A Typical May Day

A Typical Day... The alarm goes off early, bright and early at 5:30 AM for Mark. He gets up and starts his morning routine of watching the news, getting breakfast, doing some stretches and he is out the door by 7. He heads to the shop where he starts his day and will either be running the planter or the Salford. My alarm goes off at 6:45 and I am slowly out of bed before 7. I say my goodbyes to Mark and start to get moving. I wake the kids at 7:30, Jake and Jayden are the last out of bed close to 8. We start school at 8:30 with morning devo, then a little Spanish. We are winding down the school year so trying to keep it simple with Math, Writing, and Reading. We finish up by noon and I try to get lunch on the table at 12:30. Lunch is my biggest challenge of the day. I have never enjoyed cooking and always scramble to whip something up. I don like quick easy mac cheese, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, or ham sandwiches, which most families do. I want to be healthier in our eating and I want to prepare something good. We dont always have all the sides and extras they get when they go to Grandma Karens, but we have a filling hot meal. Fixing lunch always comes in the middle of finishing up school and it is such a chaotic time. After we eat, I run Mark's food to him in the field. Trying to keep his food hot and a tea jug filled and a fresh Yoli is what he likes. Back at home the kids are everywhere. Jayden is usually brushing a horse getting ready to ride. She gives baths, rides, feeds, and practices roping. You can find Luke on a four wheeler buzzing around the farm and down the alfalfa path. Sometimes he is in the yard throwing a dog toy, petting a cat, or swinging on the tire swing. He would prefer to be on the computer playing video games, but with a one hour daily turn, he spends a lot of time outside. Luke is also in charge of feeding the cats. Jake has been busy lately. He is really growing up and with that comes more responsibility. He is needed in the field to run a tractor on occasion. When he has free time, you can hardly keep up with him. He takes his oldChevy everywhere. He likes to explore and destroy at the old dog house place. He mows the lawns at our home, Grandma's, and Aunt Betty's former place. He washes everyone's cars and often washes the semis, that is a BIG job! He takes care of his chickens, feeds them and cleans up after them. Sometimes he gathers their eggs, sometimes not. He likes to organize and is often rearranging and cleaning the old shop. Both boys get frequent phone calls from Grammer to help her. She likes them to do many things for her, clean her windows, work in the garden, pick up sticks, wash her cars, haul things, carry things, mow, weed, Recently Jake tilled the garden for Grandma.

There really is no such thing as a typical day around our home. No two days look alike. Monday and Wednesday we head to Ames for evening taekwondo and Krav Maga. Wednesday we add in youth group. Thursdays are guitar lessons and sometimes takewondo sparring nights. Other Thursdays are horse project night. Some Tuesdays we do dog project.
On Tuesday the 15th we didnt have any place we had to be, but we were going non stop. We had a short school morning, then right into horse riding lessons. Luke went to babysit Grandpa Po since he still has to be careful getting around after his knee surgery. Jake mowed at the shop, a big job that takes awhile. Jayden took the big horse trailer to de-winterize it and wash, check tires, and maintenance it. I washed horse blankets with the power washer. Jayden rode with Mark to haul a load of corn to the ethanol plant. Mike was out spraying and Tony hauling as well. Its always busy around the shop. At home we get the new puppy out often for walks and lots of play time. He is super cute and adjusting well. This is a little taste of what a day is like in our home.