and start the dishwasher. The kids run upstairs and get dressed, make their beds and come back downstairs to start the music at exactly 8:30. For P.E. this winter we've been dancing to music either on CD or the songs on the digital piano. This morning the girls come down in their swirlly dancing dresses and turn on the music on the piano. They push aside the kitchen table and chairs and dance. I read the Church News while I ride my exercise bike in the dining room and watch them dance. The boys don't dress up, but they dance too. At 9:00 P.E. is over and the kids start their school. Kylie does geography and Madalyn does math. Usually I hop in the shower, but Spencer and Alexis, who are doing math, are asking me for help. I go back and forth between them and then take a shower at 9:30 and get ready for the day.
At 10:00 Kylie does French, Spencer reads his chapter book, Madalyn does spelling, and Thomas looks at the Carolina bird field guide book. (He likes it because it's a cute little book.) I grade Madalyn's math and then read with Alexis. She reads outloud to me while I cross-stitch her stocking next to her.
At 10:30 Kylie goes upstairs to the reading spot (a loft that overlooks the living room) to read her chapter book, Spencer comes downstairs and does his language arts book. Madalyn does French on the computer, but then the program is not responding so she works on her lake report instead. Alexis continues to read to me. Thomas isn't looking at his book anymore and I wonder what he's up to but I'm too comfortable on the couch sewing to check on him. At 11:00 he comes downstairs with different pants on and I know he's been playing in the sink, which is his new favorite activity. (He climbs on the bathroom sink and pulls the drain and plays with the water.)
At 11:15 we all get our lunch. Spencer is the first one to make his lunch while the other kids are wrapping up their school work and he makes himself a peanut butter sandwich with sliced strawberries on it and makes a half for Thomas. (Yes, I let him slice his strawberries, but he uses a butter knife.) I come into the kitchen and think that looks good so I make one for Alexis and one for me. Kylie makes nachos for herself. Madalyn finally leaves the computer and comes over for prayer as we're all sitting down to eat. She eyes our tasty sandwiches and makes herself one. Spencer is done eating his and makes himself a plate of nachos too. We all have apples, Sunchips, and milk with our sandwiches.
At 11:45 we clean up the lunch. The kids do the same clear, wash, and sweep chores. Kylie unloads the dishwasher for Madalyn who goes back to finishing her report on the computer.
At 11:55 we watch CNN student news for our current event. I sew as I watch and the kids take notes. Then we all talk about what we learned and what was interesting.
12:15 Kylie goes to the computer to work on her lake report. Madalyn sits at the table and copies her lake report notes onto her final report that is a paper with pictures printed on it. Spencer is supposed to be writing in his journal but he can't find it so he practices the piano, even though I tell him to keep looking for it. (He'll play the piano to get out of anything.) Alexis dictates her journal entry to me and I write it down.
At 12:45 the 4 older kids make Easter cards at the kitchen table. I sew on the stocking because I'm on a roll, but have to get up when Thomas asks me to turn the light on for him to go potty and then he joins the other kids at the table.
At 1:00 the kids are all working on their Easter cards and I take advantage of a free computer to work on my report of Lake Tanganyika, the 2nd deepest lake in the world. I print it out at 1:30 and take Thomas upstairs and tuck him in for nappy time. Then I straighten the living room and help Spencer, who is on the computer doing his lake report on the Dead Sea.
At 2:00 the kids are done with their card making and clean up the art supplies. Kylie reads outloud to us from a history book called "Unlikely Heroes," which is a compliation of stories of people who did heroic things during the Revoluntionary war that are not well-known. I sew on the stocking while I listen and the other kids color in their coloring books. Very relaxing.
2:35-- We are finished reading and done with school for the day. The kids take the phones upstairs and play house. They discuss where they left off on Saaturday--that it was lunchtime and just got back from taking their babies to the doctor. Our phones can intercom each other, so all afternoon I hear them calling each other and telling them how high their baby's fever is or that they're taking their 6 year-old to ballet class.
I'm still comfortable on the couch, so I sew until 2:50, thinking what I should do next since Thomas is napping and the other kids are playing happily. I could keep sewing or scrapbook or make my treats since I am treats for FHE tonight. I decide to make my treats since the kitchen is empty. I start making peanut butter balls, which I'm going to shapen into Easter eggs. I put in the butter, peanut butter and graham cracker crumbs and realize we don't have enough powdered sugar to make a whole batch so I take out some of the butter and peanut butter and put it in a container in the fridge for another time. I finish making a small batch and shape them into 9 big eggs and put them in the freezer to harden.
At 3:15 the kids come in the kitchen for a snack and grab rice cakes, pretzels, Cheeze-its, and raisins from the pantry and take it outside on the front porch. At 3:30 I am done with my treat and cleaning up. I check my e-mail until 4:00 when Thomas wakes up. I start printing pictures off the computer to scrapbook and work on this until 4:30 when a friend down the street, Jordan, comes over, asking for any kids to play. All of the kids but Thomas want to go over, so they all get ready and walk down the street to her house. I keep printing out pictures while Thomas watches part of Cars.
At 5:00 the kids come back home with Jordan. I keep printing out photos until 5:30 when I finally pull myself away to cook the ground turkey in the microwave to make sloppy joes for dinner. We're going to have a nice pork chop dinner tomorrow for Nathan's birthday, so I decide to do simple tonight. While the meat is cooking I dip the peanut butter eggs in melted chocolate and put them in the freezer to harden. Meanwhile I keep the printer going, printing photos. When the meat is done I make the sloppy joes.
At 6:00 Jordan's dad calls for her, so she leaves. Spencer sets the table and opens a can of fruit. I open a can of corn. We sit down to eat. At 6:25 we clean up. Alexis and Kylie have been busy since they came home from Jordan's planning an activity for tonight, so they finish planning it. I print off a few more pages of scrapbooking photos while Spencer reads the Friend. Thomas is upstairs singing "The Morning Breaks" really loud and Madalyn is reading in the reading spot. Usually we start FHE by now, but Nathan is conductor and asks us to wait for him. He comes home at 6:50pm. He grabs his dinner left on the counter for him and starts FHE. Alexis is song and chooses "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today." Spencer is prayer. We read scriptures and then Madalyn does an excellent Easter lesson she has prepared all by herself. She has pictures of the events that happen the week of Easter starting with the Last Supper and asks the children to hold them up while she talks about what is happening in each picture. Her voice is quiet, but she knows all the facts. She bears her testimony at the end and I feel proud of her. She'll do a great job doing sharing time someday. :)
Kylie is activity and has made these paper eggs with chicks inside glued to popcicle sticks. We color them for activity. Then the time is turned to me for treats. The kids go get their pajamas on while I put it on the table. This is the tradition. I put the plate of peanut butter eggs on the table along with milk and cups and everyone comes in to see what it is. We eat treats, have family prayer and tuck the kids in at 8:15. Nathan tucks Spencer in while I tuck the girls in. Thomas stays up until Spencer falls asleep so that they don't talk.
From 8:30-9 Nathan shows me some e-mails he got from people in the chemistry department regarding his research plans for next year. He's really excited about it and we talk while I sew on the stocking. Thomas is playing in my room with his cars, where he loves to drive them along my bed. I tuck him in a little after 9 and then scrapbook a little. Nathan is e-mailing the professors back, arranging times to meet with them to discuss research plans. At 10:30 we read scriptures then go to bed shortly after 11.

So there is our typical Monday. Hope it wasn't too boring. If nothing else, at least I have it recorded for journaling purposes. Maybe someday I'll want to go back and see what our day was like.